CATALOGUE OE PERNS. 
79 
Order II. M AR ATTI A C RiE , Kaulf. 
Sporangia dorsal, exannulate, opaque, horny, gene- 
rally sessile, distinct, or connate and compound, open- 
ing by a pore or longitudinal slit. 
120. MARATTIA, Sm. 
(Discostegia et Gymnotheca, Fresl .) 
Vernation fasciculate, erect, subarboreous, each frond rising 
from between two fleshy stipulseform appendages (which some- 
times assume the character of abnormal fronds) ; base of the stipes 
clayate, pseudo-articulate with the axis. Fronds bi-tripinnate, 
6-18 feet high ; pinnules articulated with the rachis. Veins sim- 
ple or forked, free. Sporangia subterminal, 9-24-biserial, late- 
rally and oppositely connate, forming an oblong, sessile, biyalved, 
multilocular spore-case, the cells opening by a slit on their inte- 
rior side. 
1. M. alata, Sm. Ic. ined. t. 46 ; Sclik . Fit. t. 152 ; Foote. Gen. 
Fit. t. 26. Discostegia alata, Fresl. — West Indies. 
2. M. cicuteefoiia, Kaulf.; Mart. Ic. Crypt. Bras. t. 69, 71, 
72. Gymnotheca cicutsefolia, Fresl. — Brazil. 
3. M. elegans, Fndl. — Norfolk Island, New Zealand. 
4. M. Ascensionis, J. Sm. — Fronds unequally bi-tripinnate, 
4-6 feet long ; pinnae 12-18 inches long ; upper pinnules 
lanceolate- acuminate, 4-6 inches long, crenate, lobed, or 
unequally subpinnatifid ; lower ultimate pinnules elliptical- 
acuminate, 1-1 inches long, crenate; rachis winged; 
stipes muricate, floccose-squamose, lirate. — Jsland of As- 
cension. 
/3, cristata, J. Sm. — Stipulceform appendages bearing short 
abnormal fronds, which are often soriferous. — Island of 
Ascension. 
