Y.X. Lin (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 18: 103 (1980)) has recently described a var. sinense from China, Shichuan Province and determined that it is a tetraploid 2n = 120. It closely resembles the typical material. Sim recorded var. asarifolium from the Drakensberg Mts. on the evidence of some sterile fronds collected by the Rev. J. Buchanan. There is certainly material in herbaria of this species collected by him in Madeira but that is after he left South Africa. W. Jacobsen, Ferns and Fern Allies S. Afr. (1983) and Schelpe & N.C. Anthony, F.S.A., Pterid. (1986) do not mention the record, and so obvious a plant could scarcely have remained uncollected. Kuhn (Filices Africanae (1868)) recorded it doubtfully from Senegambia but this is clearly an error. However it must be remembered that it escaped detection at Marsabit for over half a century in a place much visited by naturalists although it is locally very abundant there. Moreover, its recent discovery in Tanzania, N Malawi and China shows it can turn up unexpectedly. Schelpe (1969) states that subsp. asarifolium has the basal lamina lobes frequently overlapping, thicker black margins and larger scales on the rhachis; he treats Kenya material as typical. He also omits Madagascar from the distribution of subsp. asarifolium .Réunion material often has the young fronds densely woolly at first but this wears off. I am not satisfied with the infraspecific classification and until detailed studies are made it is best treated as an aggregate. I have found it impossible to separate the Canary Island and some Mascarene material.