Itos difficult to distinguish this genus by technical churaclers ot the truclfficalion from Adkmtmn, from svliich
It is widely différent in habit and general appearance. The sori are sinall, placed on the margins of the pinnules,
in a sinus, and .ire covered with a small reflexed lobe of the frond, which is never so moinbrnnons as in Adimdum,
but IB green and herhnccons. Smmtmes the reflexion of the pinnule's margin is so slight that the sorus is really
naked, and then I cannot distinguish the genus from Folgfodhm, or the species H. tamifolia from t . ragtdosum,
Lab. (Name from ihro, bmeaili, and W is , a scale.)
I. H y p n iep is ten u ifo lia (Bernh. in Sclirad. Jonrn, i. 34) ; fronde ampin glaiidiiloso-pilosa v. glabrata
submeiubranaoea qnadripiiinata, pinnis primariis ovatis v. ovato-oblongis .acuminatis secnndariis tertiariisque
lanceolatis, pimmlis sessilibus lineari-oblongis obtusis lobatis piiiiiatittdis inferioribus soriferis, lobis oblongis
obtusis crenato-deiitatls subintegerrimisve basin versus soriferis, involucro reniformi, costa racliibusque
glnnduloso.pilosis, stipite brmmeo puberulo et scabernlo, rhizomate valido longe repente squamoso.—
Presi, Tent. Pieri,I. L 6 . / . 2 9 ; I lm L Sp. Til. ii. p . 60. t. 19 A .: Fl. N . Zeal. ii. 22. 0 . pellucida,
Colenso, Tasm. PHI. Journ. Loucliitis tenuifolia, Forst. Prodr. 0. Dicksonioides, Finii. Frodr. Flor. Ins.
N o r f.; Kunze, Farnk.p. 13. t. S.
H.sb. Not uncommon iu forests, etc.— [v. v.)
D i s t r ib . Australia, New Zealand, and various south temperate and tropical regions of the Old and
New Worlds. (Cultivated in England.)
A tall, handsome, spreading Fern, 2-5 feet high. It varies a good deal in the colour, hairiness, and membranous
or coriaceous consistence of the fronds, as they grow in more shaded or open localities—.fVmd sometimes
2 feet broad, deltoid, tri-qnadripinnate; primarypinnx or iraneJxs spreading; secondary and lerliarg narrow, oblong,
acuminate; aUinurle, or pinnules, sessile, linear-oblong, l J - 2 inches long, deeply pinnatifid. lobes Knear-
oblong, blnnt, bluntly crenate. Sori generally two or three on each side ot the lobe, covered by an involucre
formed of a portion ot the recurved margin ot each crenature. Costa hairy; racMs yellow-brown, gl.andular and
hairy. Stipes stout, often viscid, glandular, hairy, and rough.—There is a New Zealand variety of this species
with nearly glabrous rachis and stipes, more distant aad acnminate secondary and tertiary pinnæ, narrower pinnules,
which ore deeper lobed, and bear more numerous sori, scarcely covered by the involucre, and which hence
passes into Polypodium rugulosum, Lab,
Sori punctiformes,
Gen. X. CHEILANTHES, Sw.
3, distincti. Involucra ut in Hypolepide, seci plerumque confluentia.
Though the Tasmanian species of Cheilmthes does not at all resemble Hypolcpis, it is not readily characterized,
except by having confluent involucres ; i. e. instead of solitary isolated teeth or lobes of the pinnules being reflexed
over the sori, longer portions of the margin of the frond are so, to a greater or less degree, forming a continuous
involucre. (Name from x«Aos, a lip, and wiov, afiower ; from the form of the involucre.)
1. Cheilanthes tenu ifo lia (Sw. Syn. Fii. 129 et 332) ; rhizomate crasso repente squamoso, frondibus
cæspitosis erectis glaberrimis coriaceis lineari-ovatis deltoideisve tripinnatis contractis, pinnis primariis erectis
distantibus, pinnulis parvis sparsis lineari-oblongis ovatisve lobatis pinnatifidisve, lobulis obtusis obtuse
crenatis omnibus soriferis, soris continuis, stipite rachibusque validis brunneis nitidis glaberrimis v. stipite
basi piloso.— t. 125; Br. Prodr. 155; Hook. Sp. Fil. ii. p . 82. /. 8 7 . / 3 ; b'l. N. Zeal. ii. 23.
C .SM q u , Kunze, Hook. I.e. i . ^ 1 B. C .Vxâÿ sM a, Kunze, in Plant. Preiss. n . \ l 2 -, Ilo o k .l.c . (Gunn
15.)
