22 
FERNS OF NATAL. 
the Seven Mile Busli, Upper Umkomaas, which has its pinnae divided so 
much as to be almost or quite bipinnate: we have not met with it though 
we believe it has also been seen at Inanda; it has been thought to be only 
a variety, and is called A. Jiexuosum. 
A. serra. 
A splendid and rare fern, found so far as yet known only in one place 
in the Colony, a bushy krantz under the point of Gt. Noodsberg, it is also 
found in Brazil and Fernando Po. It is simply pinnate with 12 to 20 
stalked pinnae on each side, which are attenuated to a fine point which is 
sharply toothed; lower down the pinnae become divided nearly halfway down 
to the rachis, the upper ends of the lobes being sharply toothed, the texture 
is more or less coriaceous, and the sori are in two parallel rows, close to 
the midrib, and generally confluent, its rhizome is creeping and subterra- 
nean.— Since the above description was written we have found this fern in 
two ravines on the Little Noodsberg, and also under a krantz near Inanda. 
A. protensum. 
In appearance much like one of the varieties of a A. lunulatum, but much 
larger. Its stipes and rachis are hairy ; its frond is lanceolate having 20 or 
30 pairs of stalked pinnae, which are nearly at right angles from the rachis, 
lanceolate in outline, and deeply pinnatifid, with the lobes, again deeply 
toothed at the outer edge, the lobe nearest the rachis much the largest, its 
inner edge parallel with, and close to the rachis and slightly curved ; sori 
copious, sometimes confluent and usually confined to the undivided part 
of the pinnae, indusium opening towards the midrib. It is often gemmiferous. 
A. Adiantum-nigrum, Black maidenhair spleenwort. 
A common English tern, found here in the midland and upper districts, 
in rocky places and under slight shade. In England in favorable situations 
it often attains a height of 3 feet or more, but here the specimens we have 
seen have not been nearly so large. Its stipites are tufted, nearly naked, 
chesnut brown; the frond is deltoid with numerous pinnae on each side, 
the upper ones pinnatifid, the lower ones triangular or ovate, attenuate at 
the apex, and the lower pair the largest; the pinnae are again pinnate, the 
pinnules lobed and sharply toothed ; the sori are borne on the venules 
close to their junction with the midrib, and are therefore close to the 
centre of each pinnule or lobe: they are at first distinct, but rapidly become 
confluent, often covering the whole under surface of the pinnules, pushing 
back and completely hiding the indusium. 
A. cuneatutn , 
[cuneus, a wedge, in allusion to shape of segments). 
A very common fern in bush from the coast inland, its fronds are tufted 
and borne upon a naked stipes; the frond with its stipes varies from l to 2 
feet in length; it has numerous pinnae on each side and ends in a pinnate 
acuminate apex; the lower pinnae are much the largest, and are again 
pinnate with the lower pinnule divided down to the rachis into quite 
distinct wedge-shaped segments, which are entire on the two sides, but 
sharply and unequally toothed on their broad outer edge ; the veins are fine 
and conspicuous, some of them forked, and they diverge in a fan shaped 
manner from the base of the segment to its apex, and as the sori are 
medial on the veins, they have therefore a more or less fan-like appearance 
especially in the large segments: the sori open irregularly, sometimes facing 
inwards and sometimes outwards, but usually towards the centre of the 
segments in which they are placed. 
