30 
POLYPODIACE^ — POLYPODIEA5. 
IX. GONIOPHLEBIUM, Presl. 
Sori round, terminal, naked or squamiferous, arranged in one or more transverse parallel rows. 
Veins forked or pinnate ; lower e^xterior venule free and fertile, the others angularly anastomosing, 
producing from their junction an excurrent, free, and generally fertile veinlet. Fronds from a few 
inches to five or six feet long, smooth hairy or scaly, simple pinnatifid or 
pinnate, the piunre entire, articulate, serrulate or undulate. — Name 
derived from gonia, an angle, and phleps, a vein ; in allusion to the 
angles formed by the anastomosing of the venules. 
This is an exceedingly variable genus, with regard to the size of the 
plants and circumscription of their fronds. The dwarf kinds have the 
fertile fronds contracted, while the larger species have their fronds all 
of one form ; hut they agree in having a scaly, creeping rhizome. The 
species are commonly found adhering to the trunks of trees in tropical 
forests ; several of them are amongst the most elegant of the Ferns in 
cultivation. The characters by which they are determined from all con- 
geners, are : the round terminal sori, the angular anastomosing of the 
venules, and the presence of an excurrent generally soriferous veinlet in 
the costal areole. Fig. 10 shows a pinna of Goniophlehium meniscifoUmn 
(full size). 
5 Lopholepis, J. Smith. — Sori furnished with a dense tuft of elongate scales. 
1. G. piLOSELLOiDES, J. Smith (PoLYPODiuM, Lintimus). — A dwarf, evergreen 
stove species, from the "West Indies. Fronds of two kinds: sterile — simple, 
hairy, light green, ovate or oblong, decurrent at the base, from one to two inches 
high : fertile — simple, hairy, linear-oblong, decurrent at tbe base, from two to 
three inches long; both are articulated on a very slender, creeping rhizome. 
Sori seated in a tuft of narrow scales, uniserial. 
5 Lepicystis, j. Smith. — Sori protruding through the densely-scaly under surface of frond. 
2. G. Lepidopteris, M. and H. (Poeypodium, Funze; G. sepultum, J. 
Smith; P. sepultum, Kmdfuss; P. rupulum, Presl; P. hirsutissimum, Paddi; 
Acrostichum lepidopteris, Langsdorf and Fischer; Marginaria. rufula, 
Presl). — An elegant, evergreen stove species, from South America. Fronds 
truly lanceolate, pinnate, from six inches to a foot long, densely covered 
throughout with narrow, fimbriated scales, which give them a pale tawny 
colour ; pinnae close, sessile, oblong-linear, rather obtuse. Sori uniserial on the 
upper half of the frond, protruding through the scales. Veins internal, indis- 
tinctly seen when dry. Fronds articulated on a whitish creeping rhizome, 
which is densely clothed with brown chaffy scales. 
3. G. albicans, M. and Pd. — A very scaly evergreen stove Fern, from 
Mexico. Frond somewhat lanceolate, broad at the base, pinnate, one to two 
feet long, dark green above and densely covered throughout, especially beneath, 
with elongated peltate-stellate scales, which produce a whitish appearance; pinnae 
adnate linear-lanceolate, one to three inches long, approximate, auricled on the 
upper base, inferior pair or more sub-petiolate, rather obtuse at the apex, entire 
at the margin. Sori uniserial, protruding through the scales on the upper half 
of the fronds. Fronds lateral, articulated with a creeping rhizome, which is 
about the size of a goose-quill, densely clothed with small appressed scales. 
This Fern is in cultivation under the name of Q. sepultum ; but it is very distinct 
from that species — the fronds being much larger, of a different outline, and the 
rhizome clothed with a very different kind of scale. It has been in cultivation 
about ten years, and was originally introduced among some orchids. 
5 ScHELLOLEns, J. Smith . — Sori sunk in a cavity, forming a protuberance on the upper 
surface of the frond. 
4. G. ARGUTUM, J. Smith (Polypodium, WalKch). — A beautiful evergreen 
stove Fern, from Nepal. Fronds glabrous, slender, from two to three feet long, 1®- 
the rachis and stipes pale brown, shining, and articulated on a scaly, creeping rhizome. Fronds pinnate, 
