586 MR. C. B. CLARKE ON THE FERNS OF NORTHERN INDIA. 
48. OPHIOGLOSSUM, Linn. 
1. O. VULGATUM, Linn. Sp. Pl. 1518. Rhizome short, producing annually 1-2 fronds; 
fertile segment springing from the base of the barren segment; barren segment 
ovate or oblong, acute or obtuse, narrowed regularly at the base, so that it is not 
spathulate nor spathulate cordate.—Schk. Krypt. Gew. t. 153; Engl. Bot. 108; 
Hk. & Bauer, Gen. Fil. t. 59B; Hook. Brit. Ferns, tt. 46, 47; Milde, Fil. Europ. 
188; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil 445; Luerssen, in Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, viii. 114, 
tt. 12, 13; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 688. 
‘Sikkim; Goke, alt. 4000 feet, 7. Anderson; Rungait Camp below Darjeeling, alt. 
2000 feet, C. B. Clarke.—Distrib. Scattered from England to New Zealand and Cape 
Colony. Also in North America. 
Col. Beddome doubts (Ferns Brit. Ind. Suppl. p. 21) whether any of the Himalayan 
Ophioglossum should be called O. vulgatum, Linn. Dr.T. Anderson's excellent example 
seems to me as near the common English type as may be. My own specimens (from 
virtually the same locality) are smaller; but I should not call them a variety even: 
they would be excellently represented by Luerssen's plates quoted, figs. 68, 69, 73, Se, 
Var. Aitchisoni. Rhizome elongate, bearing annually 4-10 fronds in succession, 2-2} 
by $-$ in., oblong, texture stout. 
Punjab, alt. 2400 feet; Rawul Pindee and Hurroo, J. E. T. Aitchison—There 
is no other Ophioglossum in the Herbarium, nor any picture much like this: the 
rhizome appears to bear a succession of fronds in one season; there are 1-2 fully 
developed, 1-2 young ones emergent, and several withered laminze on the rhizome. 
A. Braun (in Seuber, Fl. Azorica, 17) describes an O. polyphyllum; but this has venose 
fronds, the whole plant only 1-2 in. high, and comes from Terceira, and is probably not 
near O. Aitchisoni. 
2. O. RETICULATUM, Linn. Sp. Pl.1518. Rhizome short, producing annually 1-2 fronds ; 
fertile segment springing from the base of the barren segment; barren segment 
ovate, spathulate-cordate or spathulate.—Blume, Enum. Pl. Jav. Fil. 259; Wall. 
Cat. 2171; Hk. & Grey. Ic. Fil. t. 20; Milde, Fil. Europ. 190; Bedd. Ferns South. 
Ind. t. 70; Hk. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 446; Luerssen, in Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, vii 
110. O. cordifolium, Roxb. in Cale. Journ. Nat. Hist. iv. 475; Wall. Cat. 47. 
Nepaul, Wallich. Darjeeling; Griffith. North-west India, Dr. Jameson.—Distrib- 
South India, Malaya, Polynesia, Tropical America and Africa. 
Icannot make much of the more distinct venation, given as the specific character of this. 
plant. Some of Griffith's examples with very cordate barren fronds are particularly 
opaque, more fleshy than most of O. vulgatum. When examples are picked very old, oF ` 
killed by immersion in boiling water before drying, I believe their venation (whether | 
O. vulgatum or O. reticulatum) will SÉ very distinct in the Horace. | 
s. o PENDULUM, Linn. Sp. Pl. 1518. Fronds often many in one season from del | 
