DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SPECIES 
95 
Portuguese East Africa. — Inyamadzi Valley, 2500 ft, Sept. 1906 
(Swynnerton, 863) ; Umbelusi Gorge ; Estatuene ; Chai-chai ; near 
Inhambane ; Beira (T. R. Sim). 
18. Dryopteris patens (Sw.) O. Ktze. 
Fronds two to three feet long, eight to twelve inches wide, 
villose, herbaceous, the lower pinnae not shorter than those 
above ; pinnae three-quarter inch wide, cut more than half- 
way to the mid-rib into regular, entire, subfalcate lobes ; veins 
all free ; veinlets six to twelve pairs, sori near the edge ; in- 
volucre thin, persistent. Closely resembles D. Bergiana and 
D. mollis , but the fronds are not narrowed below. 
Included in Syn. Fil. from Zambesi-land and Angola, 
and by Christensen from Tropical Africa, as well as North 
and South America, Japan, China, and Polynesia, but I have 
seen no South African specimen. L. patens P. and R. belongs 
to D. Bergiana. 
19. Dryopteris mauritiana (Fee) C. Chr. 
Plate 12. Nat. size. B Section of pinna, enlarged. C Sorus, enlarged. 
Rhizome stout, shortly creeping, paleaceous. Frond two- 
pinnatifid, two to four feet long, one to two feet broad, widely 
lanceolate, and tapering to both ends, and with a villose stipe 
one foot long or more. Texture thinly herbaceous, pinnae as 
well as the rachis more or less villose on both surfaces, or 
sometimes nearly glabrous. Pinnae lanceolate, sometimes 
twelve to fourteen inches long, one inch broad, cut halfway 
into rather distant falcate pinnules, which are connected below 
so far as to allow two or more pairs of veinlets from neigh- 
bouring pinnules to meet. Veinlets numerous, not forked, 
with medial sori, and a fugacious indusium. The lower sorus 
is often where the veins meet, i.e. terminal to both. 
This fern resembles D. mollis in having several pairs 
of veinlets united; but the texture and habit of the plant are 
exactly those of large forms of D. Bergiana , from which it 
can only be distinguished by its veins, and with which it is 
more closely connected than with D. mollis. 
D. mauritiana (Fee). C. Chr. Ind. 277, 1905. 
Nefihr odium mauritianum. Fee, Gen. 308 ; Sim, Ferns of South 
Africa , 1st ed., 176. 
