2 56 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
and serrated ; but more frequently on old fertile plants the 
fronds have every edge covered all along with sori. When 
this condition occurs the plants are three to four feet high 
and broad, with an upright habit, and, of course, the sori 
make the pinnules narrower and not serrated, so the appear- 
ance is altogether unlike the flat, serrated, and less divided 
younger barren plants. 
Like P. biaurita this has a scale at the base of every 
pinnule on the upper surface of the mid-rib. 
Pteris dentata. Forsk. FI. Aeq. Arab . 186 (1775); C. Chr. Index , 596. 
Pteris Jiabellata (originally P. Jiabellulata). Thunb. Prod. 172; Flor. 
Cap. 733; Hk. and Bkr, Syn. Fil. 16 1; Sim, Fei' 7 is of S. Afr ., isted., 
no. 
P. arguta (Aiton). Schl. Adwn. 43; Kze, Linnaea, 10, 524; Pappe 
and Rawson, 26. 
P. arguta Ait., v ar. Jiabellata (Thbg) Mett. Kuhn, Fil. Afr. 76. 
P. serrulata. Forsk. FI. Aeq. Arab. 187; Swartz, Syn. 108. 
Africa and African Islands ; common throughout South 
Africa. 
West.— Tulbagh, Table Mountain, etc. 
East. — Krakakamma, Zuurberg, Grahamstown, Bedford, etc., abundant. 
Kaff.— Abundant in all the forests, Bazija (Baur.); Komgha (Flana- 
gan), etc. 
Natal. — All over the colony. 
Transvaal. — Magalisberg (Zeyher, Burke, Sanderson) ; Zeerust and 
Waterval Onder (T. J. Jenkins, 984 and 767); Zoutpansberg, 3900 ft 
(Schlechter, 4600); Rustenburg (M. Collins, 890); Rietfontein, 
Belfast (R. Leendertz, 881). 
Rhodesia. — Penhalonga (Holland); Umtali (Mrs Bennett); Victoria 
Falls (Rogers, 5556; Jas. Sim). 
(P. TREMULA R. Br., a New Zealand and Australian species, 
is mentioned by Buchanan and Wood as having been found 
by the latter at Umhloti, Natal. Mr Wood now writes that 
when he found this fern on his farm he thought it might have 
escaped from cultivation, and now he is sure of it. 
Baker (Syn. Fil. 161) mentions having seen a specimen of 
it in Herb. Rawson, from the Cape, named P. caff r a Pappe. 
Neither this name nor any Cape specimen of P. tremula is 
now in Herb. Gub., which includes Dr Pappe’s collection, and 
