1932 OLVI. FILICES. 



1. OPHIOGLOSSUM, Linn. 



(The name literally means Adder's-tongue, the English name for 

 plants of this genus.) 



Barren frond leaflike, entire or forked at the end, reticulately veined. Fertile 

 lamina or spike simple, pedunculate. Spore-cases sessile and more or less 

 combined back to back in 2 rows along the rhachis, opening in a fissure transverse 

 as to the spike, longitudinal as to the spore-case. 



A small genus generally spread over the tropical and temperate regions of the globe. Of the 

 two Aijstralian species one has the wide distribution of the genus, the other is tropical Asiatic. 

 Barren frond ovatelonceolate or linear, resembling a leaf on the peduncle 



of the spike 1. O- vulgatum. 



Barren frond ribbon-like from the base, the spike appearing pedunculate on 



the lamina 2. 0. pendulum. 



1. O. vulgatum (common), Linn.; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Filic. 445 ; Benth. 

 Fl. Austr. vii. 688. Rhizome small, knotty. Combined frond solitary, from a 

 few inches to near 1ft. high, the barren leaflike lamina sessile at or below the 

 middle of the stipes, varying from broadly ovate or oblong-lanceolate and 1 to 2in. 

 long in what may be termed the normal form, to ovate, rotundate, and J to \m. 

 long, or narrow-lanceolate or linear and 1 to l^in. long, with every intermediate 

 form and size, copiously reticulate when broad, the veins more longitudinal and 

 slightly anastomosing when the lamina is narrow. Spike varying in length with 

 the size of the plant, with very few to more than a dozen spore-cases in each 

 row.— Hook. Fl. Tasm. ii. 153, t. 169 ; F. v. M. Fragm. v. 112 ; 0. gramineum, 

 Willd. and 0. costatum, R. Br. Prod. 168. — Bail. Litho. Ferns Ql. i. 



Hab.: Brisbane Biver, Moreton Bay, F. v. Mueller and others ; Itockhampton and neighbour- 

 ing districts, Bowman, Thozet, O'Shanesy. 



Var. gramineum, Bail. Bot. Bull. 5. Ehizome tuberous. Fronds from 1 to 2in. high ; the 

 sterile portion narrow-lanceolate, J to fin. long ; fertile spike J to Jin. long. — Bail. Litho. 

 Ferns, Ql. i. B. 



Uab.: Frequently met with on stony ridges in Southern localities. 



Yar. minutum, Bail. Bot. Bull. 5. Bhizome tuberous. Fronds 1 to Sin. high, the sterile 

 portion petiolate, lam na roundish or almost rhomboidal, seldom attaining a diameter oF 3 

 lines ; fertile spike narrow, sharply pointed, about Jin. long. — Bail. Litho. Ferns Ql. i. A. 



Hab.: On grassy land about the Herbert Biver. 



The species is found in most warm and temperate climates, and everywhere varies so much in 

 the size and shape of the leaflike lamina that it has been divided into a number of species, 

 which the most acute observers in various countries have again united. The Queensland forms, 

 however, may most conveniently be given as above. 



2. Om pendulum (pendulous), Linn.; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Fil. 446; Benth. 

 Fl. Awtr. vii. 689. Ribbon Fern. Barren and fertile frond pendulous from the 

 masses of Platyceriiim on trees, often many feet long, ribbon-like, entire or rarely 

 forked at the end, leaflike throughout or tapering at the base into a very short 

 stipes. Spike 1 to 6in. long, on a short peduncle arising from the central line of 

 the frond far from or sometimes near the base. Spore-oases in 2 opposite rows 

 as in O. vulgatum, buried when young in the continuous margin, at length 

 occupying nearly the whole breadth of the spike, which like the sterile portion is 

 sometimes forked — Sieb. Fl. Mixt. n. 278 ; Hook, and Grev. Ic. Filic. t. 19 ; 

 Hook. Gard. Ferns, t. 33 ; Bedd. Ferns S. Ind. t. 269 ; Bail. Litho. Ferns Ql. 2. 



Hab.: Coastal scrubs south and north. 



Also in tropical Asia, extending on the one hand to the Mascareue, on the other to the Pacific 

 Islands. 



2. BOTRYCHIUM, Swartz. 



(From the Greek, the fructification being supposed to represent 

 a bunch of grapes.) 



Barren fronds pinnate or compound. Fertile fronds with branched spikes, 

 forming a pedunculate panicle. Spore-cases sessile in 2 rows along the branches. 



