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ADIANTUM cAUDATUM. 
Attenuated Maiden-hair Fern, 
CRYPTOGAMIA FILICES.— Nat. Ord. FILICES. 
Gen. Char. — Sort elongati vel subrotundi. Indudis membranaceis e mar- 
gine ortis, intemis dehiscentibus, inserti. — TV. 
Adiantum caudatum; hirsutulum, frondibus pinnatis, pinnis oblongis 
obtusis dimidiatis basi truncatis, margine superiore inciso-laciniato, 
laciniis emarginatis, indusiis hirtis, rachi pubescente apice nuda elon- 
gata radicante. 
A. caudatum, Willd. a%). P/. v. 5. p. 431. — Schkuhr, FiZic. 1. 11?. — Burm. 
Zeyl. p. 8. t. 5. f. 1. 
A. hirsutum, Willd. Sp. PL p. 432. 
Stipes long, curved, rounded, purple, scaly at the base. Fronds a foot or 
more long, linear-lanceolate, flexuose, pinnated; pinnae rather closely 
placed, horizontal, the largest of them nearly an inch in length, oblong 
and dimidiate, or semiovate, obtuse, truncated at the base, slightly hairy 
and veiny on both sides, deeply cut on the upper edge into about five li- 
near, parallel, often bifid segments, each emarginate at the point and ci- 
liated ; the barren extremities crenated. Rachis deep purple, hairy on 
the upper surface, glabrous on the under side, lengthened out at the ex- 
tremity, naked, curved, and rooting at the very point. 
The Indusium or Involucre is formed by the curving inward of the extremity 
of each segment of the pinnae, brown, hairy, rotundate. The inside of 
this (Fig. 3.) is covered with a great number of minute, brown, rounded, 
pedicellate capsules. 
This elegant Fern, which has not yet, so far as I am aware, 
been cultivated in our stoves, is said by Willdenow to be a 
native of Arabia Felix, Malabar, Ceylon, and Java. Dr Bu- 
chanan Hamilton found the specimen from which the ac- 
companying figure was taken, at Gualpara, in the year 1808 ; 
and he states generally, that it is an inhabitant of shady spots 
VOL. II. 
