A re-definition of the fern-genus Taenitis Willd

The present paper includes a new definition of the genus Taenitis, the addition of five species to it (one of them new), a key to the known species, a description of each with citation of synonyms and of the more important previous literature. The genus was established for the very widely distributed and variable species T. blechnoides, which is one of the commonest terrestrial ferns of forest throughout Malesia. This species comprises a complex of forms, but the forms differ by such slight and subtle characters that they are not easily distinguished from dried specimens, and I have not attempted to distinguish them. The common character of all forms of the species is the presence of a longitudinal band of sporangia midway between the midrib and margin of each pinna, and the genus has hitherto been confined to species which have this character, the only variability in soral form being that the band of sporangia is sometimes not quite continuous.