35 
Lasteea {contimied.) 
3. Lastrea divisa (Wallich.) Caudex large, flesliy creeping, furnished with numerous coarse roots, stipes 2-3 feet long, very scaly 
at the base, hairy and furrowed above, fronds 3 or more feet long, triangular-ovate membranaceous, bi-pinnate with the pinnules pinnati- 
fid f down to the costa, pinnse petioled, distant broad-oblong acuminated, varying in length from 3 inches above to 1^ foot below, 
rachises of the pinnse furrowed above and covered with weak hairs on both sides, and furnished with a broad glabrous wing which gradually 
disappears towards the base of the rachis of the lower pinnae, but is so prominent the whole length of the rachis of the upper pinnse, 
that they may be said to be pinnatifid rather than pinnate, costa and veins furnished more or less with Aveak hairs on both sides, some- 
times glabrous, pinnules alternate distant sub-sessile 1-4 inches long, broad lanceolate acuminate, pinnatifid nearly down to the costa, 
segments very obtuse, crenated, about \ an inch long with narrow acute sinuses, veins pinnate, veinlets simple or forked, sori in 2 rows 
between the costa of the segments and the margin, 4 to 8 on each side {i. e., 1 to each lobe or crenature) involucre much lacerated, very 
membranaceous and fugacious, rarely to be detected except under the microscope. — Nephrodium divisum. Hooker, Sp. Fil. iv, 133 ; — 
Aspidium divisum, Wallich, Cat. n. 393. 
Sholas about Ootacamund on the Nilgiris 7,000 feet elevation— Anamallay Hills 3,000 feet elevation. 
PLATE No. XCVII. 
4. Lastrea recedens. (J. Smith ;) Caudex, a short thick ascending rhizome, paleaceous with subulate ferrugineous scales, stipites 
tufted a span to a foot long, rather slender, very scaly at the base, the rest and the rachises rather densely fusco-pubescent, fronds a foot 
long, and equally broad at the base, firm, membranaceous deltoid more or less pubescent beneath, often nearly quite glabrous above, below 
tri-pinnate, above bi-pinnate, primary pinnae broad-oblong acuminate petiolate patent (but not horizontal) from 3 to 8 inches long, the 
basal ones much the largest 2| inches broad, secondary ones oblong, sessile and decurrent at the base, so as to form a narrow wing to the 
rachis, oblong an inch and more long, very acute, coarsely and very acutely almost pungently serrate or pinnatifid, veinlets simple or once 
or twice forked, sori 1 to 5 on each lobule of the pinnule. Hooker, Sp. Fil. iv, 135.— Nephrodium recedens, Hook.—La.stxea, elegans, 
Moore. En. of cult. Ferns. — Polypodium, J. Smith. En. Fit. Philipp in Hook. jour. : Bot. iii, ^. 394. 
Nilgiris— Pulney mountains— 4,000 feet elevation— a rare fern. 
PLATE No. XCVIII. 
5. Lastrea flaccida. (Hooker ;) Caudex erect, furnished with numerous fibrous roots, stipites tufted stramineous, below 
scarcely scaly, above very glaucous, rachis with a line of hairs on the sulcated upper side, glabrous beneath ; fronds 1-3 feet and more 
long, broad ovato-lanceolate acuminate membranaceous, bi-pinnate with the pinnules pinnatifid nearly to the costas, pubescenti-hirsute 
with long white hairs on the costse and costules on both sides, rachis of the pinnules furnished with a very regular line of dense hairs on 
the upper side, glabrous and convex below ; pinn« rather remote, opposite or alternate, lanceolate acuminate, inferior ones 10-12 inches 
long, by 3 inches broad, superior, gradually smaller (so that one of the superior pinnee is similar to a pinnule of an inferior pinnae) 
pinnules up to 2 inches long, oblong, lanceolate from a broad adnate base (which is decurrent, so as to form a winged rachis particularly 
in the upper pinnae) pinnatifid (in the lower pinnae almost to the costa,) secondary pinnules pinnatifid in the lower pinn«, entire or with 
the apex crenated in the upper portion of the frond : veinlets pinnate from a central vein, terminating wdthin the margin ; sori 1-6 on 
each lobe of the secondary pinnules.— Nephrodium flaccidum, Hook. Sp. Fil. iv, There is no (race of any involucre in the numerous 
siiccimens that I have examined. Sir W. Hooker's figure of this plant (Tab. cclxiii, Vol. iv. Sp. Fil.,) does not give a good idea of the 
plant as it grows on the Nilgiris ; I have a specimen from Ceglon exactly corresponding with the figure in the Sp. Fil. but my Nilgiri 
specimens are far more compound, the pinnules being about equal to the pimice of the specimen figured by Hooker. I feel certain hoivever 
that they are one aiid the same plaiit. 
Nilgiris — abundant on the Carcoor ghat— Anamallays 3,000 feet elevation. — Wynads. 
PLATE No. XCIX. 
(The upper portion of a large frond showing the pinnules decurrent on the rachis). 
A. Magnified upper portion of one of the pinna showing the line of hairs on the rachis. 
.B. Lobes of a pinnule magnified, showing the under side. 
C. A lobe of a pinnule, upper side. 
D. A portion of one of the lower pinnae of a frond. 
6. Lastrea ferruginea. (Beddome ;) Caudex short, stout, erect, stipes densely clothed with large paleaceous scales and scabrous 
with rough tubercles— fronds large deltoid-ovate, tri-pinnate or in large fronds below quadri-pinnate, generally one or two pair of pinnules 
