\G 



MATONIA. (Brown MSS.) 



Soiu dorsales, rotu..di. e puncto confluenti. venularum plurium orti. Indusium orblculatum, peltatum. Capsule 

 sessiles, in serle simplici circa receptaciJum iWspositde.— Brown. 



Systema Linna-'anum, Cryptogamia Filices. 



Ordo iiaturalis, Filices, tribus Poli/podiacece.—Bromi. ^ . . i j 



Habitus: Filix pulcherri.na. la^vis. fronde subbipinnata. Pinna^ plures hinc supenores. pauciores inde secunda^, 

 omnes pinnatifida., lobis integerrlmis. singulis basi, nunc utroque latere, nunc inferiore tantum monosons, raro bisons. 



— Brown I. c. ^ „ .. „ .. - , ,. 



Genus valde distinctum a Roberto Bro^vn dicatum amico suo Georgio Maton, M.D., Collegu Regn Medicoruin nee- 

 r,on Societatis Regi« Socio, Societatis Linna'ana. Vice-Pra'sidi ; viro aestumatissimo, historic natnmlis scrutator! 

 indefesso, botanico perito, scriptisque variis optime nierito. Nonien Matonice, quod b. Smitb generi Elettance a eel. 

 Matonlo condito imposuit, relinciuenduin est, teste ipso nominis donore, in Suppleuiento Cyclo])a'diai Reesianae. 



MATONIA PECTINATA. Tab. 16. 



MaTONIA PECTINATA. Browfi MSS. 



Hal)itat in n.onte vulgo Opbir dicta, 4000 fere pedes alta, milliaria 30 ab urbe Malacca distante, versus cacumen, 

 ubi anno 1815 detexit Gulielnius Farquhar, Milltuni Tribunus. 



Filix sesquipedalis, adscendens, apice recurvata, la^t^ viridis, laevis, hinc lucida, inde glauca. Stipes' fuscus, nitidus, lO-poUicaris, 

 supril exaratus sulco lato, piano, acutfe marginato, subtfis convexus, basi calamum scriptorium crassus, sursum parfim attenuatus. Frons 

 magna, adscendenti-recurvata, subbipinnata, pedem circiter longa, uncias 10 lata, rigidiuscula. Pinn^ 14, plame, lineares, approximata;, 

 lineari-ensiformes, profnndfe pinnatifida-, utrinque attenuata;, pectinato-acuminata;, per petiolum pollicarem marginula integra usque ad 

 basin ferfe decurrentes, supn\ Iucida>, subtus glauca?, costa vald^ elevata, dorso plana ideoque subtetragona, spithamaeoe, mediae longi- 

 ores ; plurimse sursi'im unilaterales, crectee et strictaj, approximatissimfe insertai margin! superiori, convex© rachis planae, 2-pollicaris ; 

 dua; exteriores deorsum unilaterales vel secundse, petiolis brevissimis basi subconnatis, harum inferior uti terminalis frondis reliquis mult5 

 breviori's, 3-pollicares. Lacini.e alterna\ parallcla', approximata;, lanceolatse, obtusiuscula;, levissiinfe sursdm falcatae, integerrimse, 

 marginibus parfim recurvis, media; profundius separata;, supremoe et infiinie subconfiuentes, suprk secus venarum tractus minutim 

 striatula;, subtus 1-nerviee, nervo proininulo, planiusculo, venis copiosis, parallelis, obliquis, semel bisve furcatis, anastomosantibus, ad 

 soros nidiatiin (;onvergentibus punctoque inscrtionis confluentibus. Sori ad basin laciniarum, medi5 inter nervum et marginem utrinque, 

 quandoque ad unum tanthm nervi latus solitarii, raro duo, sessiles, parvi, farcti, depresso-globosi, fusci, glaucescentes, glabri, vertice 

 torulosi proininentiis aliquot minutis, centro elevate subumbilicati. — " Indusium depresso-sphaeroideum, capsulas omninc!) includens, 

 licmisphaM-io supcriore crassiusculo, inferiore tenuissimo, meinbranaceo, capsuHs arctfe applicito, et mox subevanido. Receptaculum 

 parvuni, paulo elcvatuiii. Capsul/E annulo oblique verticali, incomplete cinctse. Semina angulata." — Brown MSS. 



" The beautiful ramification of the veins, and their union, from which the sorus originates in Matonia, is not altogether 

 peculiar to it. Among those genera of Poli/pncliacece having an indusium, one remarkable example occurs in a genus 

 as yet undescribed {Hi/poderris), which, with an indusium not materially different from that of IFoodsia, has exactly the 

 habit of Aspidium trifoUatum : while of those genera of PolypodiacecB which are without an indusium, the same kind of 

 vascularity is found in an extensive and very natural section of Polypoditon, to which Polypodium phymatodes and the 

 greater number of those species soris saccatis belong." — Brown. 



The sj)ecimen which has been described above, and of which Plate XVI. is an exact representation, is probably 

 unique in Europe. I received it from my late friend Mr. Jack, to whom It had been j)resented by our mutual friend 

 Colonel ^\'. Fanpdiar. This gentleman discovered the fern towards the summit of a very lofty mountain, distant 

 about thirty-six miles from the town of Malacca, where he met with only a single individual of it. When I visited 

 Singapore in 182*2, I saw a coloured drawing in the possession of Colonel Farquhar, executed by a Chinese artist, 

 representing the fern in a decumbent jjosition, with an ascending and spreading frond. In its natural state I suppose 

 this most beautiful plant is erect or ascending, with the frond horizontally spreading, recurved and fan-sliaped ; the 

 upper pinnaj being erect, and the outer and lower ones descending. Its texture is firm like that of a Mertemia. 



Plate XVI.' Fig. 1. 2. Part of a pinna viewed from both sides, showing the curious arrangement of the veins at the insertion of the 

 sorus. 3. A detached sonis seen from below. 4. The same seen from the top. 5. Inside of the indusium. 6. Capsules 



inserted round the central receptacle. 7. A detached capsule. 8. The same burst open. 9. Seeds. 



