492 
FILICES. 
[ Asplenium . 
No. 689 of Mr. Horne’s Seychelles collection may be Asplenium (Athyrium) nigripes, 
Blume ; Hook, and Baker, Syn. Fil. 227, a species common to Tropical Asia 
and Madagascar, but in the absence of fructification this is quite uncertain. 
18. ASPIDIUMj Sw. 
Capsules stalked, splitting transversely, with an incomplete vertical 
ring. Sori round, dorsal, covered with a peltate superior involucre. 
— Fronds of various cutting, mostly coriaceous in texture ; veins rarelv 
anastomosing, free in both the Mauritian species. Distrib. Cosmo- 
politan. Species 50-60. 
Stipes tufted ; ultimate lobes with cuspidate teeth . . . 1. A. aculeatum. 
Stipes distant ; cuspidate teeth none 2. A. capense. 
1. A. aculeatum, Sw. ; Hook, and Baker , Syn. Fil. 252. Foot- 
stock erect ; basal scales large, bright pale brown, membranous, linear, 
and subulate intermixed. Stipes tufted, f-1 foot long, densely clothed 
with large lanceolate pale brown scales. Frond oblong-lanceolate, 
subcoriaceous, glabrous, tripinnatifid, 1-2 foot long ; rachis slightly 
furfuraceous. Pinnse lanceolate, truncate on the upper side at the 
base, cuneate on the lower; pinnules obliquely rhomboid, sessile, 
deeply lobed and sharply toothed. Yeiulets forked, erecto-patent. 
Sori small, medial, many to each tertiary segment. Involucre firm, 
glabrous, persistent. A. stramineum, Kaulf. ; Bojer, Hort. Maur. 391. 
A. ammifolium, Desv. ; Kuhn , Fil. Afric. 125. 
Mauritius, frequent in the hill-woods. One of the most cosmopolitan of all 
ferns. 
2. A. capense, Willd. ; Hook, and Baker , Syn. Fil. 254. Eoot- 
stock stout, creeping ; scales large, dense, membranous, lauceolate 
acuminate, reddish-brown. Stipes distaut, a foot or more long, scalv 
in the lower part or throughout. Frond deltoid, coriaceous, 1-2 feet 
long and broad, tripinnatifid or tripinnate ; rachis naked or slightly fur- 
furaceous. Lower pinnae deltoid ; divisions of all grades cuneate on the 
lower side at the base ; ultimate segments oblong, obtuse. Yeinlets 
fine, immersed. Sori medial, much larger than in A. aculeatum. 
Involucre glabrous, persistent. A. coriaceum, Sw. ; Bojer , Hort. 
Maur. 391. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, frequent. Round the world, especially in the south 
temperate zone. 
19. OLEANDRA, Cav. 
Capsules stalked, splitting transversely, with an incomplete vertical 
ring. Sori round, placed on the back of the veins distant from the 
margin of the frond, covered with a reniform superior involucre. — 
Ferns with a wide-spreading rootstock, distinctly-articulated stipes, 
simple fronds and fine simple or forked transverse veins. Distrib. 
Species 7. Tropics of both hemispheres. 
