TAB. XCIV. 



Helminthostachys Zeylanica, Hook. 



Gen. Char. Helminthostachys, Kaulf. Caupsulce subglo- 

 bosse, glomeratae, in valvas duas subsequales deorsum longi- 

 tudinaliter dehiscentes: glomeruli pedicellati apice cristati, in 

 spicam elongatam pedunculatam cordiformem dense con- 

 gest*. Sporce hyalinse parvas subglobosse. — Rhizoma crassum, 

 carnosum, repens, fibrosum, fibris carnosis. Stipes simplex, 

 elongatus, apice frondosus, fronde ternata ad basin pedunculi 

 veriicillata, foliolis petiolatis pinnatis, pinnis subquinis lanceo- 

 latis, magis minusve acuminatis, minute serratis, lateralibus 

 longe decurrentibus, terminal! libera. 



Helminthostachys Zeylanica. 



Helminthostachys Zeylanica, Hook. Gen. Fil. t. 47, Presl, 



Suppl. Tent. Pterid. p. 59. 

 Helminthostachys dulcis, Kaulf. En. Fil. 28, t. 1, f. 1 (spike). 



Blume, En. Fil. Jav. p. 258, Wall. Cat. n. 54, Hook, et 



Grev. En. Fil. in But. Miscell. 3, p. 220. 

 Botrychium Zeylanicum, Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 172, Willd. Sp. PI. 



5, p. 65. 

 Osmunda Zeylanica, Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1519. 

 Ophioglossum laciniatum, Rumph. Herb. Amb. 6, p. 153, t. 



68, f. 3. 

 Hymenostachys integrifolia, Presl, Suppl. Tent. Pterid. p. 50. 

 Botryopteris Mexicana, Presl, Bel. Hank. 1, p. 76, t. 12, f. 1. 

 Hymenostachys crenata, Presl, Suppl. Tent. Pterid. p. 60. 

 Hab. Malayan and Molucca islands, frequent; Amboyna, 



Rumph; Luzon, Cuming, n. 39; Tavoy and Bengal, Wallich ; 



Mergui, Griffith; Java, Blume, Thos. Lobb; Borneo, Thos. 



Lobb; Ceylon, Gardner ; Cochin, Mrs. General Walker, 



Johnston; New Caledonia, La Billardiere; Guahan, Mari- 

 anne Islands, Hcenke. 



Of this remarkable Genus there is but a solitary species known: 

 notwithstanding that Presl mates three species out of that dis- 

 tributed by Cuming from Luzon. One of these is the same as 

 the Botryopsis Mexicana of the same author in the " Reliquiae Haen- 

 heanae ;" — afterwards, on finding that it was not a Mexican plant, 

 and a Hymenostachys, the name was changed to H. crenata. The 

 figure is a very good representation of the true H. Zeylanica, save 

 the reticulated venation, which is no doubt occasioned by the 

 ingenuity of the artist. 



Tab. XCIV. Fertile plant of Helminthostachys Zeylanica, Hook. ; 

 natural size. Fig. 1. Portion of a sterile frond, showing the vena- 

 tion. /. 2. Portion of a fertile spike, with clustres of capsules ; 

 and /. 3. single cluster of capsules with its crest ; all more or less 

 magnified. 



CnxT. 2. t. 94. 



