92 



very firm, persistent and dark coloured. This and Poly podium cauda- 

 turn, Klf. are quite identical in cutting. The shorter sori and vaulted 

 involucres mark it from any of the least cut forms of striatum. 



54. A. hians, Kunze.— -Root stock stout, erect, reaching eventually 2 

 ft. high, always in masses ; stipites caespitose, erect, 2-3J ft. 1. chan- 

 nelled, the base clothed with large ovate -lanceolate, blackish scales, 

 puberulous upwards ; rachis similar ; fronds 3-4| ft. L 1J-2 \ ft. w. little 

 if at all reduced at the base, the apex fully pinnate almost to the acumi- 

 nate point, chartaceous, pellucid, dark green, paler beneath, glabrescent 

 or the costules puberulous-scaly beneath ; pinnae spreading or erect - 

 spreading, oblong- lanceolate acuminate, approximate, 1-1 J ft. 1. 3-6 

 in. w. sessile or petiolate, pinnulae 1 J-3 in 1. \— f in. w numerous, sessile, 

 approximate or subdistant, the acuminate point serrulate, cut two-thirds 

 to three fourths to the costulae into rounded straight or subfalcate seg- 

 ments which are 4r-5 li. 1. 1J-2 li. w. even or faintly crenulate, veins 

 pinnate, simple, pellucid, sori \-\ li. 1. the lowest anterior double ; in- 

 volucres convex, pale. — Diplazium, Kze. 



Common in shady places, nearly always gregarious near streams from 

 2,500-5,000 ft. alt. Generally the pinnae are turned upwards by a short 

 curve at the base, due to the crowded conditions of growth, the plants 

 pressing densely on each other ; where one is found alone they spread at 

 a wide angle. It has nearly exactly the same range of cutting as stria- 

 tum, and the larger forms of the two species can only be distinguished 

 one from the other by the shorter sori and tumid involucres of this. 

 These also are the only distinguishing features from some of the forms 

 of radicans. 



55. A. altissimum, Jenm. — Eootstock stout, erect or decumbent, beset 

 with the projecting bases of past stipites, paleaceous at the crown'; sti- 

 pites caespitose, few, 2-3 ft. L strong, dark, scaly and densely muricate 

 at the base ; fronds ovate, acuminate, tripinatifid, 2J-4^ ft. 1. 1^-2 J ft. 

 w. not, or little reduced at the base, chartaceous, dark green, paler 

 beneath and lurid; pinnae, lower subopposite, 1-1 \ ft. 1. 5-8 in. w. the 

 base petiolate, the apex pinnatifid, serrate accumulate at the point ; 

 pinnulae near or subdistant, substipitate, oblong-lanceolate, 3-4 in. L 1- 

 \\ in. w. deeply pinnatifid, serrate-accuminate, the inferior usually re- 

 duced ; segments close, oblong, -J-f in. 1. 2-4 li, w. rounded, crenulate or 

 deeply toothed or lobed ; rachises and costae dark, channelled, the latter 

 rather flexuose ; veins pinnate, simple or forked ; sori close to the mid- 

 rib f-1 li. 1. the inferior often double; involucres firm, convex, pale 

 brown.— Journal Bot. 1886 p. 259. 



Frequent in depressions and ravines of the forests of the ridges and 

 slopes from 6,000-7,000 ft. alt. In very moist situations the upper 

 pinnae are gemiparous in the axils. The lowest pair of pinnae are pe- 

 tioled to an inch or more long, and are deeper on the lower side. The 

 short tumid involucres distinguish it at once from radicans, and the 

 much broader parts from hians, in which the involucres are similar. — 

 A. Taylorianum, Jenm. Journ. Bot. 1886. p. 269, marked by sessile 

 pinnae uniformly and conspicuously obtusely toothed margins, and very 

 small sori, that are nearly punctiform, both pinnae and pinnulae being 

 viviparous in the upper half of the frond, is probably a variety of this. 



A. FiliX'fcemina, Bernh. the Lady fern of Britain and Europe which 



