140 CHARACTERS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 



free. Fertile pinnae plain, sometimes only partially con- 

 tracted, sporaiigiferous on the under side ; margin mem- 

 braneous, sub-induseeform. 



Type. Acrostichum sorbifolium, Linn. 



Jllust. Hook. Gard. Ferns, t. 57 ; Moore Ind. Fil., p. 3, A ; 

 J. Sm. Ferns, Brit, and For., fig. 38. 



OBS. In my "Arrangement of the Genera of Ferns," in 

 1841, 1 adopted Acrostichum scandens, Linn., as the type of 

 a distinct genus, which I named Stenochlcena, to which I 

 also referred A. sorbifolia of Linn., and A. longifolia, Kaulf. ; 

 but not long after this was done, the three species came 

 under my notice in a living state, and I then found that 

 A. scandens differed from the two latter in having a trans- 

 verse anastomose costal vein like that of Blechnum ; this 

 character indicates its relationship to be with Blechnum , 

 the other two species being truly acrostichoid, and allied 

 to a group of fifteen species which Fee places under the 

 present genus ; but on account of the variableness of the 

 forms which come under this genus, it is difficult to 

 determine which are species. In the " Species Filicum " 

 no less than eighteen specific names and five genera are 

 given as synonyms under L. sorbifolia; but it is quite 

 probable that when seen under cultivation some of these 

 forms may be found to be quite distinct species, of which 

 L. sorbifolia and L. longifolia are proofs. They are 

 widely dispersed over the Tropics of the Western and 

 Eastern Hemisphere, and also represented in New 

 Zealand. 



Sp. L. sorbifolia (Linn.) (v v.) ; L. longifolia (Kaulf.) (v v.), 

 (Lowe's New Ferns, t. 37) ; L. Tapurense, Hook. (Gard. 

 Ferns, t. 57) ; L, Smithii, Fee Acrost. p. 74, t. 33, fig. 2, 

 (Stenochlcena longifolia, J. Sm.) L. Boryana, Fee Acrost., 

 t. 27 j L. leptocarpa, Fee (Acrost., t. 29) ; L. cuspidata, Fee 



