316 CHARACTERS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 
and which contains no less than 2,059 names, of which 
335 are adopted species, the rest being synonyms. 
The greater number were originally comprehended under 
two genera, namely, Asplenium and Diplazium, but even 
these are not considered by some to be generically distinct. 
In the greater mass the veins are free, in a few they are 
anastomose, and which with the different modes of growth 
afford sufficient characters for arranging the species under 
the following genera, 
* Veins free. 
181.—AsPrENIUM, Linn. (1737). 
Hook, Sp. Fil. ; Tarachia, Pr.; Lowoscaphe, Moore. 
Vernation fasciculate, decumbent, or erect, acaulose, rarely | 
uniserial sarmentose. Fronds varying from simple entire 
to decompound, and from a few inches to 2 to 6 feet 
high, generally smooth. Veins forked or pinnate, from a 
central or excentric coste, or rayed ; venules free, sporan- 
giferous on the superior side. Sori oblong or linear, in 
some very short and marginal. Indusiwm lateral operculi- 
form, opening exteriorly. 
Type. Asplenium marinum, Linn, 
Ilust. Hook. and Bauer Gen. Fil, t. 30; Moore Ind. 
Fil., p. 36; J. Sm. Ferns, Brit. and For., fig. 110. 
Oss.—In the “Species Filicum" about 287 species are 
enumerated, which are divided into four sections, namely, 
Thamnopteres, Eusasplenium, Athyrium, and Eudiplaziwm, 
which I characterise as distinct genera. In “Ferns; 
British and Foreign,” 120 species are enumerated as 
having been seen by me in a living state, and as they 
contain examples representing the principal sections en : 
groups, I here enumerate them. e 
