THE FAMILIES. GENERA AND SPECIES OF PTERIDOPHYTA. 461 



or with a cup-sliaped imlnsium. Sporangia many, sessile or 

 nearly so. opening at the side, with a broad, slightly eccentric, 

 nearly or quite complete, vertical ring". — Mostly tree-ferns with 

 stont, erect, woody stems, covered with dea.d adventitious 

 roots and with a palm-like crown of leaves at the top. 

 Trunk stout; sori several on a pinnule, at first en- 

 closed in a complete involucral cup i. Cyathea. 



Trunk slender; sori (in ours) one only on each pin- 



nitle; involucral cup very incomplete 2. Hemitelia. 



I. Cyathea, Smith. 



Receptacle of the sorus arising from the branching of a vein. 

 Indusium spherical, inserted under the sorus, opening in the 

 centre, finally cup-shaped. — Trunk stout, up to 21 ft. high; 

 vernation always simple; leaves usually very large and 3 or 4 

 pinnatifid. Only one species. 



I. C. Drcgei, Kunze. Common tree-fern; isi-Hihi. — Com- 

 monly found near springs at the edges of mountain "bush," 

 and along the margins of streams descending therefrom, par- 

 ticidarly on the Drakensberg, from 3,000 to 6,700 ft. altitude.; 

 shady kloofs as far west as Witpoortje, near Krugers- 

 dorp, on the Witwatersrand, and shady kloofs near 

 Wolhuter's Kop, on the Magaliesberg. Sometimes met 

 with on the bare open veld, but then generally arising 

 from the old holes of aardvarken or other animals. 

 Magaliesberg, Burke \ Zcyher, in 1862; kloof near Wolhuter 

 Kop, R., speciinen 21 ft. high, V. G. Crazvley; Macamac, Ly., 

 McLca: eastern slope of Saddleback Mountain, Barberton, 

 Bn., Burtt-Davy, 329; Barberton, Thorncroft, 112; near 

 Crocodile River, Pa., Pole Evans: Sabie Valley, Ly., Burtt- 

 Davy, 495; Houtboschberg, Ze., 6,700 ft. Scklcchter, 5,100 

 and 4.460 in hb. Sim 144; eastern slopes of Houtboschberg, 

 Ze., Burtt-Davy: Swaziland, Sd., Burtt-Davy; also reported 

 from the W'aterberg Range, Wg. 



2. Hemitelia, R. Brown. 



Involucre a depressed half-cup, generally lobed. — Trunk 

 slender. The leaves produce at the base ciu'iouslv modified 

 pinnee with capillary segments, which resemble the leaves of a 

 Trichomanes, for which they have been mistaken and named. 

 Only one species. 



I. H. capcnsis, R.Br. — ]\Ioist kloofs, usually near waterfalls. 

 Near Barberton, Bn., 5,000 ft.; Thorncroft, 102. The identifi- 

 cation is uncertain, being based on incomplete material, but 

 it is probable that the species will be found within the limits 

 of the Transvaal. 



Family Y .—POLYPODIACEJE. 



X'ernation circinate. Sori dorsal, each usually consisting of 

 a large number of stalked sporangia, each sporangium having 

 a vertical, incomplete ring and dehiscing- transversely. — Ours 

 herbaceous perennials, mostly with a creeping rhizome or erect 

 rootstock. Leaves usually large and more or less pinnately 

 dissected, rarely simple. 



