2JO 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
162. P. lycopodioides. Fronds dimorphous, naked, with a line of 
large medial areolae containing the sori in one regular line in free 
veinlets. Veinlets outside the areolae anastomosing irregularly. 
Var. / 3 . Mackenii. Larger, with a wider, flattened, paleaceous, 
epiphytal rhizome, and larger thinner fronds. 
163. P. loxogramme. Frond lanceolate. Sori oblong or linear, 
large. Veins anastomosing. 
164. P. Billardieri. Frond strap-shaped, small. Veins free; sori 
oval. 
165. P. punctatum. Frond coriaceous, one to four feet long, 
without pubescence. Sori very numerous, scattered, minute. 
154. Polypodium parvulum Bory. 
This species is unknown to us, but is included by Baker 
from Bourbon, Mauritius and Zambesia, and by Christensen 
as “Africa austr. Ins. Mascar.” Baker’s description (Synopsis 
Filicum , 326) is: 
“ Rhizome stout, short-creeping, clothed with linear scales ; frond 
4 — 6 inches long, ^ inch broad, tapering gradually downwards into a 
very short stem, cut down to the rachis into entire erecto-patent pinnae 
one line broad ; texture subcoriaceous ; rachis and both sides naked or 
deciduously hairy ; veinlets immersed, simple ; sori 2 — 6 to a pinna, 
medial.” 
155. Polypodium vulgare Linn. 
Plate 135. Nat. size. 
Rhizome three to twelve inches long, two to four lines 
diameter, branched, and clothed with light yellow somewhat 
deciduous scales. Fronds jointed to the rachis, firmly herba- 
ceous, simply pinnate, glabrous, six to twelve inches long, 
one and a half to two inches broad, with a naked stipe of 
two to four inches. Pinnae oblong, one inch long, quarter 
inch broad, rounded or shortly pointed, widened both ways 
at the adnate base so that the pinnae meet below, though 
apart above. Sori abundant, large, set in a row near each 
side of the mid-ribs. Veins free ; veinlets pinnate. 
I have seen specimens two feet long and nine inches wide, 
and Kunze mentions two forms. 
This is a widely distributed fern, known as the English 
