THE FERNS OF NATAL 
1869 . 
ORD. FILICES. FERNS. 
Vmsules (sporangia). — One-celled, usually membranaceous and dorsal, or 
rginal, encircled by a complete or incomplete, jointed, elastic ring, collected 
dusters (sori) of a definite but varied form, with or without a covering (invo- 
•e, often called indusium) ; or pauicled or even spicate, rarely laxly scattered ; 
he capsules have the ring obsolete, or none, or the ring is confined to the 
x of the capsule, where it forms a longitudinally striated crown, bursting 
rically, or the capsules are sunk in a many-celled, fleshy or corky receptacle 
aried forms ; opening by pores or clefts on the upper surface. Spores minute, 
oils in form. Vernation generally circinate, rarely erect. 
Gen. 2. — Gleichenia, Sm. 
i of few (2-4, rarely 5-10) sessile caps, situated on a lower exterior veinlct. 
Caud. mostly creeping. Er. rarely unbranched, generally dichotomously 
divided, often proliferous from the axils of the forks ; pinna? deeply pinna tifid, 
with the segments small and concave, suborbicidar, or pectinate with elon- 
: gated lobes. 
G. polypodioid.es, Sm. ; lobes of the pinna' ovate, glaucous beneath ; caps, 
sunk in a cavity, forming a flat-topped sorus. (G. glauca, Sw.) Hab. : — 
; ks at Krautzkloof ; Inanda ; Great Noodsberg ; near Peel’s, Umlaas ; Town 
, Maritzburg ; Magalicsberg, Transvaal. 
G. umbraculifera, Moore ; st. and racliis deciduously tomcntose and sub- 
aceous ; fr. often proliferous, flacddo-coriaceous ; branches dichotomously 
iliform, scarcely glaucous beneath ; pinnae 4-6 in. 1., 1 in. br., lanceolate, 
audato-acuminate, pcctinato-pinnatifld ; lobes narrow-linear; sori of 3-5 
(Mertensia, K/.c.) Hab. : — On the hills around Greytown ; Great 
dsberg ; Town Ilill Bush, Maritzburg ; Catlikin ; Deepdcne, Richmond. 
Gen. 4. — Cvatuea, Sm. 
ant arborescent, stem erect. Involucre cup-shaped, inferior, or wanting. 
C. Dreyei, Kze. (common tree fern) ; unarmed, or only rough with small 
rcles at the base of the st., and there paleaceous with rather large, lanceolate- 
late, glossy, ferruginous scales ; fr. bipiunate ; pinnl. sessile, 2-3 in. 1., 
’ous or a little arachnoid at the base beneath, narrow-oblong, acuminate, 
