MAXON STUDIES OF TROPICAL AMERICAN EEKNS. 489 



Dryopteris oligophylla Maxon, nom. uov. 



Polypodium invisum Sw. Prod. 333. 17SS, not Forst. ITSG. 



Nephrodinm sloanei Baker in Hook. & Baker, Syn. Fil. od. 2. 263. 1874, not 



Pros], 1825. 

 Dri/oiitcris shjunei Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI, 2: S13. 1891. 

 Nepliroditun invlsatn Desv. Mem. Soe. Linn. Paris 6: 257. 1827. 

 The above synonymy, if complete as to specific names, indicates the need of a 

 new name for this common tropical American fern. Swartz followed his brief 

 bnt excellent tirst description with a reference to Sloane's plate 51, illustratinfc 

 a Jamaican specimen. This is unmistakably the plant known of late years as 

 Dryopteris (or Xcphrodhim) sloanci and l>est described by Jenman.^ Why 

 Christensen should have rele^\ated it to subspocitic rank and that under 

 Dryopteris patens is not clear; for ity specific distinctness is evident, and in any 

 case the alliance is with Dryopteris serra, as Jenman pohited out. The hit- 

 ter's remarks on its occurrence in Jamaica are otherwise of interest: " Common 

 among the lower hills and widely spread through the country, ascendin*:: to 

 r>,nOO ft altitude, on banks and other open places, A very fine species, the 

 fronds however not erect but arching from the base outwards. A much wider- 

 pinnaed plant than 'serra, to which it is closely allied. The texture is rather 

 thin but liard, becoming rigid when dry. The rootstock is very widp-creeping 

 under the surface of the ground, with the stipites scattered along it. Frequently 

 the fructification does not reach the outer of the i>inme." 

 The following collections are in the National Herbarium: 



Jamaica: Elevations mainly of 0(K) meters or less, Maxon 995, 1003, 1777, 

 1781, 1850, 1935, 1991, 2379, 2527, 2823; UHderwood 104, 3249, 3301; Clute 

 131; Harris S9G2 ; Jenman. 

 Cuba: ^Vri(Jht 3922; Maxon 3920. 

 PoRTO Kico: Heller G345; Underwood iC- Griytjs 75, 762; Sintenis 2G3G. 



St. KrrTH : Britton d Cowell 483. 



Haiti: Picarda 1030. 



Costa Rica: J. D, Smith G901 ; Pittier 20964; WerckJ^ (as Aspidium- 



maerourum). 

 Colombia: H. //. Smith 2454. 

 Nephrodium ijaucijugum Jenman is referred to by Jenman (?. c.) as possibly 

 a young state of the present species. Under this name in the Jenman herliarium 

 at the New York Botanical Garden are two hnmature sterile plants on separate 

 slieets. One of these, with creeping rhizome and serrate segments, agrees well 

 with the original description of paacijagum and is undoubtedly the type; it is 

 too young to refer with certainty to any described si)ecies, but it is positively 

 not sloanei (/. e. oligophylla). The second is a different species, with entire 

 segments and long-attennate pinme ; it also is young, but apparently a young 

 state of sloanei {/. e. oligophylla). Jenman's erroneous association of this sec- 

 ond specimen with his type of paueijuginn explains satisfactorily his later sug- 

 gestion that paucijifgum might be a young state of sloanei. Nephrodium 

 paucijugnm itself, properly restricted to the original, must for the present be 

 kept among the species inquircndae. 



Dryopteris pyramidata (Fee) Maxon. 



Goniopteris pyramidata Fee, llnje Mem. 01. pL 16. /. 2, 18G0. 



This little known species was founded on a plant collected in Gaudeloupe by 

 Tj'Kerminier In ISGl. No. 50240 in the U. S. National Herbarium, collected in 

 Santo Domingo by Wright, Parry, and Brummel (no. 12) in 1S71 is apiiarently 

 tlie same. It is a true Dryopteris (§ Eudryopteris of Christensen) and is by 



«Bull. Bot. Dept. Jamaica II, 3: 164, 1G5. 189G, 



