6 4 
The Ferns of South Africa. 
wide base, almost sessile, alternate, usually six to eight inches 
long, two to three inches broad, sometimes larger. Lower pinnae 
about equal to, or sometimes much larger than, those above. 
Pinnules sessile, one to two inches long, a half to three-quarter 
inch broad, cut to or near the mid-rib into oblique, rounded, 
crenate or lobed segments, bearing a sorus below each sinus; 
Stalk and rachis rough, with short, tubercle hairs, frond finely 
villose on both sides, especially on the veins. Involucre like a 
membranaceous scale, with a semi-circular attachment, early 
deciduous, situated more or less within the margin, and often as in 
Nephrodium. I have seen a specimen with the lower pinnae two 
feet long, five inches broad, and with pinnules two to three inches 
long, one inch broad. 
Davallia Speluncse. Baker Syn. Fil. ioo. 
Polypodium Speluncse. Linn. 
Microlepia Speluncse. Moore; Kuhn, Fil. Afr. 159. 
Davallia Polypodioides. Don : Hk. Sp. I, 181. 
Microlepia Polypodioides. Presl ; Pappe and Rawson, 24. 
Davallia trichosticha. Hk. Sp. 1, 183. 
Davallia Madagascariensis. Kunze, Bot. Zeit. 
Widely distributed within the tropics and a little beyond, 
growing in swamps. 
Natal. — Head of Natal Bay (M‘Ken), Umpumulo (Buch.). 
Zululand. — Itshoa (Buchanan). 
Transvaal. — Magalisberg (Zeyher). 
18. Davallia concinna. Schrad. 
Plate XII. Natural size. b. fertile pinnule, enlarged. 
Crown tufted, or shortly creeping, and set with lanceolate hard, 
nearly black scales. Frond lanceolate, nearly glabrous, two to 
four inches broad, half to two feet long, on a stalk half as long, 
which is rounded at the back, and furrowed in front, and more or 
less scaly below. Rachis with a thick rounded wing throughout. 
Pinnae and pinnules simply winged veins, but of firm coriaceous 
texture. Pinnae alternate, widest at the base, and with three to 
five pairs of alternate linear or forked pinnules, one line broad, half 
