6 9 



Plate 9. Class Filices. 



A. Hymenophyllum tunbrldgeme (L.) Smith From ravine on Table Mountain. 



B. Polypodium lanceolatum L., epiphytic on a branch of Ilex capensis. 



C. Notochlaena Eckloniana Kunze From the Karoo. 



1. In the fresh state after rain. 



2. Dormant. In dry weather. Both figures are from the same plant. 



D. Vittarla lineata (L.) Smith A small plant, from the Knysna forest. 



E. Elaphoglossum conforme Schott From a moist cliff on Table Mountain. 

 One younger and one old frond showing the under side covered with sporangia. 



Hymenophyllum. There are several species of "filmy ferns" in South 

 Africa, all living in damp and sheltered parts of forests or mountain-ravines. 

 The species figured here has a very wide range of distribution, the name 

 indicating that it was originally found in England near the town of Tonbridge. 



An even prettier species is H.Mario thii (Fig. 56), which requires still more 

 shelter than the others, occurring in the forests of the South (fide T. R. Sim) 

 and at two localities on Table Mountain, viz. in Skeleton ravine and in the Disa 

 gorge a little below the spot known as the Lover's Leap, also at Jonkershoek. 

 Until quite recently this rare plant was considered to be identical with 

 H. obtusum Hook. & Arm, otherwise known only from the Sandwich Islands. 

 When examining the type of the latter species about a year ago at Kew we 

 thought it to be different from the Table Mountain plant; Colonel Brause has 

 now confirmed this view and described the latter under the above name. 



Polypodium lanceolatum (see also Fig. 54) is the only epiphytic fern which 

 occurs on the Cape Peninsula, while further east other epiphytic species of 

 Polypodium are not unfrequent. (See P. africanum on Plate 16, page 100.) 



Notochlaena Eckloniana possesses remarkable vitality, which enables it to 

 grow in crevices of rocks even in the Karoo. When the atmosphere becomes 

 too dry the fronds shrivel up, being specially protected by the closely set 

 scales of the under side. As soon as rain falls, however, the plants revive and 

 unfold their fronds, in readiness to continue their active live. One may keep 

 plants for several months without soil or water and yet find them alive as soon 

 as they are placed in water. This fern is consequently an example of a 

 "resurrection plant," similar in this respect to some species of Selaginella. 



Gymnogramme cordata, which much resembles it, behaves in the same way. 



Vittaria lineata occurs on damp rocks or on trees of our southern forests 

 and at first glance hardly looks like a fern, the fronds generally hanging down 

 like blades of grass. Also known from ravines on the southern sides of Table 

 Mountain. 



Elaphoglossum conforme (Acrostichum conforme) has beautifully glossy fronds 

 and grows on damp cliffs of sheltered ravines. (See Plate 8, near margin 

 on right.) 



