ASPLENHJM, § EUASPLENIdM. 215 



ovate obtuse uppermost ones cuneato-ol)ovate smaller all 

 truncate at the base above subauriculate on the lower mar- 

 gin abscisso-cuneate and entire superior margin and apex 

 inciso-pinnatifid, the segments oblong rounded at the apex 

 subincised lowest superior one cuneate bi-trifid, sori solitary 

 upon the segments (generally on the disc distant from the 

 margin), rachis slender flexuose above submarginate." Kze. 

 in Linmea, x. p. 17 ; in Schk. Fil. Siippl. p. 5.3. /. 27- — Pappe 

 and Rawson, Sijn. Fil. Afr. Austr. p. 22. Metten. Asp/en. 

 p. 114. Moore, Lid. Fil. p. 126. 



Hab. Shady valley on a cataract near the Onozamcaba River, Natal, Brege. — 

 My only specimens of this are from Drege. They quite accord with Kunze's 

 figure and description. Mettenius refers to it the tropical African Anpl. hrachy- 

 plerxim of Kunze and my ' Filices Exotica;:' and although Moore, in his ' Index 

 Filicuin,' maintains these species as distinct, yet in my herbarium he has named all 

 my native specimens of " A. brachyptcrmn, A. Drngeanum." I am not sufficiently 

 |)rovided with si)ecimensof A. Dri'f/eamim to come to a satisfactory decision : but 

 if Kunze is correct in describing the caudex (which I have not seen) as slender 

 and creeping, it is very ditferent IVom that of our growing plant of brachypterum, 

 which is stout and erect aboveground, almost like a miniature tree-fern. A. 

 Dreyeanum seems to me in its fronds to stand in nearly the same relation with 

 hrachypterum, that A. Tlinnbcryii of this group does with A. rutcefoUnm, var. 

 Stalls, being, like that, thin and memi)ranaceous, and with the sori generally 

 distant from the margin. 



212. A. (Euasplenium) rit'?/MrMm, Pr. ; caudex short erect 

 stout densely paleaceous at the summit with long membra- 

 naceous sphagnoid scales, stipites tufted 4-5 inches to a span 

 long stout grooved in frond partially paleaceous herbaceous 

 blackish below, fronds 1-2 feet long coriaceo-membranaceous 

 dark green tripinnate, primary pinnse 4-G inches long hori- 

 zontally patent broad-lanceolate acuminate often proliferous 

 tripinnate, ultimate pinnules linear-subulate subfalcate and 

 entire or bi-trifid with subulate segments, veining indistinct, 

 sori linear-oblong situated at the very margin and occupying 

 about one-third of the pinnule, involucre pale but firm and 

 of the texture of the frond. — Pr. Tent. Pterid. p. 109 {excl. 

 syn. Hum!)., not of BL). Hombr. et Jacq. Voy. Pol. Sud, t. 3. 

 /. K {primai'y pinnce only, and no descr.). Metten. Fil. Hort. 

 Lips. p. "J I. Asplen. p. 108. Hook. Fil. Exot. t. 64. Caeno- 

 pteris vivipara, Berg. Act. Petrop. vi. p. 250. t. 7- ./"• 3. 

 Sw. Srjn. Fil. p. 89. Wall. Cut. n. 2.39. Darea vivipara, Willd. 

 Sp. PI. v. p. 302. D. foeniculacea, ^Sie^. Acrostichum, Z/m;i. 



Hab. Bourbon and Mauritius (Bergius), Bojer, Bouton, Carmichael, etc., 

 growing in all forest grounds, on dead and decaying trees in ravines, bottoms of 

 watercourses, etc. — Well distinguished by its finely cut, fennel-leaved fronds. 



