138 FLORA OF TASMANIA. | Filices. 
It is difficult to distinguish this genus by technical characters of the fructification from Adiantum, from which 
it is widely different in habit and general appearance. The sori are small, placed on the margins of the pinnules, 
in a sinus, and are covered with a small reflexed lobe of the frond, which is never so membranous as in 4diantum, 
but is green and herbaceous. Sometimes the reflexion of the pinnule’s margin is so slight that the sorus is really 
naked, and then I cannot distinguish the genus from Polypodium, or the species H. tenuifolia from P. rugulosum, 
Lab. (Name from vro, beneath, and Aeris, a scale.) 
. 
l. Hypolepis tenuifolia (Bernh. in Schrad. Journ. i. 34) ; fronde ampla glanduloso-pilosa v. glabrata 
submembranacea quadripinnata, pinnis primariis ovatis v. ovato-oblongis acuminatis secundariis tertiariisque 
lanceolatis, pinnulis sessilibus lineari-oblongis obtusis lobatis pinnatifidis inferioribus soriferis, lobis oblongis 
obtusis crenato-dentatis subintegerrimisve basin versus soriferis, involucro reniformi, costa rachibusque 
glanduloso-pilosis, stipite brunneo puberulo et scaberulo, rhizomate valido longe repente sguamoso.— 
Presl, Tent. Pterid. t. 6. f. 29; Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. p. 60. t. 19 4.; Fl. N. Zeal. ii. 29. C. pellucida, 
Colenso, Tasm. Phil. Journ. Lonchitis tenuifolia, Forst. Prodr. C. Dicksonioides, Endl. Prodr. Flor. Ins. 
Norf.; Kunze, Farnk. p. 13. t. 8. 
Has. Not uncommon in forests, etc.—(». v.) 
DisrRrB. Australia, New Zealand, and various south temperate and tropical regions of the Old and 
New Worlds. (Cultivated in England.) 
A tall, handsome, spreading Fern, 2-5 feet high. It varies a good deal in the colour, hairiness, and membra- 
nous or coriaceous consistence of the fronds, as they grow in more shaded or open localities. —Frond sometimes 
2 feet broad, deltoid, tri-quadripinnate ; primary pinne or branches spreading; secondary and tertiary narrow, ob- 
long, acuminate ; ultimate, or pinnules, sessile, linear-oblong, 13-2 inches long, deeply pinnatifid. Lobes linear- 
oblong, blunt, bluntly crenate. Sori generally two or three on each side of the lobe, covered by an involucre 
formed of a portion of the recurved margin of each crenature. Costa hairy; rachis yellow-brown, glandular and 
hairy. Stipes stout, often viscid, glandular, hairy, and rough.—There is a New Zealand variety of this species 
with nearly glabrous rachis and stipes, more distant and acuminate secondary and tertiary pinnz, narrower pin- 
nules, which are deeper lobed, and bear more numerous sori, scarcely covered by the involucre, and which hence 
passes into Polypodium rugulosum, Lab. 
Gen. X. CHEILANTHES, Sw. 
Sori punctiformes, marginales, distincti. Involucra ut in Hypolepide, sed plerumque confluentia. 
Though the Tasmanian species of Cheilanthes does not at all resemble Hypolepis, it is not readily characterized, 
except by having confluent involucres; i. e. instead of solitary isolated teeth or lobes of the pinnules being reflexed 
over the sori, longer portions of the margin of the frond are so, to a greater or less degree, forming a continuous 
involucre. (Name from xeuos, a lip, and av6os, a flower ; from the form of the involucre.) 
1. Cheilanthes tenuifolia (Sw. Syn. Fil. 129 et 332) ; rhizomate crasso repente squamoso, frondibus 
ctespitosis erectis glaberrimis coriaceis lineari-ovatis deltoideisve tripinnatis contractis, pinnis primariis erectis 
distantibus, pinnulis parvis sparsis lineari-oblongis ovatisve lobatis pinnatifidisve, lobulis obtusis obtuse 
crenatis omnibus soriferis, soris continuis, stipite rachibusque validis brunneis nitidis glaberrimis v. stipite 
basi piloso.—Schkuhr, t. 125; Br. Prodr. 155; Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. p. 82. t. 81. f. 3; Fl. N. Zeal. 11. 23. 
C. Sieberi, Kunze, Hook. l.c. t. 91 B. C. Preissiana, Kunze, in Plant. Preiss.ii.112; Hook. l.c. (Gunn, 
15.) 
Has. Abundant, especially in stony places.— (v. v.) 
Disrris. Australia, New Zealand, Malay Islands, China, India. 
