362 CHAEACTEES OF TEIBES AND GENEEA. 



nevertheless very distinct not only in the spore cases being 

 destitute of a ring, but also in the vernation being terminal 

 and articulate with the axis of development, similar to 

 certain species of Cyatliea already noticed. This articula- 

 tion must not, however, be confounded with the Eremo- 

 bryous division Polypodiacce, in which the fronds are pro- 

 duced solitary on the sides of the axis. In most of the 

 annulate Ferns the roots are hard and wiry, often spreading 

 over and clinging to the surface on which they grow, 

 whereas in the esannulate the roots are soft, sticky, and 

 fleshj'-, often penetrating deeply into the soil, in that 

 respect being analogous to many of the endogenous orders, 

 such as Cycadece, Gyclanthece, Am.aryllea>., and Liliacce. 

 They are generally large growing Ferns consisting- of 

 about twenty or thirty species, arranged under the follow- 

 ing genera : — ■ 



213.— Angiopteeis, Hoffni. (1793). 



Vernation fasciculate, erect, sub-arboroid ; each frond 

 rising from between two fleshy stipulteform appendages ; 

 base of the stipes clavate, pseudo-articulated with the axis. 

 Fronds 6 to 18 feet in length, spreading, bi-pinnate ; pinn^ 

 and pinnules articulated with the rachis. Veins simple or 

 forked, free. Becejjtacles oblong, linear, terminal. Spo- 

 rangia 6 to 24, bi-serial, sessile, free, opening by a slit on 

 the inner side. Sori oblong, laterally contiguous (con- 

 fluent), forming a broad, sub-marginal transverse band of 

 sporangia. 



Type. Angiopteris evecta, Hoffm. 



Illust. Hook, and Bauer Gen. Fil, t. 10 ; Moore Ind. 

 Fil., p. 96 A. ; J. Sm. Perns, Brit, and For., fig. 152 ; 

 Hook. Syn. Fil., t. 9, fig. 69. 



Obs. — This genus is represented throughout the tropical 



