21 4 F I L I C E s. 



Whole plant from 3 to 5 feet high, growing in groups in open 

 situations, in company with Drynaria Eorsfieldii. Rootstoch erect, 

 round, much branched, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, brittle 

 and hollow, the surface studded with the persistent portion of the 

 stipes below the articulation, and beautifully imbricated with slender, 

 attenuated, fimbriate, blackish scales. Fronds smooth, in tufts of from 

 4 to 12 in number, at the extremities of the branches, with a stipe 

 nearly an inch in length, articulated near its base, linear-lanceolate, 

 tapering gradually into a slender point, coriaceous, from 8 to 10 

 inches long and 10 lines broad; the margin somewhat wavy ; young 

 fronds clothed with soft hairs on both sides, which disappear in age, 

 and with a few scattered slender palese on the costa beneath. Veins 

 forking near the costa, or sometimes simple. Sort approximate, 

 forming a continuous regular row close to the costa, furnished with a 

 brown, persistent, reniform, entire indusium. 



There is not, perhaps, among the whole family of Ferns a more 

 remarkable or striking species than this: its peculiar, hard, erect, 

 branching rootstock, bearing its leaves or fronds in tufts at the extre- 

 mities, reminding one, in the living state, more of a Neriurn Oleander, 

 or a Willow, than of a Fern. 



2. Oleandra hirta, Sp. Nov. (Tab. 29.) 



0. rhizomate repente paleaceo; stipite paleaceo-liirsuto medio articidato; 

 frondibus membranaceis lanceolatis acutis bad attenuatis utrinque 

 piloso-hirmtis ; costa subtus parce paleacea ; soris fere biseriahbus irre- 

 gular ibus; indusio reniformi integer rimo parce piloso. 



Hab. Organ Mountains, Brazil : on rocks and trees; rare. 



Rootstoch long and creeping, about the thickness of a crowquill, 

 glaucous, clothed with slender, brown, spinulose-serrate palew, and 

 with distant, long, brown, pubescent fibrils. Stipe slender, paleaceous- 

 hirsute, from 2 to 4 inches long, articulated about the middle. Fronds 

 scattered, from 15 to 18 inches in length, li inches broad, lanceolate, 

 with a slightly acute point and an attenuated base, membranaceous, 

 pilose-hirsute on both sides; the costa beneath round, black, and promi- 



