Part 1, 1909] GLEICHENIACEAE 61 
imperfectly deciduous; primary lateral branches 2 or several pairs, once- or twice-pseudo- 
dichotomous, a secondary axis very rarely developed; primary internode of the larger 
lateral branches 2.5-7 cm. long, wholly naked or usually imperfectly pectinate upon the 
upper side and naked below, the segments commonly much reduced, mostly appearing as 
short triangular lobes, the lower side almost invariably naked; secondary internodes 3.5- 
11 cm. long, sometimes naked on both sides, more commonly pectinate throughout upon 
both sides, the several pairs of basal segments frequently much reduced (especially upon 
the inner side) or rarely altogether wanting upon the outer side of the internode; pinnae 
linear to linear-lanceolate, variable, 30-55 cm. long, 3-7 cm. broad, usually somewhat 
arcuate, attenuate, fully pectinate or rarely naked for a distance of 1-2 cm. at the outer 
base, the included bud clothed with pale rusty or rarely somewhat castaneous scales, the 
rachises straminéous to light-castaneous, lustrous, chaffy, the scales rusty, spreading, imper- 
fectly deciduous ; segments mostly linear from a dilatate base, once or twice their width 
apart from an obtuse sinus, slightly connected, straight or subfalcate, acutish or obtuse, 
covered below with rusty tomentum, this usually quite obscuring the venation or with age 
whitish and densely matted, sometimes disappearing; margins entire, closely revolute; 
veins numerous, 18-35 pairs, once-forked at the base, the branches apart, elevated below, 
scarcely evident above; sori 3- or 4- (rarely 5-) sporangiate, inframedial, borne upon the 
anterior branch, appearing imbedded in the tomentose covering of the segments. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Near Caracas, Venezuela. 
DISTRIBUTION : Cominon and generally distributed throughout the West Indies; from Mexico 
to Panama, southward into South America. 
ILLUSTRATION : Willd. loc. cit. pl. 5, f. 4. 
16. Dicranopteris furcata (1,) Underw. Bull. Torrey 
Club 34: 257. 1907. 
Pieris dichotoma \,. Sp. Pl. 1076. 1753. Not Dicranopteris dichotoma Bernh. 1806. 
Acrostichum furcatum 1,, Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2: 1321, 1759. 
Mertensia furcata Willd. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. II. 25: 166. 1804. 
Gleichenia furcaia Spreng. Syst. Nat. 4: 25. 1827. 
Meriensia grandis Fée, Mém. Foug. 11: 120. 1866. 
Rhizome undescribed ; primary leaf-axis erect, stout, 5-6 mm. in diameter, covered at 
first with numerous narrowly lanceolate fimbriate mostly yellowish scales, glabrescent, 
continuous, bearing 2 or 3 pairs of ample primary branches; primary branches once- or 
twice-pseudodichotomous, the primary internode about 3 cm. long, nearly naked, bearing 
only 2 or 3 small segments at the upper side of the node, deciduously yellowish paleaceous ; 
secondary internodes up to 6 cm. long, fully pectinate upon both sides, up to 5 cm. broad, 
tapering somewhat toward the lower node; pinnae mostly divergent at an angle of about 
60 degrees, fully pectinate, 15-25 cm. long, 4.5-8 cm. broad, lanceolate, attenuate, taper- 
ing slightly at the base, the rachis stout, brownish-stramineous, paleaceous, the scales 
like those of the primary leaf-axis ; segments rigidly herbaceous, fragile, contiguous, linear, 
2-4 om. long, 3 mm. broad, the margins entire and closely revolute, the costa slightly 
paleaceous at the base, elsewhere lanose with deeply cleft long-ciliate yellowish scales ; 
veins slightly elevated, 40-50 pairs, mostly once-forked, glabrous except for an occasional 
deeply ciliate minute scale; leaf-tissue below whitish-granulose, the particles unequally 
elongate; sori mostly 3-sporangiate, inframedial, borne on the anterior branch. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Morne de la Calebasse, Martinique. 
DISTRIBUTION : Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Kitts; upon the upper slopes of volcanoes at 
from 1200 to 1400 meters elevation. ; F ; ; 
ILLUSTRATION: Plumier, Traité Foug. p/. 28 (incorrect in showing the primary internode 
as fully pectinate above). 
17. Dicranopteris palmata (Schaffn.) Underw. Bull. Torrey 
Club 34: 259. 1907. 
Mertensia palmata Schaffn., Fée, Mém. Foug. 9: 40 (32), nomen nudum. 1857. 
Gleichenia palmata Moore, Index Fil. 380, nomen nudum. 62. 
An erect freely branching plant of medium size; rhizome widely creeping, branched, 
4mm. or more in diameter, dark-brown, sparingly tuberculate, clothed with copious decidu- 
