68 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
3. T. montanum. Fronds almost sessile, irregularly pinnatifid, 
slightly ciliated ; involucres not sunk. 
4. T. erosum. Fronds shortly stalked, nearly entire, or bluntly 
lobed ; involucre sunk in the frond. 
i. Trichomanes rigidum Sw. 
Plate 1. Nat. size, b Pinnule, enlarged, c Involucre, enlarged, 
d Var. Dregei, one pinna. 
Rhizome short, stout, set with lanceolate dark scales, and 
with the fronds more or less tufted, three-pinnate or four- 
pinnatifid, dark green, and leathery in texture. Stalk three 
to six inches long, black, wiry, slender. Frond three to eight 
inches long, three to five inches broad at the base, and tapering 
to the point. Main rachis and rachis of pinnae wiry, and 
winged only toward the point. Lower pinnae two inches long, 
one inch broad at the base, with five to six pairs of secondary 
pinnae a half to one inch long, a half inch broad, and cut to a 
winged mid-rib in lobed or pinnate pinnules, with narrow 
linear segments. Sori small, one or more on each secondary 
pinna, axillary on the inner base of a pinnule. Involucre free 
from lamina, cylindrical, slightly widened at the mouth, but 
not two-lipped. Receptacle twice as long as involucre, but 
bearing capsules only inside it. 
A specimen in the Albany Museum Herbarium named 
T. Dregei (Baker) differs in having the fronds widest at the 
middle, eighteen inches long, three inches wide; rachis hardly 
winged ; pinnae alternate, one and a half inches long, one and 
a half inches wide, not cut to the rachis; secondary pinnae 
one-third inch long, five to seven lobed. Sori one to three 
on the inner side of each secondary pinna, free ; receptacle 
two to three lines long, wiry, bearing capsules only inside the 
involucre. It appears worthy to be kept up as a sub-species, 
but this is the only specimen known, and unfortunately no 
locality is recorded. (See Plate 1, d.) Christensen puts T. 
Dregei , v. d. B. as a synonym under T. rigidum. 
T. rigidum Swartz, Prod. 137, 1788; Kunze, Linnaea , 10, 553; Pappe 
and Rawson, 45 ; Kuhn, Fil. Afr. 37 ; Hk. and Bkr, Syn. Fil. 86 (in 
part); Sim, Ferns of S. Africa , 1st ed., 56; C. Chr. Index Filicum, 649. 
T. Harveyi Carruthers. 
