4 FERNS OF THE MALAY PENINSULA. 



aceous leaved xerophytic Dipt ens, Matonia, Polypodiums, 

 Ohandras and such ferns. 



Epiphytic species are very abundant frequently covering 

 the trees, especially at high altitudes, but as it seen in other 

 groups of plants, ferns which in the plants only occur on the 

 upper branches of lofty trees, grow at an altitude of three or 

 four thousand feet quite low down, and not rarely on rocks. 

 Some of these high growing ferns are not at all easy to 

 cultivate at low altitudes, but Da vail ia triphylla which only 

 occurs in a wild state on the topmost boughs of trees a 

 hundred or a hundred and fifty feet high, I have met with 

 on several occasions transplanted, accidentally or intentionally 

 to the base of trees a few feet from the ground and thriving 

 well. This fern was formerly considered so rare that about 

 20 years ago few herbaria in Europe had a specimen, but as 

 a matter of fact it is by no means a rare plant. Growing as 

 it does only on the inaccessible branches of lofty trees, it 

 could only be obtained by searching for fallen boughs on 

 which it happened to be growing. 



Two of the most curious of our ferns are epiphytic plants 

 remarkable for their rhizomes being modified so as to form 

 nests for ants. They are Lecanopteres carnosa and Pleopeltis 

 siriuosa. The former which occurs abundantly on trees at 3000 

 much after the manner of the rubiaceous plant Myrmecodia. 

 Pleopeltis sinuosa has a thick scaly rhizome hollow inside and 

 also inhabited by ants. It is abundant in Singapore. It 

 is curious that fleshy and succulent as the rhizome of this 

 plant is, it is. one of the first epiphytic plants to die during 

 a short dry spell. One would have thought its supply of 

 water in the rhizome would have been sufficient to have 

 prevented this. ? 



Distribution of Ferns. As ferns are disseminated by the 

 floating of their dust-like spores on the wind to immense dis- 

 tances it will easily be understood that many of the species 

 have a very wide distribution over the surface of the globe. 

 Ferns indeed are among the first of the higher plants to 

 appear on newly cleared ground, if the soil and climate suit 

 them. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



