460 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



1 . Angiopteris evecta. (Hoffm ) Caudex erect, often 2 feet 

 thick, and as much or more in height ; fronds 6-20 feet long, pinnse 

 1-3 feet long, spreading, the lowest the largest, rachis swollen at the 

 base, pinnules 4-12 inches long, \~\\ inch broad, linear oblong, 

 sessile or shortly stalked, the apex acuminate, the edge entire or toothed, 

 particularly towards the apex, texture herbaceous to subcoriaceous, 

 glabrous, shining ; veins subparallel ; sori of 8-15 capsules. Hoffm. 

 Schk. Krypt. Gew. t. 151. Bedd. F. S. I. t. 78. 



Throughout the Indian region up to 7,000 feet elevation. 



(Also in Japan, Tropical Australia, New Caledonia, Madagascar, 

 and Polynesia.) 



GENUS XCIV.— MARATTIA. (Sm.) 



(After Maratti of Tuscany, a writer on Ferns.) 



Capsules sessile or stalked, 4-12 concrete in boat-shaped 

 synangia, which consist of two opposite rows of capsules and open by 

 slits down their inner faces, with or without an inferior involucre ; 

 veins simple or forked, free ; fronds bi-tripinnate, large, springing from 

 between two fleshy stipulceform appendages (which sometimes 

 assume the character of abnormal fronds) ; pinnules articulate with 

 the rachis. 



1. Marattia fraxinea. {Smith.) Stipes 1-2 feet long, i-ifin. 

 thick, smooth deciduously scaly or swollen in the lower part ; fronds 

 up to 15 feet long, bipinnate, or sometimes tripinnate ; pinnae 1-2 

 feet long, pinnules oblong-lanceolate, 4-6 inches long i- 1 \ inches 

 broad, the apex acuminate, the edge generally serrate, more rarely 

 entire, the base cuneate, or slightly rounded, texture rather coria- 

 ceous, glabrous, the rachis of pinna? sometimes slightly winged ; 

 synangia submarginal, in close rows, the receptacle linear with 6-12 

 capsules on each side, an obscure fimbriated inferior involucre often 

 present. Hook. Syn. Fit. 440. Bedd. F. S. I.t. 79. 



South India, Western forests of the Madras Presidency, 4,000- 

 6,000 feet elevation (not nearly so common as Angiopteris which it 



