THE ANATOMY OF TODEA. 239 
and Todea does not bear directly on the points with which we are chiefly concerned ; 
but we prefer to follow Hooker and Baker in relegating Presl’s genus to sectional rank, 
as this view appears to us to be more in accord with the close relationship that clearly 
exists between Todea barbara and the filmy species. Anatomical evidence is in support 
of the use of the name Todea in the wider sense. 
TODEA. 
Tonga, Willdenow, 1802. 
TODEA BARBARA, Hook. f. 
(Text-figs. 1 & 2. Pl. 27. figs. 2, 3, 5; Pl. 28. fig. 16; Pl. 29. figs. 26, 27, 33, 
34, 36, 38, 39, 40; Pl. 30. figs. 42, 45, 50, 51, 52.) 
1763. Acrostichum barbarum, Linnzus, Spec. Plant. vol. ii. p. 1529. 
1837. Todea rivularis, Kunze, Anal. Pterid. p. 7, pl. 4. 
1842. Todea africana, Hooker, * Genera Filicum,’ pl. 46 B. 
1860. Todea africana, Hooker fil., Fl. Tasm. p. 153, pl. 168. 
1872. Todea barbara, Hooker fil., Bot. Mag. vol. 28 (3). t. 5954. 
1875. Todea barbara, J. Smith, Hist. Fil. pl. 27 b. 
The stem of Todea barbara may reach considerable dimensions, forming a short and 
thick mass covered with a dense felt of brown roots, which completely hide the main 
. bifurcated axis. /One of the numerous plants of T7. barbara sent to Europe by the 
late Sir Ferd. von Mueller has been figured, in which the stem reaches a breadth of 
2:5 metres, a height of 176 m., and a thickness of 1 m. J. Smith * also described a 
specimen from the Victorian Alps of Australia measuring 5 ft. 8 in. in height, with 
a diameter of 7 ft. 9 in., and weighing 1 ton 3 cwt.; he adds that a plant was received 
at Kew in 1869 weighing 15 cwt. and bearing 30 crowns and 160 fronds. The stem 
of a Todea barbara in the Cambridge Botanic Garden measures 8 ft. in circumference 
and 3 ft. in height, with 14 distinct “crowns”; at the present time the crowns bear 
230 fronds, with an average length of 7 ft. 6 in. The bipinnate fronds reach a length 
of 10 ft ; the linear ultimate segments are occasionally more than 6 em. in length and 
6 mm. broad; the margin may be entire, but it is usually denticulate in the apical 
portion, the serrations occasionally extending the whole length of the segments. 
The fragment shown in Pl. 27. fig. 5 was drawn from a specimen in the Kew Herbarium 
bearing the name “ Todea Froome, a variety," from the Blue Mountains of New South 
"Wales; this is clearly a form of Todea barbara. 
The portions of pinne represented in Pl. 27. figs. 2 & 3 also bear pinnules with 
slightly denticulate margins, more especially that shown in fig. 3, which is described in 
the Kew Herbarium sheet as “ T. barbara, var.” from New South Wales. The variation 
within the limits of the same species, as regards the degree of denticulation of the 
pinnules, is of interest in connection with the comparison of fossil forms. 
* Smith (1875). 
2M 2 
