FILICES. 



83 



very thick and erect or ascending, closely covered by the persistent 

 bases of former fronds, without dark stripes in their interior when 

 cut longitudinally. Fronds all similar, many produced from the 

 extremity of each division or crown, ascending or erect, and arching 

 backwards, sub-evergreen. Stipes long (one-third as long to as long as 

 the lamina), stout, deeply channelled on the anterior face, containing 

 5 or 7 vascular bundles, usually more or less thickly sprinkled with 

 minute stalked glands, but often glabrous and without glands, rather 

 thickly clothed with lanceolate and strapshaped tapering entire or 

 subdenticulate brown scales, which have almost always a dark central 

 stripe, and are mostly persistent. Lamina firm or subcoriaceous, dull 

 green, usually sprinkled beneath with more or less numerous clavate 

 glands, but sometimes without glands, oblong-lanceolate or oblong- 

 ovate or ovate-lanceolate, rarely triangular-ovate or triangular-lan- 

 ceolate (at least in mature and healthy plants), tapering gradually 

 towards the apex, abrupt or truncate at the base, tripinnate or 

 quadripinnate, rarely only bipinnate ; lowest pair of pinna? unequally 

 triangular, with the 2 basal pinnules on the lower side of the secondary 

 rachis much longer than those on the upper side, nearly as long as 

 the succeeding pair of pinnae ; the others usually becoming gradually 

 longer and narrower as far as one-third of the lamina, after which 

 they gradually decrease in length (or rarely the second pair of pinnae 

 or even the first are longer than the others), shortly stalked, bipin- 

 nate, more rarely tripinnate or only pinnate ; pinnules convex or 

 flat, lanceolate-oblong ; those towards the base of the lamina stalked 

 and pinnate, more rarely bipinnate, and very rarely only pinnati- 

 partite ; those towards the apex of the frond usually separate from 

 each other and pinnatipartite or inciso-pinnatifid ; most of them 

 adnate by a narrow base, but decurrent upon the lower side ; ulti- 

 mate pinnules or ultimate lobes flat or with the margins recurved, 

 inciso-serrate, with the teeth strongly incurved and very strongly 

 mucronate. Ultimate veins rather faintly impressed on the upper' 

 surface, all running to the teeth of the ultimate segments except the 

 first anterior branch. Sori occupying the whole frond, attached 

 to the back of the first anterior branch of the ultimate mid-veins, 

 forming a line on each side of the ultimate pinnules or ultimate 

 segments about equidistant from the mid- vein and the margin of the 

 pinnule or segment, and extending nearly to its apex. Indusium 

 thin, soon shrivelling, subpersi stent, roundish-reniform, nearly fiat 

 or slightly convex, with a few clavate or stalked glands round the 



