2 a third of New South Wales, and the fourth a native o 
Fiji; in the “Synopsis Filicum " it is considered a variety 
-860 CHARACTERS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 
212.—Topza, Willd. (1802). 
Vernation fasciculate, erect, sub-arboroid, naked, or pro- 
ducing outgrowing aerial roots, forming a spongy mass. 
Fronds bi-tri-pinnatifid, 2 to 6 feet high; pinnæ coriaceous 
or membranaceous ; fertile frond sub-contracted. Veins 
forked ; venules free sporangiferous, forming oblong 
linear sori, often confluent. 
Type. Acrostichum barbarum, Linn. 
Ilust. Hook. and Bauer Gen. Fil., t. 46 B., f£. 1; Moore 
Ind. Fil, p. 95; J. Sm. Ferns, Brit. and For., fig. 
149; Hook. Syn. Fil., t. 8, fig. 63. 
Oss.—This genus differs from Osmunda merely by its 
fronds being not at all or only slightly contracted, the ` P 
 Sporangia produced on evident venules. Leptopteris of. : 2 
Presl is in my view not sufficiently distinct as a genus ` 
from Osmunda. 3 
* Fronds firm, opaque (Eutodea). sue 
Sp. T. barbara, Moore, Bot. Mag., t. 5954, 1872. G E 
Africana, Willd. ; T. rivularis, Sieb.) GE 
Oss. Originally found in the Cape of Good Hope, but S x 
more recently found distributed throughout New Zealand ` ` 
and Australia. o 
** Fronds membraneous, segments in some multifid. 
ch (Leptopteris, Pri, GE 
|... T. hymenophylloides, Rich. (v v.); T. superba, Colenso 
— (v v2 5 T. Fraseri, Hook. and Grev. ; T. Wilkesiana, Brack. - 
_ OBs.—The two first are natives of New Zealand, the ` 
Ee T. Fraseri, but its slender, walking-stick-like ste 
