TAB. LXXXIX. 



GYMNOGRAMMA LOVEII 



■ 



FILICES. — Gyrat;e. Br. 



PoLYPODiACEiE. Kaulf. Filices verae. Willd., Spreng. 



Gen. Char. 



GYMNOGRAMMA, Desv. 



inserti. Indusium nullum. 



Sori oblongi, venis frondis simplicibus furcatisve 



Frondes pinnata, bipinnatce decompositaque. Desv. 



Gymnogramma Love 



fluentibus undiq 



frondibus pinnatis, pinnis oblongo-lanceolat 

 pilosis, 



lacin 



tibus 

 Hab. 



s pinnatifidis summis con- 

 ovalibus obtusis integerrimis, stipite rachique pubescen- 



In rupibus madidis Insulae Madeirae 



montibus, ad alt. 2000 ped. legit Rev. R. T. Lowe 



Caudex longe repens, teres, glaber, nigro-fuscus, hic illic fibras ramosas tomentosas emittens. 



Stipites plurimi ex eodem caudice, spithamaei et ultra, semiteretes, hinc sulcati, basi dilatati, undique pubescentes 



fusci 



Frondes, circumscriptione, ovato-lanceolata?, spithamrcae, fere ad pedales, pinnatse, pinnis lato-lanceolati 



sessilibus, pinnatifidis, utrinque hirsutis, inferioribus remotiusculis alternis, superioribus confluentibus 

 pinnatim nervosis, laciniis ovalibus obtusis integerrimis, ciliatis, pilis ad marginem ssepe basi unitis. 

 pube fusco obtecta. 



Sori numerosi, lineari-oblongi, in singulo nervo, simplices, omnino nudi. 



Capsulce globosse, fuscae, reticulatae, annulo articulato lato, fere completo cinctee, breviter pedicellatse. 



Semina subglobosa oblongaque, laevia, fusca. 



Fig. 1. Portio pinnae, cum soris. f. 2. Pili e margine laciniarum. f. 3. Capsulae. f. 4. Semina: 



acutis, 



Rach 



* « 



■magn. auct. 



In the autumn of last year (1827), together with many other excellent plants we were favoured with 



specimens of this Fern by the Rev. Mr. Lowe, gathered in the Island of Madeira 



(( 



P tu Parg 



in a narrow ravine, and in other places in the interior, growing at an elevation upon the mountains 

 of more than 2000 feet*, upon rocks, and steep and moist banks, where there is but a thin stratum 





of vegetable mould : — the root or caudex creeping extensively just beneath the surface. 



91 



The 



plant is assuredly not described in any work to which I have had access : but Mr. Lowe suggests, 





that it may probably be the Acrostichum pilosum of Von Buch's List of Plants of the Canary Isles ; 

 and that the same name (but equally without description or character) likewise exists in a manu- 

 script catalogue of Madeira Plants, which he has seen in the island, purporting to be taken from the 



■ 



Banksian Library, and probably left there by Masson : but the identity of the two plants we have 

 no means of determining. An Acrostichum the plant assuredly is not ; and though we have placed 



genus Gymnogramma, it seems to form a connecting link between it and Grammitis, 



it in the 



having the habit of the former, and the constantly simple sori of the latter. 



The species we have named in compliment to the gentleman who sent us such fine specimens, and 

 who has accompanied them by some valuable observations : and we feel that he is justly entitled to 

 this honour, not merely because he has brought so interesting a plant under our notice, but because, 

 still resident in Madeira, he is furthering the cause of science by collecting materials, which he will 

 soon be enabled to give to the world, for a Flora and Fauna of the island. Already he possesses 

 many novelties in the different departments of natural history ; and perhaps no sppt could be 

 pointed out, whether its geographical situation or its geological features and structure be considered, 

 which better deserves to have its productions described, than that island. 



We have only very recently received SchlechtendaFs Adumbr ationes Plantarum, in which we find 

 a species of Cryptogramma from the Cape of Good Hope, represented and described, which has a 

 very near affinity with this, Gymnogramma totta, Schlecht. That, however, has very much longer 

 and narrower pinnae, and the lower laciniae erose ; whereas they are quite entire in our plant. 



Since the above was written, we have received more specimens of the same plant, gathered in the Ribeiro d'Ametade 



an 



above 



descends below 



