360 CHAEACTEES OF TRIBES ASD GEXEEA. 



212.— ToPEA, fFlM. (1802). 



Vernation fasciculate, erect, sub-arboroid, naked, or pro- 

 ducing- outgrowing aerial roots, forming a spongy mass. 

 Fronds bi-tri-pinnatitid, 2 to <i feet high ; pinnaj coriaceous 

 or membranaceous ; fertile frond sub-contracted. Veins 

 forked ; venules free sporangiferous, forming oblong 

 linear sori, often confluent. 



Type. Acrostichum barbanini, Linn. 



Illust. Hook, and Bauer Gen. Fil., t. 46 B., f 1 ; Moore 

 Ind. Fil., p. 05; J. Sm. Ferns, Brit, and For., fig. 

 149 ; Hook. Syn. Fil., t. 8, fig. 63. 



Obs. — Thia genus differs from Osmunda merely by its 

 fronds being not at all or only slightly contracted, the 

 sporangia produced on evident venules. Leptopteris of 

 Presl is in my view not sufficiently distinct as a genus 

 from Osmunda, 



* Fronds firm, opaque {Eu(odea). 



Sp. T. barbara, Uoore, Bot. Mag., t. 5954, 1872. {T. 

 Africana, JVilld. ; T. rivularis, Sieb.). 



Obs. — Originally found in the Capo of Good Hope, but 

 more recently found distributed throughout New Zealand 

 and Australia. 



** Fronds membraneous, segments in some midlifid. ' 

 {Leptopteris, Pr.). 



T. hymenophylloides, Birlt. (v v.) ; T. superba, Colenso 

 (v V.) ; T. Fraseri, Hoof.:, and Grev. ; T. Wilkosiana, Brack. 



Obs. — The two first are natives of New Zealand, the 

 third of New South Wales, and the fourth a native of 

 Fiji ; in the " Synopsis Filicum " it is considered a variety 

 of T. Fraseri, but its slender, walking-stick-like stem 



