ii. NEPHEODIUM, § LASTREA. 259 



with free veinlets ; sort in two distinct rows near the main vein ; invol, orbicular, 

 peltate, ^ lin. br. — Mat. Aspid. 226. 



Hab. Philippines, Cuming, 340. — In habit this is near Sagatia pachyphylla and poly- 

 morpha, bnt it differs from both by its distinctly peltate involncre. 



54. A. calcareum, Presl ; St. tufted, naked, 4-6 in. 1. ; /r. 1 ft. or more 1., 

 6-9 in. br., with 4-6 stalked distant pinnae on each side below the pinnatifid 

 apex, the lowest deltoid, 6 in. 1., 3-4 in. br, cut down to the Tachls below 

 into stalked lanceolate-acuminate deeply and blunt-lobed pinnl.; texture sub- 

 coriaceous ; areolae not very abundant and mainly costnlar ; invol. orbicular. — 

 Hk. ;§>. 4./>. 46. 



Hab. Philippines, Cuming, 310. » 



55. A. membranateum, Hk. ; St. tnft«d, about 1 ft. 1., nearly naked, with a few 

 spreading linear scales below ; fr. 1^2 ft. 1., 1 ft. br. ; lower pinnae much the 

 largest, "subdeltoid, 6-8 in. 1., ^4 in. br. ; pinnl. on lowest side much larger than 

 the others, with lanceolate-pinnatifid segm. with small oblong, sinnated lobes ; 

 texture thinly herbaceous ; colour pale-green ; veins anastomosing principally in 

 costal arches; sort copious, principally marginal in the lobes. — Hk. Sp. 5. p. 105. 

 A. giganteum, rar. minor. Hi. Sp. 4. p. 50. A. devexum, Kze. teste Mett. 



Hab. Ceylon, Java, Philippines, W. China, Formosa. — Onr description is taken from 

 living specimens sent by Dr. Thwaites. The involncre is truly peltate. 



Gen. 44. Nepheodium, Rich. (See page 493.) 



Sort subglobose, dorsal or terminal on the veinlets. Invol. cordato-reniform, 

 attached by the sinus. A cosmopolitan genus, the species of which vary undefy in 

 size, texture, oiOting, and venation.-f Tab. V. f. 44. 



§ Lastrea, Presl. Veins all free. Sp. 1-153. 



Fronds not cut down to the main rachis. Sp. 1-3. 



1. N. decursivo-pinnatum, Baker; st. tufted, 3-4 in. 1., with linear scaler 

 throughout ; fr. 1 ft. or more 1., 3-4 in. hr. ; pinnce linear, 1-2 in. 1., J in. br., 

 the edge more or less deeply pinnatifid, the bases connected by a broad lobed 

 wing, the lower ones graduauy reduced and sometimes distinct ; texture her- 

 baceous ; rachis scaly ; under side slightly hairy ; lower veinlets subpinnate 

 sort copious, scattered ; invol. minute, fugacious.— Polyp. Van Hall, Hi. Sp. 4. 

 ^.231. 2nd Cent. t. 49. Aspid. iTze. L. decurrens, >/. )9in. 



Hab. Japan, China, Formosa. 



3. N. (Last.) pedatum,Bk. ; st. tufted, 4-6 in. 1., glossy, ebeneous ; /r. 3-4 in. 

 each way, cordate-deltoid, deeply pinnatifid ; upper lobes broad, blunt, sub- 

 entire, lower deeply lohed on the lower side ; texture coriaceous ; both sides 



+ The character famished by the shape of the involncre divides the original Aspidium 

 into two uneqnal halves. The two genera thns obtained have a closely similar range of 

 variation in cutting and venation, and it is by no means clear in which of the two several 

 species should be placed. It is perhaps scarcely needful to warn the young student to 

 bear constantly in mind that an Aspidium with an abortive or obliterated involncre is 

 not distingnishable from a Desmobryoid Polypodium. The number of species which have 

 been originally described as non-indusiate, in which a more or less (often very slightly) 

 developed involncre has been afterwards found to exist, is very considerable, and no doubt 

 more will he added to the list. 



