North Island: Three Kings Islands, abundant, T.F.C.
Very close to the northern D. canariensis, L., but stouter and more coriaceous, and not so finely cut.
2. D. Forsteri, Carruthers in Seem. Fl. Viti. 339.—"Stipes 6–8 in. long, naked, stramineous. Frond rhomboid, 4-pinnate, 6 in. long; pinnæ and pinnules ascending, rhomboid, stalked, the lowest the largest, cuneate-truncate on the lower side at the base; final segments ligulate-cuneate, 2–4 lines long, under ½ line broad; texture subcoriaceous; surfaces naked; sori minute, terminal, with the lamina produced on each side as a border."—Bak. Syn. Fil. (edit. 2) 470; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 49; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 74. Adiantum clavatum, Forst. Prodr. n. 459.
South Island: Dusky Bay, Forster.
Only known from Forster's specimens preserved in the British Museum Herbarium. Mr. Baker remarks that it is very near the New Caledonian D. scoparia, but the sori are smaller and bordered. In all probability it was collected by Forster in some locality in Polynesia, and accidentally mixed with his New Zealand plants.
3. D. novæ-zealandiæ, Col. in Tasmanian Journ. Nat. Sci. (1845) 22.—Rhizome long, branched, wide-creeping, as thick as a quill, clothed with yellowish-brown linear scales. Stipes 6–18 in. long, red-brown, firm, erect, rough and bristly at the base, smooth and polished above. Fronds 1–2 ft. long, 6–12 in. broad, ovate-oblong to deltoid, acuminate, firm but scarcely coriaceous, tripinnate; rhachis flexuose, channelled above, glabrous or pubescent at the axils. Primary pinnæ oblong-lanceolate, acuminate; secondary about the same shape, pinnate below, pinnatifid at the tips. Pinnules about ½ in. long, ovate-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid; ultimate segments or lobes very narrow, acute. Sori very numerous, placed at the tip of a short lateral veinlet on the lobes of the pinnules. Indusium broadly ovate or almost orbicular, membranous, jagged, attached to the tip of the vein under the sorus, its sides quite free.—Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 158, t. 51b; Garden Ferns, t. 51; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 19; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 358; Hook. and Bak. Syn. Fil. 91; Thoms. N.Z. Ferns, 49; Field, N.Z. Ferns, 74, t. 18, f. 2. D. hispida, Heward MSS. ex Hook. Sp. Fil. i. 158. Acrophorus hispidus, Moore, Index. Fil. Leptolepia novæ-zealandiæ, Metten. ex Kuhn.
North and South Islands: In woods from the Bay of Islands southwards to Foveaux Strait, but often local. Sea-level to 2000 ft.
A very handsome and distinct species, with an unusually finely cut frond. It has been referred by turns to the genera (or divisions of Davallia) Leucostegia, Microlepia, and Acrophorus, and has been made the type of a new genus (Leptolepia) by Mettenius.
