On the Structure and Affinities of 
Helminthostachys zeylanica e 
BY 
J. BRETLAND FARMER, M.A., 
AND 
W. G. FREEMAN, B.Sc. 
With Plates XXI- XXIII. 
ELM1NTHOSTACHYS ZEYLANICA , Hook., the 
^ sole representative of an interesting genus of Ophio- 
glossaceous Ferns, is somewhat widely distributed in the 
Eastern tropics, occurring as it does both in Asia and in 
Australia. Our own material was collected by us in the 
low country in Western Ceylon, where the plant is locally 
abundant, and we have also to thank Professor F. W. Oliver 
and Mr. A. C. Seward for their kindness in supplementing 
our stock. 
Helminthostachys has a creeping and markedly dorsiventral 
rhizome which bears the branched leaves characteristic of the 
plant in two rows on its upper surface, whilst the roots spring 
from its flanks and under surface. The roots, as was pointed 
out by Prantl 1 , do not stand in any definite relation to the 
leaves either in number or in position, and in this respect 
1 Prantl, Helminthostachys zeylanica in ihrer Bez. z. Ophioglossum u. 
Botrychium, Ber. d. deutschen Bot. Gesellsch., 1883. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XIII. No. LI. September, 1899.] 
F f 
