Descriptions of the Species. 
*45 
78. Asplenium gemmiferum. Schr. 
Plate LXXIII. Fig. 1. Frond reduced, b. Pinna, natural size. 
Varieties on Plates LXXIV. and LXXV. 
Crown erect, paleaceous, with long, narrow, laciniated, black 
scales. Frond thick, sub-coriaceous, simply pinnate, glabrous, 
ovate-lanceolate, two to four feet long, six to eight inches broad, 
with a channelled green stipe one foot long. Pinnae six to twelve 
pairs, shortly stalked, alternate, or sub-opposite, falcate, four to six 
inches long, one to one and a quarter inches broad for most of the 
length, then drawn to an acute point ; lower edge sloping very 
gradually to the petiole ; the upper edge rounded suddenly down 
at the base to the petiole. Edge entire, or with shallow crena- 
tions, or very bluntly toothed. Terminal pinna similar, but rather 
larger, often with a bud at the base ; lower pinnae not reduced. 
Sori linear, oblique, four lines long, extending rather more than 
halfway to the edge. 
This is a most beautiful fern, massive and heavy in the type, 
though lighter in the varieties. Schlechtendal’s figure (Adum. pi. 
1 4 a) is more toothed, and more sharply toothed than often occurs. 
A. gemmiferum. Schrader, Goett. Gel. Anz. 1818, 916 ; Kze. Linnaea, 
10.510 ; Pappe and Rawson, 17 ; Hk. and Bkr. Syn. Fil. 207. 
A. lucidum. Schl. Adum. 25, tab. 14A. 
Africa and African Islands south of the equator ; growing in 
wet ground in the forest ; not common. 
West. — Hangklip (Mund and Maire), Knysna (Burchell, 5405), Swellen- 
dam (Holland), Voorman’s Bosch (Rawson). 
East. — Tzitzikamma (P. and R.), Grahamstown (Atherstone), Boschberg 
(MacOwan). 
Kaff. — Komgha (Flanaghan), Thaba N’doda, Perie, Frankfort, Toise 
River, &c. 
Natal. — Upper districts, as low as Inanda (Wood), Umpumulo, Maritz- 
burg, Richmond (Buchanan). 
Var. ft. flexuosum. Schrad. 
Plate LXXIV. Natural size. 
This has frequently fronds similar to the ordinary form of 
L 
