Pteris. ] 
FILICES. 
483 
Frond 5-partite, deltoid, reaching a length and breadth of several feet, 
membranous, green and glabrous on both sides, the five divisions all bipin- 
natifid, with lanceolate pinnules cut down to a narrow wing into ligu- 
late entire lobes in. broad. Veins fine, immersed, forming usually 
a single row of areoies against the midrib of the final segments. In- 
volucre narrow, membranous, glabrous. P. tripartita, Sw. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, frequent in woods. Spread through the warm 
regions of the Old World. 
13. P. incisa, Thunb.; Hook, and Baker , Syn. Fil. 172. Rootstock 
slender, wide-creeping. Stipes brown or straw-coloured, glossy, naked, 
unarmed. Frond deltoid, often several feet long and broad, 3- 
or 4-pinnatifid, membrauous, green above, glaucous beneath, the 
penultimate divisions lanceolate with deep oblong obtuse segments 
i— A- in. broad. Lowest pinnules of the pinnae often contracted, and 
less deeply cut. Veins fine, immersed, sometimes but not always 
forming long narrow areoies against the midrib of the final segments, 
always against the midrib of those of a higher grade. Involucre firm, 
narrow, glabrous. P. vespertilionis, LabiU. ; Bojer, Hort. Maur. 402. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, common amongst the hills. Spread through the 
tropical and south temperate zone of both hemispheres. 
16. LOMARIA, Willd. 
Capsules stalked, splitting transversely, with an incomplete vertical 
ring. Sori linear, continuous, occupying the whole space between the 
midrib of the segments and their margins. Involucre linear, formed 
< f the modified edge of the frond rolled over the sorus. — Large or 
middle-sized ferns, usually simply pinnate, with dimorphic fronds, the 
pinnae of the barren ones much broader than those of the fertile ones, 
and simple close veining. Disturb. Both hemispheres, nearly all south 
temperate or tropical. Species 40. 
Barren pinnae dilated at the base 1. L. attenuata. 
Barren pinna? narrowed at the base 2. L. Boryaha. 
1. L. attenuata, Willd. ; Hook, and Baker , Syn. Fil. 176. Root- 
stock woody, subscandent, densely clothed with linear dark-brown 
scales. Stipes contiguous, naked, \-l foot long. Barren frond 1-2 
feet long, rigidly subcoriaceous, green and glabrous on both sides, 
usually simply pinnate to the tip, sometimes simple or pinnate only in 
the lower half. Pinnae adnate by the whole of the dilated base, linear, 
narrowed to a long point, the central ones 3-4 in. long, in. broad, the 
lower ones growing gradually smaller. Fertile pinnae distant, not 
more than Vt i n - broad. Veins fine, close, obscure. L. circinata, 
Bojer , Hort. Maur. 406. Blechnum polypodioides, Kuhn , Fil. Afric. 92. 
Mauritius, common on old trunks in the forests. Tropical and south temperate 
regions of the Old and New World. 
2 i 2 
