NOTES ON BLECBNUM CAPENSE. 123 



This generic separation of Lomaria from Blechnum has 

 been discontinued by most modern pteridologists, all the 

 blechnoid ferns being now comprised in the genus Blechnum; 

 but the divergent characters of the two forms have been 

 recognised in the subgenera, Lomaria and Eublechnum. 



Blechnum capense is invariably placed within the sub- 

 genus Lomaria, because its normal form shews linear fertile 

 pinnae, with a marginal or submarginal sorus and indusium. 

 Dr. Christ (Farnkraiitr. p. 178) describes the fertile leaf of 

 Lomaria procera(i.e. capensis) as being narrower than the 

 sterile, and the fertile pinna as being "4 mm. breit," which 

 accurately enough describes the normal form. In describ- 

 ing the genus, Lomaria, however, he does not recognise 

 the indusium as consisting of the modified margin of the 

 leaf: it "appears almost marginal." Hooker and Baker 

 (Synops. p. 179) describe the indusium of Lomaria procera 

 as "sometimes slightly intramarginal," although, in their 

 definition of the genus, Lomaria, the "involucre" is said 

 to be "formed of the re volute edge of the frond." They 

 thus recognise the divergence of this species from the 

 usual lomarioid type. 



Dr. F. O. Bower published, last year, 1 the results of a 

 careful phylogenetic study of "Blechnum and Allied 

 Genera." In this paper, Dr. Bower contends for the view 

 that Lomaria and Eublechnum are phylogenetically insepar- 

 able. The former, with its dimorphic leaves, its marginal 

 sori, and its indusium consisting of the modified leaf-margin, 

 he takes to be the primitive form. Eublechnum, in Dr. 

 Bower's view, shows an exactly similar formation, the 

 intramarginal indusium being the original leaf-margin, — 

 what he calls the "phyletic margin," — and the expanded 

 part of the leaf, i.e., the part lying between the indusium 

 and the ostensible margin, consisting of a "flange," which 



1 Annals of Botany, xxviii, No. cxi, July, 1914. 



