236 



10. L. taxifolium, Linn. — Stems ribbed, leafy from the base, pen- 

 dent, spreading, or more or less erect, repeatedly dicbotomous, from 6 

 in. to 2 ft. 1., primary divisions spreading, or close and parallel as in 

 the final branches, all decrescent or not outward ; leaves close but not 

 crowded, straight, linear-acuminate, even-edged, erecto-spreading, 

 several-serial, flat, firm but not stiff, 1-1 J li. w., ^— | in. 1. very little 

 narrowed at the transversely attached base ; final branches fertile ; 

 sporangia reniforrn, copious. — Baker Fern Al. p. 16. 



var. L. passerinoides, H. B. K. — Branches usually longer between 

 the forking, more supple, always pendent, from 1-6 ft. 1 , decrescent 

 outwards ; leaves of inner stems as large, outer in. 1 ^— | li. w., 

 all linear-lanceolate ; branches fertile often a considerable length. 



Nearest L. linifoUum, but with much stiffer and thicker stems and 

 and firmer stiffer leaves. The habit of the type varies a good deal. 

 Young plants are quite simple and erect, and grow either on the ground 

 or on trees, though genereally on the latter ; older plants have laxly 

 spreading branches, while others again are quite pendent. The pri- 

 mary stems are \ in. thick, and have 5-7 ribs, and consequently the 

 leaves as they are attached to the ribs number the same series. The 

 var. is marked by its more uniformly pendent habit, often much greater 

 in length, (I have gathered it 6 ft, 1., in forests at 6,000 ft. altitude,) 

 and branches decrescent outwards, while some of its forms touch L. 

 taxifolium on the one hand, others seem to pass quite into L. linifoli im 

 on the other. It extends from 1,000-7,000 ft. altitude. 



Genus II. Psilotum, Swartz. 



Sporangia sub-globose, trilobed, opening vertically down the centre 

 of the lobes into three equal valves, axillary in the minute distant 

 leaves ; spores very minute, oblong, exceedingly copious ; branches 

 very slender, repeatedly dichotomous, trigonal or flattened ; leaves 

 simple or bipid. — Bernhardia, Willd. 



This small genus consists of only two small species, which however 

 make up for the paucity of type in their abundance and wide distribu- 

 tion. They are small twiggy plants ; starting from a simple base, 

 and repeatedly forking till they become a broom-like fascicle of twigs, 

 with distant and very inconspicuous leaves. 



Branches triquetrous. 



1. P. triquetrum. 



Branches flat. 



2. P. complanatum. 



1. P. triquetrum J Swartz. — Rootstock composed of few wiry deeply- 

 penetrating roots ; stem few inches to a foot long, strong, wiry, erect 

 or pendent, cylindric below, ribbed and angular above approaching the 

 first furcation ; branches triquetrous, with sharp angles, repeatedly 

 dichotomous, decrescent outwards, forming a brush-like head, slender, 

 virgate, short and stiff or longer and very flexile ; leaves minute, 

 simple or forked, at intervals in dentations on the edges of the branches ; 

 capsules in the axils of the leaves, 3-lobed. Bak. Fern Al. p. 30. 

 Lycop odium nudum ^ Linn. 



A more repeatedly branched bushy and stiffer species than the other, 



