Ser. Melanosperme/e. Fain. Sjwrochnoideoi. 



Plate CCXXVI. 



SPOROCHNUS SCOPARIUS, iiarv. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, solid, pinnately decompound. Receptacles 

 pod-shaped, pedicellate (rarely sessile), crowned with a tuft of soft 

 hairs, and densely covered with whorled, branching, sporiferous fila- 

 ments. Spores obovoid, attached to the sides of the filaments. — 

 Sporochnus {/Iff.), from a7ropo<;, a seed, and %yoo9, wool, because 

 tufts of soft hairs crown the fructification. 



Frons fUformis, solida, pinnat'mi ramosa. Receptacnla sillqufpformia, pedicel- 

 lata (rarissme sessiliaj, apice comosa, paranematibiis ramosis horlzonlalibus 

 verticellatis densissime vestita. Spora obovoidece, ad paranemata laterales. 



Sporochnus scoparius; frond terete, rigid, robust, tree-like (2-3 feet 

 liigh) ; stem velvety ; branches dense, spreading to all sides, decom- 

 pound-pinnate, angular, glabrous, the smaller ones erect, straight, 

 sparsely spinous, subalternate ; receptacles oval or oblong, on pe- 

 duncles much longer than themselves. 

 S. scoparius ; fronde terete rigida crassa dendroidea (2-S-pedali) ; caule velu- 

 thio ; ramis c?'eberrimis undiqiie effredientibiis decomposito-pinnatis angulatis 

 glabi'is, mhtoribus erectis strictis sjjarse spinosis subulterim ; receptacid'is ovali- 

 biis aid oblongis jjedicellum ijms multiple longius coronantibus. 



Sporochnus scoparius, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Jcad. v. 22. p. 535. 



II AB. Garden and Rottnest Islands, and at Cape Eiche, JF. II. II. 



Geogr. Distr. West and south-west coasts of Austraha. 



Descr. Root a large conical mass, coated with woolly fibres, and sometimes an 

 inch in diameter and height. Fronds soUtary, tree-like, very robust at base, 

 and coated for a considerable distance upwards with velvety hairs ; the 

 stem simple or forked, set throughout with closely placed, erect, or erecto- 

 patent branches, which are repeatedly decompouud. Old fronds are very 

 bushy. All the divisions are remarkably straight and erect, with acute 

 axils ; the terminal are setaceous, tlie smaller brauches laxly set with small 

 erect or appressed spines, or bare. The young receptacle is globose or el- 

 liptical, the older obovoid, conical at base : the tufts of filaments are of 

 much darker colour and rather more rigid and persistent than in most other 

 species. The colour is a dark olive-brown, becoming darker in drying. The 

 substance is rigid ; the young frond adheres imperfectly to paper, the old 

 does not adhere. 



Tliis species is in many respects allied to S. rndiciformis, 

 figured on the preceding Plate, but is a much more robust and 



