﻿72. CTCLOPHORUS. § 1. NIPHOBOLUS. 681 



2 — 5 m.M. broad, the apex blunt or rounded, the lower ^3 — V2 cuneate, 

 narrowed gradually into the short stipe; upper surface soon naked, subindu- 

 plicato-canaliculate when dry, lower densely clothed with subadpressed, fer- 

 rugineous tomenlum. Sori rather large, in 1 — 2 irregular rows on each side 

 of the costa, immersed, but elevated above the tomentum, occypying the 

 upper '/2 — ^/s of ^be fertile frond, but sometimes covering the whole under 

 surface. — Plants gathered in New Guinea by Dr. Versteeg, which may be 

 a form of this species, have the barren and fertile fronds subsessile, the bar- 

 ren oblong, rounded at the apex, cuneate, rounded or cordate at the base; 

 fertile fronds with the young sori deeply immersed, and the cavities closed 

 by a small, roundish, lid-like, deciduous lateral outgrowth of leaf tissue co- 

 vered with large, globose tufts of densely crowded, very long-stalked, ferru- 

 gineous stellate hairs, the tufts + 2 — 5 m.M. each way. 



? New Guinea; Australia, New Zealand. 



-♦ 



* (3) C adnasceiis, l>e*»., Berl. Mag., Y, 300 ; Pohjpodium adnas- 

 cens, Sw., Rac, Flor. Btz., I, 98; P. caudatum. Melt., Parng., I, Polypod., 126; 

 P. carnosiim, Mett., 1. c, 124; P. Koenigii, BL, Flor. Jav., II, 50; Niphobolus 

 adnascens, Klf., Hk., Gard. Ferns, lab. XIX; Gies., Niph., 196; N. caudatus, 

 Klf., Bl., 1. c, S6, tab. XXII; N. carnosus, BL, 1. c, 50, tab. XIX, N. elonga- 

 tus, BL, 1. c, 52, tab. XX; — var. minor, Christ, MS, in Herb. Bog. 



Rhizome wide-creeping, the scales dense, peltate, dark-coloured, ovate or 

 lanceolate, with the base rounded, the apex blunt, acute or acuminate, the 

 edge ciliate, pale-brown or whitish. Stipes 1 — 3 c.M. or more apart, '/a — ^ 

 c.M. long, firm. Fronds dimorphous. Barren fronds oblong, linear or spa- 

 thulate, 2 — 12 c.M. long, 1—2 c.M. broad, the apex blunt, the edge entire, 

 the base cuneate or gradually narrowed. Texture rigidly coriaceous, thick; 

 costa distinct; veins hidden; upper surface naked or nearly so, lower thinly 

 tomentose, the stellate hairs abundant but not crowded, caducous. Fertile 

 fronds linear, longer than the barren ones, 8 — 30 c.M. long, 4 — 10 m.M. 

 broad, with the edges more or less recurved, on stipes 1 — 8 c.M. long, the 

 tomentum thicker, woolly (the hairs densely crowded) in the soriferous 

 part of the frond. Sori small, often crateriform, occupying the upper '/^ — 

 ^/j of the frond, immersed, hidden in the tomentum when young. — Ferns 

 with the habit of Drymoglossum heterophyllum, C. Chr. in the smaller forms. 



Var. minor: Fertile fronds subsessile, + 6 c.M. long, 3 — 6 m.M. 

 broad in the fertile region. 



Trop. Asia, Polynesia; — var. minor: Batu Islands (Raap). 



