154 



pair often pinnatifid and enlarged on the inferior side membrano-char- 

 taceous, naked, dark green, costae and ribs prominent beneath ; areolae 

 copious, angular, a line of narrow arches along the costae on each side 

 devoid of included smaller meshes, no stronger transverse veins ; fertile 

 fronds on longer stipes, similar in form, but the pinnae much reduced 

 and less lobed, or occasionally entire. PI. Fil. t 9 - 10 Hook. Gen. t. 

 85. Gymnopteris, Bernh. 



a. var. / agellum, Jenm. — Fronds large, upper part much prolonged 

 into a distantly pinnatifid or lobed and winged tail, which is vivipar- 

 ous at intervals ; pinnae more numerous and deeply cut. 



h. var. G. semipinnatifida, Fee. Pinnae 2-4 1« a side, 2-4 in. w. entire cre- 

 nate-sinuate or the lowest pair lobed on the under aide and forked, with 

 a large, depending, inferior segment ; terminal pinna usually trilobed, 

 texture thicker ; fertile fronds reduced, but confirm in shape of the 

 pinnae. 



Frequent in the eastern parishes, on rocks by streams or in very 

 moist forests among the lower hills up to 1,000 or 1,500 ft. alt. A 

 highly variable species, of usually membranous texture, dark cloudy 

 green colour but unmistakable in all its forms. 



32 A. aureum, Linn. — Rootstocks stout, erect, solitary or in masses 

 forming large elevated clumps, paleaceous on the crowns ; stipites 

 caespitose, erect ligneous, naked above the paleaceous base, 1^-2 J ffc. 1. 

 straight or somewhat flexuose, flattish channelled, impressed laterally 

 with pale green vertical streaks and having two or three alternate pairs 

 of black indurated spinescent spurs ; fronds erect stifi very coriaceous, 

 glossy, light green, simply pinn ite, oblong-lanceolate, 3-4 ft. 1. 1-1^ 

 ft. w. ; pinnae more or less distant, erecto-spreading, converging for- 

 ward, a dozen less or more to a side and a similar free terminal one 

 6-10 in. 1. 1J-1| in. w. obtuse or eraarginate-apiculate, cuneate at the 

 base and petiolate, black and indurated in the acute axils, pellucid, car- 

 tilagenous-edged, the superior fertile throughout, the lower half or two 

 thirds as uniformly barren ; venation translucent areolae fine, directed 

 at an oblique angle to the margins ; sori covered by amorphous corpus- 

 cles which are pelate and obtusely angular or radiate, coffee-coloured 

 and finally displaced by the bursting of the sporangia, which then alone 

 appear. — Pi Fil. t. 104. SI. Herb. p. 50. Chrysodium vulgare, F^e. 



Abundant in lagoons and other wet places, preferring alluvial litto- 

 ral situations and brackish water. This is the true typical species, in 

 which the fructification is uniformly confined to the upper pinnae only 

 of the fronds and the corpuscular covering of the sporangia is coffee-co- 

 loured, the individual corpuscles being, variably, distortedly club shaped ; 

 a stiff, ligneous, coriaceous species, once much regarded by herbalists, 

 according to Sloane. 



33. A. lomanoides, Jenm. — Rootstock, erect, massive, paleaceous 

 stipites caepitose, erect, stout, subfleshy, IJ - 2 J ft.. 1. | in., or more 

 thick, prominently ribbed longitudinally, subangular, naked, except a 

 few basal scales arising from the caudex ; fronds erecto-spreading, pin- 

 nate, 3 - 4 ft. 1., 1 - 2 ft w.. a little reduced at the base, suddenly so at 

 the apex coriaceous, light or dark green, naked, pinnae patent, 2-2^ 

 doz. to a, side, close or crowded, the face turned up and transverse with 

 the rachis, slightly petiolate or quite sessile, f - li ft. 1., 1^ - 2 in. w., 

 ifche base cuneate, the apex acute, margins even, undulately repand, car- 



