Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 169 



rachis soft, appearing triangular or furrowed when dry; primary 

 pinnae narrow linear-oblong, hardly narrowed at the base ; secondary 

 pinnae J— 1 inch, oblong, patent at right angles to the rachis of the 

 primary pinna?, sessile or decurrent, serrate or pinnatifid ; margin 

 bluntly or acutely toothed ; involucres in two rows on the secondary 

 ]Dinnae, short, oblong, subpersistent. Bernh. in Schrad. Neu. Jour. i. 

 //. ir. 26. Clarke. F. N. I. p. 491. 



I follow Mr. Clarke here, as he has an intimate knowledge of 

 this fern and its varieties in a growing state, he says that there are 

 two main types of the Himalayan Filix-foemina, viz. : — 1st, with a suc- 

 culent rachis, appearing triangular or grooved when dry, green, 

 involucre subpersistent; 2nd, with a firm rachis, appearing round 

 in the dried specimens, often red ; involucre less persistent, often 

 fugacious. 



Var. 1. dentigera. (Wall.) Cutting nearly as in the 

 European type (not nearly so fine as in pectinata), green, rachis 

 succulent, grooved when dry ; involucre subquadrate, or horseshoe- 

 shaped, smaller and less persistent than in the European type. 

 (Polypodium dentigerum, Wall. Cat. 334.) 



Himalayas 6,000-11,000 feet, from Kashmir to Bhotan, common 

 from Nepal westwards. 



Var. 2. pectinata. {Wall.) Very finely cut, tripinnate, 

 4-pinnatifid, bright green ; rachis slender, but scarcely succulent or 

 grooved when dry : involucre subquaohate, or short oblong, little 

 horseshoe-shaped, subpersistent. Wall. Cat. 231. Clarke, F. N. I. 

 t. 57. Fed J. F S. I. I. 154, small form. 



Himalayas, Sikkim to Gurwhal 2,000-5,000 feet elevation; 

 Parasnath 4,000-5,000 feet ; Mountains of the Godavery and Cen- 

 tral India ; Mahableshwar ; Scinde ; Mount Aboo. 



Var. 3. ATTENUATA. (Clarke.) i-pinnate ; base of the stipes 

 densely clothed with broad lanceolate scales ; rachis succulent when 

 dry, grooved or triangular ; fronds small, very narrow, much tapering 

 at both ends ; pinnae patent, very close together, deeply regularly 

 pinnatifid into oblong serrated segments, scarcely a quarter inch long ; 



