410 PEECY SLADEN TRUST EXPEDITION 



This species, which was originally described from plants from the Seychelles, is 

 common in all the South-east African islands. The Malayan T. obscurum, Blume, 

 is very similar and very likely not specifically different. 



3. Htmenophyllum poltanthos, Sw. ; Baker, El. Maur. 462 ; C. Chr. Ind. 366. 

 Mahe, Home, 146 ! Gardiner ! Silhouette, on trees, 2000 feet, Gardiner ! 



Also found in Madagascar and tropical West Africa and widely spread in tropical 

 America. A closely allied species, H. Blumeamim, Spr., occurs in tropical Asia. 



4. Hymenophylltjm ciliatum, Sw. ; Baker, Fl. Maur. 462 ; C. Chr. Ind. 358. 

 Mahe, Gardiner ! Widely spread in the tropics. 



5. Hymenophyllum HYGROMETRicuM(Poir.), Desv. ; Baker, Fl. Maur. 463 ; C. Chr. Ind. 



362. 

 Mahe, Ferville, Some, Gardiner ! in jungle anywhere and at any altitude, on trees 

 or rocks. Silhouette, Gardiner ! 



The species is confined to the South-east African islands. 



CYATHEACE^. 



6. Cyathea sechellabtjm, Mett, ; Baker, El. Maur. 467. 

 Mahe, Home, 203 ! Silhouette, Gardiner ! 



Endemic. — I quote from the labels. Home says : " Common at and above 1000 ft. 

 in Mahe. Trunk in ravines 40-50 ft. Stipe 1-2 ft. Erond 4-9 ft. long, 2-4 ft. 

 broad." Gardiner : " Part of a tree-fern [from the summit of the island of Silhouette, 

 above 2120 ft.]. There are no trunks; the base rising only about 6 in. above ground." 

 Gardiner's specimen is sterile and may, of course, have been taken from a young 

 plant without a developed caudex. It is surprising that Gardiner did not collect the 

 species in Mahe, where in 1871 it was common, according to Home, which suggests 

 that it is nearly or quite extinct. [It is still found in the indigenous jungles of the hill- 

 tops of Central Mahe, but is disappearing. It was in a press from Mount Harrison 

 which went astray. — J. S. G.] 



POLYPODIACE^. 



7. Dryopteeis strigosa (Willd.), C. Chr. Ind. 295. — Aspidium strigosum,^\]ldi.; Kuhn, 



Bot. V. Ost-Afrika, 37. Nephrodiuin tomentosum, Baker, El. Maur. 496, pro parte. 

 I list this species with some doubt among the ferns of the Seychelles, as I have seen 

 only a single, rather scanty specimen from the islands {Home, 678), determined by 

 Baker as Nephroditim tomentosum. It does not belong to the true Dryopteris tomentosa 

 (Thouars), but rather to D. strigosa (Willd.), according to Kuhn's delimitation of that 

 species. Still the determination is rather doubtful, the basal pair of veins is truly united. 

 The species is known from the Mascarenes and Madagascar. 



