180 



RIGID FERN. 



pinnules are sessile, but attached by a very narrow base, and 

 so deeply divided into lobes as to appear almost pinnatifid ; the 

 lobes are toothed, the teeth broad and scarcely mucronate : this 

 character I consider of importance, as affording an excellent 

 diagnostic whereby the present species may be readily distin- 

 guished from its congeners. The lateral 

 veins are alternate, and each is forked al- 

 most immediately after leaving the midvein : 

 the posterior branch is again divided, and 

 each ramifies into a serrature of the lobe ; 

 the anterior branch bears a circular cluster 

 of capsules about midway between the mid- 

 vein and the margin ; these masses, which 

 are ten or twelve in each pinnule, are always 

 approximate, and finally completely conflu- 

 ent ; each of the masses is covered by a 

 reniforni lead-coloured involucre, which is 

 attached to the vein by a short stalk placed 

 in the lateral sinus. The upper figure in 

 the margin shows the veins and the points of attachment of the 

 capsules ; the marginal figure below shows the clusters of cap- 

 sules with their involucres in the natural situa- 

 tion. The involucre is furnished with a fringe 

 of stalked glands, as represented at a, in page 

 175. Over the surface of the frond are scattered 

 numerous minute, spherical, and nearly sessile 

 glands ; from these, in all probability, is emitted 

 the scent which has caused so many authors to 

 call this plant by the name of "fragrans." Mr. 

 Pinder called my attention to these glands ; he 

 informs me they are more conspicuous in the living than in 

 the dried plant, and impart to it a glaucous hue. 



fumtm. 



The frond varies in form from ovate-lanceolate to oblong- 

 deltoid, and, in some fronds, almost to exactly deltoid ; but in 

 this species, as in others of the genus, the deltoid form is ac- 

 companied by a smaller caudex, indicative of youth, and the 



