274 CHARACTERS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 



They are very widely distributed throughout the tropical 

 and temperate regions of the earth, growing on the ground 

 or in moist rocky places, but never epiphytal to my 

 knowledge. 



158. ADIANTUM, Linn. (1737). 

 Hook. Sp. Fit. 



Vernation fasciculate or uniserial, sarmentose, hypo- 

 geous. Fronds simple reniform, pinnate or bi-tripin- 

 nate ; pinnae and pinnules articulate with the apex of the 

 petiole, often dimediate with an excentric oblique costae, 

 in some evanescent. Feins unilateral or radiating, forked ; 

 sterile venules free, the fertile combined in the margin, 

 forming sori as described above. 



Type. Adiantum cappillus-veneris, Linn. 



Illust. Hook, and Bauer, Gen. Fil., t. 66, B ; Moore Ind. 

 Fil., p. 24; J. Sm. Ferns, Brit, and For., fig. 93; 

 Hook. Syn. Fil., t. 2, fig. 21. 



OBS. The following are examples of the principal spe- 

 cies of the genus, of which above forty have come under 

 my notice in a living state. 



1. Reniforme group. 

 Fronds simple, reniform. 



Sp. A. reniforme, Linn, (v v.) ; A. asarifolium, Willd. ; 

 A. Parishii, Hook. Fil. Exot., t. 11. 



2. Caudatum group. 

 Fronds pinnate, pinnce narrow. 



A, lunulatum, Burm. (v v.) ; A. rhizophorum, Sw. ; A. 

 Edgworthii, Hook. ; A. caudatum, Linn, (v v.) ; A. sorbo- 

 liferum, Wall. ; A. deltoideum, Sw. ; A. dolabriforme, 

 Hook, (v v.). 



