20 DlDYMOCHLiENA TRUNCATULA. 



Indies, Brazil, Malayan Islands, Hispaniola, the Island of St. 

 Domingo, Java, and the Philippine Islands. 



Eeceived into the Royal Gardens, Kew, in 1838, from Messrs. 

 Loddiges, of Hackney. 



Fronds bipinnate, broadly lanceolate; the pinnse being linear- 

 lanceolate, eight to ten inches long, sessile; pinnules sub-rhom- 

 boidal, oblong-obtuse, coriaceous, imbricate, truncate-dimidiate 

 at the base; margin slightly crenulate; articulate with the rachis. 



Stipes, rachis, and midrib of pinnse densely clothed with 

 ferruginous tomentum and long, narrow, brown scales. 



Fronds terminal, adherent to an arborescent caudex. 



Yeins forked, radiating; venules direct, free, the exterior one 

 being fertile. 



Sori elliptical, uniserial, placed on the apex of a venule. 

 Indusium oblong, longitudinally attached along the centre. 



Length of frond from three to five feet; colour rich bright 

 dark green. 



DidymochlcB7ia si?iuosa of Schott has been placed with the 

 present species, still, if only a variety, it is very distinct, the pin- 

 nules are usually only half the size of D. truncafula, making the 

 branches seem farther apart; indeed in D. truncatula the pinnules 

 of the one branch touch those of the next, whilst in D. sinuosa 

 they are from half an inch to an inch apart. Then in D. trun- 

 catula the pinnules are arranged almost at right angles to the 

 branches, whilst in D. sinuosa they are at an angle of from 

 20° to 45°. In D. truncatula the terminal pinnule is elongated 

 and deeply cut, whilst in T>. sinuosa it is not so much elongated, 

 usually not cut, and more nearly resembles the character of 

 the other pinnules. I fear these characters will not prove constant 

 in cultivation. 



For plants of D. truncatula I am indebted to M. Schott, 

 Director of the Imperial Gardens of Schonbriinn, near Vienna; 

 and to Messrs. E. G. Henderson, of the Wellington Nursery, 

 St. John's Wood. 



It is in the Catalogues of Messrs. Sim, of Foot's Cray; Rol- 

 lisson, of Tooting; Veitch, Jun., of Chelsea; E. G. Henderson, 

 of St. John's Wood; K. Henderson, of Pine-apple Place; Booth, 

 of Hamburg; W. Cutbush and Sons, of Highgate; Kennedy, of 

 Covent Garden; and Cooling, of Derby. 



The illustration is from a plant in my own collection. 



