NEPIIRODIUM, § LASTREA. 125 



stipites, coarsely squarrose with narrow patent scales, readily distinguish this from 

 N. Napoleoiiis, as the much smaller size and very different scales do from N. 

 cognatum. 



111, N. (Lastrea) iucequale, Hook.; '•fronds glabrous 

 pinnate, piiinie diniinishin<^ in size towards the aj)ex con- 

 fluent pinnate or pinnatifid, ])innules oval obtuse obUquely 

 cuneate at the base the h)\ver margin decurrent toothed in- 

 cised or pinnatifid all fructiferous, stipes and rachises subpa- 

 leaceous, caudex prorepent." SchlecJit. — Aspidium, Srhlecht. 

 Fif. Cap. p. 23. t. 12. Kze. in Liunaa, x. p. 549. Metten. 

 Aspid. p. G4. Lastrea, Pr. 



Hah. Frequent in various parts of Soutli Africa, all travellers ; first detected 

 hy Bcrgius, Mund and Maire. — I possess specimens of this from various bo- 

 tanists, Urcge, Capt. Garden, All. Cunningham, Harvey, etc., and several of them 

 well-corresponding with Schlechtendal's figure ; others so closely allied to some 

 of the common European forms of the hipinnate A''. FilLv-mas, that I am doubt- 

 ful whether to refer them to the one or to the other. The same is the case with 

 a line si)ecinien from Fernando Fo {Gmtav Mann), which is subtripinnate, with 

 a very large froud. I have, indeed, one specimen, " )3, montanum, Kze. ; con- 

 tractum pusillum coriaceum pinnatum pinnis pinnatifidis, soris copiosis confluen- 

 tibus," from Drege, which is quite the normal form of N. Filix-mas. No one 

 seems to have noticed its closfi resemblance to states of that species ; but Met- 

 tenius places it next to Canariense, which I consider not to be specifically different 

 from F.-mas. It is true, the only portion of a caudex I possess is subhorizontal, 

 and the scales are longer and more uniformly narrower than in F.-mas, and the 

 stipites appear less tufted and longer, and nearly free from scales ; but we know 

 how the paleaceous covering varies in many Ferns, and in F.-mas in particular. 



112. N, (Lastrea) athamanticum, Hook.; caudex ?, stipes 

 a foot or more long testaceous stout as well as the primary 

 and secondary rachises very paleaceous at the base with 

 copious long linear scales and numerous ferrugineous hair- 

 like ones, fronds 1-2 feet long oblong shortly acuminate 

 coriaceo-membranaceous tripinnate, lower primary pinnae 

 remote long-petioled upper ones crowded all erecto-patent 

 5-6 inches long, secondary pinnae sessile oblong acute ulti- 

 mate ones lanceolate deeply pinnatifid with oblong-lanceolate 

 entire or sinuato-serrate segments the larger ones contracted 

 at the base distant but decurrent sometimes subpinnatifid, 

 veinlets forked, sori coj)ious on the upper portion of the 

 frond one on each small lobe or lobule 2-4 on the larger 

 ones, involucres very orbicular subreniform nearly plane. 

 (Tab. CCLVin.) — Aspidium, Kze. in Linnaa, win. p. 123. 

 Metten. Aspid. p. 65. Lastrea Plantii, Moore, in Hook. 

 Journ. Bot. v, p. 226. 



llab. South Africa : eastern districts of the Cape Colony, Natal, Pappe, 

 Gueinzius, Plant, Capt. Garden, to the interior, Macahsberg, Sanderson. — Kuuze 



