OLVI. FILICES. 1985 



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5. SCHIZiEA, Sra. 

 (Prom schizo, to split ; from the split fronds.) 

 Bhizome short. Fronds erect, linear, terete or very narrow, simple forked or 

 dichotomous, without expanded laminss. Sori forming small linear pinnules, 

 closely imbricate in a secund spike at the end of the fertile branches, those of the 

 two sides folded against each other with the fructification inside. Spore-cases 

 globular, without any ring, opening in two valves, sessile in 2 rows covering the 

 inner surface of the pinnules, which is really their under side, though from the 

 curvature of the spike it may appear to be the upper one. 



The genua extends over tropical and temperate America and the southern hemisphere of the 

 Old World. 

 Fronds terete or nearly so, mostly bifld. Soriferous pinnules very narrow, 



3 to 4 lines long 1. S. bifida. 



Fronds repeatedly dichotomous. On sandy land near the coast 2. S. dichotoma. 



Like the last but much smaller and glossy. Usually found on the roots of 



palms 3. S.,F,orateri. 



1. S. bifida (2-cleft), Swartz ; Hook and Bak. Sgn. Filic. 429 ; Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. vii. 693. Fronds terete, 9 to 18in. high, once forked at or below the 

 middle or rarely undivided. Spike of the fertile ones ^ to fin. long, the soriferous 

 pinnules very numerous and closely packed, narrow-linear, 3 to 4 lines long, 

 fringed with long cilia. Spore-cases often 20 pair. — E. Br. Prod. 162 ; Sieb. 

 Fl. Mixt. n. 228 ; Bail. Litho. Ferns Ql. 9a. 



Hab.: Port Bowen, R. Brown ; Bookingham Bay, Dallachy. Common in the south on forest 

 land. 

 Also in New Zealand. Included by F. v. M. Fragm. v. 113, in S. dichotoma. 



2. S. dichotoma (divisions in pairs), Swartz; Honk, and Bak. Syn. Filic. 

 480; Benth. Fl. Aiistr. vii. 694. Fronds 6in. to above 1ft. high, dichotomously 

 divided into very numerous branches slightly flattened especially when barren, 

 forming a flat corymbose top, all or most of them in some specimens fertile, in 

 others all or most of them barren. Soriferous pinnules of the fertile spike very 

 narrow and closely contiguous as in 8. bifida, but usually smaller, varying from 1 

 to nearly 3 lines long. — E. Br. Prod. 162 ; Hook, and Grev. Ic. Filic. t. 17 ; 

 Bedd. Ferns S. Ind. t. 65 ; F. v. M. Fragm. v. 113 ; Sieb. Fl. Mixt. n. 227 ; 

 Bail. Litho. Ferns Ql. 10. 



Hab.: Common all along the coast. 



Extends over tropical America and Asia, the Mascarene and Pacific Islands, to New Zealand. 



3. S. Porsteri (after G. Forster), Spreng ; F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 275. 

 Rhizome short scaly. Frond? 3 to 9in. high, glossy. Stipes light-coloured, 

 ohanelled, the upper portion of the frond dichotomously divided into several flat, 

 thin segments, the fertile ones tapering to a neck-like contraction, thus giving 

 the fructification an appearance of being stipitate, the tassel of fructification not 

 so one-sided and much shorter than in S. dichotoma; Bail. Litho. Ferns Ql. 9 B. 



Hab.: Northern and southern localities, usually found growing among the upper roots of 

 palms. 



6. ANGIOPTERIS, Hoffm. 



(From aggeion, a vessel, and pteris, a fern.) 



Trunk erect, almost arborescent. Fronds large, bipinnate, the stipes with 2 

 large persistent auricles at the base. Spore-cases globular, without any ring, 

 opening inwards in two valves, sessile in two rows in oblong sori, placed side by 

 side in a continuous row near the margins of the segments. No indusium. 



The genus is limited by Hooker and others t> the single Australian species, ranging over 

 tropical and Eastern Asia to Japan and extending on the one hand to Madagascar and on the 

 other to the Pacific Islands. It has been divided by De Vriese, Monogr. Maratt. 15, and some 

 others into 63 species which, in so far as they may be discriminated, can only be considered as 

 individaal varlatlofis.— Beretfe. ■ ,' , 



