Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 197 



often 2 feet long, 1 foot broad, pinnae 4-8 inches long, i-if 

 inch broad, oblong, entire or slightly crenulate, particularly at the 

 caudate apex, veins forked near the midrib, 2-3 of hexagonal areoles 

 occupying the outer half of the space between midrib and margin ; 

 sori confined to the anterior vein of the first fork or areole. Bl. En. 

 Pl.Jav. Fil. 175. Allant. Brunoniana (Wall.), Hook. Syn. Fil. 

 p. 246. Bedd. F. S. I. 159. 



Nepal and Bhotan, 4,000-7,000 feet elevation ; Khasya, Mikir 

 Hills ; Ceylon. 



(Also in Java and Samoa.) 



GENUS XLVI.— ACTINIOPTERIS. (Link) 



(Acttn, rays ; pteris, a fern.) 



Sori linear, elongated, submarginal ; indusium the same shape as 

 the sorus, folded over it, placed one on each side of the narrow seg- 

 ments of the frond opening towards the midrib : a single species like 

 a miniature palm. 



1. Actiniopteris dichotoma. (Forsk, tinder Acrostichum .) 

 Stipes densely tufted, 2-6 inches long; fronds like fans, i-i-^ inch 

 deep, composed of numerous dichotomous segments which are rush- 

 like in texture, not more than \ line broad, the veins few and sub- 

 parallel with the indistinct midrib, the segments of the fertile frond 

 longer than those of the barren one. Acrostichum dichotomum", 

 Forskh. Fl. ALgypt. Arab. 184. Actiniopteris radiata, Hook. Syn. 

 Jul. p. 246. Bedd. F. S. /. t. 124. 



Throughout India, especially the Peninsula in dry rocky places 

 below 3,000 feet elevation ; Ceylon. 



/Also in North Africa, Mascarcen Islands, Persia, Cabul.) 



