DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SPECIES 
243 
132. Adiantum lunulatum Burm. 
Plate 1 19. Nat. size. 
Frond glabrous, nine to eighteen inches long, three inches 
wide, simply pinnate, with a dark brown, polished wiry stipe 
and often elongated and rooting at the point. Pinnae dis- 
tinctly petiolate, deep green, thinly leathery, without scales ; 
one to two inches long, half to one inch wide, obliquely 
oblong, the lower edge direct from the petiole, the point and 
upper edge rounded and somewhat crenate or lobed. Sori 
continuous, marginal. 
A. lunulatum . Burm. FL Ind. 235, 1768; Hk. and Bkr, Syn. Fil. 
1 14 (in part) ; C. Chr. Ind. 29. 
Occurs in most tropical countries, and its distribution in 
Africa includes Angola, Guinea, Zambesia, Cape Verde 
Islands, etc. Baker mentions a form (A. pteropus ) with 
winged petioles and stipes as having been gathered by 
Drs Kirk and Welwitsch in South Africa. We have not 
seen that form. 
Rhodesia. — Mazoe (J. F. Darling); Ironmask Hill, 5000 ft (E. Eyles, 
22); Victoria Falls, 3000 ft (G. Richards; B. H. Holland; Jas. Sim; 
Rev. F. A. Rogers, 5576, 5549; F. Eyles, 127); Umtali (Mrs Bennett); 
Zambesiland (Oates). 
Mr Eyles states: “In the rain forest at Victoria Falls 
where the soil is constantly moist, relatively few individuals 
in certain spots in the forest, unlike A. capillus -veneris and 
other species which grow profusely wherever foothold can be 
got. This fern is also locally common at Mazoe, under the 
banks of the Mazoe River, found in a few spots ; on the western 
face of the Ironmask Hill, plentiful from 4500 to 5000 ft. The 
conditions here are very different from those of the humid 
forest facing the Victoria Falls, but on the mountain side the 
fern grows under the partial shade of overhanging rocks, and 
doubtless the extremely steep hill behind and above retains 
moisture sufficient to sustain the plant over the long dry 
season.” 
A. lunulatum and A. caudatum have already been noted 
t6 — 2 
