SPECIES FILICUM. 



SuBORD. v.— LOMARIE^. 



Sori linear and continuous, or interrupted and oblong, 

 sujierficial, transverse with the primary veins, parallel with 

 and near the costa, or more or less remote from it, some- 

 times, from the great contraction of the fertile frond, occu- 

 pying apparently the whole disc, and thus extending to the 

 margin, involucrate. Involucre plane or vaulted, formed by 

 an expansion or dilation of the margin (as in several true 

 Lomaria:), more or less membranaceous; or attached to the 

 disc, opening towards the costa. — Tvfied, or fnrnisltcd with a 

 more or less elongated caudex or rhizome ; inhabitbig icarm 

 and tropical countries, rarely extending to arctic or antarctic 

 regions. Fronds simple or compound. Veins free, simple or 

 forked, or anastomosing. 



The limits of lliis group or sul)or(ler are not easily defined. What I consider 

 the type of this group, Lomaria, Presl refers to his Adiantca, corres])Oiiding 

 with our Plcridpce ; and I had myself, as may he implied in my remarks upon 

 Plcridpce (vol. ii. ]). 1), intended following him ; hut a more careful investigation 

 of several species of Lomnria shows that they gradually depart from the Pteroid 

 character, and so comi)letely merge into Blechnum, that Mettenius and others 

 now refer Lomaria to Blecfiniun, while Presl, in his ' Ei)iniolire Botanicrc,' equally 

 constitutes of Lomaria, Willd., and the old genus Blechnum, a section or suh- 

 order {Blechnaccce), and, including Sadlera and SalpicJdwno, forms no less than 

 ten genera of them ! Mettenius iniludes most of our Lomariece in his trihe 

 Aspleniacea;. Mr. J. Smith, in his latest work, ' Catalogue of Cultivated Ferns,' 

 and Mr. T. Moore, ' Index Filicum,' seim to take the most correct and natural 

 view of this group; but the former includes Brainea, c::e of the Nudl.sori, and 

 the latter excludes TT'oodwardia. Fee takes into his Lomaric<p, y/cropteris, Lk. 

 (Asplenium septentrionale, L.), LeptocliUi species, Foe, and Ilymenolepis. 



VOL. III. n 



