This i'ex'y curious species is only to be fo u n d in fi'uctifioation in the cold weather, the fertile fronds, when (hey first appear in
October or November, are quite contracted and covered with one mass o f fructification ; they die off again in January or February. I havt
never detected any appearance of fructification on the broader sterile leaves which arsgx-owing all the year round, and it is quite an ex-ror I
think to suppose, that the enlarged sorv.s is the effect o f a disease.
\Yyiiacl, Anamallays and other localities, very abundant from 2,500 to -4,000 feet elevation—Nilgiris 5,000 to G,000 feet rare.
PLATE No. CXV.
The above 5 species belong to the Filix-Mas group o f Lastrea, and probably few Botaxiists would agree as to what are distixicl
species, and what varieties only. S ir William Hooker coxisiders ihexn all ( even the last) as oxily varieties o f the European “ Lastrea Filix-
M a s f Mr. Moore looks upon them as differexit species, axid Dx\ Wallich founded a neia gexius fo r the last cux-ious species under the name
o f '• Ax'thx'obotrys.” I have had most o f them gx'owing uxider cultivation, axid have found them coxxstant; whether they are distixict species, or
only vax-ieties, I have thought it less puzzling to figure them each under a distinct nanie, than to give them two names such as “Lastx-ea
FiUx-Mas, paientissima," &c.
(6) Indusia orbicular, peltately affixed.
Veins reticulated, with free included veixileis.
Asp id ium— /S itu rii. S chrad, J o u r n , 1,800. ii 4. 29 (re d u ct).
(Bathmium, Presl :—Proferea, Presl Podopeltis, Fée Polypodii. sp. Auct Tcctarieæ sp. Cavanilles;—Phymatodis sp.
P re sl;—Dryuariæ. sp. Fée ;— )
Sori indusiate, rotundate, the receptacles compital, i.e. produced on the points where several veins join, or medial, more rarely
terminal. Indusium orbicular peltate, feins pinnate from a central costa, prominent ; or rarely uniform ; vexiules and veinlets compoundly
anastomosing in (about two or three series of) irregular or nearly equal sided areoles, from the ultiiuate of wliich proceed free
divaricate veinlets.
Fronds simple, pinnate or tri-pinnate, herbaceous. Rhizome sW t, erect, or decumbent. (Moore).
1. Aspidium polxjmorphum. (Wallich.) Caudex creeping, stipites from a few inches to 1-2 feet long, fuscous a little scaly at
the base, fronds very variable in size, from 3-6 inches (when they are generally cordate or 3-lobed, or tri-foliate) to 2 feet or more long,
adult coriaceo-meinhranaceous, pinnated with 4-8 pairs of pinnæ and terminated by an odd one, as large as or larger than the rest, (sometimes
coiifiuent with the two below it) basal ones very large and long, and generaUy unequal, bi-fid or bl-pavtite, or more frequently bi-foU-
ate, the segments curved upwards, intermediate ones 5-6, or 8 inches long, oblong, acute or acuminate, sub-opposite, in distant pairs sub-
petiolate, inferior base unequal, the lowest often dilated, primary or costal veins horizontally patent, slightly arcuate, these are connected
by' arched veins transversely, the meshes or areoles are occupied by copiously anastomosing veinlets, and their areoles with free sterile simple
or forked veinlets, sori copious, generaUy small, all compital; involucres peltate, rarely present or very fugacious—Hooker. Sp. Fil. iv.
5 i.— Wall. Cat. n. 383.—Aspid. rostratum. Wall. Cat. n. 383.—Aspid. repandum, Willd. Sp. P I. v. p. 216 ;—Bathmium Fée.
Nilgiris very common in ravines on the Coonoor ghat, and other locaUties—Pulney Hills.
PLATE No. CXVI.— (Fig. A. a juveline simple fro n d ).
PLATE No. CXVH. is a figure of a fern common on the Anamallay Plills, 3,000 feet elevation. I t is, I believe, only a variety
of .1. pohjmorphum, and I have called it polymorphum /3. contractum ; it differs from the normal form in having contracted fertile froiuD
and very large sori. I have never been able to trace any sign of an iudusium even on the youngest specimens, but th at is very seldojn
traceable on the normal form—the sterile fronds do not seem to differ in any way from pobjmorphmn.
2. Aspidium I No CXYIII.—This is a sterile frond of a species of Aspidium or Sagenia, it is probably an undescribcd
.species. I procured it on the Anamallays, and was not fortunate enough to find it in iructificatioii, the frouds are perfectly glabrous and
shining on both sides.
CntTOMiUM. F vc iil T e n t P t e r id . 8 6 .
(Phanerophlebk, Presl. ;-A s p id il Sp. Auct. — Polypodii. Sp. Auct.)
