146 
The Ferns of South Africa. 
A. gemmiferum, or rather more toothed, and with the teeth 
in pairs, but other fronds on the same plants have the pinnae cut 
halfway to the rachis into irregular, bifid, four-toothed, over- 
lapping lobes, or toward the base cut nearly to the rachis into 
overlapping, cuneate, flabellate pinnules, toothed on the outer 
edge ; teeth blunt, in pairs. Sori very irregular, generally extend- 
ing from near the mid-rib to the base of the sinus, or with shorter 
ones up in the lobes. Adventitious buds occur irregularly on the 
upper surface of the frond ; often several on a frond. 
This form is not very permanent, and consequently not satis- 
factorily distinct from A. gemmiferum, appearing intermediate 
between it and var. discolor, though no further gradation in that 
direction has been seen. Schlechtendal’s tab. 14, fig. b, belongs 
to this species though named A. lucidum, Forst. var. 
A. flexuosum. Schrad. Schl. Adum. 29 ; Pappe and Rawson App. No. 
3.; Hk. and Bkr. Syn. Fil. 208. 
Ivnysna (Holland), Grahamstown (Dr. Atherstone). 
Raff. — Komgha (Flanagan), Perie, rare. 
Var. y. DISCOLOR. 
Plate LXXV. Natural size. 
Habit similar to A. gemmiferum but smaller ; frond not 
exceeding two feet, with a black or greenish-black rachis and 
stipe, and gemmiferous below the terminal pinna. Pinnae cut 
throughout to a widely margined rachis into distant cuneate 
pinnules one to two lines broad at the base, two to five lines broad 
above, glaucous on the under surface. Upper pinnules two- 
toothed, lower bifid, and with each lobe two-toothed, or the lower 
one on the upper side even more divided or flabellate, pinnatifid. 
Sori two to three lines long, almost marginal, extending along the 
upper base of a pinnule from near the mid-rib ; sometimes also 
there are short marginal sori along the sinus which divides the 
pinnule into two lobes. This is a very distinct form, and I have 
seen no gradation toward var. flexuosum. If none such occur it 
