234 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



Var. 8 bipinnata. Pinnae sub-bipinnate. Bedd. I. c. t. 235. 

 Ceylon. 



t f Pinntz cut more than half-way to the rachis, compound in some 



forms of Filix Mas. 



A. Veins generally simple. 



8. Lastrea gracilescens. (Bl.) Stipes tufted, long, slender ; 

 fronds oblong-lanceolate, pinnate, lower pinnae scarcely reduced, often 

 defiexed, rachises pilose above, pinnae cut down nearly to the rachis, 

 segments narrow-oblong, obtuse, not much narrowed upwards, veins 

 about six on each side of the costule, the two lowest terminating 

 above the sinus, all generally simple, rarely forked, sori medial on 

 the veins, indusium glabrous or minutely pilose. Aspidium graci- 

 lescens, Bl. En. PI. Jav. Fil. 155. Hook. Syn. Fil. 262. Bedd. 

 F. B. I. t. 253. Clarke, F. N. I. 513 in part. 



Mr. Clarke includes here L. flaccida (Hooker), which is certainly 

 a mistake ; he also includes the Assam forms of L. immersa {Bedd. 

 F B. I. 252) united with the Malay Peninsula plant by Hooker; 

 in this he may be correct, as this plant appears distinct from the 

 Malay one, it is however, much larger than any of Mr. Clarke's 

 specimens of gracilescens, and has more veins to the segments. 



Nepal, Sikkim, 6,000-8,000 feet elevation, Khasya, 4,000 feet ; 

 South India, Mudumally forests, a small form. 



(Also in China, Japan and Java.) 



Mr. Clarke's variety decipiens(Darjeeling, 7,000 feet, and Khasya, 

 Dingling, 5,000 feet) has the fronds shorter and more deltoid, and 

 the veins often branched with the sorus subterminal on the upper 

 branch ; it is probably a distinct species. His variety hirsutipes only 

 differs in having the stipes hirsute and in being of rather thicker 

 texture (Khasya and Jaintea, 4,000-5,000 feet) ; his variety didy- 

 mochloenoides has longer narrower pinnae with very large sori, but 

 runs into the type. 



9. Lastrea immersa. {Bl) Caudex creeping, stipes elongated 

 3-4 feet long, fronds rather coriaceous in texture, pinnate, ovate 



