

42 Underwood : The genus Stenochlaena 



:/•;.. §4. LOMARIOPSIS Fee 

 The numerous members of this section, which were so sum- 



mar 



from 



rootstocks rarely if ever armed with prickles, and pinnae con- 

 tinuous with the rachis form the most obvious characters. The 

 species are widely distributed and have thereby become notably 

 diverse in the various parts of the earth where they now appear. 

 As a rule the individual species have very clearly marked charac- 

 ters combined with a narrow geographic range. It is therefore 

 somewhat simpler to treat of the great continental regions sepa- 

 rately. The American species will form the subject of a separate 

 paper. The accompanying figures of normal lateral pinnae, drawn 

 natural size, will show something of the diversity of leaf-form in 

 the genus in the Old World. 



1. The species of Africa and its islands 



Willemet (1796) was the first to describe a species of this 

 group from Africa under the name of Osmunda pollicina. Later 



species have been separated by Bory, Fee, Kunze, Mettenius, 

 Kuhn, and Baker, who have each added a single species to the 

 flora, and an eighth is here published as new. The species range 

 from Sierra Leone to Fernando Po on the west coast and across 

 the continent to the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar. Their 

 differential characters will become apparent in the following 

 synopsis : 



Pinnae truncate at base. 



Pinnae 5 cm. or less long, those of the lowest third of the leaf gradually decreasing 



to mere auricles. 



II. S. decrescetis. 



Pinnae 15 cm. long, only the lowest 2-3 pairs slightly smaller. 



* 



Pinnae cuneate or rounded-obtuse at the base, never truncate. 



Lateral pinnae under 7 cm. long, rounded-obtuse at the base. 



16. S* Mannii. 



Pinnae pointed at the apex, 7 by 2 cm. ; pinnae of the sporophyls 7.5 cm. long 



by 5 mm. wide. 

 Pinnae rounded at the apex, suboval. 



20. S. pollicina. 



Pinnae of the sporophyls 10-12 mm. long by 2-3 mm. wide, obtuse at 



the apices. 



9. S. buxi folia. 



Pinnae of the sporophyls 3 cm. long by 4-5 mm. wide, pointed at the 

 apices. 15. s. lomarioides. 



Lateral pinnae 10-15 cm - or more l° n g> cuneate at the base. 



