LOMARIA. 31 



once or twice forked, sterile fronds longer tlian the fertile, 

 the pinnae sessile exactly linear apiculate sometimes quite 

 hastate at the base, involucre brown membranaceous broad 

 plane (not fornicate) continuous or interrupted its margin very 

 entire, rachis stramineous furrowed in front sparingly pale- 

 aceous. — Kze. in Linn. x. p. 27- Pappe and Raws. En. Fit. Cap. 

 p. 28. Blechnum punctulatum, Sw. Sijn. Fit. p. 313. Witld. Sp. 

 PI. V. p. 409. Schtecht. Adumbr. Fit. Cap. p.37.t.2l and t. 22. 

 f. 2. Metten. Fit. Hart. Lips. p. 64. Lomaria densa, Kautf, 

 En. Fit. p. 151. Sietjer, Fit. Exsic. n. 7. L. auriculata, JDcsv. 

 in Mhn. Soc. Linn. par. vi. p. 290. Bt. En. Fit. Jav. p. 201. 

 Blechnum tricuspe, Kautf. in Sieb. Fit. Exsic. n. 5. Meso- 

 thema punctulatum, Pr. Epim. PI. p. 113. Blechnum rigi- 

 dum, Eckt. Herb. Cap. Un. It. n. ISO /S {vix Sw. ?). — Abnormal 

 form. Scolopendrium Krebsii, Kze. Fit. a Gueinz. cotl. in 

 Linncsa, xviii. p. 118. Fit. Sch/cti. Supjyt. p. 176. t. 74. Fee, 

 Gen. Fit. p. 209, cum obs. 7^. 211. J. Sm. Cat. Cutt. Ferns, 

 p. 49. Cat. Ferns, Kew, p. 6. Metten. Fit. Hort. Lips. p. 57- 

 t. 5. f. 7. Pappe and Raioson, Syn. Fit. Afr. Austr. p. 24. 

 Onychium Krebsii, Kze. in Linnaa, i. p. 29 ; x. p. 504. 

 Blechnum Atherstoni ? Pappe and Raivson, Si/n. Fit. Afr. 

 Austr. p. 16. 



Hab. South Africa, from the Cape Colony to Natal, frequent, RaivsoJi and 

 Pappe, Harvey, etc. Lofty mountains of Java, Blume. — Abnormal form (Sco- 

 lopendrium Krebsii, Kze.). Natal, Gueinzius. Graham's Town, apparently i)len- 

 tiful, Atherstone. — We follow Kunze in placing this in Lomaria rather than in 

 Blechnum, for it has more of the habit of the former than the latter, yet standing 

 on the borders of the two. It has been by some confounded with Blechnum 

 rigidtim, Sw., — to us a very dubious plant. The present is a well-marked 

 species, the broad, truncated, sessile bases of the pinna; of the sterile fronds 

 being cordate, or even hastate or subsagittate, the inferior lobe overlapping the 

 one below, the superior one underlapping the one above, so that they are seen 

 to imbricate each other whether one looks at the upper or under side of the 

 frond, and in the fertile fronds the hastate lobes of the pinnae so much resemble 

 the intermediate lobe (or main portion of the pinna), that that form has re- 

 ceived the name of Blechnum tricuspe. Under Desvaux's name of L. auriculata, 

 Blume gives, as a locality for this plant, "in montibus altissimis Javnc," but this 

 locality perhaps requires confirmation. — It may create surprise to find a Scolo- 

 pendrium of the accurate Kunze, and adopted by other able botanists as such, 

 unhesitatingly referred to a well-known Lomaria (or Blechnum) ; but I have 

 specimens from Mr. Atherstone in my herbarium, clearly showing the passage 

 from Lomaria punctulata, Sw., to Scolopoidrium Krebsii, Kze. I have just 

 alluded to the fact that the former has nearly as strong a claim to be considered 

 a Blechnian as a Lomaria. The fronds are more or less dimorphous, and even 

 when least so, the fertile pinnsc are so contracted, and the sori so nearly 

 cover the inferior pagina, from the margin to the costa, that most botanists, I 

 think, who have preserved the two genera, refer this species to Lomaria, and 

 in this state the involucres are the most regular and perfect. I possess fertile 

 fronds, however, where the i)inna! are unusually broad at the base, the rest of the 



