Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 345 



the sori various in position, generally on the back of united veinlets ; 

 fronds simple, pinnatifid or pinnate, articulate with the caudex. 

 In the Svnopsis Fiticum Phymatodes is the name adopted for this 

 genus (or subgenus only in that work) ; this name, however, is of 

 much later date than Pleopeltis, having been instituted by Presl. 

 in 1S36, Pleopeltis by Humboldt and Bonpland in 1810. Some 

 authors split the genus up into many genera. 



* Fronds simple {also 3-5 lobed in pteropus.) 

 A. Main veins not distinct to the edge. 



1. Pleopeltis accedens. {El.) Rhizome wide-creeping, 

 slender filiform, scarcely paleaceous, attached to the bark of trees by 

 copious woolly radices, stipes scattered 2-5 lines long ; fronds sub- 

 coriaceous, opaque, glabrous entire, sterile ones i-i| inch long, oblong 

 ovate obtuse, fertile ones 2-3 1 inches long, from a broad cuneate 

 base, long-acuminate ; venation obscure, costules indistinct, veins 

 forming three large areoles (in each of which is one large forked 

 veinlet) and a smaller marginal areole ; sori large for the size of the 

 plant on the acuminated portion in a single series on each side of 

 the costa. Fl. En. Fil. Jav. p. 121. Hook. Sp. Fil. v. 66. Eedd. 

 F. F. I. t. 215. 



Malacca. 



(Also in the Philippines, the Malay Islands, Polynesia.) 



2. Pleopeltis rostrata. {Hook) Rhizome very slender, 

 wide-creeping, furnished with lanceolate-linear scales, stipes distant 

 \-2 inches long, naked : fronds lanceolate-acuminate, somewhat di- 

 morphic, the barren often being broader, coriaceous glabrous, the 

 margin entire ; veins immersed, main veins indistinct, areoles irreg- 

 ular, including simple or forked free veinlets ; sori in a single row on 

 each side close to the midrib. Hook. Syn. Fil. 353. Eedd. F. E. I. 

 t. 159. 



Sikkim and Bhotan, 6,000 feet elevation, abundant ; Khasya 

 4,000-5,000 feet elevation. 



