Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 37 



13. Athyriu.m fimbriatum. Fronds very large, up to 6-8 

 feet high, tri-quadripinnate, primary pinnae 10-20 inches long, 6-14 

 inches broad, texture generally firm ; rootstock creeping ; stipes 

 solitary, distant. 



I consider the var. sphaeropteroides of Clarke and of my 

 handbook synonymous with the type of fimbriatum of Wallich and 

 Sir W. Hooker. (Clarke, however, has issued several ferns under 

 this name, and under the name of Andersoni var. Atkinsoni.) I 

 also include here Clarke's Atkinsoni var. Andersoni. Clarke's 

 PL 62 fig. 2 foliolosa is one side of a pinna of this species. 

 In some of the specimens collected near Simla (Bagi Forest, 9,500 

 feet alt.) the lamina is much developed, and Dr. Watt informs me 

 that these rarely seed, and then only very partially ; these forms 

 are generally only tripinnate (this is Clarke's PL 62, fig. 2). In the 

 more compound quadripinnate forms collected in the same locality 

 the seeding is very copious, often quite concealing the lamina 

 (Clarke's plate 57, a small pinna). Asplenium lastreoides [Baker, 

 /our. Bot. 1888), from Mount Omei, in China, is, I think, this 

 species, being quite similar to Dr. Watt's specimens. Davallia 

 athyriifolia {Baker, Jour. Bot. v. 1891), Yunan Mountains, near 

 Tali, is also a synonym here, (exactly corresponding with a 

 specimen of Edgeworth's, from the Himalaya). It is characteristic 

 of this plant to have the sori, or a great proportion of them, 

 very short and quite leucostegioid, but some asplenioid sori are 

 always present. 



Var. SQUAMATUM. More delicate in texture and finer in 

 cutting than the type, otherwise very similar in size, &c, except 

 that the secondary and tertiary rachises, and even the midrib 

 beneath, are furnished with deciduous scales ; indusium more 

 persistent and more truly athyrioid, being hypocrepiform and 

 allantodioid. 



Sara, 11,000 feet alt. Chumba. {Clarke, No. 24,152, in 

 /. Herb.) 



13A. Athyrium i oi.iolosum. {Wall.) Rootstock erect or 



