26 
FERNS OF NATAL. 
the base, and with a few light-brown scales near point of junction to the 
rachis ; teeth awned ; sori small, rather irregular, but nearer the midrib 
than the edge. It is common in bush, from Inanda to Drakensberg. 
A. Capense. 
A strong coriaceous fern with stout, scaly rhizome ; sometimes found 
upon trees, but more generally on the ground; (he stipes is 1 to 2 ft. long, 
greyish, and densely scaly below ; the frond is 1 to 3 ft, long, twice pinnate; 
the lower pinnae the largest; the pinnules pinnatifid or lobed; the segments, 
lanceolate, lobed but not awned like the two preceeding species ; rachis 
and both surfaces naked ; secondary rachis margined ; veins pinnate, but 
owing to the thick texture of the frond, not easily seen ; the sori are in 
iwo rows, one on each side of the midrib ; the indusium is large and round. 
It is found in bush from Inanda inland. 
A aristatum, 
( arista , the point of an ear of corn). 
This is a fern which we have not yet met with, and its habitat is not 
given either by Mr. MeKen or Rev. J. Buchanan, but we believe it has 
been found near the Intslianga, and also on the Noodsberg and perhaps 
elsewhere in the Colony. It has a creeping rhizome ; with stipes 12 to 18 
inches long, clothed especially below with linear scales ; the frond is 1 to 
2 feet long, ovate-deltoid, 3 or 4 times pinnate ; lower pinnse the largest, 
subdeltoid : lowest pinnules much the largest, lanceolate-deltoid, 2 to 4 
inches long with subdeltoid lower segments; teeth copious, awned ; 
texture subcoriaceous, glossy, naked ; sori small ; indusium, sometimes 
reniform, thus approaching to Nephrodium. 
Section Cyrtomium, 
(derivation uncertain). 
Venules and veinlets anastomosing. 
A. falcatum, 
falx, a sickle. 
A rather eoarse-looking plant found in the upper districts and near 
Maritzburg. Its stipites are tufted, 6 to 12 in. long, and densely covered 
with large, dark colored scales; it is once pinnate, the pinnm are stalked, 
ovate, rounded at the base, wavy at the edge, and ending in a long acute 
point, which is often bent upwards, or falcate ; the sori are numerous, large, 
and scattered irregularly, sometimes quite covering the lower side of the 
pinna± : upper side, glossy, nuked. 
NEPHRODIUM, 
(From nephros, a kidney, in allusion to the shape of the indusium). 
This genus was formerly included with Aspidium, but has been separated 
from it by modern botanists, and is distinguished by its round sori, which 
are covered with kidney-shaped indusia. We have in Natal 9 species, the 
tirst 7 of which belong to the Section Lastrea, which has free veins, and 
the remaining two to Eu-Nephrodium with anastomosing veins; the other two 
Sections Pleocnemia and Sagenia not being represented in Natal. The 
genus contains nearly or quite 230 species, distributed all over the world 
where ferns are found. 
Section Lastrea. 
Rhiz. creeping, edge of fertile frond rellexed ... thelypteris. 
„ „ „ „ „ flat ; scented albopanctatum 
Stipes tufted, indusium bristly Uergiauutn. 
