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Al . l .OSOHt to-
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G E N U S I X .
ALLOSORHS. BuBNiiAMn. J , S m i t h .
-1 SMALL genus aud v e t an interesting one, liaving Ilutcu
and fertile fronds dissimilar. Tlie fertile fronds being contraeti'i
and having revolutc margins, forming, as it v c r c , a univeisa
indusium.
ATins free and fo rk ed ; sporangia terminal. ^
Sori laterally confluent, ro u n d or oval; the so n eventually
ihrmlng an intrama rginal, hroad, compound, transverse sorus.
Fro n d s b itrip in n a tc , or decompound.
Rhizoma creeping and somewhat cocspitosc.
F e rtile fronds contracted, segments oval, elliptical, and revohite.
Sterile frond having the pinnules d entate, crenate, or lacmiate
Air. Aloore places the Allosorus amongst the PohjpoRm, y n A
certainly it seems more n a tu ra l than with P tc r is , although it
is perhaps, a genus whose characters arc midway between them,
and consequently difficult to determine to which to attach it ^
Air. Smith remarks in his “ Genera oi F e rn s , th a t hamng
the margin of the fronds membranaceous and indusniovm, tlie
sori being confluent, and forming, as it were, a transvetoc
marginal sorus, it, on this account, approaclics near to he
gemis P te r is ; b u t as the indusiiform margin is formed by the
X a n g c d state of th e fertile frond, and does not rise from a
sporangiferous receptacle, as in the tru e P te ru hm , it, on tin .
account, approaches Pe/i/yiUUw, from which its great diflcrence
is the contracted character of th e fertile fronds.
Air. Smith enumerates six species: —
X ^ ^C r isp u s , Be rnhardi.
2.—Acrostichoides, Sprengel.
3 — B runonianus, ( Cryptogramina, AA'allich;.
4 ._ ( J r a c i-& , .1. Smith, f Cheilanthes, Kaulfuss.)
3 — Ciliatus, Bresl.
O.— H ir su tu s , Bresl.
None seem to he .cultivated in this country except the
solitary indigenous species, the Allosorus crispus.
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