FIIJCES. 77 



fertile fronds sliorter ami narrower, sometimes entirely rovereil with the confluent 

 sori, but sometinics again these are in a broad marginal band, with a teudeucy to run 

 down between the main veins towards the costa or mid-rib. 



A. (CnRTsomuii) aureum, Linn. 



Caudex stout, erect; stipites tufted, 1-2 feet long, strong, glossy; fronds varying 

 much in size, 3-4 feet long, or even more, and 1-2 feet broad, simply pinnate ; 

 pinnas broad, strap-shaped, sometimes a foot long and 2-3 inches broad, blunt at the 

 end, the upper ones alono fertile and closely covered with the sori. Ficiiuent in 

 salt-water creeks. 



A. (HvjiEN'oi.KPis) spic.iTi'ir, Linn. 



Rhizome slightly repent; stipes 1-2 inches, fronds 5-6 inches long, bearing the 

 Bori on their suddenly contracted narrow apex. On trees, Madronuicam, Jlcrgui. 



Platyceeium ^ Walliciiii, Hooh. 



Fronds of two very distinct kinds, the one .sessile and erect, the other pendulous. 

 Barren erect frond always found appressed against the trunk of a tree, deeply lobed, 

 with sinuous forked divisions; fertile fronds, a pair, from a common axis, pendant, 

 each (generally but not always) in two main divisions, in the sinus of which, where 

 they again divide, is situated a semicircular shield, 3-4 inches in diameter, wholly 

 covered on the under side with the fructification iml)edded in a thick mat of soft 

 tomentum ; biTond this the fronds divide and subdivide again in a bifarious manner. 

 Substance very thick and tough, and soft, with a tawny pubescence underneath, 

 dull green above. Frequent, especially on trees about Toung-wine, near Maulmain. 



P. BiFOEME, lilume. 



A grand and striking fern, always on trees, generally on a stout horizontal 

 hough. Fronds also of two distinct kinds as in the foregoing species. Barren fronds 

 erect, sessile, deeply lobed and sinuate, several, sometimes forming a complete circle, 

 entirely enveloping the bough on which it grows, and forming a liuge nest or basin, 

 filled with a mass of tawny fibrous roots, and with the decayed matter of the old 

 sessile fronds, the substance of which is often an inch thick, which are also renewed 

 and thus form a fresh layer, every year. Fertile fronds pendulous, 6-7 times 

 dichotomous, pedicellcd at the base, divisions ligulate, like long leather strap.s, 

 2 inches broad. Fructification covering the inside — the whole concavity — of a 

 distinct leathery half-cup, which is pedicellcd, and arises from the fork of one of 

 the primaiy divisions of the pendulous frond. As the sessile fronds are several, and 

 each has a central axis of growth of its own, emitting its own pendulous fronds, 

 there is sometimes seen a complete circle of such fronds, arching out from the huge 

 round boss formed by the united masses of sessile fronds ; a sight to be seen in order 

 to be appreciated. The sessile fronds often measure 4 feet from tip to tip of their 

 lobes, while the pendulous ones are 6 feet long ! When I first beheld one, nearly 

 this size, in the year 1854, at Jfergui, in the Kulween jungle, 1 was in raptures, and 

 did not leave the spot until I had it down, lop])ing the bough short off on both sides, 

 and putting it on a Burman's shoulders (a weight he could with some difficulty carry), 

 brought it home in triumph. This sanu; plant adorned my fernery in llaulmain for 

 many years. I was at last tempted to send it to England, but it died en route. 



Loc. Mergui and the islands of the Archipelago. I never saw it farther North. 

 OsMUXDA ■ Javaxica, Jilume. 



Fronds tufted on a short erect caudex, which I find always elevated on a eouical 



' riatyceriiim. irAaTus, hro.iil : nnd Kip-ts-aroi, n horn. 



' "Osmund, Osmund Kct/ii/, or O.tiniiml the ll'iitiimmi, apparently tt comiption of gross mnnd- 

 kraut, greater moon-wurt, ruprfsuntiii<; its ancient ollicinal name, hmaria major. There are other 

 derivations of it, such as tliat by lii'ckmann, from tlie name of some person ; hv Nemnieh, on the 

 authority of Ilouttuyn, from o.v, month, and mtindarr, to cleanse ; by others t'rom os, hone, and 

 mundare, to cleanse. Tlie Wutirmini wouhi seem to be it.s Flemish name, ll'atirrarn. Tlie Itoi/nl 

 refers, we are told by Lobel (Krnydb. i. p. 991), to its great and excellent virtues." — Prior, Popular 

 Names of British Plants, p. 171. 



