BotnjcMum.] OLVI. FILI018. 1988 



marginal but turned inwards, opening in a fissure, transversa as to the rhachis, 

 longitudinal as to the spore-case. 



A genus of few species, chiefly extratropioal, dispersed over the New and the Old World on 

 the northern and southern hemispheres. 



1. B. tematum (8-parted), Swartit.; Hook, and Bak. Syn. Filic. 448 ; Benth. 

 Fl. Amtr. vii. 690. Grape Fern or Moonwort. Stipites of the barren and fertile 

 fronds free below their division and sometimes from the base. Barren lamina 2 

 to 5in. long and at least as broad, tripartite with pinnate divisions. Pinnee 

 ovate-lanceolate in outline, deeply pinnatifid or again pinnate, the segments 

 denticulate. Veins diverging, almost concealed in the thick texture of the frond. 

 Fertile panicle much branched, 1 to Bin. long and often nearly as broad at the 

 base.— F. v. M. Fragm. v. 113 ; Osmunda ternata, Thunb. Fl. .Jap. 329, t. 32 ; 

 Botrychium auatrale, E. Br. Prod. 164 ; B. virginianum, Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 

 154, t. 169, not of Swartz. ; Bail. Litho. Ferns Ql. 8. 



Hab.: Moreton Bay and Taylors Bange, Bockhampton, and further north. 

 Also in extratropioal North America and Asia and in New Zealand. 



3. HELMINTHOSTACHYS, Kaulf. 



(The fructification supposed to resemble a spike of worms.) 



Barren portion of frond leaflike, divided. Fertile portion of frond a pedunculate 

 spikelike panicle. Spore-cases globular but free, in dense clusters all round the 

 rhachis, opening irregularly in an external slit. 



The genus is limited to the single Australian species, which extends over East India, the 

 Malayan Archipelago and New Caledonia. 



1. H> zeylanica (of Ceylon), Hook. Gen. hilic. t. 47, 2nd Cent, Ferns, t. 94, 

 Gard. Ferns, t. 28 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 690. Rhizome thick, creeping, with 

 fleshy fibres. Fronds united in a stipes often 1ft. or more high, the fertile leaflike 

 lamina nearly sessile upon it, usually 3-partite, each division deeply pinnatifid. 

 Segments lanceolate, 3 to Sin. long, ^ to lin. broad, entire or denticulate, more 

 or less decurrent and confluent at the base. Veins numerous, simple or forked, 

 parallel and diverging from the midrib, all free or rarely anastomosing. Spike or 

 rather spike-like panicle 2 to 4in. long, the peduncle at least as long above the 

 barren lamina. Clusters of spore-cases short and crowded, each cluster usually 

 terminating in a crest-like appendage (abortive spore-cases ?) — Bedd. Ferns S. 

 Ind. t. 69 ; F. v. M. Fragm. v. 113 ; Bail. Litho. Ferns Ql. 4. 



Hab: Rockingham Bay, W. Hill, Dallachy; Port Denison and Daintree River, Fitzalan ; 

 Bockhampton, Thoset ; and many other tropical localities. 



4. LYGODIUM, Swartz. 



(From lygodes, flexible). 



Climbing ferns, with long twining stems. Fronds pinnately or diohotomously 

 divided, inserted on the common stem in divaricate pairs, usually on a very 

 short common stalk or petiole. Pinnules usually ovate or lanceolate, at least 

 when barren. Spore-cases globular or transversely oblong, with longitudinal 

 striae at the upper end, opening in a longitudinal slit, sessile in two rows, in sori 

 forming small lobes bordering the pinnules or in a separate panicle, with a small 

 scale under each spore-case. 



A tropical genus widely spread over the New as well as the Old World. 



Fronds palmately lobed 1. L. diehotomfwi, 



Fronds simply pinnate. Pinnules articulate on the petiole. Veins all free . 2. L. seandem. 

 Fronds simply pinnate or the lower pinnw again pinnate. Pinnules 



articulate on the petiole. Veins often anastomosing .... . . . 3. £., reticul^tum. 



Fronds more or less bipinnate. Pinnules not articulate, often decurrent 



on the petiole. Veins all free 4, L.japimi<atm. 



Past VI. <^ 



