162 PTERIS. 



n. 85 is probaljly correctly referred to it. Assuredly if the extreme varieties of 

 this plant and of Pt. Cretica were alone taken into consideration, the two would 

 ajjpear very distinct; but I am myself disposed to consider the present form 

 mainly due to peculiarity of climate, the several specimens I have referable to it 

 being natives of the Malay Archipelago and Peninsula, and extending, as so many 

 Malayan plants do, thence towards Nepal. The main feature in this plant is the 

 large size of the pinna; ; and, in the greater proportion of specimens, the fronds 

 are simply pinnated even to the Ijase, with the lower pair rarely divided : such 

 specimens then having very much the appearance of small individuals of Pteris 

 (§ lieterophlebium) grandifolium, of the W. Indies, from which however the ve- 

 nation will at once distinguish it. The points of the pinna; too are almost inva- 

 riably entire, and never in the least spinulose : and, what is very remarkable, it is 

 not uncommon for the fronds to be quite simple (undivided) even when fructified 

 (see our Tab. CXXIX. A.) : these sometimes apart from the pinnated state, some- 

 times from the same root as they. Presl, who calls the species pellucida, proba- 

 bly intended it to mean shining or glossy (as pellucidulus is explained to mean), 

 for it is in reality much more opaque than the Pt. Cretica, the species with which 

 he himself compares it. 



7. Pt. (Eupteris) umbrosa, Br.; frond I5-2 feet high pin- 

 nated subcoriaceo-membranaceous dark-green glossy, pinnee 

 15-17 (upper ones chiefly) subopposite narrow-lanceolate 

 very acuminate finely serrated in the sterile portions parti- 

 cularly at the apices their bases singularly decurrent, lowest 

 pair deeply bi-tri-quadripartite, the lobes chiefly pointing 

 downwards, involucres continuous narrow, stipes rough and 

 as well as the rachis (broadly winged with the decurrent 

 pinnce) tawny. (Tab. CXXX. B.)—Br. Prodr. FL Nov. HolL 

 p. 154. Ag. Sp. Pterid.p. 13. 



Hab. .Australia; Port Jackson, Brown, Sieber, n. 128, Brackenridge. Port 

 Stephen, Captain King. N. Australia, Dr. F. Mueller. — Assuredly very nearly 

 allied to Pt. Cretica, but remarkable for the singularly decurrent pinnules ; and 

 when the pinnules are exactly opposite, for their decurrent bases, which are often 

 a httle contracted above, and give an urn-like form to the winged internodes of 

 the main rachis. When the pinnse are alternate and distant, the decurrent wing 

 is much more uniform. The veins are simple or forked. 



8. Pt. (Eupteris) venulosa, Bl.; "frond pinnate, pinnae 

 opposite linear -lanceolate glabrous, inferior ones subpetiolate 

 2-3-partite, the rest decurrent, sterile ones coarsely crenulate 

 at the apex, fertile ones narrower and subentire, stipes and ra- 

 chis glossy." — Blume, En. Fit. Jav. p. 209, Ag. Sp. Pterid. 

 p. 13. 



Hab. Wooded mountains in Java, Blume. — " Fronds with the stipes about 2 

 feet high. Stipites very smooth, purplish-chestnut colour. Pairs of pinna; 5~G, 

 each of them joined to the inferior one by a decurrent auricle, the lowest only 

 separate and distinct. Sterile pinna; lanceolate, half an inch broad, coarsely and 

 obtusely serrated, fertile quite linear, superior ones simple, low-est (in the ex- 

 amples seen) bipartite and apart from the rest. Veins simply forked." Ag. — Not 

 having had any opportunity of seeing an authentic sample of this plant myself, I 

 have copied tlie specific character from Blume, and the brief description from 



