1. PLATYZOMA. 2. GLEICHENIA, EUGLEICHENJA. 11 



ORD. FILICES. Ferns. 



Capsules (sporangia) 1 -celled, usually membranaceous and dorsal, or marginal, 

 encircled by a complete or incomplete, jointed, elastic ring, collected in clusters 

 (sori} of a definite but varied form, with or without a covering (involucre, often 

 called indusium) ; or panicled or even spicate, rarely laxly scattered ; or the 

 capsules have the ring obsolete, or none, or the ring is confined to the apex of the 

 capsule, where it forms a longitudinally striated crown, bursting vertically ; or 

 the capsules are sunk in a many-celled, fleshy or corky receptacle of varied forms, 

 opening by pores or clefts on the upper surface. Spores minute, various in form. 

 Vernation generally circinate, rarely erect. GEN. 1-75. TAB. I.-IX. Fig. 1-75. 



SUB-ORD. I. GLEICHENIACE^E, Br. 



Sori dorsal, of few (2-10) capsules. Capsules opening vertically, surrounded by 

 a broad, transverse, complete ring. Invol. O. Caud. mostly creeping. St. often 

 dichotomous. Fronds rigid, generally large and dichotomously branched, frequently 

 bearing axillary buds. Vernation circinate. (GEN. 1, 2.) TAB. I. f. 1, 2, 



GEN. 1. PLATYZOMA, Br. 



Sori of few sessile caps. (" mixed with a pulverulent substance," Br.}, arising 

 from the apex of simple veinlets, and concealed by the singularly revolute mar- 

 gins of the pinnse. Caudex creeping, beautifully sericeo-paleaceous.* Stipites tufted. 

 Fronds 8 in. to 1 ft. 1., pinnated, with small, coriaceous, cucullate pinnae, scarcely 

 1 line 1. TAB. I. f. 1. 



1. P. micropliyllum, BY. Ilk. Sp.l.p.2.' 



Hab. Trop. and subtrop. Australia. A genus too nearly allied to Gleichenia. 



GEN. 2. GLEICHENIA, 8m. 



Sori of few (2-4 rarely 5-10) sessile caps., situated on a lower exterior veinlet. 

 Caud. mostly creeping. Fr. rarely unbranched, generally dichotomously divided, 

 often proliferous from the axils of the forks ; pinme deeply pinnatifid, with the seg- 

 ments small and concave, suborbicular, or pectinate with elongated lobes. TAB. I. f. 2. 



Eugleichenia. Soti solitary at the apex of a veinlet on the superior base of a 

 lobe ; lobes of the pinnae small, suborbicular. Sp. 1-6. 



1. G. (Eugl.)moniliformif, Moore ; caud. slender, substipitiform, erect,branched ; 

 st. tufted, 3-4 in. 1. ; fr. coriaceous, 8-12 in. 1., 3 in. br., linear, deeply pinnatifid ; 

 lobes numerous, broad, concave beneath ; sori solitary, mixed with ferruginous 

 hairs. Stromatopteris, Mett. in Ann. Sc. N. 1861, p. 84. t. 3. 



Hab. New Caledonia, Vieillard, n. 1571. A very remarkable species, but scarcely 

 differing from the present genus. 



2. G.(Eugl.}polypodioides, Sm. ; lobes of ihepinnce ovate, glaucous beneath; caps. 

 3-4, sunk in a cavity forming a flat-topped sorus. Schk. F. t. 149; Hk. Sp. 1. 

 p. 3. G. glauca, Sw. (non Hk. Sp. 1. p. 4). 



Hab. S. Afr. ; Cape Colony (north to Angola, Welwitsch). 



3. G. (Eugl.) drcinata, Sw. ; lobes of the pinnos ovate or subrotund (most so 

 when fertile), more or less glaucous beneath, the margins slightly recurved ; caps*. 

 3-4, superficial, branches and rachis glabrous, or more or less clothed with chaffy 

 pubescence. G. microphylla, Br. Hk. Sp. I. p. 3. G. Speluncse, Br. Hk. Sp. I. 

 p. 2. 1. 1. B. ; Guill. Ic. PL Amir. 1. 12. G. semivestita, Lab. Sert.N. Cal. 1. 11 ; Hk. 

 Sp. 1. p. 3. t. 2. A (rachises and young fr. very paleaceo-pubeseent). 



Hab. Australia, Tasmania, N. Zeal., N. Caledonia, Malacca. 



