Descriptions of the Species. 
49 
(Sanderson 1863), which I have been unable to see ; but descrip- 
tion and figure are from Mauritius specimens kindly forwarded to 
me from Kew. 
6. Hymenophyllum obtusum. Hk. and Arn. 
Plate VI. Fig 1. Natural size. B. Stellate hair, magnified. 
Rhizome long, running, slender. Stipe one inch or more, 
hairy above. Frond two to three pinnatifid, one to three inches 
long, three-quarters to one inch broad at the base, ovate triangu- 
lar, and set all over with numerous brown, stellate, stalked hairs. 
Rachis winged throughout ; upper pinnae simple or forked ; lower 
pinnae pinnately cut nearly to the mid-rib, into three to five linear- 
oblong pinnules, two to four lines long, one line broad. 
Sori not seen, but described in Hk. and Bkr. “ Syn. Filicum ” 
as “two to six to a pinna, terminal on the lateral segments. In- 
volucre as broad as the segments, divided about halfway down, 
valves rounded, strongly ciliated.” Some of the Table Mountain 
specimens are four to six inches long (including stipe), two inches 
broad, and with lower pinnae two pinnatifid, and as large as the 
whole frond usual size. A barren specimen from Knysna collected 
by Miss Rex, and marked in Herb. Gub. H. lineare, is evidently 
this species, but is hairy on one side only, while the Table Moun- 
tain plant is hairy on both sides. 
The Table Mountain locality is mentioned in 1st edition of 
Syn. Fil., but omitted in the 2nd edition, where Sandwich Islands 
is the only locality given. It is also omitted by Kuhn, but he 
credits to the Cape the very closely allied H. oeruginosum, Carm. 
Lady Barkly distributed many specimens from Table Moun- 
tain, and the exact locality is well known to several Cape Town 
botanists. 
In Mr. Marquardt’s fern grotto, plants of this species origin- 
ally from Table Mountain are growing well. From Mrs. Young I 
received a few fronds of this, mixed among H. Tunbridgense, but 
without locality. Her specimens are mostly from Kaffraria and 
Natal. 
E 
