MAXON STUDIES OF TROPICAL AMERICAN FERNS. 35 



Jamaica: Clyde River valley, altitude about 1,200 meters, Underwood 422, 2654, 



2654b; Maxon 1604, 1604a. Without locality, Gilbert 30: Hart 30, 31, 32. 

 Haiti: Without locality, IHcarda 658 (det. Kuh.ii). 



12. Polystichum plaschnickianum (Kunze) Moore, Ind. Fil. 100. 1858. 

 Aspidium plaschnickianum Kunze. Linmea 23: 2:W. .302. 1850. 



The "most simple-fronded of all the Polystichum group," as Hooker remarked. 

 It was described originally from cultivated specimens of uncertain origin, and is 

 known at present only from Jamaica, where, according to Jenman, it is "common 

 in forests and on shady wayside banks and rocks above 4.500 feet." Hooker's figure 

 of it is creditable, but Jenman's description will be found rather more complete." 

 Jamaica: Blue Mountain Peak, altitude 1,950 to 2,225 meters, Underwood 1448. 

 Highest slopes of John Crow Peak, altitude 1,650 to 1,800 meters, Under- 

 wood 707, 2443; Maxon 1320. Trail between Morces Gap (1,500 meters) and 

 Vinegar Hill (1,185 meters), Maxon 1516; Undenvood 1372, 2593; Harris 7343. 

 Vicinity of Morces Gap, altitude 1,500 meters, Maxon 2768; Underwood 3136a; 

 Clute 61. Near Cinchona, altitude 1,500 meters, Harris 7588. Without 

 locality, Hart 12. 



13. Polystichum platyphyllum (Willd.) Presl, Tent. Pterid. 84. 1836. 

 Aspidium platyphyllum Willd. Sp. PI. 5: 255. 1810. 



The type of this species was from Caracas, Venezuela, collected by Bredemeyer, 

 and the species itself is not well represented in American herbaria. A single Jamai- 

 can specimen of Jenman's collecting (definite locality not given) in the herbarium 

 of the New York Botanical Garden agrees essentially with South American material 

 available for comparison and differs from any other West Indian specimen seen. 

 The nearest ally is P. poly stick) form is. P. platyphyllum is a coarser, stouter plant 

 than this, with heavier stipe and flexuose rachis. The pinna? are elongate-trian- 

 gular, broadest at the base, the inferior basal pinnule being scarcely at all reduced 

 in comparison with the dwarfed long-cuneate lower basal pinnule of P. polystichi- 

 formis. 



Known, in the West Indies, only from Jamaica. 



14. Polystichum polystichiforrnis (Feei Maxon. 

 Phcgopteris polystichiforrnis Fee, Gen. Fil. 243. 1850-1852. 

 Polystichum tenue Gilbert, Fern Bull. 8: 63. 1900. 



The Phegopteris polystichiforrnis of Fee was founded upon a plant collected by 

 Linden (no. 1874) in the vicinity of Monte Libano, in the present province of Oriente, 

 Cuba. The description, though not complete, indicates with reasonable certainty 

 that Wright's no. 832, collected a few miles to the eastward at Monte Verde, is the 

 same. This was listed by Sauvalle& as J'olypodium polystichiforme and by Eaton c 

 as I'hegopteris platyphjlla Mett. So far as the writer knows, the species has not been 

 collected since in Cuba. 



In 1900 Gilbert described a new species, Polystichum tenue, from Jamaica, as 

 a segregate from the Jamaica forms included by Jenman under the name Aspidium 

 aculealum. This, as shown by a large series of specimens collected by Professor 

 Underwood and the writer, agrees well with Wright's Cuban plant. The species 

 has, apparently, a restricted range in Jamaica, all the specimens seen being from 

 a single locality in the Blue Mountains. 



In its lesser dimensions, smaller parts, and very delicate texture P. polystichi- 

 forrnis differs widely from P. platyphyllum, as Gilbert pointed out in the case of the 

 Jamaican material. It is, apparently, confined to Cuba and Jamaica. 



a Bull. Bot. Dept. Jamaica II. 2: 197. 1895. 

 ftSauvalle, Flora Cubana 214. 1868. 

 cMem. Am. Acad. II. 8: 207. 1863. 



