272

ASPLENIUM, § HEMIDICTYUM.

erect stout woody scaly at the summit rooting below, stipitesand rachis compressed deciduously scaly below, fronds 1-1|foot long coriaceous (brownish-green when dry) oblong pin-nate, pinnae remote 5, 16 or 17 erecto-patent inequilaterallyand subfalcately ovato-lanceolate long acuminate entire orsinuato-subangulate subauriculate unequally cuneate at thebase and gradually attenuated into the petiole scarcely cos-tate, terminal one subrhomboid unequally 3-lobed, veins sub-flabellate diverging from an indistinct costa dichotomous freebelow anastomosing towards the margin into very elongatedsubhexagonal areoles, terminal veinlets free or rarely com-bined in arches at the margin, sori linear elongated butvarying much in length originating at the centre but neverextending to the margin, involucres narrow.— Wall. Cat. n.191. Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 937 ( veinlets too copiously archedat the margin). A. integerrimum, Wall. MS. Hook, et Grev.Ic. Fil. t. 136 ( inaccurate in the venation). HemidictyonFinlaysonianum, Moore, Ind . Fil. p. 1. H. Hookerianum,Moore, Ind . Fil. p. 130 ( who quotes A. Hookerianum, Wall.Cat. n. 2682).

I-Iab. Penang and neighbouring islands, Wallich, in Herb. Nostr., Sir Wm. Norris.Mishmee, Griffith. Sikkim , Khasya, and Assam , Griffith, Hook. fil. and Thomson,Simons. Nepal , and Kamoun, Wallich , n. 2682, in Herb. Nostr. (without name).—Our lamented friend Wallich seems to have given more than one name to hisspecimen of this fine and very distinct species—distinct especially if the venationbe considered, for some specimens of Aspl. macrophyllum bear considerableresemblance to this. On the other hand, we have led botanists into error byDr. Greville and myself having figured this with the venation of an Euasplenium.I trust the present description, and our figure in ‘ leones Plantarum,’ will haverendered this species intelligible to botanists.

304. A. (Hemidictyum) Purdieanum, Hook.; caudex smallsubligneous very scaly copiously rooting with branchedfibres, stipites subfascicled less than a span long and thecompressed rachis very paleaceous with brown scales, frondsscarcely more than a span long coriaceo-membranaceousopaque cordato-subrotund in circumscription pinnate, pinnaelarge 5-7 lateral ones often opposite subsessile inequilaterallyovato-lanceolate sharply acuminate obliquely cuneate at thebase the inferior side or margin often rotundate, terminalpinna broad subrhombeo-ovate acuminate equilateral some-times subhastate with unequal lobes, veins dichotomous ob-lique free near the slender costa, anastomosing with oblongsubhexagonal areoles towards the margin, ultimate veinletsfree or forming an arch with the adjacent one, rachis more