120 ONYCHIUM. 



6. Onyciiium, Kaulf. 



(Hook. Gen. Fil. tab. XI.) Lcptostegia, Don. Cheilan- 

 tbis Sp., Wall. H. B. K. Pteridis Sp., Hook, et Grev. 

 Desv. Trichomanis Sp., Thunh. Lomariai Sp. Scolopen- 

 drium, Hamillon. 



Sari linear, placed opposite each other, on each side of a 

 midrib of the segment or pinnule and at or near the margin, or 

 rather the margin of the pinnule is often suddenly rolled in and 

 there bears the involucre, giving an appearance of the margin 

 being extended beyond the involucre; these sori are inserted 

 upon a linear receptacle running within the fold of the mar- 

 gin. Involucres linear, and being opposite, and each occu- 

 pying nearly the whole space between the rachis and the 

 margin, they have the appearance of opening in the middle 

 by a longitudinal suture ; white or yellow, membranaceous. — 

 Tropical or subtropical Ferns. Roots Jibrotis,tvfted. Fronds 

 stipitale, varying in size, decomponndly pinnatijid, the pri- 

 mary divisions narrotv, l-nerved, the friictijied portion 

 broader and penniveined, the veins simple, extenditig to the 

 longitudinal receptacle which hears the capsules, and con- 

 fluent with it. 



In the Genus now under consideration we Lave examples, among the 

 suborder Pteridea, of plants with fructification bordering more closely upon 

 the normal state of Pteris and Lomaria ; that is, continuous and not broken up 

 into scales, or not deeply crenated and jagged at the margin : but each fer- 

 tile lobe or pinnule has ils margin occupied by an uninterrupted sorusand in- 

 volucre. Kaulluss however selected two species which have a peculiar habit, 

 copiously ramified with narrow divisions, the ultimate segments narrow and 

 tapering like a claw (oVyp^/ov) bearing the involucres so opposite to each 

 other and so close that they almost appear like one, opening in the middle 

 (as in Scolopendrinm), and to these he gave the generic name of Oni/chiuin. 

 His species are O. auratam, Kaulf. (Pteris chrysocarpa. Hook, el Grev. Ic. 

 Fit. t. 107, and O. Cnpeme— incorrect as to locality (Trichonianes Japo- 

 nicum, Thunh) These Presl has caused to merge into his Allosorus, and 

 in the groupe or division having " frondes dissimiles." With the exce])tion 

 of Presl, our writers on Ferns have considered the Genus worthy to be re- 

 tained, and with little or no modifications. Don, indeed, before Kaulfuss' 

 ' Enumeratio' could have reached his hands, lormed a new Genus, Liplo- 

 stPfjiit, from the Scolopendrium iucidum, Hamilton, IMS., and this is a con- 

 gener of Onyciiium. Kunze has extended the Genus by uniting witli it 

 the Cheilantlies angustifolia, H. B. K., Lomaria microptera, Br. in Herb. 

 Carmich., O. melanolepii, Kze. (Cheilanthes leptop/ii/lla, Br. in Salt's Abys- 

 sinia), and a new species from Cuba, O. strictum. 



