so [ i«3 1
C Y A T H E A incifa.
Laciniated Cup-fern.
C R T P T O G A M I A Filices.
G en. C har. FruEUfications fcattered, roundifh, growing
out of an hemifpherical calyx, which burfts at the
top without an operculum. Smith Mem. of the
Turin Acad. Vol. 5,
Spec. Char. Frond lanceolate, bipinnate, pinnatifid;
its fegments lobed, obtufe, and beardlefs. Stalk
(lightly winged. Calyx lacerated, and turned to
one fide.
'W '" E received this fern from a wall near Walthamftow,
•where it was found by Mr. T. F. Forfter jun. who thinks
it diftinct from Cyathea fragilis (Polypodium fragile of Linnseus).
We dare not pofitively affert it to be fo, but rather offer it for
the confideration of botanifts converfant with this intricate
tribe. The chief difference confifts in the divisions of the
leaves of our fern being obtufe, and perfe£lly deftitute of the
briftly point obfervable in the other. There is alfo fome difference
in their habit and appearance, and the fructification of
the fragilis is blacker. We have been inclined to believe ours
the P. regium of Linnaeus ; but the original fpecimen of that in
the Cliffortian herbarium has a triangular, not lanceolate,
frond. Neither is ours P. alpinum of Jacquin, the divifions
o f which are linear, or nearly fo.
With refpeCt to the generic character, we hope to give a
more clear idea of it in figuring C. fragilis, as in this the parts
are too minute, and the ftructure too obfeure ; but it is eflen-
tial to the genus that the young capfules are enveloped in a
globular membrane, which goes underneath them, and burfts either
at the top, in an even or lacerated manner, or at the fide (fig. 1.)
as in this fpecies and fome others.
In fome fpecimens the fronds are broader and more dilated
than thofe we have drawn.