StT. RuoDospERME^i. Faui. Spharococcoklece. 



Plate CCXXIX. 



NITOPHYLLUM PRISTOIDEUM, iiaw. 



Gi!;x. Guar. Frond membranaceous, expanded, areolate, unsym metrical, 

 nerveless or irregularly veined. Fructification : 1, hemispherical cwi- 

 ceptacles, sessile on the frond, containing a tuft of moniliform spore- 

 threads, on a basal placenta; 2, tripartite tetraspores, in definite sori 

 or spots, scattered, or confined to some part of the frond. — Nixo- 

 PHYLLUM [Grev.), from nitor, 'to shine,^ and (^vWov, a leaf. 



Frons membranacea, expansa, areolata, vagefssa, enervin v. bast vennlis irregii- 

 laribus peragrata. Fruct. : 1, coccidla frondi sessilia, hemispharica, Jila 

 sporiftra muniliformia a placenta basalt emissa foventia ; 2, tetrasporce trtan- 

 gule divisa, in soros definttos collects. 



l!\iTOPH\LLVM pristoide?/m ; stipes elongate, thickened, but scarcely ribbed; 

 frond narrow-linear, deeoinpound, much branched, dichotomous, the 

 minor segments tlabelliform ; the margin denticulate; apices blunt; 

 axils wide ; membrane rigid, com])osed of several rows of cells; cysto- 

 carps globose, scattered ; sori minute, oval, clustered near the ends 

 of the segments. 



N. pristoideum ; stipite elongnto incrassato subecodato ; fronde aiigi(stissinia 

 lineari decomposito-raniosissima dichototua ; lactitiis ndnoribus JlubcU if or mi- 

 bus ; margine dentato ; apicibus obtiish ; axillis apertis ; mcmbrana rigidius- 

 cula, stratis plitribus cfllularuiu constituta ; cystocarpiis spar sis ; sorts minutis 

 ovalibus apicem versus laciniarum aggregatis. 



NlTOPHYLLUM pristojdeuin, Ilarv. in Herb. Alg. Anstr. Exsic. n. 292. 



Hab. South Australia, Br. Curdie. Port Fairy and Western Port, IF. II. H. 



Warnamboul, H. IFatts, n. 137. 

 Geogr. Distr. South Coast of Australia. 



Descr. Root discoid. Frond 4-6-S inches loiij^, and 3-G in the expansion of 

 the segments. Stipes ]-2 lines wide, S-i inches long or more, siujple or 

 branclied, flexuous, thickened and somewhat opaque in the centre, but 

 scarcely riljbed. Frond excessively decompound, with irregidarly dichoto- 

 mous ramification ; the minor divisions flabelliforra and fasligiate, but the 

 general outline irregular ; the greater and lesser branches and their divisions 

 all of nearly uniform breadth, 1-2, rarely 3 lines wide, linear, uniformly 

 denticulate at the margin ; the axils wide and the apices blunt. Cgstocarps 

 hemispherical, scattered over the membrane, but most frequent near the 

 ends of the segments. Sori dot-like, oval, prominent, crowded together in 

 t.lie ultimate divisions of the frond. Colour a full dark-red, becoming 

 brownish-red in the herbarium. Substance rather rigidly membranous. In 



