The ferns of Bombay

Front matter

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ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

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Preface

Ir is strange that the ferns, though distinguished by an infinite variety in the form and division of their leaves and the elegant beauty of their whole appearance, received so little attention in the Bombay Presidency on the part of botanists as well as of amateurs. An explanation of the fact may be found in the circumstance that just near the centres of human commerce in the Presidency, the fern vegetation is very scanty or almost m/. Other parts with a rich growth of ferns are inaccessible to most of us during the tour rainy months of the year, when plant-life is at its best. A second reason might be the dithculty that is generally experienced in the identification of the members ot this class of plants. To obviate the latter difficulty we offer this volume to the public.

We have to thank Professor J. P. Mullan for taking a number of photographs, Miss Mercia Stanton, Mr. Jos. Fonseca and Mr. Sutaria tor the drawings and Miss Eileen Rosario for the coloured plates.

E. Biatter, J. F. p’AvMeipa.

St. XAVIER’S COLLEGE, Febniary 2, 1922.

Contents

PAGE PREFACE es eee a ee iti List OF PLATES awe aes we Vil INTRODUCTION oe ood ae we Cll 1. History of our knowledge of the Fern

Flora of the Bombay Presidency ae OL

2. The Structure of Ferns wes en 63

III. Vil

VIII.

IX.

FACING PAGE Ferns with creeping and erect stem aa 3 Different varieties of margin ... 6 Different varieties of apex and different shapes of fronds .. tee gat 148

Different shapes of fronds, continued from Plate III a ww =10 Different kinds of venation ae ve AY . Leucostegia immersa Presi. (coloured) ... 42

Cheilanthes albomarginata Clarke.

Cheilanthes farinosa Kaulf.

Cheilanthes tenutfolia Sw. ... .. 79

Pteris quadriaurita Retz. var. setigera Bedd.

Pteris pellucida Pres.

Preris longifolia L.

Pteris aquilina L.

Pteris cretica L.

Pteris ensiformis Burm. oe 3 388

Ceratopteris thalictroides Brong. wor. 97

Asplenium lunulatum Sw.

Asplenium laciniatum Don.

Asplenium falcatum Lam,

Athyrium felix-feemina Roth.

Athyrium hohenackerianum Bedd.

Athyrium falcatum Bedd. .,.. . 108 viii PLATE

X, XI, XIT.

XII.

XIV.

XV.

LIST OF PLATES

Actiniopteris dichotoma Bedd.

Aspidium polymorphum Wall.

Aspidium trifoliatum Sw.

Aspidium sub-triphyllum Hook.

Aspidium macrophyllun Sw.

Aspidium cicutarium Sw.

Lastrea tenericaulis Bedd.

Lastrea calcarata Hook.

Lastrea syrmatica Bedd.

Lastrea dissecta Bedd.

Lastrea crenata Bedd.

Angiopteris evecta Hoffmann.

Lygodium japonicum Sw.

Lygodium microphyllun R. Br.

Lygodium flexuosum Bedd.

Osmunda regalis L.

Ophioglossum fibrosum Schum,

. 144

..- 192 .. 202