Ferns of South Africa . 
17 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
THE number of species of ferns in South Africa is remarkably 
small compared with the whole flora, and in the south-west portion, 
this is especially the case, and it is probably on this account that, 
while fifty years ago, Cape heaths, geraniums, and bulbs, were 
the leading favourites in English Conservatories, Cape ferns were 
almost unknown. 
They had indeed, like other plants, been collected by the earlier 
travellers, among whom were Burrmann, de Chamisso, Sparrman, 
P. J. Bergins, Krebs, and Lichtenstein, and a few species had 
been described by Bergins, Linnaeus, and Willdenow, before the 
beginning of the present century, but it remained for Thunberg 
to describe the South African ferns as a group, for the first time, 
in his “ Prodromus Plantarum Capensium ” (1800). 
It is interesting to compare the species then known, and 
the names in use in those days, with present ideas on the same 
subject, and for this purpose his list of ferns is given, and opposite 
to each species the present name for the same plant. 
Thunberg’s Name. 
Present Name. 
Onoclea capensis . 
Lomaria procera. 
Ophioglossum lusitanicum 
Ophioglossum vulgatum. 
Osmunda barbara . 
Todea barbara. 
Acrostichum cordatum . 
Gymnogramme cordata. 
Pteris cuspidata 
Marattia (young). 
Pteris tabularis 
Lomaria Boryana. 
Pteris cretica 
Pteris cretica. 
Pteris confluens 
Pellaea auriculata. 
Pteris incisa .... 
Pteris incisa. 
Pteris auriculata 
Pellaea hastata. 
c 
