THE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA. 74S 



Gostae : the stipes are incomplete, and there is no rhizome. Teetaria elonyatOy 

 Cav., is quoted in the Icones as a synonym. The following remarks are made, 

 after the technical description : — 



*' This fern appears to be very little known to botanists, and we are much 

 indebted to the Eev. E. T. Lowe for sending us five specimens gathered in 

 Madeira, at Eibeiro d'Amestade, at an elevation of 3,000 feet above the level of 

 the sea, and from which our figure and description have been made. These, 

 too, we have had an opportunity of comparing with an authentic specimen of 

 Mr. Masson's, and thus determining it to be the Polyp cdium of the Eortus 

 Kewensis.'' None of the authors, Aiton, Swartz, and Hooker and Greville, give 

 any habitat for the plant, except the islands of the Macaronesian group ; and as 

 there is plenty of specimens in the Kew Herbarium, from Lowe and other 

 collectors, named iV. elmgatum, there can be no dispute as to what the type 

 plant is. As the plant was in cultivation in the Eoyal Gardens, Kew, in 

 Aiton's time, and as it has a place in the Hand-List of Ferns and Fern Allies 

 cultivated in the Eoyal Gardens, and it would be mteresting to compare the 

 fronds now growing with the old Herbarium specimens, and others more 

 recently collected in Madeira, I have tried to find the plant referred to in the 

 List, but without success. No one in the Gardens seems to know of the 

 existence of the plant, or to be able to find it. The Growing ferns are not 

 arranged according to any system of classification, and they are therefore not so 

 available for study as they might be. But I am safe in challenging any one to 

 show any connection between N. elongatum and N. marginatum, Wall 



23. N. sparsum, Don {wudidr Aspidium); Syn. Fil. 276; C. E. 523. 



Lastrea sparsa, Don, Bedd. H. B. 252, 



PoNJAB : Chamia State— B,a.vi Valley-Langera 6500', McDonell 1882. 



N.-W. P. : T. Garh.—Dnthie 1877, Hersehel 1878-79; Phaidi, E. of Landour 

 5-6000', Duthie 1831 ; Kumaun—ne&T Askot 4-5000', Duthie 1884. 



DiSTElB. — ^«s« : N. Ind. (Him.), Sikkim and Bhotan ; Assam — "very common 

 eastward."" C. Prov. — Pachmarhi, Duthie. S. lud. — M ahablesh war ;" abundant on 

 all the western Mts., and on the hills on eastern side" QBeddome'). Ceylon. Thibet 

 ff, E. Ilobson, Burma, Malay Isles. N. China Yxmnskn— Henry. Formosa. Java — 

 RaciborsM. Borneo. 



Mr. McDonell's fern from Chamba seems very different from the Garhwal 

 plant. It is very elegant in cutting, and, though small, is all but tripinnate ; 

 stipes and rhachis reddish in colour ; it is perhaps a distinct species. The 

 Garhwal plant is hardly bipinnate. 



24. N. crenatum, Baker, Fl. Mauritius 497. Polypodium crenatum, 

 Forsk. N. odwatum^ Baker, Syn, Fil 280. H. crenatum, 0. B. Clarke, C. E. 

 524. Lastrea crenata, Forsk. (under Polypodium), Bedd. H. B. 268. 



Punjab: Razdra Dist.—neav Kalapani 6000', Trotter IS90 ;— Chamba State^ 

 McDonell ; 6-7000' Trotter ; Mandi State 5-6000', Trotter ; Simla ^e^.— Simla to 

 Kamalhori Mt., and Sutlaj Valley, 3-8500' or higher, Gamble, Hope, Bliss, 

 U 



