NEPHRODIUM. 



543 



a parchment-like texture, with both surfaces dark green and smooth. The 

 small sori (spore masses), placed just below the final notches, are covered with 

 a smooth, persistent involucre. — Hooker^ Synoj^sis F/licum, p. 499. 



N. (Sagenia) melanocaulon — Sag-e'-m-a ; mel-an-oc-au'-lon (black- 

 stemmed), Baker. 



This stove species, native of the Phihppine and Malayan Islands, produces 

 from an ascending caudex or upright trunk fronds 1ft. to 2ft. long and 9in. 

 to loin, broad, which are borne on glossy, blackish stalks 1ft. or more long 

 and scaly at the base. These fronds are broadly egg-shaped and formed of 

 a large terminal leaflet deeply pinnatifid (cut nearly to the midrib), and from 

 one to four lateral ones on each side, also deeply pinnatifid, with egg-shaped, 

 pointed lobes, the lowest of which are distinctly stalked, 6in. to 12in. 

 long, 4in. to 6in. broad, often again pinnate at the base. The texture is 

 soft and papery, and the rachis (stalk of the leafy portion) is of a blackish 

 colour. The numerous small and scattered sori (spore masses) are covered 

 with a small, fringed involucre of a fugacious nature. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 iv., p. 53. 



N. (Lastrea) membranifolium — Las'-tre-a ; mem-bra-nif-oF-i-um 



(membranous-fronded). Synonymous with N. dissectum. 



N. (Lastrea) microbasis — Las'-tre-a ; mi-crob-a'-sis (having a small 

 base). Baker. 



A greenhouse species, found on the banks of the Niger. Its oblong-spear- 

 shaped fronds, about IJft. long and 5in. to 6in. broad, are produced from an 

 upright trunk, borne on short, naked, grey stalks, and bipinnatifid (twice 

 divided nearly to the midrib). The sessile, ligulate pinnte (stalkless, strap- 

 shaped leaflets) are of a somewhat leathery nature, pointed at their extremity, 

 and cut down to a narrow wing into close, blunt, entire lobes, the lower ones 

 being much reduced and deflexed (thrown back). Their rachises (stalks of the 

 leafy portion) are densely hairy, and the lower surface of the leaflets is finely 

 downy on the ribs. The small sori (spore masses), disposed on the midveins, 

 are covered with a densely bristly, fugacious involucre. — Hooker, Synopsis 

 Filicum, p. 496, 



