TRICHOMANES ALATUM. WINGED-STALKED
TRICHOMANES.
TRICHOMANES alatum, frortdibus 2^-4-pinnatifidis glabris, pinnulis unifloiis, laciniis linearibus
margine integerrimis) involucro turbinato-oblongis, apice simplici indiviso, stipite
alato. Brown* in- Hört. Kern. cd. 2.
T RICHOMANE S breyisetum. Brown in Hort. Kao. cd. 2. ool. 5. p.5Q9. . .
TRICHOMANES pyxidiferum. Ends. Angl. p. 461. With. Bot. A rr. cd. 4. ml. 3. p. 765. Bolt.
Fil. p. 56. t. 50.
• H YM EN O PH Y L LUM alatum. Engl. Bot. t. 1417. Willd. Sp. PI. ml. 5. p. 536.
H YM EN O PH Y L LUM Tunbridgense ß . Smith FI. B r it. p . 1142.
F IL lX humilis repens. Raii Syn. p. 127. t. 3. f . 3—4.
Class a n d Ord e r . CRYPTOGAMIA F IL ICE S , Linn.
^Natural Ord e r . FIL ICE S, Juss. Decand. Brown. Div. I. GYRATÆ.}
G e n . Ch a r . Sori marginales. Capsules sessiles, receptaculo communi cylindraceo insert«, intra Involucrum
monophyllum, suburceolatum, ore hiante,' textura frondis.
Surculi repentes, tomentosi. Frondes pellucid-ce, areolatoe, raro indivises, seepius uni- vel tri-pinnatifidoe, laciniis uni*
nervibus, involucro terminali, receptaculo capsularum plerumque exserto, elongato.—Brown Prodr.
CAUDExt repens, penn® passednaa crassitie, teres, ra-
dicibus tomentosis, fuscis, hie illic .dense ob-
situs.
St ipe s bi-quadri-pollicaris, ^rectus, flexuosus, margine
merobranaceo alatus.
F röNS quadri-pollicaris vel etiam spithamaaa, circum-
scriptione Ovato-laneeolata, triplicato-pinnatirida.
Pion® primari« biunciales, superiores sensim
breviores, «que ac secundari® ovato-1 anceolat®;
laciniis linearibus, indivisis, emarginatis, vel bi-
fidis, marginibüs integerrimis, nervo utrinque
prominente tenui, fusco, medium percurrente.
Rachis margine lato foliaceo alata. Frondis substantia
membranacea, glabra, pulcherrime reticulata,
areolis rotundatis. Color fusco-viridis.—
Frondes juniores pinnis pinnulisque latioribus
distinguuntur.
I nvolucra in axillis pinnularum, solitaria, monophylla,
oblongo-turbinata, carnöso-membranacea, ore
integerrimo, Hinc leniter emarginato, lateribus
alatis.
R eceptaculum centrale, filiforme, exsertum.
Capsul® ro tund at®, sessiles, disco affix®, compress«,
■fuse«, circa medium réceptacUli conglomerate,
disco reticulato, annulo elastico magno.
CAUDExf creeping, the thickness o f a sparrow’s quill,
round, clothed here and there with thick, brown,
downy roots.
St ip e from two to four inches long, erect, flexuose,
winged with a membranaceous margin.
Frond from four inches to a span high, of an ovato-lan-
ceolate figure, triplicato-pinnatifid. The primary
pinnte three inches long, the upper ones gradually
shorter; and those as'well as the secondary ones
are ovato-lanceolate, with the laciniae linear, undivided,
emarginate, or bifid, and the margins entire;
furnished with a slender brown nerve or
midrib, prominent on both sides, and running
through the middle. Rachis winged with a broad
foliaceous margin. The substance of the frond
is membranaceous, smooth, beautifully reticulated,
with roundish areolas. The colour is
brownish green.—The younger fronds are distinguished
by the pinn® and pinnul® being wider.
INVOLUCRES in the axils of the pinnul®, solitary, of
one leaf, oblongo-turbinate, between camose and
membranaceous, not serrated, but slightly notched
on one side; the sides winged.
Receptacle in the centre of the Involucre, filiform)
exserted.
Capsules rounded, sessile, fixed by the disk, compressed;
brown, collected together near the middle
of the receptacle, their disk reticulated, the elastic
ring large.
Sem in a rotuhdata. Seeds round.
Fig. 1 & 2. Plants sterile and fertile, nat. size. Fig. 3. Pinna with fructification. Fig. 4. Pinnule with its involucrum.
Fig. 5. Involucrum vertically dissected,, to show the receptacle of the capsules. Fig. 6. Capsule.—
All but Jig. 1 & 2. are more or less magnified.
The first notice we have of this Fern, which may vie with many of the tropical ones in beauty o f form and structure
is by Dillenius, in Ray’s Synopsis Plantarum, as the “ Filix repens, foliis pellucidis et splendentibus, caule
alato of Dr. Richardson,” who found it at Belbank, nearly, half a mile from Bingley, at the head of a remarkable
spring. There also the figure of Plumier, “ Filicula py.vidifera” {Fil. Amer. t. 50.), is doubtingly referred to.
Hudson, considering it to be really the same as the plant of Plumier, adopted the Linnajan appellation of Tricho-
manes pyxidiferum. Smith in the Flora Britannica rightly enough determined upon its being difterent from the
T pyxidiferum of Plumier and Linnteus, but followed Bolton and Withering in considering it as a variety of
Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense (!Trichomanis, Linn.) : but this learned botanist only needed to see perfect specimens
to satisfy himself of its being really distinct; and having obtained these, he published it in English Botany
under the name of Hymenophyllum alatum. I t is still, however, a matter of surprise that it should have been
made a Hymenophyllum; the character of which genus, according to the institutor of it himself, is made to consist
in the “ Involucrum two-valved, flattish, longer than the column,” which will by no means agree with our plan t;
for the column or receptacle of the capsule is'-considerably exserted, and the involucrum is monophyllous, only cleft
a very little on one side quite at the extremity; thus sufficiently according with Trichomtines. I t is well known,
indeed, how nearly these two genera border on each other, and that they agree perfectly in nature and habit.
We have followed Mr. Brown in making this fern a Trichomanes, though without adopting his specific name, as
the old one appears to us frill as applicable. . , , , , .
This charminw species has never been found in England, except m the one spot above described by Richardson.
In Ireland it is more common, having been discovered a t Powerscourt Waterfall, and in several spots in the romantic
parts of the county of Kerry. We hav-jeceived fine specimens from Sir Thomas Gage, and others in fructification
from the late Miss Hutchins, and froijpfur friends the Rev.W.T. Bree and Mr. Mackay; the latter of whom
met with it in that state September 1804, -Sh shady banks and rocks exposed to the spray of the waterfall above
Turk Cottage, Killarney, growing with theCeautifril, and even more rare, Jungermannia Hutchinsiee.
* Although we have given the above character from Brown, it is but right to state
ind “ columella subinclusaas not applicable at least to our specimens.
+ We have followed Willdenow in calling that part of a fern a caudex which givi
rond, and the rachis is the continuation of the stipes, running up the frond..
» the stipes. The stipes always supports the