Hephr odium. 
filices. 
495 
Subgenus Sagenia. Veins uniting copiously in hexagonal areohe. 
Involucre minute, fugacious. 
Stipe and rachis brown 18. N. subtriphyllum. 
Stipe and rachis black 19. N. pleiotomum. 
Involucre large, persistent 20. N. Pica. 
1. N. albo-punctatum, Desv.; Hook, and Baker , Syn. Fil. 264. 
Rootstock slender, wide- trailing ; scales peltate, with a brown middle 
and pale border. Stipes distant, brown, naked, glossy, articulated 
above the base. Frond oblong-lanceolate, f-1 foot long, membranous, 
bipinnatifid, glabrous or slightly pilose, dotted with white along the 
edge of the segments on the upper surface. Pinnae sessile, f~-| in. 
broad, cut down to a broad wing into oblong subentire segments y 1 ^— §- 
in. broad. Veins pinnate in the segments, with 3-4 pairs of simple 
erecto-patent veinlets. Sori submarginal, terminal on the veinlets. 
Involucre ciliated, evanescent. Poly podium sarmentosum, Bojer , 
Hort. Maur. 419. 
Mauritius, on Long Mountain, Trois Mamelles, and Corps de G-ard Mountain, on 
trees and trailing on the ground. Also Natal, and spread through the tropics of the 
Old World. 
2. N. crinitum, Desv . ; Hook, and Baker , Sy7i. Ml. 265. Root- 
stock erect; scales brown-black, linear-subulate. Stipes tufted, J-l 
ft. long, densely scaly throughout. Frond oblong-lanceolate, I— 1| ft. 
long, 8-10 in. broad, moderately firm in texture, glabrous, bipinnatifid ; 
rachis densely clothed throughout with spreading brown-black subulate 
scales. Pinnae lanceolate, sessile, 1-lf in. broad, cut down to a 
narrow wing into entire ligulate segments f— in. broad. Veins 
pinnate in the secondary segments, with 10-12 simple distinct ascending 
veinlets on each side. Sori small, medial. Iuvolucre minute, evan- 
escent. Polypodium crinitum, JPoir. ; Bojer , Hort. Maur. 418. P. 
thelypteroides, Desv. ; Bojer , loc. cit. Aspidium strigosum, Mett. 
Var. pauciflorum. Stipe densely scaly at the base only, and rachis 
clothed only with minute ascending linear scales. Aspidium sulcatum 
and pauciflorum, Kaulf. A. nitidum, Bory. 
Var. iojdatum. Stipe scaly at the base only, the rest of it and the 
rachis glossy, glabrous and quite free from scales. Nephrodium humi- 
dum, Cordemoy. 
Mauritius and Rodriguez, common. Also Bourbon. A very variable species in 
the character and abundance of its scales, hut fairly uniform in other respects. 
3. BJ. prolixum, Baker ; Hook, and Baker , Syn. Fil. 2(58. Rootstock 
erect; scales not seen. Stipes tufted, naked, \ ft. long. Frond ob- 
long-lanceolate, 2-3 feet long, a foot broad, moderately firm in texture, 
bipinnatifid, obscurely pilose; rachis square, pale brown, scaleless. 
Pinnae lanceolate, sessile, f-1 in. broad, cut down to a narrow wing into 
entire ligulate segments T V broad, the lower pinnae much dwarfed 
and distant. Veins pinnate in the secondary segments, with 10-15 
pairs of simple veinlets. Sori medial. Involucre minute, persistent, 
