CHARACTERS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 808 
conniving enclosing the sporangia of both receptacles, 
ultimately becoming replicate and generally torn. 
Type. Lomaria nuda, Willd. 
Ilust. Hook. and Bauer, Gen. Fil, t. 64, B. ; Moore 
Ind. Fil., p. 11, A. ; J. Sm. Ferns Brit. and For., fig. 
103; Hook. Syn. Fil., t. 3, fig. 38. 
Ons.—As already stated, the only character that dis- 
tinguishes this genus from Blechnum is in the fertile fronds 
being contracted. In the “Species Filicum," Sir William 
Hooker says, *a more careful investigation of several species ` 
of Lomaria shows that they gradually depart from their 
pteroid character, and completely merge into Blechnec." 
The genus consists of between thirty and forty known 
species, and as in Blechnum, the synonym of the species is 
confusing; they are widely distributed throughout the 
tropical and temperate regions of both hemispheres, extend- 
ing from the latitude of New Zealand in the South to the 
limits of Fern life in the North, where the genus is repre- 
sented by the well-known Lomaria spicant, better known 
in this country as Blechnum boreale, of which, of late years, 
numerous abnormal forms have been discovered, consisting 
in the fronds being distorted in various ways; some of these 
are so unlike the typical form, that without being acquainted 
with their origin they would by some pterodologists be 
considered as types of distinct species, thirty-six of these 
forms are recorded in Mr. Stansfield's Catalogue. 
.* Vernation sarmentose, epiphytal. Sterile fronds pinnatifid, 
sinus generally large, obtuse, rownd (Lomaridium, Presl, 
J. Sn). | 
Sp. L. onocleoides, Spr. (v v.); L. Plumieri, Desv. ; L. 
attenuata, Willd. (v v.) ; L. pteropus, Kze. ; L. liio] Bl. 
(v v.); L. Colensoi, Hook. 
