126 



ly reduced at the base. The veins are usually once forked, but the outer 

 branch curves forward by the margin so much that it occasionally 

 unites with the next, and so forms an areola with an included sorus 

 as in G oniophlebium but no internal veinlets. 



39. P. Paradises, Langsd & Fisch. — Rootstock strong, stout, short- 

 creeping, clothed with slender brown linear small scales; si ipites sub- 

 tufted or contiguous, strong, erect, \-\ ft. 1., dark-brown, viscid-puberu- 

 lousor slightly ciliate; fronds 1^-3^ ft. 1. 4-10 in. w. elastico-chartaceous; 

 slightly viscid-puberulous at length naked, dull grayish or brownish- 

 green ; pinnatifid almost to the strong, dark-brown or blackish viscid- 

 puberulous, and rather rusty tomentose rachis ; pinnse very numerous, 

 close, horizontal, ligulate, 2-5 in. 1. 3-5 1. w., obtuse or rounded at the 

 apex, dilated at the base, more usually on the upper side, adnate and 

 confluent, the sinuses acute in the upper part of the frond, gradually 

 widening to broadly V — shaped at the bottom with curved sides, the 

 lower pinna: more or less suddenly reduced through broad much dilated 

 shallow segments ; veins fine, oblique, twice forked, the lowest shorter 

 anterior branch fertile at the end, all usually free, but casually the 

 outer curved oiies united; sori suboval, in a medial row between the 

 raised dark midrib and margins, pale yellow ; receptacle elongated. — 

 Langsd. and Fisch, p. II. t. II. 



Common on open banks and rocks from 3,000-6,000 ft. alt. ; a much 

 stronger and more robust plant than the preceding, but with the same 

 texture, differing by the larger size, sub-oval sori, and glanduloso- 

 puberulous or ciliate and rusty surfaces. The lower segments are 

 dwarfed to mere uneven membranous margins on the upper part of the 

 stipites. 



40. P. simile, Linn. — Stipites f-1^ ft. 1., rather slender, naked 

 fronds 2-3^ ft. 1.4-6 in. w., pendent, elastico-chartaceous, naked, green 

 fully pinnate at the truncate base, bbove this deeply pinnatifid to the 

 strong, channelled, dark coloured, naked rachis; pinnse spreading 

 apart, the lower ones subdistant, broadly adnate by the expanded base ; 

 the upper ones connected by a narrow membrane and \ in. w. open round- 

 ed sinus, linear-ligulate, 2-3 in. 1. ^-frd. in. w. even margined ; veins 

 free, 2-3 times forked ; sori uniserial, terminal on the lower anterior 

 veinlet. — Sloane Cat. p. 16. Hist. p. 77 ; tab. 32 ; pits. p. 51. 



This has only only been collected by Sloane [on Mt. Diabolo] It 

 presents a different aspect from any of the other members of the pecti- 

 natum group I have seen. From the other large species it is marked 

 by its glabrous surface, uniformly broadly open pinnation, more often 

 branched venation, and long pendent habit. Sloane describes it as five 

 feet long having a a petiole 1^ ft. long. His specimen from which I 

 have taken the foregoing description is 3 ft. long in the frond and 15 

 inches in the petiole. 



41. P dissimile, Linn, — Rootstock fleshy, creeping, stoutish, densely 

 clothed with bright-coloured much acuminated scales ; stipites apart, 

 4-8 in. 1., grayish, scaly at the very base ; fronds oblong-lanceolate, 

 1^-2^ ft. 1. 4-6 in. w., pinnate, the upper part deeply pinnalifid ending 

 in a pointed subentire segment, membrano-chartaceous, pellucid, naked 

 or the ribs puberulous above ; pale or dark green ; pinnse spreading 

 oblong-lanceolate, acuminate or acute, even-edged or crenulate-repand, 

 all, or the lower ones at least, apart, but not distant, 2^-3^ in. 1- £-1 



