FERNS OF NATAL. 
20 
A. Sander soni. 
(In honor of Mr. John Sanderson, of Durban). 
A small tufted fern growing on stones and trees in damp shady ravines, 
in company with mosses and allied plants. The frond with stipes is 
6 to 9 inches long, with 12-20 small pinnae on each side which arc crenate 
on the upper side, the inner side nearly parallel with the raehis, but 
slightly curved, the lower side also curved and entire, the pinnae appearing 
as though nearly the whole of the lower side had been cut away ; sori 
copious, 2 to 6 to a pinna; indusium conspicuously fringed at its free edge; 
often gemmiferous: found in one ravine at Inanda, also atNoodsberg, but rare. 
A. Trichomanes. 
Maidenhair spleenwort. 
St. densely tufted 1-4 in. long, naked, glossy, chestnut brown, polished ; 
frond 0 to 12 in. long, } in. or rather more, broad, with 15-30 pairs of sessile 
horizontal pinnse which are £--§ in. broad, 1^-2 lines deep, the edge slightly 
crenate, the two sides unequal, the upper one the broadest, and narrowed 
suddenly at the base ; texture subcoriaceous; veins pinnate, inconspicuous, 
raehis polished like the stem ; sori linear-oblong 3-6 on each side of the 
midrib : Indusium opening towards the midrib. A fern of the up-country 
districts, common in England, but in Natal rather rare : it is found we 
believe near Mooi River only. 
A. monanthemum, 
(monos, one ; anthos, flower). 
A common up-country fern ; stipites tufted, naked, brown ; frond linear 
lanceolate, with numerous (20 to 40) pinnae on each side, which are oblong, 
toothed on the upper and outer edges, entire and curved on the lower and 
inner ones , the sori which are usually 1 or 2 to a pinna, are parallel with, 
and close to the outer edge of the pinna, indusium opening on the upper 
edge, veins unequally pinnate sometimes forked. Found plentifully 
from Maritzburg to the Drakensberg. This fern was imported into and 
grown in England in 1790. 
A. ebeneum. 
An up-country fern and rather rare. The stipites are tufted, black or 
brown, and naked ; frond lanceolate, with numerous sessile pinnae on each 
side, which are ovate, crenate or wavy at the edge, and hastate or cordate 
at the base ; Sori 10-12 or more to each pinna, lying obliquely on each 
side of the midrib, veins indistinct. 
A. hirmlatum, A. harpeodes, and A. brachyotus. 
These three ferns have been until lately considered as varieties of the 
same plant, but Rev. J. Buchanan in his Revised List has considered them 
as distinct species. They are all simply pinnate, fronds from 6-18 in. long, 
with numerous pinnae on each side, the stipes nearly or quite naked, but 
not polished, the chief difference appears to be in the shape of the pinnae. 
Those of A. lunulatum are oblong, broad at the base, rounded at the point, 
and crenate or coarsely toothed along the upper side, and the outer half 
of the under side, while the other half is entire and slightly curved, the 
inner side being also entire, and almost parallel with the raehis ; the veins 
are indistinct and the frond sometimes gemmiferous ; sori nearer to midrib 
than the edge. In A. harpeodes the pinnae are very narrow, and subfalcate; 
the point is acute, and they are sharply toothed throughout, except tho 
inner and upright side, and a small portion of the lower one near the base, 
which is entire and only slightly curved ; they arc also slightly decurrcnt 