Hab. Abundant, especially in stony places.— (v. v.)
D is t r ib . Australia, New Zealand, Malay Islands, China, India.
The true C. tenuifolia is a very widely diffused tropical Fern, of which Australian and New Zealand plants
are smaller, and have often a more contracted frond than the Indian, and have hence been made into another
species (C. Sieberi). The immense suite of specimens preserved in the Hookerian Herbarium, however, shows that
all are one and the same plant, from which the C. Preissiana of the Swan River has been distinguished by the presence
of a few iiairs towards the base of the stipes, a character I find present and absent in different fronds of the
same specimen.—PJiizome very stout, thickly covered with silky, long scales. Stipes tufted, stout, glossy, red-
brown, quite glabrous, or with a few spreading hairs towards the base. Fronds 3 inches to a span or a foot long,
narrow-ovate or oblong, rarely deltoid, much contracted from the erect pinnæ, tripinnate. Finnce distant; secondary
scattered. Pinnules perfectly glabrous, few and small, coriaceous, 3-5 lines long, yellow-green, linear-oblong,
blunt, crenate, their margins very revolute, lobed or pinnatifid ; margins of all the lobes reflexed, forming a continuous,
coriaceous, crenate involucre, with membranous edges. Capsules very numerous and prominent, often covering
the pinnules. Rachis red-brown, shining, quite smooth.—This is anything but a handsome Fern in colour,
form, or texture, always looking starved and dry, the small, narrow, scattered pinnules, with revolute margins,
bearing a small proportion in size to the stout stipes and rachis. Tlie pinnules often appear as a mass of fructification.
In some specimens the primary pinnæ are reduced to small crumpled lobes, not half an inch long.
Gen. XI. PTBEIS, Br.
Sori lineares, marginales, continui; capsulis sinu involucri insertis. Involucrum marginale, continuum,
scariosum, intus liberum.
One of the largest and most extensively distributed groups of Ferns, which has been divided (on so many
and various grounds) into so many genera, that, were they adopted here, one might perhaps be found for each
Tasmanian species. Such dismemberments of genera, though extremely useful to the skilled botanist wflien working
upon a multitude of species from all parts of the world, are, when not absolutely necessaiy, highly inconvenient
for local Floras, rendering these impracticable to the student. I have therefore, in this case, adopted the old genus,
as defined in Brown’s ‘Frodromus Floræ Australis,’ aud introduced as sections those of the new that are natural.
Pteris, thus characterized, contains all those Ferns whose sori run continuously, or nearly so, along the edge of
the wliole pinnule, and are covered with a continuous, scarious or membranous involucre, formed of the incurved
edge of the frond. It is distinguished from Cheilanthes only by the greater continuity and regular outline of the
membranous involucre. (Name from irrepvt, a plume.)
§ 1. P la ty lo jia , j. Sm.—Frond pinnate (in the Tasmanian species) ; veins forked, free.
1. P te r is falcata (Br. Prodr. 154); frondibus rigidis erectis linearibus pinnatis, pinnis lineari-
oblongis lanceolatisve acutis mucronatisve falcatis glabris basi obliquis obtusis nunc margine superiore basi
auriculato, stipite racbique squamatis.—P. seticaulis, Hook. le. Plant, t. 207 ; PI. N. Zeal. ii. 24. Pellma
falcata. Fée, Gen. Fil. 129; Hook. Sp. Fil. 135. (Gnnn, 8 .)
H a b . Common in forests, etc.— (z>. «.)
D is t r ib . New South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, Penang, Malacca, and the peninsula of India.
(Cultivated in England.)
Fronds erect, coriaceous, rigid, tufted, 1-3 feet high, narrow-linear, pinnate. Pinnæ quite glabrous, linear-
lanceolatc or oblong, -f-ly inch long (in Australian specimens 24 inches), shortly stipitate, falcate, acute or mucronate,
oblique at the base, which is very broadly cmieate ; the iqjper margin sometimes produced into a lobe, or
gibbous. Sori broad, continuous all round the pinnule, partially covered with a very naiTow involucre. Rachis
stout, densely villons, mid covered with spreading, scaly hairs. Stipes black, Irispid.
§ 2. Ptbhts, L.—Fronds bi-tripinnote. Veins forked, free, united at their ends by the continuous receptacle.
2. P te r is aquilina (L.), var. esculenta ; fronde rigida cori-acca (ripinnata glabra v. subtus parce