10 



SYNOPSIS OF SOUTH AFRICAN SPECIES OF 



FERNS. 



I. OLEICHENIACEiE. Kze. 



I. GLEICHENIA. SW. (2 SpCcIeS.) 



1. Gleiclienia pnhjpodloides. Sw. Frond dlchotomouSy 

 much branched, proliferous ; branches pinnate, spreading ;; 

 pinnae pinnatifid ; segments ovate, more or less glaucous 

 beneath, smooth ; capsules 3-4, immersed on the underside 

 of the frond, forming flat-topped sori. Stipes and racliises 

 rather smooth. Caudex creeping. — Hook. Spec. Filic. vol, 

 1, p. 3, Schkuhr. Filic. t. 149. 



Yar. glauca. Pinnae somewhat longer and closer ; fronds 

 more glaucous beneath. 



Common on Table Mountain, and in many parts of the Colony y 



and Natal. — v, v. & .§.* 



2. Gleiclienia argentea. Kaulf. Fronds dichotomous, 

 branching ; branches pinnate, spread ; pinnce pinnatifid ; 

 segments wedge-shaped, very blunt, rounded at the apeXy 

 silvery beneath; rachises clothed in a thick woolly ferruginous 

 shag. Capsules about 4. Caudex creeping, surrounded 

 with stellate bristly scales. — Kaulf, Enum. Filic, p. 36. 



In moist sliady places, amongst rocks on Table Mountain 

 (Cbamisso.), at (lenadendal (Rev. C. R. Kolbing), near the Van 

 JStaden's River, Uitenhage (Ecklon and Zeyher), v. s, 



II. MERTENSIA. WILLD. (1 SpecicS.) 



3. Mertensia umbraculifera. Kze. Fronds repeatedly 

 dichotomous, much branched, pinnatifid ; segments linear, 

 comb-shaped, blunt or slightly pointed, glabrous above, and 

 glaucous beneath ; ribs and rachises clad with ferruginous 

 woolly shag. /S^zpt^^ lono: erect, channelled naked; rhizome 

 horizontal, paleaceous. — Kze Linntea., vol. 18, p. 116. 



In British KafFiaria, and on the grassy banks of the Omnaroti 

 River, Natal. — (Gueinzius.) v. s, 



* V. V. and S. — Vidi vivaiti et siccam. 



