230 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



South India, very general in the Western forests of the Madras 

 Presidency ; Ceylon ; Birma. 



I have always found the involucre strictly reniform, and Hooker 

 has described it both under Polystichum and Lastrea (in the latter 

 as Lastrea platypus) ; it is a much less divided fern than coniifolia, 

 besides having an utterly different caudex • Mr. Clarke, who unites 

 it with coniifolia, states, that he has never been able to see that a 

 creeping caudex accompanies a less divided form, but Mr. Clarke's 

 specimens are all typical coniifolia, and there is no aristata from the 

 Himalayas in the Kew Herbarium, and only one poor specimen from 

 Khasya, labelled Lastrea platypus. 



(Also in Japan, Formosa, South China, Java, Luzon, and 

 Norfolk Island.) 



3. Lastrea affinis. ( Wall.) Very similar to aristata and 

 amabilis, but the lower pinnae less compound than in aristata and 

 often quite similar to the upper ones ; texture much more coriaceous 

 and sori very large. Wall. Cat. 370. Lastrea aristata, var. Hamil- 

 tonii, Bedd. Fern. Sup. pi. 369. Hook. Syn. Fil. 256. As- 

 pidium speciosum (Don.), Aspidium aristatum, var. affinis, and var. 

 assamica, Clarke, I. c. 511. 



I formerly considered this species a variety of aristata, I have 

 never seen it growing, but Mr. Clarke tells that the rhizome is erect 

 and not creeping, so I cannot consider it a variety of either aristata 

 or amabilis. 



Sikkim, Nepal, Assam, Jaintea. 



4. Lastrea coniifolia, (Wall.) Rhizome erect; stipes 

 tufted ; fronds very large, ovate, 2-3 feet long, 4-5 pinnate, ultimate 

 pinnules and segments small, coriaceous shining, aristate ; sori large 

 or small; indusium reniform or orbicular. Bedd. F. B. I. 261. As- 

 pidium, Wall. Cat. 341. 



I have always found the involucres reniform in their young 

 stage, I have had both this and aristata in cultivation on the Nilgiris 

 for many years, and they show no tendency to run one into the 

 other. 



