280 CHARACTERS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 



OBS. The yellow farina characteristic of this species 

 seems to indicate its affinity to be with Cheilanthes auran- 

 tiaca and 0. chrysophylla, but its rudimentary indusium 

 required it to be placed under the present genus. 



156. MTRIOPTERIS, Fee (1851). 

 Cheilanthes sp. auct. ; Hook. Sp. Fil. 



Vernation fasciculate, csespitose, acaulose, rarely sarmen- 

 tose. Fronds 4 to 18 inches high, bi-tri-quadri-pinnatifid, 

 pilose, squamiferous or viscose, ultimate segments minute, 

 generally orbicular or cuneiform, concave, the margin 

 membraneous, revolute, conniving, forming an universal 

 cucullate indusium. Veins forked, free. Receptacles ter- 

 minal. Sporangia few, confluent under the universal 

 indusium. 



Type. Cheilanthes lendigera, Swartz. 



Illust. Fee Gen. Fil., t. 12 A., fig. 1 ; Moore Ind. Fil., 

 p. 26, fig. 67. ; J. Sm. Ferns, Brit, and For., fig. 87. 



OBS. Presl was the first to indicate this as a distinct 

 group of Cheilanthes, under the sectional name Physapteris, 

 and Fee afterwards characterised it as a separate genus 

 under the name here adopted. This genus consists of 

 about twenty species, distinguished from Nothochlcena and 

 Cheilanthes by their small, concave, lenticular segments. 

 They are natives chiefly of the Andean regions of America, 

 extending to the Rocky Mountains in the North. 



Sp. M. lendigera (Sw.) (v v.) ; M. myriophylla (Desv.) 

 (v v.) ; M. elegans (Desv.) (v v.) ; M. tomentosa (Link.) 

 (v v.) ; M. scariosa (Kaulf.) ; M. induta (Kze.) ; M. lanu- 

 ginosa (Nuttall) ; M. Bradburii (Hook.) ; M. vestita (Sw.) 

 (v v.) ; M. Lindheimeri (Hook.) ; M. Fendleri (Hook.) ; 

 M. Mac-Leanii (Hook,) ; M. gracillima (Eat.) ; M. hirta 



