` 858: CHARACTERS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 
each bearing on its inner side four rows of sessile, oval 
sporangia, attached by their base and opening vertically. 
Type. Schizæa digitata, Swartz. 
Illust. Hook. and Bauer Gen. Fil, t. 111 A.; J. Sm. 
Ferns, Brit. and For., fig. 147. 
Oss.—This genus differs from true Schizea by the fertile 
appendices being produced on a digitate cluster, and in the 
sporangia being produced in two rows on each side of the 
midrib, the attachment of each of the two rows being on 
the same line (receptacle). 
Sp. A. digitata, Wall. (v v.); A. pennula, Sw. (A. tri- 
laterales, Schk. crypt., t. 136). : 
Ozs.—The first species is widely distributed, being found 
in Ceylon, India, and the Malay and Polynesian Islands. 
The second is also widely diffused, being found in the West 
Indies, Guiana, and Brazil. 
Tribe 27. —OSMUNDAEJE (Plate 27). 
OsuvuxNDpacEZ, R. Br. ; 
Sporangia globose, reticulated, short pedicellate, oblique ` 
and gibbous at the apex, opening by a vertical slit (sub- : 
bivalved). “Ring apical, rudimentary, or absent. 
Oss.—The absence or but slight evidence of annulus or 
stria is the chief technical character that distinguishes this — 
_ from Schizæaceæ, they however, differ essentially in habit ` 
and general appearance, having leafy, pinnate, or bi-pin- 
mate fronds. : 
= Presl enumerates twenty-four species, which may be 
: safely reduced to one-half, indeed, in the “Synopsis Fili- - 
cum " only ten species are described. Several of the species 
have a very wide geographical range, being common to 
