FERNS OF NATAL. 
21 
especially at tlie upper and lower parts of the fronds ; and the veins are 
plainly visible, one being carried into each tooth ; sori close to midrib. In 
A. braohyotus the pinnae are not nearly so numerous, but considerably 
larger, rounded at point, and bluntly toothed along the upper and half the 
lower outer edge, while the other half is entire, and very much curved, espe- 
cially in the lower pinnae. Veins more distinct than in A.lunulatum ; soi'i 
equidistant from midrib and edge. In all three species the pinnas are 
horizontal in the central portion of the frond, deflexed in the lower portion 
and the points slightly raised in the upper portion sori sometimes 10 to 15 
to a pinnae oblique. 
A. gracile. 
A fern which is considered at Ivew, to be another variety of A. lunulatum, 
but which appears to be so very different, looking to our species alone, as 
fairly to entitle it to rank as a species, though puzzling intermediate forms 
are sometimes met with. Its fronds are 12 to 18 inches long, bipinnate 
stipes and rachis naked, dull ; it has 10 to 25 pairs of stalked lanceolate 
pinnae; ultimate segments, wedge shaped, bluntly toothed or crenate at 
the outer edge, the other two straight and entire ; texture thinly herba- 
ceous ; veins dichotomously forked ; sori 2 to 4 to a pinnule. Found in 
bush in moist places all over the upper districts. 
A. Prionitis. 
A common fern in coast bush, the stipites are tufted, and it is simply 
pinnate with 8 to 12 stalked pinnae on each side ; which are ovate, acute 
or acuminate at the apex, and at the base truncate in a curve ; sharply 
toothed all round except in the the curves at each side at the base ; sori 
usually copious, often unequal in length, the short ones alternating with 
longer ones which reach nearly to the edge of the pinnae; veins forked, 
one fork carried into each tooth and reaching quite to the edge ; texture 
herbaceous but differing a little in this respect according to the situation 
in which it has been grown. 
A. anisophyllum. 
( anisos , unequal ; phyUum, leaf). 
Found in bush under rocky krantzes, and beside streams, from Inanda 
to beyond Maritzburg; it is one of the largest of its genus, and varies 
considerably in the shape and size of its fronds it is sometimes gemmiferous 
but not commonly so, and in some of its forms the contrast between the 
deep green of its fronds, and the creamy color of its indusium gives it a 
very attractive appearance. It is simply pinnate with 10-16 oblong, lanceo- 
late pinnas on each side, which are very unequal in shape, the upper side 
narrowed suddenly at the base, the lower more gradually ; the sori are 
linear or elliptical and do not reach more than half way to the edge of the 
pinnas. The shape of the pinnae at once distinguishes it from either 
A. Prionitis or A. gemmiferum, the only others for which it could be 
mistaken. 
A. gemmifemm. 
{gemma, a bud ; fero, I bear). 
Differs from A. Prionitis in shape of the pinnae, which in this species are 
rounded and generally not so sharply toothed : it is more herbaceous in 
its character and the sori are more equal in length and the veins terminate 
a little short of the edge of the pinnae, and have their apices thickened or 
clubshaped, it is frequently gemmiferous at the apex, which is seldom if ever 
the case with A. Prionitis, it has also a wider range of growth, being found 
in the upper districts, and as low as Inanda. There is a variety found in 
