131 



tose, strong, erect, channelled, paleaceous throughout but densely so 

 below, 2-3 ft. 1. ; fronds 2-3£ ft. 1. 1-1£ ft. w. bipinnatifid, sub-char- 

 taceous, pellucid, with scattered pale dots, naked, only a few small scales 

 on the costae and ribs, pale-green on both sides ; rachis light coloured, 

 deciduously paleaceous and fibrillose, but less so than the stipites ; 

 pinna) spreading, the lower ones horizontally and not, or hardly, re- 

 duced, opposite, or contiguously alternate, close above and sessile apart, 

 below and stipitate 6-10 in. 1 , 1-2 in w., the lowest 1-2 pair rather 

 deeper on the inferior side, the point finely serrate-acuminate, within 

 this pinnatifid to the narrowly winged costae, segments spreading but 

 rather oblique, ^-1 in. 1 , or over, 2-3 or 4 1. w., linear-oblong, shortly 

 acute or bluntish, rather dilated and confluent at the base, with a close 

 or open sinus between ; margins faintly or deeply toothed throughout, 

 sometimes lobate in the bottom pinna), the teeth bluntish ; lowest seg- 

 ment on the upper-side usually largest and the opposite on the inferior 

 smaller or in the lowest or lower pinna) often absent ; veins simple or 

 forked, pellucid, 6-10 or 12 to a side; sori confined to the outer \ or 

 ird of the pinnula), nearer the midrid than margin. 



Common in damp forests near streams, principally in the mid region 

 of the great mountain range. In the largest fronds the inferior pinnae 

 are fully pinnate toward the base on the underside. Where the veins 

 are forked, the longest branch terminates in the tooth, with a thickened 

 summit, and the shorter near the sinus. The species is marked by its 

 general pale colour, diffused, paleaceous vestiture, scattered yellow 

 pellucid dots, toothed segments, and sori on the outer part, though this 

 last character is not absolutely constant. As mentioned under that 

 species, this and the common form of Aspleniium conchatum have exactly 

 the same cutting, barren fronds of each being hardly distinguishable one 

 from the other. 



51. P. punctatum, Thunb. — Rootstovk wide-creeping, rather slender, 

 scurfy with fine rusty scales that ascend the base of the stipites ; 

 stipites erect, distant, naked, channelled, castaneous and glossy, 3-5 ft. 

 1. ; fronds subdeltoid in outline, 4-6 ft. 1. 3-4 ft. w , chartaceous, naked, 

 or slightly puberulous viscid beneath and pale dark- green above and 

 glossy, triquadripinnatifid ; pinnae petioled, in distant spreading pairs, 

 decreasing from the base of the fronds upwards, the lower ones l|-3ft. 

 1. 9-12 in. w , ovate-acuminate, the upper oblong- acuminate ; pinnulse 

 also distant, similar in shape to the pinna? and petiolate, those on the 

 inferior side usually a little larger, the costulae flattish or narrowly 

 margined ; tertiary segments distant, oblong, usually quite sessile, the 

 outer rounded and merely crenate, the inner bluntish or acuminate, 

 lobed or deeply pinnatifid, larger ones 1- 1 in 1. 4— | in. w. ; ultimate 

 lobes 1-1 2 li b, rounded and crenate ; rachis and costae bright and 

 castaneous, or the latter varying to stramineous ; veins pinnate the 

 branches simple or forked in the final lobes ; sori copious, terminal, 

 round or oval, rather large, submarginal, one within each partially re- 

 flexed crenature. 



Frequent but not common at 4,000-6,000 ft. altitude on the skirts of 

 forests, open banks, and waysides. This is quite identical in habit 

 and cutting with Hypohpis repens, differing only in its naked 

 glossy surface, the absence of the pale involucral marginal scales, and 

 the sori at first more or less clearly within the margin, dorsal 



