10 
SYNOPSIS OF SOUTH AFKICAN SPECIES OF 
FERNS. 
I. OLEIC HE NI ACE JE. Kze. 
i. gleichenia. sw. (2 Species.) 
1. Gleichenia polypodioides. Sw. Frond dichotomous, 
much branched, proliferous ; branches pinnate, spreading ; 
pinnae pinnatifid ; segments ovate, more or less glaucous 
beneath, smooth ; capsules 3-4, immersed on the underside 
of the frond, forming flat-topped sori. Stipes and rachises 
rather smooth. Caudex creeping. — Hook. Spec. Filic. vol. 
1, p. 3, Schkuhr. Filic. t. 149. 
Yar. glauca. Pinnae somewhat longer and closer ; fronds 
more glaucous beneath. 
Common on Table Mountain, and in many parts of the Colony, 
and Natal. — v. v. & s .* 
2. Gleichenia argentea. Kaulf. Fronds dichotomous, 
branching ; branches pinnate, spread ; pinnae pinnatifid ; 
segments wedge-shaped, very blunt, rounded at the apex, 
silvery beneath; rachises clothed in a thick woolly ferruginous 
shag. Capsules about 4. Caudex creeping, surrounded 
with stellate bristly scales. — Kaulf, Enum. Filic., p. 36. 
In moist shady places, amongst rocks on Table Mountain 
(Chamisso.), at Genadendal (Rev. C. R. Kolbing), near the Van 
Staden’s River, Uitenhage (Ecklon and Zeyher), v. s . 
II. MEETENSIA. WILLD. (1 Species.) 
3. Mertensia umbracidifera. Kze. Fronds repeatedly 
dichotomous, much branched, pinnatifid ; segments linear, 
comb-shaped, blunt or slightly pointed, glabrous above, and 
glaucous beneath ; ribs and rachises clad w T ith ferruginous 
woolly shag. Stipes long erect, channelled naked ; rhizome 
horizontal, paleaceous. — Kze Linnrna., vol. 18, p. 116. 
In British Kaffraria, and on the grassy banks of the Omnaroti 
River, Natal. — (Gueinzius.) v. s. 
* V. V. and S. — Vidi yivam et siccam. 
