40 
FERNS Of NATAL. 
Sob-Order 5. 
MARATTIACEiE. 
(In honor of J. F. Maratti of Tuscany, a writer on Ferns). 
This Suborder is known. 1st. by its ringless capsules. 2nd. by its dorsal 
fructification on leafy fronds. 3rd. by its oircinate vernation, It contains 
4 Genera, only one of which is represented in Natal. 
Marattia f raxinea, 
( Fraxinus , the Ash). 
A tall growing, coarse fern with large bipinnate fronds and scaly stalks, 
which are usually swollen in the lower part, the rachis of the pinnae usually 
winged ; edge of the segments spinoso-serrulate ; the fructification is close 
to the margin of the segments, and consists of 6 — 12 capsules on each 
side, which are consolidated together in two opposite rows, and open by 
slits on their inner faces; veins free, with club-shaped apices. It is found 
in ravines and under slight shade from the Coast to Maritzburg. 
Sub-Order 6. 
OPHIOGLOSSACEiE. 
A Suborder known 1st. by its ringless capsules. 2nd. by its straight 
vernation, differing in this respect from all other Natal Ferns. It contains 
3 Genera, only one of which is represented in Natal. 
Ophioglossum Capense, 
( Ophios, of a serpent; glossa, tongue). 
Rootstock not tuberous : frond 6 — 9 in. long, the sterile division general- 
ly placed about the middle, 2—4 in. long, 2 in. broad, ovate or ovate- 
oblong, without a distinct haft; texture stout, the midrib usually indistinct 
fertile spike 1 in. or more long, on a peduncle 2—4 in. long, and consider- 
ably overtopping the sterile division when plant is fully mature. Dis- 
tinguished from the next species by the shape of barren frond, and also 
by the slightly pink tint of its rachis. Sandy banks near Durban. 
O. reticulatum. 
A plant not much like a fern in general appearance, and no doubt often 
passed over on that account, its fronds spring from the ground singly, 
not tufted or in clumps, with a round succulent stipes, which in those 
fronds which are fertile becomes divided about half way up into the barren 
and fertile divisions, the barren division is ovate or cordate, the edge entire 
and the veins copiously anastomosing ; the fertile division is generally 
much longer than the barren one, linear, contracted, the capsules occupy 
about one-third of its length, in two rows, imbedded on the spike, and 
at maturity open across the centre. It is found amongst grass both in 
the open and under slight shade all over the Colony. 
T. L. Cullingworth, Printer, Durban. 
