416 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



TRIBE XII.— ACROSTICHEiE. 



Sori spread in a stratum over the under surface, or rarely over 

 both surfaces of the frond, not confined to the veins only. 



GENUS LXXXL— ELAPHOGLOSSUM. (Schott.) 



(Elaphos, a stag ; glossa, tongue.) 



Veins free, simple or forked, their apices sometimes clavate, 

 fronds simple, entire, sestile or stipitate, the fertile somewhat con- 

 tracted and generally sporangiferous over the whole under surface ; 

 stipes adherent to the rhizome, but generally pseudo-articulate a Lttle 

 above the base. 



i. Elaphoglossum conforme. (Sw.) Rhizome woody, wide 

 creeping, scales blackish, ovate, jagged, not hair-pointed ; stipes firm 

 erect, 2-3 inches long in the sterile, and often much more in the 

 fertile, black at the base up to the pseudo-articulation, where it breaks 

 off in age, generally clothed with sheathing scales ; sterile fronds 2-9 

 inches long, seldom more than 1 inch broad, narrow-lanceolate 

 acuminate, furnished with deciduous scales on both sides, quite 

 glabrous in age, margin slightly re volute in age ; veins hidden, 

 generally once-forked, just reaching the margin ; fertile fronds some- 

 what contracted. Sw. Syn. Fil. 10, 192, /. 1. Bedd. F S. I. t. 

 198. Hook. Syn. Fil. 40 r. 



South India, Western mountains, at the higher elevations, very 

 common ; Ceylon ; Malay Peninsula ; Sikkim and Nepal, 6,000- 

 9,000 feet elevation, Khasya, 4,500-6,000 feet elevation. 



(Also in Australia, Central and South Africa, Queensland, 

 Polynesia, and the Malay Islands.) 



2. Elaphoglossum latifolium. (Sw.) Rhizome woody, wide- 

 creeping, scales bright chesnut or golden, lanceolate and more 

 pointed than in conforme ; stipes longer than in conforme and the 

 deciduous scales not sheathing ; fronds much larger than in conforme, 

 and generally over 2 inches broad, margin diaphanous and much 



