POLYPODIACE^E. 109 



Var. a. Brasiliensis: stipite atropurpureo ; laciniis ovato-oblongis sub- 

 crenulatis. 



Pteris elegans, a. Brasiliensis, Agardh, Gen. Pterid. p. 76. 

 Hab. Vicinity of Rio Janeiro, Brazil. 



The stipe of this is dark purple, very stout, round, smooth, and 

 about 6 inches long. Fronds bi-tripinnate, smooth, and glaucous 

 beneath. Pinnse subverticillate, with adnate and nearly opposite pin- 

 nules, which are either pinnate or repand-pinnatifid. Segments 

 ovate-oblong, acute, with a partially crenate margin. 



"We have relied chiefly on Agardh's authority for this being a 

 variety of the Pteris elegans of Swartz ; with whose description it well 

 agrees. 



10. LlTOBROCHIA VESPERTILIONIS, Presl. 



L. rhizomate repente squamoso; frondibus glabris tripinnatis ; pinnulis 

 sessilibus ovato-lanceolatis profunde pinnatifidis, laciniis oblongis ob- 

 tusis, fructiferis triangularibus, infimis repando-lobatis. 



Litobrochia vespertilionis, Presl, Tent. Pterid. p. 149. 



Pteris vespertilionis, Labill. Bot. N. Holl. 2, p. 96, t. 245 j Willd. Spec. PI. 5, p. 



400; R. Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. p. 154; Gaud. Bot. Freyc. Voy. p. 392; 



Agardh, Gen. Pterid. p. 80. 



Hab. Port Jackson, New South Wales. Bay of Islands, New Zea- 

 land : inhabiting thickets of bushes on the margins of forests. 



Rootstock creeping and closely covered with linear-lanceolate, dark 

 brown, reticulated scales. Fronds varying from 2 to 8 feet in height, 

 spreading, smooth on both sides, somewhat glaucous beneath, bir-tripin- 

 nate, with distant, opposite or subalternate, ovate-lanceolate, deeply pin- 

 natifid pinnules. Segments oblong, obtuse, or in the New Zealand plant 

 broad-lanceolate, their margins lobed or repand-sinuate ; the latter 



28 



