MAXON—STUDIES OF TROPICAL AMERICAN FERNS. 555 
Panama: Cerro Vaca, eastern Chiriquf, alt. 900 to 1,136 meters, Pittier 
53871. Eastern slope of Mount Pirre, Province of Panama, alt. 1,350 
meters, Goldman 1972. Cana and vicinity, alt.,1,650 meters, Williams 
892. Above Penonomé, Williams 452. 
26. Polypodium taenifolium Jenman, Bull. Bot. Dept. Jamaica IT. 4: 114. 1897. 
PLATE 38. 
Polypodium sintenisit Hieron. Hedwigia 44: 101. 1905. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Near Mount Moses, Jamaica, altitude 600 to 900 meters 
(Syme). 
DISTRIBUTION: Jamaica, Porto Rico, Grenada, Montserrat, Martinique, Guade- 
loupe, and Trinidad; ascending to about 1,100 meters. 
Jenman’s description of P. taenifolium and the more elaborate description of 
P. sintenisii by Hieronymus agree very well, and a comparison of a specimen 
of the former?’ with typical material of P. sintenisii from Porto Rico, collected 
by Sintenis and others, leaves absolutely no doubt as to their identity. Un- 
fortunately, P. taenifoliuwm is exceedingly rare in Jamaica, so that the species is 
known chiefly from specimens collected in Porto Rico and the Lesser Antilles. 
Of the Porto Rican specimens listed by Hieronymus under P. sintenisii only 
one (Sintenis 1796) is at hand, this according perfectly with the other speci- 
mens from Porto Rico cited below. Hieronymus studied Guadeloupe and Gre- 
nada collections also, of which only the latter (Sherring 156, in part) is 
represented in the National Herbarium. This last, which is more freely fertile 
than any of the Porto Rican plants seen, has the fertile segments narrowly 
triangular and lightly gibbous, their shape being directly dependent upon the 
pronounced fertility of the fronds. So also, in Duss’s very fertile Martinique 
and Guadeloupe specimens (listed below) the fertile pinne are rather strongly 
gibbous and the fertile vein-branches are accordingly much longer than in less 
fertile specimens, even attaining a length of one-third that of the distal branch, 
rather than one-fifth, as in Porto Rican specimens; they are also more oblique. 
Hieronymus’s description must, therefore, be amended in this particular. The 
differences in venation are, perhaps, not wholly accounted for on the score 
of fertility, and it is possible that the Lesser Antilles plants represent a phase 
which with more abundant material will be found to represent a distinct species, 
The following specimens are in the U. S. National Herbarium: 
Porto Rico: Sierra de Luquillo, in monte Jiménes, Sintenis 1796.  Lu- 
quillo Mountains, Wilson 179; Hioram 342. Sierra de Naguabo, Hess 
815; Shafer 2250. 
MARTINIQUE: Duss 1654 in part. 
GUADELOUPE: Duss 4084, 4085, 4086. 
GrenADA: Without locality, Sherring 156 in part. 
MontTserRAT: Chaners Mountain, alt. 900 meters, Shafer 291. 
There are also four excellent sheets of Trinidad specimens of this species in 
the Underwood Herbarium, New York Botanical Garden, three being numbered, 
respectively, 24, 202, and 6434, of the Trinidad Botanic Gardens Herbarium 
series, 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 38.—A medium-sized Porto Rico specimen of Polypodium taent- 
folium (Hess 315, U. 8S. Nat. Herb, no. 756055). 
17This specimen is in the herbarium of the Department of Agriculture of 
Jamaica, Hope Gardens, near Kingston, Jamaica. It is marked in Jenman’s 
handwriting as P. taenifolium and almost certainly is a part of the type. 
