440 FiLiCES. [Auf/iopteris. 



SERIES I. SPURIOUS PERKS. 

 Sjwre-cases sessile or shortly ipediceUate, opening at the top or olliquely hy a longitudinal 

 fissure in 2 valves, without any or loith an incomplete or transverse ring. 



1. AK"aiOPTERIS, Hoffm. 



Sori oblong-, raised, placed side by side in a continuous row near the mar- 

 gin on the under surface of the frond-segments ; each sorus consisting of a 

 small number of spore-cases arranged in two rows, at first connate, at length 

 distinct, and all opening inwards in 2 short valves. Indusium none. Fronds 

 large and decompound. 



A genus consisting of a single species. 



1. A. evecta, Hoffm.; Hook. Fil. Exot. t. li>. Stem forming an erect 

 thick trunk, sometimes attaining 2 or 3 ft. in height, and even more in diameter. 

 I'ronds twice pinnate, spreading very broad, and sometimes 12 to 15 ft. long, 

 on a more or less downy stipes, but otherwise quite glabrous, dark-green, 

 and shining. Segments linear- oblong, 3 to 8 in. long, abruptly acuminate, 

 crenate-serrate or rarely entire. Veins simple, forked, nearly parallel. Sori 

 usually consisting of 8 to 13 spore-cases. 



Hongkong, Bov:man, Wilford. In S. Asia, from Ceylon and the Peninsula to the Archi- 

 pelago, in the Pacific islands, Bonin and Japan, and in Madagascar. It varies in the form 

 and venation of the frond-segments, hut not nearly to the extent one might suppose from 

 its having heen proposed to suhdivide it into 60 species, very judiciously re-nuited with the 

 original one hy Hooher in the ahove-quoted work. 



2. OSMUNDA, Linn. 



Spore-cases stipitate, globular, without any ring, opening in 2 valves, 

 densely clustered and covering the contracted segments of a portion of the 

 frond or rarely of separate fronds. Indusium none. — Herbaceous Ferns, with 

 a thick rhizome. Fronds erect, once or twice pinnate. 



A small genus, spread over the greater portion of the glohe. 

 Fronds twice pinnate, the fertile branches forming a terminal panicle or 



a separate frond \. 0. regalis. 



Fronds twice pinnate, the fertile branches lateral 2. 0. bipinnata. 



Fronds once pinnate, the fertile brauches lateral 3. 6>. javanica. 



1. Oo regalis, Linu. ; Hook, in Kew Jouni. Bot. ix. 360, var. blformis. 

 Fronds twice pinnate, \\ to 2 ft. high in our Hongkong specimens, but often 

 very much taller in other countries, quite glabrous. Barren segments oblong- 

 lanceolate, 1 to 2 in. long, serrulate or nearly entire, very oblique at the base. 

 Fertile segments linear, \ to 1 in. long, on separate fronds from the barren 

 ones in our Hongkong specimens as in many Indian ones, forming in the 

 more common variety a terminal panicle above the barren branches. — 

 0. japouica, Thunb. Fl. Jap. 330. 



In ravines, Harland, Urqiihart, Wilford. "Widely distributed over Asia, Europe, North 

 America and South Africa; the variety biformis, chiefly in India, China, and Japan. 



2. O. bipinnata, //ooA'. Fd. Exot. t. 9. Fronds l^ to 2 ft. high or 

 more, glabrous, bipinnate. Larger barren primary pinuEe attaining 4 in. in 

 length, with about 10 pair of oblong-ovate segments, each about \ in. long, 

 with a terminal oblong or lanceolate one full twice as long, the upper pinnag 



