Filices. | FLORA OF TASMANIA. 149 
involucre being reniform and attached by the sinus, and not orbicular or peltately attached. (Name from vegpos, 
a kidney ; in allusion to the form of the involucre.) 
1. Nephrodium decompositum (Br. Prodr. 149) ; frondibus glabris puberulis vel pubescentibus 
ovatis v. deltoideis bi-tri-quadripinnatis membranaceis, pinnulis decurrenti-coadunatis ovato- v. oblongo- 
lanceolatis inciso-lobatis pinnatifidisve, lobulis dentatis acutis obtusisve, rachibus tenuiter marginatis, stipite 
gracili basi nudo.— FV. N. Zeal. ii. p. 39. t. 79. (Gunn, 53.) 
Has. Woods near Hobarton.— (v. v.) 
Disrris. South-eastern Australia, New Zealand. (Cultivated in England.) 
A common and very variable plant.—Frond a span to 3 feet high, ovate-lanceolate, broadly ovate, or deltoid, 
sometimes pentagonous from the first division of the lowest branch being elongated, tri-quadripinnate or bipinnate 
only, quite smooth or more or less downy, sometimes covered with resinous, glandular points. Pinne often elon- 
gate and even caudate, especially in Tasmania.  Pi»»wles small, decurrent, oblong or ovato-lanceolate, pinnatifid, 
lobed or toothed; divisions very sharp or blunt. Sori small, numerous, placed on the middle of a venule. Invo- 
lucre glabrous or hairy. Rachis with a very narrow wing or margin, or naked, smooth or pubescent, as is the 
stipes, which is slender, and bears at the curved base a few short chaffy scales. 
Sub-tribe B.—Sorus naked, neither covered by an involucre, nor by the inflexed margin of the frond. 
Gen. XVII. POLYPODIUM, Presi. 
Sori globosi, dorsales, nudi, medio venularum inserti. Vene furcate, nunquam anastomosantes.— 
Frons pinnatifida v. bi-tripinnata. 
An extensive genus, principally of temperate and tropical Ferns, which may be readily characterized by having 
round, naked sori, placed on the middle of forked, free veinlets. One of the Tasmanian species (P. rugulosum) 
appears to me to pass into Hypolepis tenuifolia, the sori sometimes approaching the margin of the lobes, and the 
latter becoming more or less recurved. The other species totally differs in habit and appearance from the above. 
(Name from zoue, many, and rovs, a foot; in allusion to the habit of some Fern to which the name was applied 
by the ancients.) 
1. Polypodium rugulosum (Lab. Fl. Nov. Holl. ii. p. 92. t. 241); rhizomate repente, fronde 
viscido-puberula v. glandulosa bi-quadripinnata ovato- v. deltoideo-lanceolata, pinnis lanceolatis acumi- 
natis submembranaceis coriaceisve, pinnulis lineari-oblongis obtusis profunde pinnatifidis, lobis obtusis 
crenatis, stipite rachigue castaneis (rarius pallidis) scaberulis hispidulis asperisve.— Br. Prodr. 147; Fl. 
N. Zeal. iv. 41. P. viscidum, Spr. Syst. Veg. iv. p. 61; Fl. Antaret. p. 110. P. villoso-viscidum, Petit- 
Thouars, Fl. Trist. d' Acun.; Col. in Tasm. Phil. Journ. Cheilanthes viscosa, Carm. Fl. Trist. d Acun. in 
Linn. Soc. Trans. xii. p. 511. (Gunn, 17.) | : 
Has. Abundant in damp and rather dry woods.—(v. v.) 
DisrRiB. Common in the subtropical and temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. (Cultivated 
in England.) : 
Whole plant more or less covered with rufous glandular pubescence, a span to feet TR. trend bi-tri- 
quadripinnate, broadly deltoid or ovate-lanceolate, more or less membranous, rarely coriaceous. Pinne very vari- 
able in length, lanceolate, acuminate. Pinnules adnate by a broad base, linear-oblong, blunt, deeply pinnatifid ; 
lobes entire or erenate, blunt. Sori on the middle of a veinlet. Stipes and rachis generally dark-brown, slender, 
scabrid, sometimes muricated, often hispid with scattered hairs, rarely glabrous. Rhizome rigid, woody, creeping, 
scaly and hispid, sending up distant fronds.—I have found it quite impossible to give distinctive characters to the 
numerous varieties of this very common plant. Mueller's P. Kippistianum appears to be a more glabrous state, 
found in Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania. : i 
VOL. II. 
2a 
