PELL^A. 149 



obtuse varying extremely in size on different specimens gla- 

 brous obscurely veined firm subcoriaceous, rachises singu- 

 larly flexuose (zigzag), caudex stout firm straight or nearly 

 so with scattered deciduous scales and as well as the rachises 

 reddish or brownish straw-colour. — LiJik, Fil. Sp. p. GO. Fee, 

 Gen. Fil. p. 129. J. Sm. Cat. Kew Ferm, p. 3. Allosorus 

 flexuosus, Kaulf. hid. Fil. MS. fide Kunze in Linncea, xiii. p. 

 1.36. Kunze, in Schk. Fil. Suppl. p. 46. t. 23. Hook. Bot. 

 Mag. t. 4762. Platyloma flexuosum, J. Sm. En. Fil. in Bot. 

 Mag. 72, Co77jp. p. 2\. Pteris flexuosa, Kaulf. MS. in Lin- 

 ncea, V. p. 614 {excl. the synonyms). Hook. Ic. Plant, ii. t. 119. 



Hab. Peru; Chacapoyas, McLean, Mathews. Quito, Dr. Jameson, re. 11. Co- 

 lumbia, Merida, Moritz, n. 67. Venezuela, Tovar, Fendler, n. 89. Mexico, Lieb- 

 ■mann. Talca, etc., Jurgensen, n. 688 ; Tacubaga, Sehaffner, n. 3 (fronds 2 feet 

 long, pinnules very small, scarcely 3 lines long) ; Oaxaca, Galeotti, n. 6558. 

 N. W. Mexico, Seeniann, n. 1940 (pinnules an inch long). Between Western 

 Texas and El Paso, New Mexico, Chas. Wright, n. 825. — In the majority of spe- 

 cimens of this handsome Fern, it is easy enough to separate them from the 

 preceding, P. cordata ; and in a state of cultivation, as they appear in the tem- 

 perate Fern-house at Kew, they maintain their respective characters ; but we do 

 receive from our botanical travellers, mixed with the true P.fleanosa, specimens 

 which, if they had been sent apart, we should be disposed to refer to P. cordata, 

 accompanied by others which, being partially zigzag only at the summit of the 

 frond, seem to indicate a passage from the one to the other. We have faithfully 

 figured the two in the ' Botanical Magazine,' and every one must form his own 

 judgment of the value of the characters. Among the Ferns such difficulties meet 

 us at every step. The stipes and rachises are more or less downy or glabrous. 

 As we have observed in the Bot. Mag. 1. c, the very pale almost straw-colour of 

 the stipes and rachises are at variance with a part of Professor Link's generic 

 character of Pellcea : " stipitibus fusco-badiis, nigrescentibus, lucidis." 



28. P. andromedeefolia, Fee; caudex short thick densely 

 clothed with long silky subulate flexuose chaffy scales, frond 

 ovate (6 inches to a foot long) bi-tripinnate, pinnules sessile 

 thick fleshy (almost black when dry) elliptical veined gla- 

 brous rarely pubescent the margins revolute, stipes chaffy at 

 the base erect stiff glabrous and as well as the straight or 

 slightly flexuose rachises purplish straw-colour often with a 

 deciduous whitish bloom. — Fee, Gen. Fil. p. 129. Allosorus 

 andromedeefolius, Kaulf. in Kunze, Analect. Pteridogr. p. 18. 

 t. 11. Syn. Fil. Peep, in Linnaa, ix. p. 56. Revis. Acetyl. 

 Cap. in Linncea, x. p. 503. Pteris andromedeefolia, Kaulf'. 

 Enum. Fil. p. 188. Crypteris divaricata, and C. pubescens, 

 Nutt. MSS. in Herb. Hook. 



Hab. California, Dr. Coulter, n. 823 ; San Francisco, Chamisso, Dr. Sinclair. 



Monterey, Nuttall, TV. Lohb. Chilian Andes, Macrae, Cuming, n. 184, Bridges, 



n. 557. Kendo, S. Africa, Drege, in Herb. Nostr. — Kunze has well observed of 



this, " Species affinis AUosoro cordato ct A.Jiexuoso. Uterque vero differt foliolis 



VOL. II. X 



