P O L Y P O D I U M W A L L I C H I L
FILIC ES .—G y r a t æ . B r . B o l y p o d i a c e .æ . K a u lf. F i l i c e s v e ræ . B r .
G e n . C hau. P O L Y P O D I U M , Linn.
lua'um nullum. B r .
S o r i subrotundi (scriati, sparsi vel conferti). In vof
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P o ly pod ium W aU ic /iii; frondibus lon g e stipitati« profundo bipartitis coriaceis reticulatis glabris,
subtus paliidioribus, lob is palinatis integerrimis bine ivibus, soris sparsis.
Polypodium Wallicliii. B ro w n M S S . in W a ll. L i s t o f Species in M u s . o f E . I . C. n. 287.
Polypodium macrocbeiros. W a ll, in H e rb . 1823.
H ab. In montibus “ Pundora” dictis, prope Silh c t, leg it D e S ilva . [W a llich .)
Caudex subrepens, crassus, bic illic grosse fibrosus.
Stip e s bi'tripedalis, erectus, teres, glaber, nudus, pallide fuscus, pennoe anserinoe crassitie, teres, hinc sulcatus.
F ro n s magna, circumscriptione lato-oblonga, sesquipedalem longa, duas vel fere 1res pedes lata, subcoriacea,
viridis, subtus pallidior sed minime glaucescens, ubique glabra, profundissime bipartita, vel, si mavis, binata,
lobis latissime cuneato-pnlmatis, laciniis ensiformibus magis minusve attenuatis, integerrimis, vel nonnunquam
obscure dentatis, nervosis.
Nei-vi ad basin loborum radiatim dicliotomi, iu singula lacinia semper geminati, infra apices coadunati; venæ reticu
la te , areolis oblongis majusculis, non ad marginem attingentibus, venulosis, venularum areolis subqua-
dratis, iterum et bisque etiam (sub lente) minutissime reticulatis.
So ri in venis ternariis sparsi, parvi, pallide fusci, hemisphærici, compact!.
Capsulæ subglobosa?, reticulatæ, annulo lato subintegro cinctæ.
S m in a pallide fusca, oblonga, subpellucidn.
F ig . 1. Portio frondis. f. 2. Capsulæ. f. 3. S em in a :— valde magn. auct.
ilil
This most remarkable plant has already rceeived a name in honour o f onr exce llent and most
liberal friend Dr . W allich . It was one amongst the innumerable treasures brought by that gen tle man
h im se lf from the E ast Indies, and was in the first o f th o se collec tions that have been so widely
distributed by the Honourable the E a st India Company. T o the noble and generous conduct o f
th e Company in that instance we have more tlian once had occasion to allude. B u t in saying
that the immense Herbaria (with the judicious reservation o f a comple te set for the Company’s
Museum) were to be dispersed among the B otanists o f Europe, we'named on ly a small part o f the
services th ey were about to confer on science. W ith in the last few we ek s Dr. W allich has received
from the Directors, with a view to a similar destination, all the collec tions o f Roxburgh, Buchanan,
Patrick Russel, H cy n e , R b ttlc r ; in short, all th o se o f continental Indian plants.
I t is quite to be expected that the Phienogamons Botany o f our Indian p o ssession s will thus be
materially illustrated ; so lik ew ise , in the department that especially concerns our p resent w ork, the
Ferns, th e additions arc vastly numerous. Indeed, to such an extent have we been enriched by
Dr. W allich alone, with the plants o f this beautiful tribe, that we should be wanting in common
justice to th e Directors o f the E a st India Company, to Dr. W allich himself, and to th e public, did
wc n o t now pledge ourselves to their publication, either in the present form, or in a work n o t less
worthy o f them in p oint o f siz e and execution, and which shall be exc lu sively devoted to them.
I t is among th e recent additions to Dr. Wallich’s collections now mentioned, th a t w e find beautiful
specimens o f the present Fern, from which our drawing and descriptions have been made. The
specimen selected for the figure, however, though perfect in all its parts, is a small one, as be st
suited to the siz e o f the plate. W e kn ow o f on ly one P olypodium that approaches this in general
habit, and in the curious and beautiful veining o f the frond, and that is the P . Ilo rsfie ld ii o f
Mr. Brown’s M S S . and o f Dr. W allich’s List o f Specimens in the Honourable E a st India Company’s
Museum, n. 2 8 6 ; the P .p a lm a tu m o f W a ll. Herb. 1823, gathered by Dr. W allich in P enang, and
distributed in 1829. T his latter appears to be th e D ip te r is conjugata o f Rcimvardt, S y llogc PI.
N o v . in B o t. Zeit. v. 2. 1828 (according to my copy, 1825 according to Dr. Blume) ; the P . D ii
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