Ptem,] OLVI. FILI0E8. 1968 



18. P. comans (bushy), Forst. ; Hook. Spec. Filic. ii. 219, Syn. Filic. 171 ; 

 Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 788. Near P. marginata, but larger and more branched, the 

 main rhachis bearing several branches or primary pinnae of 1 to 2ft. or more. 

 Secondary pinnae 4 to lOin. long, deeply pinnatifid ; segments numerous, | to 

 2in. long, oblong-lanceolate or linear, often falcate, decurrent along the rhachis 

 which is not, however, uniformly winged as in P. marginata ; some of the lower 

 segments sometimes again shortly pinnatifid ; veins copiously reticulate. Sori 

 usually continued round the sinus but rarely to the tips of the lobes. Barren 

 segments or barren tips of the fertile ones usually dentate. — F. v. M. Fragm. v. 

 125 ; Bail. Litho. Ferns Ql. 81 ; P. Endlicheriana, Agardh ; Hook. Ic. PI. t. 978, 

 Spec. Filic. ii. 218'; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 141 ; P. mieroptera, Metten. ; Kuhn 

 in Linnsea, xxxvi. 92. 



Hab.: Southern localities. 



Also in New Zealand and the Paoifio Islands. 



24. LOMARIA, Willd. 

 (From lama, a fringe or border ; referring to the indusium.) 

 (Stegania, B. Br.) 

 Ehizome creeping or ascending into a short trunk. Fronds pinnatifid or 

 simply pinnate, rarely undivided, the outer ones of each year's shoot barren with 

 flat pinnules, the inner ones with linear fertile pinnules or rarely a few lower 

 barren ones. Sori in a continuous line on each side of the midrib between it and 

 the margin, with a membranous indusium attached close to the margin and 

 opening on the inner side next the midrib, the sori at length covering almost the 

 whole of the under surface. Veins of the barren pinnules transverse or oblique 

 on the midrib, mostly forked. 

 The genus is generally distributed over the tropical and temperate regions of the globe. 



Fronds simple or with few long segments decurrent on the stipes . . . . 1. L. Patersoni, 

 Barren fronds with numerous segments attached to the rhachis by a bioad 

 base, the upper ones confluent. 



Lowest segments as long as the others or nearly so 2. L. vulcaniea. 



Lower segments gradually smaller and more distant. 

 Bhachis and stipes glabrous except at the very base. 



Barren segments narrow, 1 to 4in. long, fertile ones nearly as long. 



Rhachis dark . 3. i. discolor. 



Barren segments broadly lanceolate, 1 to IJin. long ; fertile ones J to 



lin. Ehachis pale 4. i. lanceolata. 



Barren fronds with several or numerous pinnte attached by the midrib only, 

 the lowest rarely small. 



Segments obliquely truncate at the base S. L. eapensie. 



Segments tapering at the base 6. L. euphlebia. 



1. !■. Patersoni (after — Paterson), Sprang.; Hook. Spec. Filic. iii. 8, Syn. 

 Filic. 174; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 78 i. Rhizome short and thick. Fronds from 

 under ]ft. to near 2ft. long, undivided or pinnatifid with few (very rarely 9 or 11) 

 linear segments of 3 to 6in., more or less decurrent on the rhachis and short 

 stipes, those of the barren fronds ^ to lin. broad, the veins transverse ; segments of 

 the fertile fronds as long but only 1 to 2 lines broad, the sori at length covering 

 the whole under surface. Occasionally the lower portion of the frond broad and 

 barren and the upper segments wholly or partially narrow and fertile. — Hook. 

 Filic. Exot. t. 49 ; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 141 ; F. v. M. Fragm. v. 122 ; Bail. 

 Litho. Ferns Ql. 82 (simple fronds); Stegania Patersoni, R. Br. Prod. 152; 

 Lomaria elongata, Blume ; Hook. Spec. Filic. iii. 3, t. 143. 



Hab.: Rockingham Bay, Dallachy ; Mount Lindsay, W. Hill ; Tallebudgera, Schneider ; and 

 man? other southern localities. .« t , j 



Dispersed oirer East India, the Malayan Archipelago, the south Pacific Islands and New 

 Zealand. In all the Queensland localities there are plants with undivided and with pinnatifid 

 ffon4s, and sometimes the two from the same thizome.^Benth, 



