174 33. LOMAEIA, § EULOMARIA. 



Gen. 32. Ceratopteris, Brong. 



Sort placed on two or three veina which run down the frond longitudinally, 

 and are nearly parallel both with the edge and midrib. _ Caps, scattered on 

 the receptacles, sessile, subglobose, with a ring which is either complete, 

 or more or less partial or obsolete. Invol. formed of the reflexed margin of the 

 frond, those of the two sides meeting against the midrib. A very anomalous 

 qentis, regarded by some as a distinct suborder and placed by others in Polypodiese. 

 Tab. III. f. 32. 



1. C.tMUsiaMsSs Brong. ; st. tufted, thick, inflated, filled with large air- 

 cells i^r. succulent in texture, the barren ones floating, simple or slightly divided 

 when young, bi- or tripinnate, with narrow linear segm. when mature, fertile ones 

 bi- or tripinnate ; ult. segm. podlike. — Hi:. Sp. 2. p. 236. 



Hab. Throughout the Tropics in quiet waters ; Mexico and W. Indies southward to 

 Brazil ; Punjaub southward to Tropical Australia, Madagascar, Angola, West Tropical 

 Africa. — Parkeria pteroides, Hk. Gr. Ic. t. 97, is the form without a ring to the capsule. 



Gen. 33, Lomaeia, JFilld. (See page 481.) 



Sori linear, continuous, parallel with the midrib and occupying the whole or 

 nearly the whole of the space between it and the edge. Invol. membranous, 

 formed of the revolute edge of the frond. Fronds dimorphous, usually once 

 pinnatifid w pinnate, rarely simple or bipinnate. Veins free, except casually in one 

 species. A considerable genus, closely connected unth Blechnum, most ojf the species of 

 which resemble one another closely in habit and cutting, which has its head-quarters 

 in the South Temperate Zone, with outliers all over the world. Tab. IV. f. 33. 



§ Eulomaria. Base of the stipe not suddenly dilated and glandular. Ring of 

 capsule vertical. Sp. 1-33. 



* Frond simple or central and lower pinnce of the sterile frond more or less 

 distinctly dilated and connected at the base. Sp. 1-20. 



t Fronds simple or pinnce few. Sp. 1-2. 



1. Jj. Patersoni, Spreng. ; rhizome short-creeping; **. 2-3 in. 1., wiry, erect, 

 rather scaly below ; sterile fr. about 1. ft. 1., under 1 in. br., broadest one-third 

 of the distance from the top, narrowed very gradually downwards, the point 

 acuminate, the margin cartilaginous and wavy ; tesctiire coriaceous, veins incon- 

 spicuous ; fertile fr. as long but only i in. br. ; sori occupying the whole space 

 between the midrib and margin. — Hk. Sp. 3. p. 3. F. Ex. t. 40. L. Cumingiana, 

 Hk. Sp. 3. *. 143.— j8, L. elongata, Blume ; both sterile and fertile^, pinnatifid, 

 2 ft. 1. or more, the former cut down nearly to the rachis into 6 to 9 pinncs 

 on each side, which are often 6-9 in. 1., nearly 1 in. br., and suddenly decurrent 

 at the base, the fertile pinnse often numerous on each side, erecto-patent, 6 in. 1., 

 J in. br. — L. Colensoi, Hk.fil. L. punctata, Blume. 



Hab. a, S. Australia, Van Diemen's Land, and Philippines. — /3, Neilgherries and 

 Ceylon eastward and southward to Fiji and New Zealand, — The two supposed species 

 were at first believed — Patersoni to be always simple, and elongaia to be always pinnate ; 

 but the Australian one has now been traced into a pinnate form, and the Polynesian 

 into a simple form in the fertile state, and in each case I cannot find any character to 

 distinguish these from the other supposed species. As in most of others, the fronds are 

 occasionally in part sterile and in part fertile. The pinnas are fewer and more distant 

 from one another than in any of the species that follow, and their decurrent base is 

 broader and more conspicuous. 



