132 Ferns of Eritish India and Ceylon. 



American plant. The two species appear to me so very closely 

 allied as to be distinguished only with difficulty, if at all ; the 

 rachis is slightly puberulous in both. The figure t. 49, Ferns Brit. 

 Ind., given to represent the Mishmee plant, is a copy of Hooker's 

 figure of the American species. 



2. Blechnum serrulatum. (Rich.) Caudex elongated stout 

 ascending; stipes 6-12 inches long, strong, erect, smooth, nearly 

 naked; fronds oblong acuminate, 1-2 feet long, 6-9 inches broad, 

 with 12-24 pairs of quite distinct articulated linear-oblong pinnge 

 on each side, the largest of which are 4-5 inches long, -|-| inch 

 broad, narrowed gradually towards the point and downwards to a 

 narrow base ; the margin finely incised ; texture coriaceous ; rachis 

 rigid naked; veins very fine and close, not conspicuous; feitile 

 pinnae narrower; sori in a continuous line close to the midrib. 

 Rich, in Act. Soc. Nat. Pa?-, i. 114. Hook Syn. Fil. 186. 



Malacca. 



(Also in tropical America, Australia, Borneo, and New 

 Caledonia.) 



3. Blechnum orientale. (linn.) Caudex stout erect, 

 clothed at the crown with ■ fibrillose dark brown scales ; stipes 4-8 

 inches long, strong, erect, scaly below ; fronds 1-5 feet long, .6-36 

 inches broad, ovate, with very numerous nearly contiguous linear 

 pinnae on each side, which are about f inch broad, narrowed to a long 

 point, the bases quite distinct, the upper ones decurrent, a few of 

 the lowest mere auricles ; texture subcoriaceous ; rachis and both 

 surfaces naked; veins fine and close; sori in a long continuous line 

 close to the midrib. Lin. Sp. Fl. 1535- Ffook. Syn. Fil. 186. Bedd. 

 F. S. I. t. 29. 



Throughout India, Ceylon, and the Malay Peninsula, up to 

 6,000 feet in the south, and 4,000 feet on the Himalayas. 



(Also in the Malay Islands, China, Polynesia and Australia.) 



4. Blechnum eindlaysonianum. (Wall) Caudex very 

 small ; stipes short ; frond ample, 2-4 feet, ovate-lanceolate, sub- 



