120 
FERNS : BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 
luted, forming numerous elongated subquadrangular parallel 
areoles. 
1. A, aureum, Linn. ; Sw. ; Plum. Fil. 1. 104 ; Sclik. Fil. 1. 1 ; 
Hook. Gen. Fil. t. 81 A ; Loire's Ferns, 7, t. 42. Chry- 
sodium aureum, Fee. Acrostichum fraxinifolium, 
It. Br. Acrostichum marginatum, Sclik. Fil. t. 3 B . — 
Tropics and sub-Tropics of both spheres, generally 
in swamps. 
§4. Plafijcerce. Rhizome obsolete; sterile frond sessile, de- 
pressed, concliiform ; fertile fronds stipate, repeatedlij forked ; 
segments broad. Veins compound anastomosing. 
46. PLATYCERIUM, Desv.; Bl. 
Vernation articulate, rhizome obsolete. Stcnle fronds sessile, 
oblique reniform, depressed or elongated and subascending, 
alternately overlapping each other, forming an epiphytal 
spongy concliiform mass, often 1-2 feet in diameter. Fertile 
fronds stipitate, rising from the sinus of the sterile, once or 
many times diehotomously forked, 2-6 feet in length ; segments 
broad, obtuse, densely covered with stellated scales, coriaceous. 
Veins internal, compound anastomosing. Receptacle amorphous, 
