Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 
149 
rally proliferous at the apex; pinnae distant, alternate, 15-20 pair, 
stalked, ligulate-lanceolate acuminate, 3-5 inches long, i-ijinch broad, 
crenate, broadly rounded on the upper, cuneate-truncate on the lower 
side at the base ; lowest rather reduced ; texture firm ; surfaces naked, 
dark green ; veins erect-patent, fine distant, forked ; sori regular, 
parallel, 3-4 lines long, scarcely produced more than half-way to the 
margin; indusium firm, broad, Kze. in Lin. xxiv. /. 259. Hook. Syn. 
Fil. 484. Asp. persicifohum (Hook.), Bedd. F. S. I. t. 127. 
Nilgiris and Pulneys at the higher elevation ; Ceylon at Newera 
Elya, &c., above 5,000 feet elevation. 
14. AsPLENiuM HiRTUM. {Kaiilf.) Stipcs tufted, 2-4 inches 
long, strong, erect, brownish, deciduously scaly; fronds 12-24 
inches long ; pinnse very numerous, horizontal, 1-3 inches long, 
inch broad ; the apex rounded or acute ; the margin broadly 
not deeply toothed, the base on the upper side conspicuously auricled, 
on the lower side rather suddenly but obliquely narrowed ; texture 
coriaceous ; rachis dark-coloured, strong, more or less fibrillose ; 
veins oblique, inconspicuous ; sori in two regular rows which do not 
reach the margin. Kaulf. En. Fil. 169. HooJz. Syn. Fil. p, 205. 
Bedd. F. B. I. t. 194. 
Sikkim at Lingtam near Darjeeling ; Moulmein. 
(Also in the Mascareen Islands, Hong Kong, Philippines, and 
Solomon Islands.) 
15. AsPLENiUM AURiTUM. {Sw.) Stipes tuftcd, 4-8 inches 
long, firm, erect, grey, naked; fronds 3-12 inches long; pinnas 
10-20 distinctly stalked, horizontal, 2-3 inches long, the apex acute 
or blunt, either deeply pinnatifid or pinnate throughout, or only 
sharply toothed or variously lobed, especially on the upper side 
towards the base ; texture very coriaceous ; rachis firm, erect, naked ; 
veins close, oblique, inconspicuous ; sori in two broad rather obHque 
rows. Sw. Syn. Fil. 78. Hook. Syn. Fil. 208. Bedd. F. S. I. f. 137. 
South India, rare; Conoor, on rocks 5,600 feet elevation; 
Anamallays, bed of the Toracadu river, 4,000 feet. 
(Also throughout Tropical America and the West Indies, and 
in the Mascareen Islands.) 