Sori iBduskte globose io sever,-vl series porollel to tbe eostae ; tbe receplada modkl on the exeurreiit, tree or anastomosed
V nnles ot Tomlets rarely terminal near tbe margin, h dm iw m orbicular peltate. Yeim pinnato-furcate, from a central costm ; the
lower anterior eomfa free, the test angnlariy and irregularly anastomosing, forming unequal sub-hexagonal areolc.s, within which are produced
1-3 excurrent ,dulet> ; or the upper vennles only angularly anastomosing.
Fronds robust coriaceous piunate. Ehizome short, thick, erect, (Moore).
1 Cgrtomiwm mrgotidmm. (Presl. ) ; Candcx short, thick, erect, densely paleaceous with largo erect scalns, stipites tutted 10-12
inehos long' very scaly below, fronds J a foot to 2 feet long, oblong sub-eoriacco-carnose, (when recent) ot a pale yellowish green colour,
opaque (uot rfossy) pinnated, pinmn 3-4-6 inches long, petiolate ovate mueb acuminated (sometimes repando-lobate) falcato sharply
sLated , snper°ior base much broader than tbe inferior, generally extended into a long sharp acuminated appendage or car, the lowest pair
and terminal piimae often with one on each side, veins anastomosing, pinnate acinose, costal areoles with a solitary soriferous free veinlet,
superior ones with two or three veinlets clavate a t their apex, sori scattered or sub-seriate, indusinm orbicular, peltate entire or lacmiated
at the margin, rachis and rather short petioles setaceo-paleaocoiis. Rmh. Bp. Fit. iv. 40 -— Fresl. Tent. FteriA. p. 86 t. 2 f . 26 Aspi
diuin caiyotidenm, Wall Cat. n. 376 Aspidium anomophyllmn (Z en ter Plantes FndicoeJ var. macroptcra et microptera, Kunze :
Cyi'toiiiuin falcatum, Fapize et Haws. Syzi. T i l AJr. Auslr. p . 15 ( not o f SwartzJ.
Nilgiris—Sholas about Ootacamund—rather rare.
(The variety microptex-a" o f Kunze has more numerous and smaller pinnce than the plant here figured, which is “ macroptera"
o f Kunze, there are however intermediate farms, and they cannot even be considered as varieties).
PLATE No. CXIX.
PoLYSTiCHUJL Roth. Tent. Fl. Germ. iiL 69. (re d u ct).
(Hypopeltis, Richard; Aspidium, Au c t.; Rumohra, R a d d i; Hemigonium, J . Sm ith ; Peltochlæna, Fée ; Cyclopelti« / . Smith.
Hemicardion Fée ; Teetariæ Sp. cavanilles ; Nephrodii Sp. Presl. /—Lastrea Sp. Auct. ; Polypodii Sp. Auct. ;)
Sori indusiate, globose ; the receptacles medial, or rarely terminal on the venules, Indusium orbicular peltate. Veins pinnato-
furcate, or simply forked from a central costa, veinlets free ; the lower anterior one usually, sometimes more fertile.
Fronds simple pinnate, or bi-tri-pinnate, rigid, coriaceous, the margins usually mucronate-serrate—Rhizome short, thick, erect.
(Moore).
1. Fohjstichum auriculatum. (Swartz) ; Caudex stout, thick, erect or oblique, more or less copiously scaly, stipites brown or
stramineous, 4 inches to a span long, more or less paleaceous, as is the rachis, fronds 1- a foot to 2 feet long oblong—or broad-lanceolate,
pinnated snb-membranaceous or coriaceous, pimiæ horizontal, varying much in, size and form 1-3 inches in length, sessile or nearly so,
in the normal state from a broad cuneate base ; truncated and sharply auricled above ; excised beneath, falcato-lanceolate, acuminate, subentire
or serrated especially on the upper margin and towards the apex unarmed, or varying extremely in length and breadth, and becoming
more or less pinnatifid with the segments or lobes or teeth variously spinuloso, often deeply pinnatifid, and even again pinnate a t their
base, sori iu two rows nearer the margiu than the costa, involucres membranaceous, very fugacious (only to be detected in very young
fronds)—Zfooiîr. Sp. Fil. iv. 11 ;— Sw. Syxi. F il p. 44 1 Polypodium Linn. Sp. FL p. 1548 ;—
(The normal form which is the only one found in Southern India has simply pinnated fronds, in some of the forms found in
Northern India, the fronds are bi-pinnate).
Very common on the higher ranges of tho Nilgiris and other lofty mountains on the Western side of the Presidency.
PLATE No. CXX.
2. Polxjstichum acxdeatum (Sw.) ; Caudex short, sub-erect, stipites tufted and rachises more or less clothed with ferruginous
scales of two forms, one slender and resembling hairs on the stipes especially, mixed with large ovate or lanceolate ones, sometimes two