ASPLEMIJM, § EUASl'LENIUM. 105 



into a Ccenojjferis, or in other words becoming Darea bifida, Klfs. But authors 

 in general are indisposed at jiresent to credit such singular transformations. My 

 own very copious specimens prove it beyond the shadow of a doubt. I posses.s 

 the two forms from one and the same caudex, and specimens with pinnaj which 

 are simple and again pinnate on the same individual frond. Mettenius, in his 

 Monograph of Aspleiiitim, has udmirahly illustrated the most striking forms by 

 figures. In the bipinnate state the racliis of the pinnae is sometimes proliferous 

 from small gemmae, or buds ; the infant fronds are cuneate and incised at the 

 apex : in many resjiects i)earing a close affinity to Brackenridge's A. enatum. 



The nearest ally of the normal form of this s))ccies is i)crhaps vvitli A . pellucidum, 

 Bl., but the very coriaceous nature of the fronds, and the peculiar colour when 

 dry, induce me to refer this latter to the Furcatum-^row^. I am doubtful if I 

 am correct in referring "Wallich's n. 2217?" hither: the frond is thin and 

 membranaceous, sterile, and the costw of the pinnae above bear numerous small 

 spathulate fronds from scaly gemma;. I possess the same form from Bourbon, 

 gathered by Carmichael. 



48. A. (Euasplenium) Mascarenhense, Fee; "fronds pin- 

 jiate lanceolate, stipes and rachis silicate brown, pinnae lan- 

 ceolate long-acuminate semiserrate remotely serrate at the 

 point cuneate at the base ending in a petiole below, slightly 

 emarginate, sporothecia long linear, indusium narrow, spo- 

 rangia ferruginous-red, pedicel slender, annulus 18-20-arti- 

 culated, spores small ovoid." Fee, Gen. Fil. p. 194. — Metten. 

 AspJen. p. 96. 



Hab. Bourbon, Dubrisson {Fee). Mauritius, Pappe {Mettenius). — It is to be 

 regretted that neither Fee nor Mettenius (who has given a more full specific cha- 

 racter of this plant than Fee) offers any observations on its affinity. May it not 

 be the same as A. lineatum, Sw. (normal form)? close to which both Fee and 

 Mettenius place it, though the latter does not seem disposed to acknowledge A. 

 lineatum and J. nodidosum to be the same, and he adopts the latter name for 

 what we consider true lineatum, Sw. 



49. A. (Euasplenium) Wightianum, Wall. ; caudex small 

 subrepent rooting scaly above, stipites tufted a span or more 

 high, fronds a foot and a half to two feet long ovate-lanceo- 

 late coriaceous pale-whitish -green, pinnae distant petiolate 

 erecto-patent A-Q inches and more long elongato-lanceolate 

 suljglossy rather coarsely but not deeply serrated much and 

 gradually acuminated entire at the apex the base narrow and 

 equally cuneate (gradually decurrent into the petiole), veins 

 mostly forked approximate, sori erecto-patent linear extend- 

 ing from the costa but not to the margin, involucre firm white 

 and the same white colour and texture extends to the vein or as 

 much of it as is occupied bv the involucre, rachis compressed 

 scarcely winged. (Tab. CLXVII.)— ?r«//.C«/. v. 2215. A. co- 

 riaceum, Bory, in Bel. Crypt, p. 4G {fide Moore, not Fee). 



Ilab. Madras Peninsula, IVallich, n. 22lb, irighf, fferb. Propr. n. m. Ceylon, 

 VOL. III. i' 



