216 38. ASPLENIUM, EUASPLENIUM. 



flabell ate segm., 1-2 lin. br., sharply toothed on the outer edge ; texture coriaceous ; 

 rachis firm, grey, naked ; veins subflabellate ; sori oblong, usually one only to a 

 segm. Hk. Sp*. 3. p. 183. t. 204. 



Hab. Brazil and Ecuador. Mettenius makes here two species ; one, A . divergens, Mett. 

 (Burchell, 2374, 4671), a foot or more long, with pinnules toothed only ; the other 

 smaller (Burchell, 3508), with pinnatifid and flaccid decurved main rachis and pinnse ; 

 but our figure is midway between them. 



131. A. fragrans, Swartz ; st. tufted, 4-8 in. 1., firm, naked, erect, brownish 

 below; fr. 6-9 in. 1., 3-4 in. br., subdeltoid, tripinnate, with numerous close- 

 placed deltoid pinnae on each side, the lowest 3 in. 1., 1| in. br. ; pinnL lan- 

 ceolate-deltoid ; segm. subspathulate, 1 lin. br., dentate round the outer edge ; 

 texture subcoriaceous ; rachis firm, naked ; veins fine, obscure, one in each tooth 

 of the segm. ; sori copious, at last often covering the whole under surface of the 

 segm. /3, A. fceniculaceum, H. B. K. ; ult. segm. narrowly linear. Hk. Sp. 3. 

 p. 181. 



Hab. Tropical America, from Mexico and the West Indies to Peru and Brazil. The 

 two varieties seem to be quite connected by gradual intermediate gradations. 



132. A. Blakistoni, Baker ; st. tufted, 3-4 in. 1., firm, erect, greenish, nearly 

 naked ; fr. 4-5 in. 1., 3 in. br., ovate-deltoid, with numerous imbricated pinnae ', 

 the lowest deltoid, 2 in. 1., 1-1 j in. br. ; pinnl. lanceolate, cut down to the rachis 

 into distant linear-cuneate sharply-toothed segm. ; texture subcoriaceous ; rachis 

 firm, naked ; veins obscure, one in each segment ; sori copious. 



Hab. Province of Szchuan, West China, Capt. Bldkiston. This comes nearest to some 

 of the more finely divided forms of the preceding. 



Group of A. lanceolatum. Texture herbaceous or slightly coriaceous. Venation 

 pinnate. Fronds 4-8 in. long, lanceolate. Sp. 133-136. 



133. A. fontanum, Bernh. ; st. tufted, 2-4 in. 1., wiry, slender, naked, 

 greenish ; fr. 3-6 in. 1., 1-1^ in. br., oblong-lanceolate, with numerous pinnae on 

 each side, the lower ones short and reflexed, the central ones horizontal, 

 -f in. 1., J-f in. br., cut down to the rachis into several stalked pinnl. on each 

 side, the lower ones oblong, deeply inciso-pinnatifid ; texture herbaceous ; rachis 

 and upper surface bright-green ; veins oblique ; sori copious, covering nearly 

 the whole under surface of the pinnl. Hk. Sp. 3. p. 193. Brit. F. t. 34. 

 /3, A. Bourgcei, Boiss ; pinnoe oblong, blunt, in. 1., ^ in. br., cut down about 

 halfway to the rachis into oblong sharply-toothed lobes, most of them somewhat 

 decurved. 



Hab. England to Spain, Naples, and Greece ; Lycia ; Himalayas. A.refractum, Moore 

 (Nat. Brit. F. t. 35), only known in cultivation, comes very near var. (3, but has a chesnut- 

 coloured rachis, and larger, closer, and more distinctly reflexed pinnae. A. exiguum, 

 Beddome, from the Neilgherries, seems to be a less-divided form of this, with narrow 

 fronds and an ebeneous rachis. A similar plant has been gathered in Mexico by Mr. 

 Glennie, and a long narrow-fronded form, but with broader and more divided pinnse, in 

 Japan by Mr. Wright. 



134. A. varians, Hk. & Gr. ; st. tufted, 1-3 in. 1., slender, naked, greenish ; 

 fr. 4-6 in. 1., 1 in. br., oblong-lanceolate, with 8-12 pinnae on each side, the lower 

 ones subdeltoid, ^-f in. 1., |- in. br., cut down to the rachis into a few cuneato- 

 flabellate pinnl., the lowest 2 lin. across, sharply toothed on the outer edge ; 

 texture herbaceous ; rachis slender, naked, green ; veins one carried into each 

 tooth ; sori copious, when mature covering nearly the whole under surface of 

 the pinnl. Hk. Sp. 3. p. 192. Hk. & Gr. Ic. t. 172. 



Hab. Himalayas, Neilgherries, Ceylon, Cape Colony, Caffraria, Natal. 



