234 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 
Var. S BiPiNNATA. Pinnse sub-bipinnate. Bedd. I. c. t. 235. 
Ceylon. 
t t PinncE cut more than half-way to the rachis^ compound in some 
forms of Filix Mas. 
A. Vems generally simple. 
8. Lastrea GRACiLESCENS. {Bl.) Stipes tuftcd, long, sletider ; 
fronds oblong-lanceolate, pinnate, lower pinnae scarcely reduced, often 
deflexed, rachises pilose above, pinnae cut down nearly to the rachis, 
segments narrow-oblong, obtuse, not much narrowed upwards, veins 
about six on each side of the costule, the two lowest terminating 
above the sinus, all generally simple, rarely forked, sori medial on 
the veins, indusium glabrous or minutely pilose. Aspidium graci- 
lescens, Bl. Eft. PI. Jav. Fil. 155. Hook. Syn. Fil. 262. Bedd. 
F. B. I. A 253. Clarke^ F. N. I. in part. 
Mr. Clarke includes here L. flaccida (Hooker), which is certainly 
a mistake ; he also includes the Assam forms of L. immersa {Bedd. 
F B. I. 252) united with the Malay Peninsula plant by Hooker ; 
in this he may be correct, as this plant appears distinct from the 
Malay one, it is however, much larger than any of Mr. Clarke's 
specimens of gracilescens, and has more veins to the segments. 
Nepal, Sikkim, 6,000-8,000 feet elevation, Khasya, 4,000 feet ; 
South India, Mudumally forests, a small form. 
(Also in China, Japan and Java.) 
Mr. Clarke's variety decipiens(Darjeeling, 7,000 feet, and Khasya, 
Dingling, 5,000 feet) has the fronds shorter and more deltoid, and 
V ' the veins often branched with the sorus subterminal on the upper 
branch ; it is probably a distinct species. His variety hirsutipes only 
differs in having the stipes hirsute and in being of rather thicker 
texture (Khasya and Jaintea, 4,000-5,000 feet) ; his variety didy- 
mochloenoides has longer narrow^er pinnae with very large sori, but 
runs into the type. 
9. Lastrea immersa. {Bl) Caudex creeping, stipes elongated 
3-4 feet long, fronds rather coriaceous in texture, pinnate, ovate 
