Ser. Rhodospermb/E. Fam. Cri/ptonemiacea. 



Plate LXXXIX. 

 EPYMENIA MEMBRANACEA, Harv. 



Gen. Char. Frond below ribbed and caulescent, above expanded in flat, 

 forked laminge, composed of two strata ; the medullary of oblong, 

 coloured cells; the cortical of vertically seriated, minute cellules. 

 Fructification borne on proper fruit-leaflets, springing from the la- 

 minae : \,faveU(B seated on a basal placenta, within a thick, hemi- 

 spherical pericarp ; 2, cruciate tetraspores, dispersed among the cor- 

 tical cellules of the leaflet. — Epymenia {Kiltz.), from eirt, upon, and 

 vfir^v, a membrane ; because the fructification is epiphyllous. 



Froyis hiferne costata et caulescens, sii?'simi in luminas planus siibdichotomas ex- 

 pansa, stratis duobus contexta ; strata medidlari cellidls majusculis oblongis 

 coloratis, corticaVi celluUs miidmis verticaUier ordinatis composlto. Fructus 

 utriusque generis in sporoplujllis propriis evolutus : \, favellfe intra pericar- 

 piiim hemisp/i^erice elevatum crassum ad placentam basalem sessiles ; 2, tetra- 

 sporce sparsce, cruciatim divisce. 



Epymenia memhranacea ; frond stipitate, ribbed below, the stipes winged, 

 cuneate upwards, and expanding into a repeatedly dichotomous, flabel- 

 liform, thinly but rigidly membranous lamina ; axils rather narrow, 

 apices narrowed to an obtuse point ; couceptacles one or two on each 

 fruit-leaflet. 

 E. memhranacea ; fronde stipitata inferne costata ; stipite alato sursimi cuneato 

 infrondem repetite dicltotomam flabellatam tenui-membranaceam rigidiusculam 

 expayiso ; axilUs angustis, apicibus subangustatis obtusiusculis ; cgstocarpiis in 

 pJiyllo soUtariis binisve. 

 Epymenia membranacea, Harv. in Hoo/c. Ft. Tasm. v. 2. (ined.). 

 Hab. In the Tamar, at Georgetown, Tasmania, JF. H. H., C. Stuart. 

 Geogr, Distr. Tasmania. 



Descr. Root a hard disc. Fronds somewhat tufted, 6-10 inches long, and as 

 much in expansion. Stipes \-2\ inches long, about a hne broad, rigid and 

 firm, cylindrical, with a narrow wing at each side. Upwards the wing 

 widens into the cuneate base of the lamina, and the thick and rigid stipes 

 degenerates into a midrib, and is soon lost in the widening membrane. 

 The lamina is 4-5 times regularly forked ; its general outhne is flabeUi- 

 form, and its segments are broadly linear, i-f or nearly 1 inch broad, sepa- 

 rated by narrow axils, and slightly tapering upwards to an obtuse but not 

 abrupt point. The substance of the frond is very thin and semitransparent, 

 but rigid, without any tendency to adhere to paper in dryhig. l:\x& colour, 

 when fresh, is rather deep, somewhat purpurasceut red ; fading, on expo- 



