118 CASSEBEERA. 



of Pteris, and part of Cheilantlies with the original species of Cassebeera, I 

 fiiifl that several of the species of both these Genera {Pteris and Cheitan- 

 thes) so well agree in habit and in structure of the sori, that I have been 

 induced to place them under Cassebeera.'^ Marlius in his admirable illus- 

 iralion of Cass, pinnata (Tc. Plant, Crypt. Brasil. p. 91, tab. 61) dwells 

 wholly upon its distinction from Adiantiim and Luulsaa, with which it has 

 little in common. It may be very difficult to define tlie Genus accurately 

 in words ; but I am clearly of opinion that if retained at all, and no one 

 seems to doubt the propriety of so doins^, it should be restricted to the ori- 

 ginal species : — if abolished it would be difficult to say which of the esta- 

 blished Genera should receive them. I cannot ap;ree to the observation of 

 Presl, " Genus hoc {Cassebeera) magis arlificiale quam naturale est." 



* Fronds digitate or pedale. 



1. Cass, triphylla, Kaulf. ; frond tripartite or digitatedly 

 pedate, segments lanceolate crenato-lobate. — Kaulf. Ennm. 



Fit. p. 216. Hook. Gen. Fil. t. Q6, A. Adiantum tripbyl- 

 lum, Smith, Ic. i/wd. t. 74. Swartz, Syn. Fil. p. 120. 



Willd. Sp. PL V. p. 428. 



Hah. Buenos Ayres, Comnwrson. Monte Video and South Brazil, Sel- 

 low, Isabelle, Tweedie. Porto Alegre, Mr. Fox, {in Herb, nostr.) — It is 

 quite a mistake in those who have described this Fern as if it were triphyl- 

 lous, or trifoliolate, or ternate: so far from there being 3 distinct leaflets or 

 pinna?, the normal form I suspect to be pedate, that is deeply divided into 

 3 segments (or tripartite), with the lateral segments again divided, but 

 never into separate pieces. The true nature of this frond is given at t. 

 66, A., of our ' Genera Filicum,' in the more usual form of the plant, when 

 the lower lateral segments are suppressed : but there are never distinct 

 leaflets or pinna; as in the following species. — The caudex is stout, hori- 

 zontal, 2 inches long, clothed with subulate, black, glossy scales ; on the 

 underside with numerous descending wiry librous roots ; above throwing 

 up many crowded, wiry, almost black, ebeneous, flexuose stipites, 3 — 6 

 inches long, terminated by the, usually, deeply tripartite, small, coriaceous 

 frond. When dried without pressure, the sides are apt to be revolute, and 

 narrow : when perfect the segments are exactly lanceolate lobato-crenate : 

 less frequently the lower side of the lateral lobes or segments sends down a 

 lobe, constituting a pedate frond. The colour when dry is a pale brown, 

 traversed in every one of the lobes, for about half its length, by an intensely 

 black, shining costa, which gradually becomes fainter, till it entirely dis- 

 appears. In the young and thinner fronds, when held up between the eye 

 and the light, and with the aid of a lens, the forked rather closely placed 

 lateral veins, or veinlets, may be seen, from 2 to 4 terminating under each 

 involucre, according to the size of the lobe bearing the involucre, or to the 

 size of the involucre itself which covers ihem. I cannot find that of the sori 

 there are, as Presl and others express it, constantly, " duo sub qualibet 

 crena emarginata frondis," though it is very common for the lobe or lobule 

 which bears the sori to be emarginate. 



