MAXON—STUDIES OF TROPICAL AMERICAN FERNS. 405 
Morces Gap, alt. 1,500 meters, Underwood 516. Summit of Blue Mountain 
Peak, alt. 2,220 meters, Maron 1513. Without definite locality, Hart 73, 70 
in small part. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 12.—Plants of Polypodium delitescens, from the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. A 
Mazon 1513; B, Mazon 2732. Natural size. 
4. Polypodium strictissimum (Hook.) Hieron. Bot. Jahrb. Engler 34: 501. 1904. 
Xiphopteris jamesoni Hook. Second Cent. Ferns pl. 14. 1860, not Polypodium jamesoni 
Mett., 1883, nor Jenman, 1897. 
Polypodium serrulatum B strictissimum Hook. Sp. Fil. 4: 175, 1862. 
Type Locatity: Andes of Quito, Ecuador (Jameson). 
Distrisution: High mountains of Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, British Guiana, 
and Brazil, ascending to 3,000 meters. 
Intustrations: Hook. Second Cent. Ferns pl. 14 (as Xiphopteris jamesoni); Hook. 
Gard. Ferns pl. 44 (as Xiphopteris serrulata). 
The above names relate to South American plants, of which the writer had seen 
almost no examples in 1905 and which he then supposed to be referable to the 
Jamaican species, P. myosuroides. An examination of the specimens studied by 
Hieronymus, however, indicates that this material represents one or more species 
distinct from P. myosuroides. 
Three forms of P. strictissimum are recognized by Hieronymus: forma major, forma 
intermedia, and forma minor. These differ widely among themselves, not only in size, 
but in shape of their lobes or segments. The type of Hooker’s species, Xiphopterts 
jamesoni, and therefore of Polypodium strictissimum (Hook.) Hieron.', is the Quitensian 
Andes plant of Jameson, illustrated in Hooker’s plate 14, above cited. This would 
probably come under the forma minor of Hieronymus. Between this and the opposite 
extreme described as forma major there are several curious and more or less interme- 
diate conditions, of which Hooker’s plate 44 represents one. Whether or not these are 
all conspecific, they nevertheless represent a series of forms specifically distinct from 
P. myosuroides, differing from that species constantly in their more numerous, mostly 
triangular segments and in their rigidly upright fronds. It is not unlikely that 
further collections may make possible a segregation of these as several distinct species; 
but it must be remembered that differences in habitat, elevation, exposure, and 
particularly moisture conditions may induce these differences in form, as we know 
to be true in the case of P. duale. Without further material the writer prefers at 
present to view P. strictissimum in the sense of Hieronymus. 
Besides the Berlin material only two specimens (both in the U. 8. National Her- 
barium) have been studied, these being referable to the forma minor. 
CoLomsi1a: Cuesta de Tocotdé, western Cordillera, Cauca, alt. 1,500 to 1,900 meters, 
Pittier 768. 
British Gutana: Old Path, upper slopes of Mount Roraima, im Thurn 351. 
5. Polypodium saffordii Maxon, Amer. Fern Journ. 2: 19. 1912. 
Polypodium minimum Brack. in Wilkes U. 8. Expl. Exped. 16: 5. 1854, not 
Aubl. 1775. 
Typr Locatity: Mountains behind Honolulu, Island of Oahu, Hawaiian Islands. 
DistrisuTION: Known only from the Hawaiian Islands, ascending to at least 1,200 
meters. 
Inzusrrations: Brack. op. cit. pl. 1. f. 8; Maxon, loc. cit. (text figs.). 
This species, recently renamed and figured by the writer, was redescribed by 
Hieronymus under the name P. minimum Brack. It is readily distinguished from its 
1The earlier name Polypodium jamesoni (Fée) Mett., 1883, precludes the transfer of 
Xiphopteris jamesoni Hook. to Polypodium. Hieronymus has thus properly elevated 
to specific rank Hooker’s varietal name strictissimum, which, as published, is an 
exact synonym of Xiphopteris jamesont. 
