Pellcea.~\ 
eilices. 
479> 
soon hidden by the sorus. P. angulosa, Rory ; Bojer , Rort. Maur. 400. 
P. articulata, Kaulf.; Bojer , Rort. Maur. 402. 
Mauritius, on rocks in the ravines of the hilly tracts. Also Bourbon and 
Madagascar. 
15. PTERIS, Linn. 
Capsule stalked, splitting transversely, with an incomplete vertical 
ring. Sorus marginal, linear, continuous. Involucre linear, formed 
of the modified edge of the frond rolled over the sorus. — Usually large 
ferns, of various habit and cutting ; rootstock suberect or creeping ; 
veins free or variously anastomosing. Distrib. One of the most 
cosmopolitan of fern-genera. Species about 100. 
Subgenus I. Eupteris. Eronds large. Veins pinnate, all free. 
Frond simply pinnate, with all the pinme simple . . 1 . P. longifolia. 
Frond simply pinnate, with the lowest pinnae forked 2. P. cretica. 
Frond regularly bipinnatifid, with only the lowest 
pinnae once forked. 
Texture membranous 3. P. qtjadriaurtta. 
Texture rigidly coriaceous 4. P. scabra. 
Frond regularly bipinnatifid, with the lowest pinnae 
compound 5. P. flabellata. 
Frond decompound, with a wide-creeping root- 
stock 6. P. AQUILINA. 
Subgenus II. Actiniopteris. Eronds small. Veins flabellate, all 
free. 
The only species 7. P. dichotoma. 
Subgenus II. Campteria. Veins next the midrib of the pinnae 
anastomosing in a series of arches, the rest free. 
The only species 8. P. biaurita. 
Subgenus III. Litobrochia. Veins of the ultimate segments 
more or less uniting in areolae. 
Kootstock suberect ; stipes tufted. 
Frond small, bipinnatifid, with few large seg- 
ments 9. P. PEDATA. 
Fronds large, bipinnatifid, with forked lower 
pinnae. 
Stipe prickly ; texture firm 10. P. atrovirens. 
Stipe unarmed ; texture very thin 11. P. woodwardioides. 
Frond 5-partite, with bipinnatifid divisions . . .12. P. marginata. 
Rootstock wide-creeping ; stipes solitary 13. P. incisa. 
1. P. longifolia, Finn. ; Rook, and Baker , Syn. Fil. 153. Root- 
stock stout, short-creeping ; scales dense, linear-subulate, spreading, 
pale brown. Stipes contiguous, 3-12 in. long, naked or scaly. Erond 
oblong-lanceolate, narrowed gradually from the middle to both ends. 
