FIL1CES. 



1061 



immersed in the edge itself of the frond. In the centre of the invo- 

 lucre is a little bristle, often projecting beyond it, round the base of 

 which are attached the minute capsules or spore-cases. 



A large genus, widely spread over the warmer regions of the globe, 

 but more especially in tropical America. 



1. European Trichomanes. Trichomanes radicans, Sw. 

 (Fig. 1293.) 



(Hymenophyllum elalum, Eng. Bot. t. 1417. Bristle Fern.) 



Boots tock creeping, often to a con- 

 siderable extent. Fronds usually 6 to 

 8 inches high, including the rather long 

 stalk; broadly ovate-lanceolate in ge- 

 neral outline, twice or thrice pinnate, of 

 a dark- green, with rather stout stalks 

 and branches. Segments numerous and 

 crowded, thin, pellucid, oblong, more 

 or less toothed, narrowed at the base. 

 Involucres in the axils of the small ul- 

 timate segments or lobes, cylindrical, 

 about a line long, the central bristle pro- 

 jecting | to 1 line more. 

 In moist, sheltered, shady places,widely 

 distributed over the tropical and hotter 

 regions of both hemispheres, but in Eu- 

 rope only in a few localities in western 

 Spain and Ireland, and recently found 

 in the Snowdon range, by Mr. J. F. How- 

 botham, and the isle of Arran, by Mr. J. 

 Combe. Fr. summer. 



Fig. 1293. 



XVII. HYMENOPHYLL. HYMENOPHYLLUM. 



Half-pellucid Ferns, closely resembling Trichomanes, but usually 

 smaller ; the involucres deeply divided into 2 lobes, and the bristle or 

 receptacle usuaUy concealed within them. 



A large genus, with nearly the same range as Trichomanes. 



