148 PELL^EA. 



say, " I have only seen fertile fronds from the ciudex : — this cavcJe.r is nearly as 

 thick as the little finger, creeping, densely ferrngineo-paleaceous, hearing a few- 

 short roots. Sti2)es scarcely an inch long, ahove slightly grooved, flexuose, very 

 stout, hlack-pnrple. Frond three inches long, ohlong in circumscrii)tion, pinnules 

 and segments crowded ; rachis like the stipes, stout, curved, and flexuose, purple." 

 The ven,' crowded fertile pinnules, their hroader and shorter form, hut above all 

 the texture, and the texture of the involucre formed of the incurved coriaceous 

 pinnule, scarcely membranaceous, even at the edge, and its very sinuated and 

 crenated margin will readily distinguish this Pellcea from any state of Crypto- 

 gramme crispa. 



26. P. cordata, J. Sm.; caudex short creeping stout densely 

 clothed with ferruginous subulate scales, frond erect ovate- 

 oblong bi- rarely below tripinnate, pinnules on short petioles 

 cordato-ovate ol)tuse firm subcoriaceous distinctly veined 

 glanduloso-pubescent, stipes pale-coloured (substramineous) 

 stout sparsely and deciduously scaly and erect and as well as 

 the rachises straight. — /. Sm. Cat. Knv Ferns, p. 4 {not Pel- 

 Isea cordata, Fee, Gen. Fil. p. 128). Allosorus cordatus, PresI, 

 Tent. Pterid. p. 153. Kunze in Linneea, xiii. jr>. 135. Hook. 

 Bot. Mag. t. 4698. Platyloma cordatum, /. Sm. in Bat. Mag. 

 Comp. Ixxii. p. 21. Pteris cordata, Cav. Pral. 1801, n. 662. 

 Stv. Syn. Fil. p. 106. Willd. Sp. PL v. p. 392. H.B.K. Nov. 

 Gen. Am. i. p. 15 {not Pteris cordata, Sieb. Fl. Mirt. n. 269.) 

 Pellgea sagittata, Lhik, Fee. Allosorus sagittatus, Presl, Kze. 

 Fil. p. 48. t. 24. Pteris sagittata, Cav.Prcel. 1801, n. 661. 

 Siv. Syn. Fil. p. 106. Willd. Sj). PI. v. p. 392. H.B.K. Nov. 

 Gen. Am. \. p. 14. 



Hah. Mexico {Jndrieux, n. 41, Dr. Conifer, n. 1688, Schaffner, n. 5), and Co- 

 lumhia. Linden, n. 504, and Siippl. 304. — We are not the first (in Bot. Mag. under 

 t. 4(J98,) to express doubts as to the P. sagittata being really distinct from the 

 P. cordata, and an examination of numerous specimens has led to the conclusion 

 that there is no real distinction between them. The younger the pinnules the 

 more sagittate or almost hastate the form ; and even in the adult pinnules we 

 find them vary from rotundato-cordiform to oblong-sagittate (with hlunt lobes). 

 These pinnules are of a firm and coriaceous texture, the presence of glandular 

 hairs is not constant, and the long, conspicuous, but scattered and patent, subu- 

 late scales of the caudex are veiy peculiar. This latter is stout and firm, some- 

 times a foot long, and, as well as all the rachises, of a rather bright reddish straw- 

 colour, sometimes a])proaching to peach-colour. 



The Pteris cordata of Sieber's ' Flora Mixta,' n. 209, and PeUtea cordata of 

 Fee, Gen. Fil. p. 130, which the latter author considered a Cape Fern is an Aus- 

 tralian plant, and the Pellcea paradoxa, p. 135, of this volume. 



27- V. flexuosa. Link; caudex long creeping moderately 

 stout clothed with numerous subulate scales, frond (some- 

 times) ample 2 and more feet long oblong in outline scan- 

 dent divaricately bi-tripinnate, primary pinncc often deflexed, 

 pinnules on short petioles generally remote cordato-ovate 



