52 IILECIINITM. 



rnwle for variations depeiuling upon different soils and climates, and elevatioto 

 above tlic sea-level, temperature, and the degrees of moisture and dryness to 

 which they may be exposed ; — giving rise to errors which can only he cor- 

 rected by an unprejudiced investigation of great suites of specimens from the 

 various localities. These it has been my fortune to jKiSsess; still I am far 

 from being satisfied that 1 have l)een correct in all the synonyms I have ad- 

 duced under the several varieties of this "polymorphous species," as Kunze so 

 justly calls it. 



15. Bl. orientale, L.; caudex erect stout at the extremity and 

 as well as tlie short stipites clothed with longfalcato-subulato- 

 setaceous glossy scales, frond 1-3 feet long ovato-lanccolate 

 acuminate firm-coriaceous pinnated, pinnoc nuincrous ap- 

 proximate horizontal straight or decurved G inches to a foot 

 long .3-4 lines broad linear-lanceohite gradually acuminate 

 sessile entire the base bluntly and obliquely cuneate or trun- 

 cated, several of the inferior pairs are suddeidy abbreviated 

 or abortive and squamiform, those at the extremity are de- 

 current and coadunate at the base, terminal one more or less 

 elongated, veins simple rarely forked very close parallel hori- 

 zontal, sori continuous close to the costa, involucre in age 

 firm rigid and almost black. — Linn. Sp. PL p. 1535. Sw. 

 Syn. Flip. 114. Schkh. Fil. p. 101. t. 109. Willd. Sp. PL 

 V. p. 414. BL En. FiL Jav. p. 197. Metten. Fil. Hart, Lips, 

 p. 62. Hook. FiL Eocot. t. 77- Blechnopsis Cumingiana, 

 Pr. Epini. Bot. p. IIG. Blechjiopsis latifolia, Pr. L c. p. 1 16. 

 Blechnum salicifolium, /urn//'. En. FiL p. IGO. Blechnopsis, 

 Pr. Lc. Bl. pyrophyllum, BL En. FiL Jav. p. 197. Blech- 

 nopsis orientalis, elongata. pyropliylla, a7id stenophylla, Pr. 

 Epim. Bot. pp. 117, 118. Bl. agrostidifoHum, Goldm. in Nov. 

 Act. Nat. Cur. xix. SuppL 459. — \-a.v.undulata ; pinnje more 

 approximate transversely undulated subcordate at the base 

 finelv acuminated at tiie extremity. Blechnum imbricatum, 

 BL En. FiL Jav. p. 198. 



Hab. Eastern India, and Malay and Pacific Islands. Nepal, Sylhet, Assam, 

 Sikkim, etc., WaU'tch, Honker and Thomson. Madras Peninsula, Dr. Wight. 

 Ceylon, Gardner, n. 1085, Mis. Gen. Walker. Luzon, Cuming, n. 166 (pinnaj 

 narrow and finely acuminate, and 165. — Blechnopsis stenophylla, Pr.) ; N. Ilocos, 

 Cuming, n. 257 : Moulmein, Parish, n. 14 ; Penang and Singapore, Wallich, Cat. 

 n. 57 , Lady Dalhomie ; Amherst, Wallich; i&\'A, Bhunc, Millett, etc. ; Amboyna, 

 {Herb. Nosfr.); China, Millett, Ahel, Vachell ; abundant in Hongkong, Cham- 

 pion, n. 551, Seemann, n. 2391, Wilford. Pacific Islands: Fiji and adjacent 

 islands, Harvey, Milne; Fitzroy Islands, M'Gillivray; Coral Island, Bcechry ; 

 Tahiti, Banks, D'Urvilte. — Var. undulata: Java, Blume ; Borneo, Barber. — One 

 of the best marked species of the genus, and it seems to hold the same place in 

 Eastern India that Bl. occidentale does in tropical America. In almost every 

 specimen I find the sudden dwarfing of several of the lowest pairs of pinnae into 

 mere orbicular, spreading, hard scales. An authentic specimen of Bl. imbricatum, 



