THE FERNS OF NOR TIE WES TERN INDIA . 
I S3 
gives Dipl. Jerdoni , Bedd., and D. Griffithii, Baker, as synonyms, and Clarke 
these, and also A. vpedabile, Wall., Cat. 237 A — a fern which is not mentioned 
in either the Synopsis or Beddomo. 
This seems to be one of the instances in which descriptions of old species are 
Itered or re-written, in new books, so as to include subsequently discovered 
and sometimes very different plants, or to fit the theories of the later authors— 
a very reprehensible practice, in my opinion. 
Subgenus— Anisogonium, Presl. 
89. A. esculentum, Presl. ; Syn. Eil. 244 ; C. R. 503 ; Anisogonium 
esculentum # Presl. ; Bedd. H. B. 192. 
Punjab; Cliamba — McDowell ; Kullu— Trotter, twice collected, the 1 -pinnate 
form. 
N.-W. P. : D. D, Dist .— The Dehra Valley 1000' — 2500' : very common near water; 
T. Garlu — Ganges Valley, Duthie ; Kumaun — 5-7000', S. & W., Duthie, MacLeod. 
Distrib.— Asia : N. Ind. (Him.)— Nepal, Wallich ; Sikkim 3500', Gamble j plains 
of Assam and Bengal, and Parasnath Mt. 2500', very common in Bengal. Centr. 
Prov. Ind. — Pachmarhi. S. Ind.~— “ Common in the plains on the western side, up to 
8000' (Beddome'). Ceylon. Malay Penins, and Isles. Java. Moluccas. Celebes. New 
Guinea. Tonkin. Hainan. Formosa. Hongkong. Philippines. Admiralty Isles. Samoa. 
Viti. 
Fronds either simply pinnate, and then more or less lobed and toothed, or 
completely bipinnate with the pinnules again similarly lobed and toothed, but 
with a simply pinnate apex with up to 10 — 12 pairs of pinnae ; or— with only 
one or two pairs below pinnate or partly so. The simply pinnate fronds 
are probably from young root stocks, and have pinnae varying from 2£ to 
5 ins. in length and from b to ins. in breadth ; but I think both forms 
of frond are to be found on the same root-stock. In large bipinnate frond 
the lowest pinnae are very distant, and sometimes simple and short. The 
root-stock is, as the books say, subarborescent ; the roots are black mid. wiry, 
and go deep into the ground. The plant loves ditches and swamps, and 
silty soil by the edges of streams. It is very common in the Dehra Dun 
where I have seen it in large bushes on the banks of rivers, and also in 
swamps among gigantic grasses — in separate plants, growing 9 to 12 feet high, 
with caudices 6 — 12 inches high. 
The occurrence of this fern in North-West India was first recorded by me 
in the Catalogue of Ferns in the Saharanpur Herbarium. 
Subgenus Hemidiotyum, Presl. 
40. A. Ceterach, L. ; Syn. Fil. 245 ; 01. Rev. 504. Hemididyum 
Ceterach , L. ; Bedd. H. B, 44. 
Afghan.— G riffith : Kurram Vy.— rocks overhanging Karri ah River; ran.Aitch. 
1897. 
Trans®Ind., P. States ; Baraul and Sivat—S stations 4-7000', Genial Gatacre. 
