Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



467 



fronds pendulous, ribbon-like, without 

 a distinct stem, 1-3 feet long, 1-3 

 inches broad, simple or forked, texture 

 fleshy ; no midrib and the veining not 

 distinct ; fertile spike single, arising 

 low down on, but above the base of, 

 the sterile segment, 2-6 inches long, 

 on a peduncle shorter than itself. 

 Linn. Sp. PL 15 18. Bedd. F. S. I. 

 t. 269. 



Ceylon, at no great elevation ; r~j 1 

 Malay Peninsula ; Assam (?) C ) ,L 



(Also in Malay and Polynesian 

 Islands ; Mauritius ; Australia ; Philip- 

 pines.) 



N°29l. 

 OPHIOGLOSSUM TENDULUM. (X.) 



GENUS XCVIL— HELMINTHOSTACHYS. (Kaulf) 



(LLe/nzinf/ws, a worm ; stachys, a spike.) 



Capsules in long crested clusters which form a long loose spike; 

 veins forked, free ; fertile spike rising from the base of the leafy 

 segment; fronds stipate, sterile segments foliaceous, , digitate. A 

 genus of a single species. 



1. Helminthostachys zeylanica. (Linn, tinder Osmunda.) 

 Rhizome thick, fleshy, creeping ; stipes often 1 foot long, barren 

 segment palmately pinnate, often in three principal divisions which 

 are stalked, and again forked or pinnate, the ultimate divisions linear- 

 oblong, 3-4 inches long, -4-1 inch broad, the apex acuminate, the 

 edge slightly toothed or entire, texture herbaceous ; fertile spike 

 solitary, arising from the base of the barren segment, 3-4 inches 

 long, \ inch broad, the firm peduncle about as long as the fructi- 

 fication. Linn. Sp. L y /. 15 19. LLook. and Bauer, Gen. Jul. t. 4813. 

 Bedd. F. S. J. t. (><). 



