516 
EILICES. 
29. SCHIZjEA, Smith. 
Capsules sessile, splitting vertically, crowned by a complete trans- 
verse ring, aggregated m 2-4 rows in spikes that form a close terminal 
panicle or digitate cluster. — Coriaceous tufted ferns of very charac- 
teristic habit, with the sterile part of the frond stem-like and simple or 
flattened and dichotomously forked. Distrib. Tropical and warm 
temperate zones of both hemispheres. Species about 20. 
Capsules biserial. Fertile spikes pinnate > 1 . S. dichotoma. 
Capsules 4-serial. Fertile spikes digitate * 2. S. digitata. 
1. S. dichotoma, Sw. ; Hook, and Baker, Syn. Fil. 430. Stipes 
wiry, angular, densely tufted, naked, 4-12 in. long. Frond cuneate- 
deltoid, foot long and broad, several times dichotomously forked, 
with flattened 1-nerved ultimate segments 1-3 in. long, about ^ in. 
broad. Fertile segments pinnate, reduplicate, forming a recurved 
deltoid terminal panicle i—f in. long. 
Mauritius, on old trunks in the woods of Flacq and round the Grand Bassin. 
Also Bourbon, Madagascar, and tropical and warm temperate regions of both 
hemispheres, but not African. 
2. S. digitata, Sw. ; Hook, and Baker , Syn. Fil. 430, var. S. 
intermedia, Mett. Rootstock short-creeping, with minute brown 
linear scales. Fronds simple, without any distinct stipe, 2-18 in. long, 
in. broad, flat, with the midrib prominently raised on the under 
surface. Spikes 1-lf in. long, arranged 6-12 together in a close ter- 
minal digitate cluster. 
Seychelles, frequent in the woods of Mahe, Wright ! Home, 184 ! 653 ! Mada- 
gascar, Tropical Asia, and Polynesia. 
30. MARAT T I A, Smith. 
Capsules in our plant sessile, slit down the side, without a ring, 
placed in two divaricating rows, many connate into an oblong boat- 
shaped mass (synangium), which is decurrent on the veins and fur- 
nished with an obscure inferior fimbriated involucre. — Fronds large, 
compound, glabrous, rather fleshy in texture, with stipes and pinnae 
swollen at the base and free veining. Distrib. Tropical and warm 
temperate regions of both hemispheres. 
1. M. fraxinea, Smith : Hook, and Baker Syn. Fil. 440. Stipes 
1-2 feet long. Frond deltoid, 6-15 feet long, bipinnate, bright green, 
glabrous. Pinnae oblong-lanceolate, l|-2 feet long ; pinnules sessile, 
lanceolate, acuminate, serrated, 5-6 in. long, f-1 in. broad. Veins 
distinct, spreading, not nearly so numerous and close as in Angiopteris. 
Sori -jig. in. or less long, oblong, slightly intramarginal. M. sorbifolia, 
Sw. ; Bojer , Sort. Maur. 422. M. macrophylla, Be Vriese. 
Mauritius, in the dense forests of the hill-ranges. Spread through the two 
warmer zones of the Old World. 
