ASPLENIUM, § KUASPLENIDM. 211 



ovate oblong acuminate coriaceous glaljrous at the base tri- 

 pinnato-pinnatifid less divided at the apex, inferior pinnae 

 subopposite long-petiolate remote, superior ones alternate 

 short-petiolate approximate all ovate acuminate, primary and 

 secondary ovato-oblong or oblong obtuse veined entire or 

 bifid, fertile ones spathulate, stipes (?) and main rachis stout 

 curvato-flexuose blackish-purple angled above plane beneath, 

 partial rachiscs depressed furrowed on both sides curvato- 

 flexuose purplish glabrous." Kze. in Schk. Fil. Suppl. p. 26. 

 t. 14 {very faith fill). — Metien. Asplen. p. 109. Moore, Lid. 

 Fil. y^. 168. 



Hab. Pitcairn's Island, Cuming, n. 1371, Mathews, n. 5, two to three feet long 

 {Herb. Nostr.). — By Some accident my herbarium possesses no sample of this 

 Fern from Cuming, although Kunze, Mettenius, and Moore, all quote n. 1374 of 

 that collector. My very line specimens of Mathews are identical, however, with 

 Kunze's plant, and jjrove how accurately he has figured it both as to drawing 

 and colour, but then comes the difficulty of distinguishing it from other allied 

 and polymorphous species of this group. Mr. Moore, than whom few possess a 

 more correct eye for distinguishing species of Ferns, has in my herbarium marked 

 Mathews's specimen ''A. Shuttleworthianum ; an A. buUnferum, var. tripin- 

 natum, Hook. til. Shorter sori .'" And he has attached the same names and 

 query to specimens of Milne and M'Gillivray from Sunday Island, Kermadie 

 group, n. 578, 77, and 948 (ultimate segments very narrow, fertile ones almost 

 subulate and incurved), and n. 80 (small specimens not a span long, but no two 

 alike, some bearing broad polysorous pinnules closely approaching to J. bulbi- 

 ferum, normal form). This A. bulbiferum, var. tripartitum, has, however, been 

 since referred by Aloore to Aapl. Merteiuianum, Kze. (A. Fabianura, Hombr. and 

 Jacq.). So great are the difficidties and uncertainties attending the right determi- 

 nation of many species of Ferns. 



20.5. A. (Euasplenium) Mertensianum, Kze.; "frond ovato- 

 oblong coriaceous (bright green) sparingly paleaceous bipin- 

 nato- (at the base subtripinnato)-pinnatifid less divided at the 

 apex, pinnte remote petiolate curved upwards patent inferior 

 ones subopposite, middle and superior alternate, all trapezio- 

 ovato-elliptical or shortly oblong acuminate, pinnules oblique 

 ovato-oblong acute, inferior segments obliquely cuneate, once 

 or twice bifid, superior ones often undivided sublinear all 

 rather obtuse, sori large mostly solitary on the segments, se- 

 condary rachises plane margined, universal rachis and short 

 stipes semiterete margined above sulcated flexuose livid- 

 stramineous." Kze. in Bot. Zeit. vi. p. 525. — Met ten. Asplen. 

 p. 109. t. 5. f. 15, 16 [ultimate pinnules only). Hombr. et 

 Jacq. Voy. Pol. Sud, t. 3 his, f. i;. Moore, Lid. Fit. p. 128. 

 A. tremulum, Hombr. et Jacq. I. c. f. A. (^Ids jigiire rejyresents 

 our plant better than the one immediately previous) . Ceenopteris 

 Fabiana, Bo)'y r' Darea prolifera, IVilld. Sp. PI. v. p. 299. 



