94 



Throughout the whole world except the Arctic 

 Zone and temperate South America. 



GENUS XVI. DORYOPTERIS J. SMITH 



(Deriv. Dory, spear ; pteris, fern in allusion 

 to the shape of the fronds.) 



Fronds triangular or halberd-shaped or pal- 

 mately divided ; veins copiously anastomosing, 

 without free included veinlets. The rest as in 

 Pteris. 



Doryoptens ludens Bedd. (Pteris ludens Wall.) 



Rhizome creeping, scaly ; scales closely ad- 

 herent to the rhizome and having white margins. 

 Stipe arising at intervals from the rhizome, 

 black polished, slightly scaly, often hairy, 

 those of the barren frond 3-4 inches long, those 

 of the fertile up to 12 inches long. Fronds of 

 two kinds. Barren ones triangular to halberd- 

 shaped with two well-marked lobes, margin 

 entire. Fertile, fronds 4-6 inches each way, 

 deeply lobed and roughly palmate, the lobes 

 lanceolate and five in number, two basal, two 

 spreading and one terminal. The basal lobes 

 aredeflexedandoften forked. Texture leathery. 

 Midribs of the segments polished like the 



