32 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [Vorume 16 
Rachis of secondary pinnae nearly straight; tertiary segments sim- 
_ ilar or broadly ligulate, usually much larger. 4. L. micans. 
Veins areolate. 5. L, heterodoxum, 
Upper tertiary segments mostly shorter than the basal. 
Rachis of secondary pinnae at most slightly flexuous. 
Costae of tertiary segments nodose-articulate, the basal costulae 
opposite; leaf-tissue usually subopaque. 6. L. venustum, 
Costae of tertiary segments not nodose-articulate, the basal costulae 
usually alternate ; leaf-tissue commonly lustrous, at least above. 7. L. mexicanum 
Rachis of secondary pinnae divaricate-flexuous. 
Sterile tertiary and quaternary segments linear to linear-lanceolate 
from a strongly inequilateral semicordate base; rigidly coriaceous. 8. L. cubense. 
Sterile tertiary and quaternary segments lanceolate-hastate or tri- 
foliolate from a cuneate base ; membrano-herbaceous. 9. L. oligostachyum 
eal 
1. Lygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw. Syn. Fil. 134. 1806. 
Gisopieris palmaia Bernh. Jour. Bot. Schrad. 18002: 129. 1801. 
Ramondia palmata Bosc, Bull. Soc. Philom. 2: 179. 1801. 
Hydroglossum palmatum Willd. Schr. Acad. Erfurt. 1802: 25. 1802. 
Cleisium paniculatum Michx. F). Bor. Am. 2: 275. 1803. 
Fronds 0.5-1.5 meters long; rhizome wide-creeping, 1 mm. or less in diameter, 
dichotomous, dark-brown, closely covered with brownish few-celled flattish hairs; stipe 
brownish-stramineous from a darker base, about 0.5 mm. in diameter, the rachis similar, 
subterete, very narrowly marginate; primary branches 5 mm. or less long, slender, the 
terminal bud not evident and invariably dormant; sterile secondary (geminate) pinnae peti- 
olate (1-2.5 cm.), 2.5-6 cm. long, 3-8 cm. broad, orbicular to broadly reniform, dichoto- 
mously pedatifid % to 24 the distance to the cordate base into 4~8 unequal spreading lobes, 
thus subpalmate, the outer lobes small and irregularly rounded or often emarginate, the 
principal ones oblong to lanceolate, obtusish; costae dichotomous at the non-articulate 
apex of the petiole, the branches pedately forked, slightly elevated, slender, strongly flexu- 
ous, scarcely attaining the apex of the lobes ; veins slender, mostly immersed, oblique, 1-3 
times dichotomous; leaf-tissue membrano-papyraceous, bright-green above but scarcely 
lustrous in drying, much paler below, glabrescent, the margins entire or minutely repand. 
Fertile secondary (geminate) pinnae usually occupying the upper portion of the frond, 
3-4-pinnate, deltoid-ovate to rhombic-ovate in outline, inequilateral, the tertiary segments 
2-4-jugate, the costules very slender, flexuous, narrowly foliaceous, the ultimate ones 
dichotomous ; sporangiophores oblong, flattish, obscurely crenate-serrate, up to 7 mm. 
long ; spores delicately and minutely verrucose. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Pennsylvania. 
DISTRIBUTION: Low woods and thickets, New Hampshire and Massachusetts to Florida; also 
in Kentucky and Tennessee. Mainly coastal. : 
ILLUSTRATIONS: Schkuhr, Krypt. Gew. p/. 140; Torr. Fl]. N. Y. £7. 161; Hook. Fil. Exot. p/. 
24, Lowe, Ferns Brit. & Exot. 8: p1. 74; Willd. loc. cit, pl. 1, f. 2; D.C. Eaton, Ferns N. Am. J. 
1; Denks, Akad. Wiss. Wien 23: £1.17, f. 12, 13; Ettingsh. Farnkr. #1. 171, f.2, 4,5, Britt. & 
Brown, Ill. Fl. f. 23. 
2. Lygodium radiatum Prantl, Schiz. 66. 1881. 
Lygodium digitatum D.C. Eaton, Mem. Am, Acad. II.8: 217. 1860. Not ZL. digitatum Presl, 1825. 
Fronds several meters long; rachis dull-stramineous to light-brownish, subterete, nar- 
trowly marginate, about 1.5 mm. in diameter; primary branches reduced to small knob-like 
protuberances upon the primary rachis; secondary (geminate) pinnae up to 25 cm. long, 
petiolate (3-4 cm.), obdeltoid to suborbicular in outline, either dichotomously pedatifid to 
within 1-2 cm. of the subtruncate or cuneate base, or, rarely, once-dichotomous; segments 
usually 3-7 (rarely 2), linear-lanceolate, acute or attenuate, 10-23 cm. long, 1-2.5 cm. 
broad, the costae stout, elevated, subflexuous toward the apex; veins elevated, directed 
toward the margin nearly at a right angle, mostly once or twice dichotomous, apart, the 
branches extending each to sharp serratures of the margin, or in fertile segments about 
half of them extending to the sporangiophores; leaf-tissue membrano-herbaceous, lustrous 
upon both surfaces, lighter and glandular below, otherwise glabrous; sporangiophores up 
to 6 mm. long, irregularly placed, mostly more than their width apart, sessile, serrate; 
spores minutely verrucose. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Gatun, Panama. 
DISTRIBUTION : Panama and Colombia. 
