280 ACROSTICHUM, § HYMENOLEPIS. 



Hab. Tropical New Holland, Brown, in Herb, nostr. {ex Herb. Carmichaet). — 

 I place this here with great hesitation. At first sight it has much the general 

 aspect of a fertile frond of some bipinnated Leptochilus. My solitary specimen 

 is 13 inches long, destitute of caiidex ; stipes slender, terete, slightly flexuose, and, 

 as well as the rachis, ebeneous-black ; fronds 6 inches long, ovato-lanceolate, bi- 

 pinnate ; primary pinnae alternate, upper ones sessile, about 1 inch long, lower 

 ones rather long-petioied (petioles black), nearly 2 inches long, {)innate \\ith3-4 

 pinnules, all of them linear, i-| of a line wide, narrow-linear, plane or even a 

 little grooved at the back, with no appearance of costa there, beneath canalicu- 

 late, the margin moderately recurved and somewliat involucriform, the whole 

 under side clothed with capsules, save the slender black costa. AVe trust Aus- 

 tralian botanists, and especially the explorers of tropical Australia, will rediscover 

 this remarkable plant and enable us to say something definite respecting its 

 atfinities. 



§ 14. Hymenolepis. — Fronds simple, uniform. Sorus produced on a contracted 

 apex of the frond. — Gen. Hymenolepis, Klfs. 



164. A. (Hymenolepis) spicaium, Linn.; caudex creeping 

 paleaceous and tubercled with the persistent bases of the old 

 fronds, fronds approximate a span to a foot long ^-1 inch 

 and more broad coriaceo-carnose opaque elongate or narrow- 

 lanceolate costate gradually tapering below into a short thick 

 stipes articulated upon the caudex contracted at the extre- 

 mity into a linear receptacle varying much in length and 

 soriferous, the margins in an early state revolute and pseudo- 

 involucrate, capsules mixed with peltate scales, veins co- 

 piously anastomosing, costules very indistinct veniform, the 

 rest of the veins forming uniform areoles enclosing free 

 veinlets. — Var. a, macrostachys ; fronds narrow, soriferous 

 receptacles much elongated. Linn. Suppl. p. 444. Cav. 

 Pra/ect. \80l. n. 569. Sm. Ic. hied. ^.49. Hymenolepis 

 spicata, Fr. Epimel. Bot. p. 159. Hook. Fil. Exot. t. 78. 

 Onoclea, Sw. Syn. Fil. pp. 1 10 and 303. Schizeea, Stn. Act. 

 Taur. V. p. 53. Lomaria, Willd. Sp. PL v. p. 289. Gymno- 

 pteris, Pr. Tent. Pterid. p. 244. t. 11./. 7. Hymenolepis 

 ophioglossoides, Klfs. En. Fil. p. 146. t. \.f. 9. Kze. in Sc/ik. 

 Vil. Suppl. p. 99. t.47.f.l. H. revoluta, Bl. Fil. Jew. p. 201. 

 Kze. in Schk. Fil. Suppl. p. 101. t. 47- / 2. H. validinervis, 

 Kze. — Var. /3, brachystachys ; fronds broader, receptacle short 

 very obtuse. Hook. Gard. Ferns, t. 3. 



Hab. East Indies, especially the islands : Archipelago and Pacific Islands, 

 Ceylon, Bourbon, Mauritius, Assam and Khasya, China and Sikkim, Philippine 

 Islands, Java, Penang, Society and Fiji Islands, and Solomon's Group. Brisbane 

 River, North-east Australia {Hill, Mueller). Madagascar, Dr. Metier. New 

 Caledonia, Vieillard. — Var. /S is chiefly a garden variety, due perhaps to luxu- 

 riance. 



165. A. (Hymenolepis) jp/fl^?/?-%wc/<os, Hook. ; caudex as- 



