282 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
“ Africa australis, New Guinea, Australia, Amer. antarct., Ins. 
antarct.,” and he gives as synonyms Grammitis Billardieri 
Willd., Grammitis australis R. Br., Polypodium australe 
Mett., Hk. and Bkr, Syn. Fil., in which latter work it is 
included in the section Grammitis, having veins free, fronds 
entire, sori oblong ; and the following description is given : 
“Rhizome creeping, forming a dense mass; fronds i — 6 inches long,. 
2 — 6 lines broad, the small ones spathulate, the larger ligulate, bluntish 
at the point, tapering gradually downwards into the short stem; texture 
coriaceous; stipe and both sides naked or slightly ciliated, the edge not 
bordered; veins oblique, often forked; sori close, copious, oval or oblong, 
in rows nearer the mid-rib than the edge.” 
165. Polypodium punctatum (Linn.) Sw. 
Plate 145. Fig. 2. Part of frond, fertile, nat. size. 2 B Plant, 
much reduced. 
Rhizome short, branching or tufted, half inch diameter,, 
green, with deciduous black scales, but often lost in abundant 
black woolly rootlets. Frond one to four feet long, two to 
three inches broad, lanceolate, pointed, entire, rigid, coriaceous, 
glabrous on both surfaces, with a very few small scattered 
black scales on all parts of the lower surface. There is no 
distinct stipe, as the very prominent mid-rib is widely winged 
to the base. Venation rather obscure, but main veins run 
straight from the mid-rib to the margin about an inch apart ; 
these are connected by four to six arching veins, which again 
are connected by small veinlets forming numerous irregular 
small areolae, each containing several free veinlets. Sori 
abundant' all over the upper part of the frond, minute, ir- 
regular, but absent from the larger veins, and thus placed 
in more or less arching lines between them. 
A crested form is common in cultivation. 
Polypodium punctatum (Linn.) Swartz. Kuhn, Fit. Apr. 15 1; C. Chr. 
Ind. 557. 
Acrostichum punctatum. Linn. Sfi. 7769. 
Poly podium irioides Lam. Hk. and Bkr, Syn. Fil. 360 ; Sim, Fei'ns 
of S. Africa , 1st ed. 204. 
Phymatodes irioides Presl. Pappe and Rawson, 40. 
