60 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [VorumE 16 
pair of branches) clothed with subpersistent narrow pale-rusty laxly spreading long-ciliate 
scales, these extending to the main vascular partsof the branches; primary lateral branches 
2 pairs, about 14 cm. apart, twice psendodichotomous, spreading, the primary internode 
3-6.5 cm. long, slender, nearly naked, bearing one or several segments upon the upper 
side near the base and casually 1 or 2 at the base below; secondary internodes 3.5-10 cm. 
long, fully pectinate upon both sides, the included bud often conspicuous, rounded-oblong 
in outline, densely clothed with long-ciliate rusty scales; pinnae linear, slightly narrowed 
at the base, especially upon the inner side, 18-30 cm. long, 2.5-3.2 cm. broad, gradually 
attenuate, the rachises closely invested with short rusty chaff; segments 50-80 pairs, deli- 
cately herbaceous, dull dark-green above, paler and minutely granulose below, linear-oblong 
from a slightly broader base, scarcely joined, flattish, acutish or sharply apiculatein drying, 
the margins narrowly revolute, the costa relatively slight, clothed with deeply cleft rusty 
scales, the divisions slender; veins 12-15 pairs, dark-reddish and slightly elevated below, 
once-forked near the base, fibrillose with rusty stellate hair-like scales; sori mostly 4-spo- 
rangiate, casually 3- or 5-sporangiate, medial or slightly supramedial, seated upon the ante- 
rior branch, the receptacle relatively large. 
Type collected at the border of forests, temperate regions of Chiapas, Mexico, 1864-1870, Ghies- 
breght 271 (herb. D. C. Eaton). 
DISTRIBUTION: Southern Mexico and the high mountains of Quiché, Guatemala. 
14. Dicranopteris jamaicensis Underw. Bull. Torrey 
Club 34: 258. 1907. 
A small erect freely branched plant; rhizome widely creeping, freely branched, 
about 3 mm. in diameter, dark brownish-castaneous, with numerous imbricate subovate 
brownish-castaneous short-ciliate scales; primary leaf-axis continuous, 25-60 cm. long, 
3 mm. in diameter, brownish to castaneous, polished, deciduously paleaceous, with 2 
or 3 pairs of spreading lateral branches; lateral branches usually 2 or 3 times pseudo- 
dichotomous, or a secondary leaf-axis sometimes developed and bearing a pair of lateral 
branches similar to the usual branches of the primary leaf-axis; primary internodes 3- 
9 cm. long, nearly naked, bearing a few segments at the upper side of the base (rarely 
both above and below), deciduously paleaceous; secondary internodes 3-9 em. long, 
pectinate upon both sides, or sometimes only partially so; tertiary internodes and pinnae 
fully pectinate, the rachises (beneath) and all the internodes densely paleaceous, the scales 
ferruginous to castaneous, more or less deciduous, lanceolate to ovate, deeply fimbriate, the 
cilia divergent; pinnae 10-24 cm. long, 2-2.5 cm. broad, linear to linear-lanceolate, usually 
falcate; segments rigidly herbaceous, contiguous, elongate-oblong, subacute, 8-13 mm. 
long, nearly 3 mm. broad, the margins entire and usually revolute, the costa scantily and 
minutely fibrillose-paleaceous, glabrescent; veins dark, slightly elevated, 12-15 pairs, 
once-forked near the base, bearing a few short simple glandular hairs; sori 3- or 4-sporan- 
giate, medial, borne upon the anterior branch ; leaf-tissue granulose, slightly and minutely 
glandular-puberulous. 
TYPE Locality: Summit of Blue Mountain Peak, Jamaica, altitude about 2225 meters. 
DISTRIBUTION: Known only from Jamaica; forming extensive low thickets upon the upper 
slopes of the Blue Mountains, altitude 1600 to 2225 meters. 
15. Dicranopteris bifida (Willd.) Maxon. 
Meriensia bifida Willd. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. II, 25: 168. 1804. 
Gleichenia bifida Spreng. Syst. Veg. 4: 27, 1827. 
Mertensia fulva Desv. Mém. Soc. Linn. Paris 6: 200. 1827. 
Gleichenia brevipubis Christ, Bull. Herb. Boiss. II. 6: 280. 1906. 
Dicranopteris cubensis Underw. Bull. Torrey Club 34: 253. 1907. 
Dicranopteris fulva Underw. Bull. Torrey Club 34: 255. 1907. 
A suberect or ascending diffuse plant, forming extensive thickets ; rhizome wide-creep- 
ing, 3-4 mm, in diameter, light or dark reddish-brown, sparingly clothed with slender 
short-ciliate antrorse scales and more or less tuberculate from the persistent bases of roots ; 
primary leaf-axis at first erect, eventually declining, elongate, light greenish-brown, or at 
the base darker and deciduously chaffy like the rhizome, above covered at first with pallid 
rusty ciliate scales, these extending to the main vascular parts of the lateral branches, 
