Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



GENUS L— GLEICHENIA. (Smith.) 

 (In honour of Gleichen, a German botanist). 



Sori of few sessile capsules, situated on a lower exterior veinlet ; 

 caudex generally creeping ; frond rarely unbranched, generally 

 dichotomously divided, often proliferous from the axils of the forks ; 

 pinnae deeply pinnatifid, with the segments small and concave, sub- 

 orbicular, or pectinate with elongated lobes. 



§ Sori solitary at the apex of a veinlet. 



i. Gleichenia circinata. (Sw.) Fronds dichotomous, divari- 

 cated, lobes of the pinnules bead-like, ovate, or subrotund, the 

 margins slightly recurved ; capsules 3-4 ; branches and rachis 

 glabrous, or more or less scaly. Bedd. F. B. I. t. 177, as semivestita 

 Labill. Hook. Sp. Fil. p. 11. 



Malacca. 



(Also in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and New Caledonia.) 



§ Sori near the middle, or at the forking, of the veinlets. 



2. Gleichenia glauca. {Hook.) A large straggling fern many 

 feet long ; stipes stout forked ; primary pinnae opposite, secondary 

 pinnae alternate, close, 6-8 inches long by 1-2 broad, lanceolate, 

 acuminate, pinnatifid nearly to the rachis, the segments or pinnules 

 oblong-lanceolate, but obtuse, more or less glaucous beneath, 

 glabrous or tomentose, and paleaceous on the stipes and rachis ; 

 capsules 3-5, often mixed with hairs. Bedd. F. B. I. t. 30, as 

 gigantea Wallich. G. longissima, Bl. Hook. Sp. Fil. p. 12. G. 

 gigantea, Wall. Cat. Polypodium glaucum, Thunb. Fl. Jajp. 338, 

 which is the oldest specific name. 



Bhotan and Sikkim, alt. 4,500-7,500 feet. Very common about 

 Darjeeling, Khasya, 3,500-5,000. Common in Nepal, Malay Peninsula. 



(Also in China, Japan, the Malay Islands, Sandwich Islands, 

 Tropical Australia, Polynesia, West Indies, and Tropical America.) 



3. Gleichenia Norrisii. (Mett.) Branches of the frond one- 

 jugate, oblong-lanceolate, 2-3 feet long, pinnae lanceolate, the lower 

 distinctly stalked, spreading, 6-9 inches long, cut down to a narrow 



