208 ASPLENIUM, § EUASPLEXIUM, 



denow when he says, under this species: " Ilanc et sequentem (A. rutcEf.) con- 

 junxerunt clariss. viri Thunberg et Swartz, sed revera inter se differunt." — I 

 find in the present species that the scales of the candex are quite ovate, the frond 

 by no means lanceolate, not tapering downwards, the fronds mnch less compound, 

 especially towards the base of the primary pinn.T., consequently the latter are 

 almost linear. One of my specimens has the lowest superior pinnule so far 

 divided as to be palmato-dichotomous (scarcely again pinnate), and this is the 

 most divided of any of the pinnules ; the rest are very uniform, quite entire, or a 

 very few of the inferior ones are bifid or forked. In short, in habit it more re- 

 sembles A. Bclangeri than it does A. rutcefo/ium. I have no means of knowing 

 whether Mr. Brackenridge's A. bipinnatum is the same as this ; if it be, it is an 

 inhabitant of the Feejee Islands. But neither our Kew collector, Mr. Milne, nor 

 Dr. Harvey, seem to have met with it there. If really Barea furcata, Bl., which 

 he quotes under it, it is A. Belangeri. Mr. Moore brings under this species an 

 Arabian plant of Forskal, the " LonchUis bipinnata," but I know not on what 

 authority. 



200. A. (Euasplenium) Thunhergii, Mett. (an Kze.?) ; cau- 

 dex "creeping cecspitose clothed with brown lanceolate 

 membranaceous scales, stipites 3-4 inches long livido-stra- 

 mineous/' fronds 6-15 inches long broad-lanceolate acumi- 

 nate dark lurid-green (when dry) membranaceous subtrans- 

 lucent bi- rarely subtripinnate, primary pinnae subsessile ho- 

 rizontally patent slightly curved upwards from a rather 

 broadly cuneate base oblong obtuse H-2 inches long, pin- 

 nules oblong 4-5 lines long 1-H broad oblong or subspa- 

 thulate obtuse entire rarely emarginate or subbifid the lower- 

 most superior one the largest broad-cuneate bi-trifid or more 

 rarely pinnatifid, veins conspicuous single and undivided ex- 

 cept in the large basal pinnule where they are pinnated, sori 

 linear-oblong solitary on the entire pinnules as many as there 

 are segments on the divided pinnules where they open to- 

 wards the costa in each case situated on the disc (distant 

 from the margin), involucres quite membranaceous brown, 

 main rachis compressed alate upwards, sparsely and fuga- 

 ciously scaly, partial ones broad winged (so that in fact the 

 pinuce are pinnatifid). — Kze. in Linncea, x. jo. 517 ? Met fen. 

 Aspl p. 114. Pappe and Rmvs.Fil. S.Afr. p. 24. Caenopteris 

 articulata, Th. Nov. Jet. Petrop. ix. /. E. f. 1 ? {^w). 



Hab. Natal, Gueinzius, Capt. Garden. — Although Kunze is the author of the 

 name A. Thunbergii, since he only gives the Cape of Good Hope as its locality, 

 and combines with it the Java Darea Bclangeri of Bory, I cannot but feel ex- 

 tremely or more than doubtful, if he had this particular plant in view. Moore's 

 synonymy is also doubtful to me. Of this plant being the same as Mettenius's I 

 can feel no question : yet, though he retains Kunze's name, he only gives Natal 

 for the locality. Pappe and Moore do the same : and it is only from Natal that 

 I have received the plant. The species is i)ecu]iar in many respects, in its creep- 

 ing caespitose rhizome (according to Mettenius) ; the outline of the frond is 

 similar to that of A. rutafolium, that is, dimiuishing in width at both extre- 



