4. Pteris. 



POLYPODIACEAE. 



37 



4. PTERIS, L. 



(Greek pteris, a fern.) 



1. Pt. tremula, R. Br. Leaves tall, broadly 

 lanceolate in outline, 3-4-pinnate in the lower part ; 

 ultimate pinnules or segments broad-linear, thin 

 in texture, somewhat decurrent ; sori marginal, 

 continuous or interrupted, at the ends of branched 

 free veins springing from the midrib and more or 

 less concealed by the indusium, which opens along 

 its inner side. — Pt. arguta, F. v. M., not of Ait. 



Below cliffs along River Murray, in Hundred of 

 Younghusband ; Streaky Bay ; near Glencoe, S.E. 



Pteris tremula. 



5. HISTIOPTERIS, J. Smith. 



(Greek histion, tissue ; pteris, a fern.) 



1. H. incisa, (Thunb.), J. Smith. Leaves large and broad, 2-3-pinnate ; ultimate 



segments deeply pinnatifid with broad rounded lobes, the veins repeatedly forked and 



sometimes anastomosing . sori continuous, with an indusium as in Pteris. — Pteris incisa, 



Thunb. 



Penola (South-East). 



Fig. 7. — Pteridium aquilinum. 



6. PTERIDIUM, Gleditsch. 

 (Name formed from Pteris.) 



1. Pt. aquilinum, (L.), Kuhn Bracken. Leaves 

 large, rigid, triangular in outline, 3-4-pinnate at 

 base, the ultimate segments decurrent at base and 

 hairy below, the upper ones of each pinnule linear 

 and entire and the terminal one long ; sori con- 

 tinuous along the thickened margin, covered by 

 the marginal indusium which opens on the inner 

 side, and also by a very delicate inner indusium. 

 — Pteris aquilina, L. 



Mount Lofty Range ; common in the South- 

 East and other southerly parts of the State. 

 Cosmopolitan. 



7. NOTHOLAENA, R. Br. 



(Greek nothos, spurious ; laina, a cloak ; on account of the curved margin of the leaf- 

 segments forming a spurious indusium.) 

 Sori marginal as in Cheilanthes, but the margin is unchanged and very slightly recurved. 



Pinnae densely woolly beneath N. Brownii 1. 



Pinnae with scaly hairs beneath N. distans 2. 



1. N. Brownii, Desv. Usually a small fern ; leaves 

 bipinnatisect, the rhachis covered with reddish hairs 

 and scales ; pinnae broadly lanceolate, pinnatifid, green 

 and villous above, densely woolly with reddish hairs 

 below ; the segments obtuse and the lower ones lobed. 

 — N. vellea, R. Br. not of Desv. Cheilanthes vellea, 

 F. v. M. 



Flinders Range ; Musgrave Ranges and Far North. 



2. N. distans, R. Br. Resembles the preceding, but 

 the leaves are less hairy and sometimes glabrous above, 

 while the hairs of the undersurface are scale-like and 

 not nearly so dense. — Cheilanthes distans, A. Braun. 



Mount Lofty Range and as far north as the Gawler 

 Ranges. 



Fig. 



-Notholaena distans. 



