122 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



membranaceous, distant ovate, long stipitate, glaucous beneath, 

 tripinnate ; pinnae all sessile, subadnate mostly opposite horizontal ; 

 pinnules opposite sessile, lanceolate obtuse, more or less deeply lobed 

 and pinnatifid; segments ovate or oblong (sterile ones subsinuate) or 

 triangular, lowest one often remote and forming auricles on the 

 rachis, superior ones confluent ; veins all anastomosing, areoles next 

 the cosia and costules the largest and most elongated ; involucres 

 continuous or interrupted, membranaceous entire at the edge. 

 Thunb. Pr. Fl. Cap. 171. Hook. Syn. Fil.fi. 172. Litobrochia aurita, 

 Hook. Sfi. Fil. ii. 231. Bedd. F. S. I. t. 221. 



Ceylon, central and southern provinces, above 3,000 feet. Tra- 

 vancore Hills 3,000-4,000 feet. Sispara ghat on the Nilgiris, 4,500 

 feet. Sikkim, Bhotan, and Khasya, 3,000-6,500 feet. 



(Also widely distributed in the tropics and sub-tropics of America, 

 Africa, Asia, Australia, and Polynesia.) 



2. Litobrochia marginata. [Bory, under Pteris.) Stipes elon- 

 gated, stout, and with the rachis sub-castaneous ; fronds ample, 

 tripartite, lateral branches pinnate, spreading, long petiolate, sub- 

 membranaceous, glabrous ; pinnules 4-6 inches or more long, linear- 

 oblong or linear-lanceolate sub-sessile, acuminate, rather deeply 

 pinnatifid ; segments approximate, linear-oblong falcate (upwards) 

 obtuse or acute, entire or scarcely serrated and only at the apex, 

 nearly half an inch long ; sinuses obtuse ; basal veins forming a single 

 arc parallel with the costa ; veins forming a series of two or more 

 areoles (parallel with the costule), from which proceed free veinlets 

 which do not extend to the margin but terminate with a thickened 

 apex just within it ; involucres continuous on the lower two-thirds 

 of the margin of the pinnules not extending to the apex. Bory. Voy. 2. 

 p. 192. Hook. Syn. Fil. fi. 172. Pteris tripartita, Hook. Sfi. Fil. ii. 

 225. Litobrochia tripartita, Bedd. F S. I. t. 220. 



Ceylon, common about Galle and the central provinces ; Madras 

 Presidency, much cultivated, and said to be found wild in the Cochin 

 forests ; Malacca. 



