140 CHAEACTEKS OF TKIBES AND GENEEA. 



free. Fertile pimwB plain, sometimes only partially con- 

 tracted, sporangiferous on the under side ; margin mem- 

 braneous, sub-indusjeform. 



Type. Acrostichum sorhifolium, Linn, 



Illust. Hook. Gard. Ferns, t. 57 ; Moore Ind. Fil., p. 3, A ; 

 J. Sm. Ferns, Brit, and For., fig. 38. 



Obs. — In my " Arrangement of the Genera of Ferns," in 

 1841, I adopted Acrostichum scandens, Linn., as the tjrpe of 

 a distinct genus, which I named StenocMcena, to which I 

 also referred A. sorbifolia of Linn., and A. longifolia, Kaulf. ; 

 but not long after this was done, the three species came 

 under my notice in a living state, and I then found that 

 A. scandens differed from the two latter in having a trans- 

 verse anastomose costal vein like that of Blechmm ; this 

 character indicates its relationship to be with Blechium, 

 the other two species being truly acrostichoid, and allied 

 to a group of fifteen species which Fee places under the 

 present genus ; but on account of the variableness of the 

 forms which come under this genus, it is difiicult to 

 determine which are sj)ecies. In the " Species Filicum " 

 no less than eighteen specific names and five genera are 

 given as synonyms under L, sorhifolia ; but it is quite 

 probable that when seen under cultivation some of these 

 forms may be found to be quite distinct species, of which 

 L. sorhifolia and L. longifolia are proofs. They are 

 widely dispersed over the Tropics of the Western and 

 Eastern Hemisphere, and also represented in New 

 Zealand. 



Sp. L. sorbifolia (Zi/(».) (v v.); L. longifolia (Kaulf )(v v.), 

 {Lowe's New Ferns, t. 37) ; L. Tapurense, Hook. {Gard. 

 Ferns, t. 57) ; L. Smithii, Fee Acrost. p. 74, t. 33, fig. 2, 

 {Stenochlcena longifolia, J. Sm.) ; L, Boryana, Fee Acrost., 

 t. 27 ; L. leptocarpa. Fee {Acrost., t. 29) ; L. cuspidata, Fee 



