Descriptions of the Species. 
hi 
the pinnules narrower and not serrated, so the appearance is alto- 
gether unlike the flat, serrated, and less divided younger barren 
plants. 
Like P. quadriautra this has a scale at the base of every 
pinnule on the upper surface of the mid-rib. 
Pteris flabellata (originally P. flabellulata). Thunb. Prod. 172; Fior. 
Cap. 733 ; Hk. and Bkr. Syn. Fil. 161. 
P. arguta, Aiton, Hort. Kew ; Swartz; Schl. Adum. 43; Kze., Linnsea. 
10.524 ; Pappe and Rawson, 26. 
P. arguta. Ait., var flabellata (Thbg. ), Mett. ; Kuhn, Fil. Afr. 76. 
P. serruluta. Forsk. fl. oeq. Arab., 187 ; Swartz, Syn. 108. 
Africa, and African islands ; common throughout South Africa. 
West. — Tulbagh, Table Mountain, &c. 
East. — Krakakamma, Zuurberg, Grahamstown, Bedford. 
Kaff. — Abundant in all the forests, Bazaja (Baur.), Komgha (Flanagan). 
JNatal. — All over the colony. 
Transvaal, — Magalisberg (Zeyher). 
(P. tremula, R. Br., a New Zealand and Australian species, 
is mentioned by Buchanan and Wood as having been found by 
the latter at Umhloti, Natal. Mr. Wood now writes that when he 
found this fern on his farm he thought it might have escaped from 
cultivation, and now he is sure of it. 
Baker (“Syn. Fil.,” 161) mentions having seen a specimen of 
it in Herb. Rawson, from the Cape, named P. caflra, Pappe. 
Neither this name, nor any Cape specimen of P. tremula, is now, 
in Herb. Gub., which includes Dr. Pappe’s collection, and as the 
species is otherwise unknown in South Africa, except in cultiva- 
tion, it is assumed to have been a mistake. 
56. Pteris Buchanani. Baker MSS. 
Plate XLVI. Upper side of lower pinna, natural size. 
Rhizome creeping. Fronds two to three-pinnate, glabrous, two 
to four feet long, one and a half to three feet broad, more or less 
tripartite, on a stipe one to three feet long. Pinnae stalked, 
numerous, lanceolate, and cut nearly, but not quite to the rachis, 
into linear pinnules, one to two inches long, two lines broad, 
