298 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
Orange Free State. — Rouxville District, Ficksburg (Quail). 
Transvaal. — Mamotsinri (Burtt-Davy, 213); Rustenburg (M. Collins,. 
777); Rosehaugh (J. M. Sim). 
Rhodesia. — Mazoe, 5200 ft, locally plentiful (E. Eyles, 1 1 ; F. Eyles r 
341); Gwaai River (J. Sim); Chimanimani Mts, 6500 ft (Swynnerton, 
676). 
178. Gleichenia umbraculifera (Kze) Moore. 
Plate 157. Nat. size, b Pinnules, with sori. 
Rhizome mostly underground, several yards in length,, 
two to three lines in diameter, at first set with brown scales,, 
afterwards bare and shining. Fronds two to four feet high, 
more or less fan-shaped, sometimes only once forked, in other 
cases repeatedly dichotomous, and with the central bud de- 
veloped into branches, which are again repeatedly dichotomous. 
The terminal pinnae are three to six inches long, one to one 
and a half inches broad, tapering to the point, and divided to 
the rachis into numerous close pinnules, one half to one inch 
long, and one line broad. These pinnules are also produced 
all along every branch down to the first fork (except the first 
length of a developed central bud), and usually the lower 
pinnules of a branch are smaller than the others. Stem, 
rachis, and buds densely covered with light brown, woolly 
tomentum, which soon gets rubbed off the exposed parts,, 
leaving them brown and shining. Pinnules glaucous on the 
underside, linear, undivided, and bearing six to ten sori each, 
which are not sunk into the frond, but consist each of four to 
five capsules, surrounding a raised receptacle. 
Gleichenia umbraculifera (Kze) Moore. Hk. Syn. Fil. 13; Kuhn, 
Fil. Afr. 168; Wood’s Natal Ferns, 4; Sim, Ferns of S. Afr., 1st 
ed., 44 ; C. Chr. Ind. 324. 
Mertensia umbraculifera. Kunze, Linnaea, 18, 114; Pappe and 
Rawson, 10. 
Found only in South Africa, from Kafifraria northward ; 
growing in dense masses on steep grassy banks, often fully 
exposed to the sun, from 2000 feet alt. upwards. Never found 
inside thick bush, but often just above it. 
Kaff. — Mount Bazija, Transkei (Baur) ; Kubusie (A. E. Murray); 
Perie Mountain, near Bailey’s Grave, and above Perie Mission 
