440 69 ANGIOPTERIS. 70. MARATTIA, EUMARATTIA. 



GEN. 69. ANGIOPTERIS, Hoffin. 



Caps, opening by a slit down the side, sessile, very close to one another but not 

 concrete, arranged in linear-oblong or boat-shaped sori near the edge of the frond. 

 TAB. IX. fig. 69. 



1. A. evecta, Hoffm. ; caud. erect, 2-6 ft. high, 1^-2 ft. thick ; st. swollen and 

 articulated at the base, furnished with two large leathery auricles, which remain 

 attached to the caudex after it falls ; fr. 6-15 ft, 1., bipinnate ; pinnaz 1-3 ft. L, 

 spreading, the lowest the largest, the rachis swollen at the base ; pinnl. 4-12 

 in. L, ^-1^ in. br., linear-oblong, sessile or short-stalked, the point acuminate, 

 the edge entire or slightly toothed ; texture subcoriaceous ; both sides naked, 

 smooth, shining ; veins subparallel ; sori consisting of 8-15 caps., in close rows 

 near the edge, almost hiding the inferior fimbriated involucre. Hk. fy Gr. 

 t. 36. Hk. Fil. Ex. t. 75. 



Hab. Himalayas and Japan to Ceylon, Madagascar, New Caledonia, Queensland, and 

 Society Isles. We cannot determine more than one clearly-marked species, but Presl 

 defines ten, and De Vriese sixty. There is a considerable range of variation in the tex- 

 ture of the pinnae and closeness of the veins and sori, and the number of capsules which 

 compose the latter ; and in many of the forms there is a free veinlet, which is very 

 variable in length and distinctness, which begins at the edge of the frond in the inter- 

 space between the veins proper. Psilodochea salicifolia, Presl, is an entirely obscure 

 plant, supposed to have been gathered in Lahore, said to be like Angiopteris, but without 

 an involucre. 



GEN. 70. MARATTIA, Sm. 



Caps, sessile or stalked, 4-12, concrete in boat-shaped synangia, which consist 

 of two opposite rows of capsules, and open by slits down their inner faces. A 

 well-marked genus, extending all round the world within the Tropics, and a little 

 beyond the southern one. TAB. IX. fig. 70. 



Eumarattia. Synangia furnished with an obscure fimbriated inferior invo- 

 lucre. Sp. 1-2. 



1. M..fraxinea, Smith ; st. 1-2 ft. 1., 1-1^ in. thick, smooth, deciduously scaly 

 and swollen in the lower part ; fr. 6-15 ft. L, bipinnate or casually tripinnate ; 

 pinnce 1-2 ft. L, often 1 ft. br. ; pinnl. oblong-lanceolate, 4-6 in. 1., |-1^ in. br., 

 the apex acuminate, the edge entire or serrulate, the base cuneate or slightly- 

 rounded ; texture coriaceous ; surfaces naked ; veins simple or forked, the rachis 

 of the pinnse sometimes slightly winged ; synangia usually submarginal, in close 

 rows, |-1^ lin. L, the sides vertical, the receptacle linear, with 6-12 caps, on 

 each side. 



Hab. Guinea Coast, Angola, Zambesi-land, Mascaren Isles, Natal, Cape Colony, Neil- 

 gherries, Ceylon, Philippines, Malaccas, Polynesia, New Zealand, Queensland, Norfolk 

 Island. The typical plant (Smith, Ic. inedit. t. 48 ; Beddome, t. 79) has pinnules 1-1 ^ 

 in. br., serrulate principally at the apex, numerous forked veins, and submarginal synan- 

 gia, with 10-12 caps, on each side. To this belong M. sorbifolia, Bory, and M. elegans, 

 Endl. From this we cannot separate clearly many plants which have been regarded as 

 distinct ; of which the principal are M. salictfolia, Schrad. (Kze. t. 38), including M. Dre- 

 giana and nataleiisis, Presl (South Africa), pinnules sharply toothed throughout, often 

 only - 1 in. br., veins more distant, synangia with about 6 caps, on each side, not so 

 close or so near the edge ; M. salicina, tSm., De Vriese, tab. 3. fig. 18 (Society Isles), 



species, and give nine large folio plates to illustrate the characters of these and the ana- 

 tomical structure of the genera. In all of them the caudex is a succulent irregularly- 

 shaped tuberous mass, upon which the stems are articulated, and the latter are furnished 

 at the base with a pair of large flap-like auricles, which are leathery in texture when dry. 



