OSMUNDACEA 3Q9 



3. Todea Wilkesiana, Sp. Nov. (Tab. 43.) 



T. caudiee erecto; stipitibus lawibus semiteretibus antice sulcaiis ; fron- 

 dibus membranaceis glabris Upinnatis; pinnis sessilibus oblongo- 

 lanceolatis, inferioribus deflexis ; rhacliibus pilosis alatis ; pmmdis 

 oblongis obtusis dentatis basi oblique cuneatis pellucido-punctatis. 



Hab. Ovolau, Feejee Islands : in humid mountain forests ; rare. 



Trunk erect, 18 or 20 inches high, li inches in diameter, squamose 

 towards the apex, and furnished near the base with strong, black, and 

 wiry roots, about the thickness of a crowquill; the surface roughened 

 by the raised scars of fronds that have fallen off; these are arranged 

 in a somewhat whorled manner, the scars of every third whorl being 

 less elevated than the intermediate ones, giving to the trunk a 

 winged appearance : the trunk, within the outer rind, is composed of 

 numerous hard, oval rings, diminishing in size towards a central, 

 pithy, circular column, and lined with a whitish pithy plate, the space 

 between these oval rings being filled up with brown parenchymatous 

 tissue : the summit crowned by 10 to 12 spreading fronds. /Stipes 

 smooth, half-round, sidcate in front, and 8 to 10 inches long. Fronds 

 membranaceous, smooth, 2 feet and upwards in length, broad-lanceolate 

 or oblong-lanceolate, bipinnate. Pinnce sessile, subopposite, oblong- 

 lanceolate, spreading, the inferior 2 or 3 pairs distant and deflexed. 

 Pinnules oblong, obtuse, dentate, the base obliquely cuneate, pellucid-punc- 

 tate with numerous small, brownish spots. Rhachis of the pinnae 

 winged and pilose; the hairs articulated. Veins simple; the lower 

 and interior first and second pairs sometimes forked. Sori numerous. 



Closely allied to T. Fraseri ; from which it is distinguished by the 

 larger and more lanceolate fronds, the distant and deflexed lower pinnae, 

 the pilose rhachis, and the dentate pinnules marked with brown spots. 



Plate 43. — Fig. 1. Entire plant, reduced to a scale of an inch to 

 a foot. 1 a. Frond, of the natural size. 1 b. Transverse section of 

 the trunk, of the natural size. 1 c. Dorsal view of a small portion 

 of the frond. Id. Hairs from the same. 1 e, e. Sporangia. 1/. 

 Sporules. — Details more or less magnified. 



