CHARACTERS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 193 
97.—DnYowzwzs, Fée (1851). 
J. Sm. Bot. Voy. of Herald, 1853; Polypodium sp. Hook. 
Sp. Fil. 
Vernation sub-sarmentose, decumbent. Fronds con- 
tiguous, simple, pinnatifid or pinnate, smooth, 1 to 3 feet 
in height, sub-membraneous. Segments large, 1 foot long, 
2 to 4 inches wide. Primary veins costeeform, transversely 
combined, and compound anastomosing, with free veinlets 
terminating in the areoles. Receptacles punctiform, com- 
pital. Sori round, or by confluence unequal oblong, 
oblique biserial or irregular, naked. 
Type. Polypodium plantagineum, Linn. 
Ilust. Fée Gen. Fil, t. 18, A; Moore Ind. Fil., p. 35, A; 
J. Sm. Ferns, Brit. and For., fig. 61. 
Oss.—This genus was established by Fée upon the 
Polypodium menisciicarpon of Blume, in which the sori are 
generally oblong and curved, but such I consider to be an 
abnormal form of punctiform sori; I, therefore, in the 
“Bot. Voy, of Herald," added a second pinnate species, as 
also the Polypodium plantagineum of Linnæus, all of which 
agree in habit and venation, and in having naked sori, the 
latter being the only character that separates them from 
true Aspidium. 
Sp. D. plantaginea, J. Sm. (Linn. Jacg. Coll. 2, t. 8, 
fig. 1)* (v v.); D. menisciicarpon, Fée; D. Purdiei, J. Sm. 
Bot. Voy. Herald (Polypodium draconopterum, Eat. Hook. 
` Sp. Fil.) 
"The first and last species are natives of the West Indies 
and Tropical America, the second of Malay and Philippine 
Islands. 
* See Podopeltis. 
