62 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [VoLUME 16 
ous linear-lanceolate to lanceolate-attenuate spinescent-ciliate castaneous scales; primary 
leaf-axis continuous, 60 cm. or more long, chaffy below, above glabrate, greenish to oliva- 
ceous, opaque, with 2 or 3 pairs of primary branches, these divergent at right angles; pri- 
mary branches usually 2-4 times pseudodichotomous (or infrequently a secondary leaf-axis 
developed), the primary internodes 4.5-8 cm. long, stipulate on the upper side at the 
lower node, otherwise naked; secondary internodes 3.5~4 em. long, diverging at an angle 
of 60 degrees, with 1 or 2 reduced segments at the lower node, otherwise naked; tertiary 
internodes 4-6 cm. long, diverging at an angle of 30-40 degrees, fully pectinate through- 
out like the pinnae; pinnae 20-25 cm. or more long, 3-5.5 cm. broad, tapering gradually, 
cut to the rachis; rachises sparingly clothed beneath with deciduous laxly long-ciliate 
mostly ferruginous scales, the scales of the internodes smaller, darker, with pale borders, 
and appressed; segments herbaceous, fragile, very.close, linear, subacute, 1.5-2.8 cm. 
long, 2.5-4 mm. broad, bright-green, the margins entire and scarcely revolute; costae, 
veins, and leaf-tissue lightly pubescent with whitish 3- or 4-parted (stellate) hairs; veins 20-28 
pairs, once-forked near the base; sori few, 3-5-sporangiate, nearly medial, borne on the 
anterior branch, 
TYPE LOCALITY: Moist woods, Orizaba, State of Vera Cruz, Mexico. 
DISTRIBUTION: Mountains of the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico, and Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. 
aie also from eastern Cuba (rare) and the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, altitude 1000-1650 
meters. 
18. Dicranopteris mellifera (Christ) Underw. Bull. Torrey 
Club 34: 259. 1907. 
Gleichenia mellifera Christ, Bull. Herb. Boiss. II. 6: 281. 1906. 
Rhizome undescribed ; primary leaf-axis stout, erect, 6 mm. or more in diameter, red- 
dish-brown to olivaceous, with a thin deciduous covering of slender tortuous scales; pri- 
mary branches several pairs, 2 or 3 times pseudo-dichotomous, the primary internodes 6-10 
cm. long, naked, not prolonged into a secondary axis, the secondary internodes 4-5 cm. 
long, naked except for 1 or 2 pairs of reduced segments at the node, the included bud 
small, reddish-paleaceous; tertiary internodes 5-10 cm. long, divergent at an angle of 45- 
60 degrees, these and the pinnae fully pectinate; pinnae 20-40 cm. long, 3.5-6 cm. broad, 
long-acuminate, cut to the rachis; rachises below sparingly clothed with slender reddish 
or reddish brown rigid spinescent-ciliate subappressed scales, all the internodes similarly 
clothed ; segments rigidly herbaceous, fragile, spreading at right angles, linear, subacute, 
1.75-2.5 cm. long, 3 mm. broad, close, strongly concave in drying or widely revolute, the 
margins®entire ; costae, veins and leaf-tissue sparsely pubescent with whitish or rusty 3- or 
4-parted (stellate) hairs; veins 25-35 pairs, once-forked near the base; sori sparse, 3-5- 
sporangiate, slightly inframedial, borne on the anterior branch. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Valley of the Rio Navarro, Costa Rica, altitude 1400 meters. 
DISTRIBUTION : Known only from the interior mountain region of Costa Rica, at from 1300 to 
1400 meters elevation. 
ILLUSTRATION : Bull. Herb. Boiss. II. 6: 287, 7 20 (a portion of a lateral branch ; incorrect in 
showing the secondary internode as fully pectinate). 
DOUBTFUL OR EXTRALIMITAL SPECIES 
Dicranopteris linearis (Burm.) Underw. Bull. Torrey Club 34: 250. 1907. (Poly- 
podium linearve Burm. Fl. Ind. 235. pl. 67, f. 2. 1768. Gleichenia linearis Clarke, Trans. 
Linn. Soc, II. Bot. 1: 428. 1880. Polypodium dichotomum Thunb. FI. Jap. 338. pl. 37. 
1784 ; not P. dichotomum Houtt. 1783. Dicranopteris dichotoma Bernh. Neues Jour. Bot. 
Schrad. 17: 49. pl. 3, f. 13. 1806. Gleichenia dichotoma Hook. Sp. Fil.1: 12, in part. 
1844.) The types of both Polypodium lineare Burm. and P. dichotomum Thunb. (the latter 
an invalid name) are Asiatic, the former Malayan, the latter from Japan. The American 
plant of this alliance, D. flexuosa, has been listed frequently as Gleichenia dichotoma and 
more recently as G. linearis. 
Dicranopteris longissima (Blume) Underw. Bull. Torrey Club 34: 249. 1907. (Glez- 
chenta longissima Blame, Enum. Pl. Jav. 250. 1828.) One of a group of closely allied 
species common in Asia and the islands of the Pacific. The type is from Java. D. Ban- 
croftit has been referred to frequently under this name. 
