11 



more or less naked. The second variety which is much more finely cut. and is common in Guiana 

 and Brazil, was gathered by Purdie in Westmoreland in 1844, and subsequently in the eastern par- 

 ishes by Wilson. Naked, unarmed plants, in which the involucres are not evident, should be compared 

 with Polyrpodium punctatum. 



3. j^f: nigresceus, Hook. — Rootstock creeping, dark-scurfy ; stipes 2-5 ft. 1. naked, dark reddish 

 brown, very prickly, channelled ; fronds usually scandent, erect, ascending several ft. high, 4 — 8 ft. w., 

 tri, or quadri-pinnate-glabrous, chartaceous-herbaceous, dark green, rachis, costse &c, channelled 

 (the final parts margined) light or dark brown, very prickly throughout, costae and costulae, generally 

 flexuose ; pinnae lax, distant, opposite, horizontal 3 — 5 ft. 1. 1 — 2 ft. w. ; pinnulae f — \\ ft. 1. 4— 8 in w. ; 

 all but the basal ones alternate ; tertiary segment lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, aouminate, the 

 quadriary ovate-oblong and blunt, 3 — 8 li. 1. 1| — 3 li, b. lobate or deeply pinnatifid, lowest on the 

 superior side largest ; sori small, one or more to each lobe on the inferior crenatures of one or both its 

 sides ; involucres small. — Hook. Sp. Fil. vol. 2. t. 90. C. ; Plum. Fil. t. 42. 



Common on the skirts of forests, pushing erect through bushes and young trees, by whioh its 

 slender parts are supported, from about 2500-6000 ft. alt. or more, A peculiar species, possessing 

 the habit of growth of Davallia aculeata and fumarioides, with, in relation to the very considerable 

 height and spread of the fronds, slender vascular parts. The inferior of the lowest pair (but on the 

 superior side) of the secondary and tertiary segments is conspicuously smaller than the others, or is 

 sometimes entirely absent. 



Genus XII. Notholcena, R. Br. — Sori marginal, terminal on the veins, confluent in a continuous 

 line : sporangia few to each sorus ; the inflexed margin, which externally supports but does not cover 

 the sori, forming a rudimentary involucre ; fronds small, pinnae articulate at the base, under surface 

 tomentose or farinose. 



A small genus closely allied to Cheilanthes, and occupying similar situations, differing in habit, 

 and technically distinguished by the absence of involucres, which in view of the otherwise close 

 affinity of the two genera may be regarded as undeveloped. The sporangia in each group are so few 

 that in some instances they form only a single line along the margin. 



a. Pinnae oblong-ovate, or deltoid-oblong, subentire. 



1. N. trichcmanoides, R. Br. 



aa. Pinnae linear — oblong, or lanceolate, uniformly lobed. 



2. N.ferruginea, Desv. 



1. N. trichomanoides, R. Br. — Rootstock shortly elongated, fasciate, densely clothed with dark, 

 hair-like, ciliate-edged scales ; stipes 2-4 in. 1,, tufted, numerous, spreading, wiry, chestnut, with 

 few deciduous stellate scales ; fronds simply pinnate, linear-lanceolate, prostrate, 6-10 in 1. £-1 in. 

 "w. elastico-chartaceous, dark green above and lightly ciliate, beneath densely coated, pad — like, 

 with dark rusty stellate toraentum, and farinose, rachis coloured and clothed like the stipes ; pinnae 

 deciduous, 2-5 li. 1. 1^-3 li. w., apart, subdistant or the inferior remote, the upper cordate — oblong, 

 those below broader and more ovate or deltoid, all expanded lobed or auricled at the base, entire 

 or sinuate — margined ; veins pinnately branched, curved, forked ; sori continuous, more or less con- 

 cealed by the recurved margin and dense tomentum. — Plum. Fil. t. 75. 



Var. subnuda, Jenm. — Fronds often larger and more lax ; pinnae more oblong, more sinnate or 

 deeper lobed ; under surface stellate-ciliate around the margin, the white farinose disk fully exposed, 

 and almost or quite devoid of scales. — Sloane t. 35. fig. L 



Frequent between 2,000-4,000 ft. alt. on open rocks and banks in the cleared region of the South- 

 ern slopes of the Blue Mountain range. In the type the pinnae are so densely tomentose beneath that 

 they look like little hair-pads or cushions, and the farina can only be discovered by removing the ten- 

 acious coating. The absence of this coating, and the exposed farina, readily reveal the variety. Both 

 are common in the region above Gordon Town, St. Andrew. 



2. N. ferruginea, Desv. — Rootstock shortly elongated, fasciate, bearing small bulblike buds, which 

 are densely coated with dark hair-like, pale margined scales ; stipes 4 — 6 in. 1. tufted, wiry, suberect, 

 glossy, chestnut, deciduously tomentose ; fronds f — \\ ft. 1. 1 — 1 \ in. w. pinnate elastico-chartaceous, 

 grayish tomentose above, beneath densely coated with fine rusty felt-like tomentum, rachis stiff, rather 

 flexuose, remaining after the pinnae have dropped, coloured and clothed like the stipes ; pinnae ^ — f 

 in. 1. 2-3 li. b. oblong, spreading, apart or rather distant, the reduced lower ones most so, base trun- 

 cate, nearly sessile, apex blunt, sides cut |-f rds deep into uniform subdeltoid or oblong lobes which 

 are ^-f li. b. and ^-1 li. d. ; veins pinnate, forked, very oblique, curved, fine, close; sori continuous, 

 partially covered by the recurved margin.— Hook. 2nd Cent. Ferns t. 52; Eat. Ferns N. A. pi. 39. N. 

 rufa, Presl; Cheilanthes, Willd. 



Frequent over the same region, and altitudinal range as the preceding, common on the banks of 

 waysides diverging among the hills above Gordon Town, St. Andrew. The fertile margins are 

 scarious edged, recurved, involucre like, from which the sporangia protrude, and the matted felt on 

 the underside looks like rusty or brownish scurf. This last feature and the regular toothing or 

 lobing of the pinnae readily distinguish the species. 



DONATIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT. 



Library. 



From Director Royal Gardens, Kew : — 



Kew Bulletin. Nos. 67, 68. July and August, 1892. 



Flora of British India. By Sir J. D. Hooker, C.B., K.C.S.I. 



Hooker's Icones Plantarum. Vol. II. Part I. July, 1892. 

 Lithograms of Ferns of Queensland — From Colonial Botanist. 



Contribution to the Queensland Flora Bulletin, No. 18 : Dept. of Agriculture, Brisbane — From Colonial Botanist. 



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