70 DICKSONIA. 



sterile fronds are dark green above, pale beneath ; the segments of the pin- 

 nre hirger; the fructifications are siniihir, but the involucres are yellow, not 

 reddisli-brown as is usually the case. 



8. T). Culciia, L'Herit.; camlex creeping, stipes with dense 

 long lulvous silky hair at the base, fronds triangular 4-pin- 

 nalc subcoriaeeous glabrous, ])innules ovato-cuneale inciso- 

 serrate or lanceolate and ])innatifid, fertile ones somewhat 

 contracted, son rather large 1 — 3 on each lobe or pinnule, 

 involucres renifonn on the anterior margin, the valves both 

 concave n -arly equal. — Cidcita macrocarpa, Pr. Hook. Gen. 

 Fil. t. (JO, A. Balantiura Culcita, Kaiilf. 



Hab. ^ladeira and the Azores, Musson and other travellers. In the latter 

 island on mountains of 2 — 3000 feet of elevation, Gut/mic, H. C. Watson. 

 A well known and beautiful Fern, as far as I know, confined to the islands 

 just mentioned. I can see no reason for separating this from Dicksonia 

 (I5a1;tntiura, Kanlf.), as Presl has done under the generic name of Culcita, 

 and whose characters rest on the semilunate involucre, with the two valves 

 alike, the transverse, linear and crest-shaped receptacle and large sori : 

 while Mr. J. Smith retains the genus Culcita on the ground of the 

 " slightly oblong and coriaceous texture of the frond with the remarkable 

 criniferous rhizoma." 



9. D. co)iiifolia, Hook.; caudex creeping?, fronds ample 

 lax quadiipinnate membranaceous glabrous, ultimate pin- 

 nules small lanceolate acuminate distant inciso-pinnatifid, the 

 segments short oblong obtusely bi-tridentate, ultimate rachis 

 com])resscd winged, main rachis woolly especially on one side, 

 iertile pinnules scarcely contracted, sori large renifonn termi- 

 nating a short tooth membranaceous brown, the valves nearly 

 equal of the same texture. (Tab. XXIV. A.) 



Ilab. ViiYaccas, Linden, n. 538. — The caudex and stipes are unknown to 

 me: they ))robably resemble D. Culcita, with which the involucres exactly 

 agree; but the species is very different. Primary pinns \\ foot long, 8 — 

 12 inches broad, supradecompound, lax and membranaceous, the general 

 appearance resembling that of the leaf of some umbelliferous plant. Sori 

 very large, dark brown, on short teeth or segments. 



10. D. Martiana, Kl. ; caudex creeping.'', fronds quadri- 

 ])innate, pinnae lanceolate subpetiolate acuminate membra- 

 naceous but firm pinnatifid, the segments lanceolato-cuneate 

 lower ones again subpinnatifid, teeth or segments acute, veins 

 obscure internal, sori rare solitary in the axil of a tooth or lobe 

 transversely oblong or renifonn, valves convex nearly equal, 

 lower one a little smaller, ])rincipal rachis with copious lax 

 arachnoid rusty hairs. (Tai}. XXIV. B.) — Klotzch, MS. in 

 Herb. Rey. Berol. et in Herb. noHtr. 



Hab. S. Brazil, Sellow. — A peculiar looking species, apparently having 

 anijdc much divided fronds with something the habit of a Poh/stichum, 

 Schotl, of a firm texture, not glossy, with obsolete veins, everywhere gla- 

 ludus. Rachis slender, zigzag. 



