* 



TAB. LXXXVI 





ACROSTICHUM JAMESONI 



FILICES. 



Gy 



RAT.ZE. Br. 



PoLYPODiACEiE. Kaulf. Filices verse. Willd., Spreng 



Gen. Ciiar. ACROSTICHUM, Linn 





Sori amorphi,, seu Capsula per totam paginam infe 



riorem frondis (interdum diversse) vel ejus partem sparsae. Involucrum nullum (nisi squamulae 

 vel setae in quibusdarn capsulis interstinctae) . Br. 



Acrostichum Jamesoni; piloso-squamosum, frondibus simplicibus costatis, sterilibus oblongo- 



r 



spatlmlatis, fertilibus ellipticis marginatis demum conduplicatis. 



Hab. Rupibus prope basin montis Pichincha regno Quitensi. D. Jameson. 



■ 



Platita caespitosa. 



Stipes duas ad 



& 



paululum flexuosus, gracilis, squamosus, squamis lanceolatis, membra 



fuscis 



Frondes vix unciam 



Steriles oblongae, obtusse, virides, utrinque margineque squamosse, squamis brevioribus latioribusque quam 



stipite. 



• 



Fertiles sterili breviores, ellipticae, fuscescentes, pellucido-marginatae, dorso margineque fusco-squamosis : primum 



explanatae, demum, capsulis maturis, longitudinaliter conduplicatae. 

 Capsul<z numerosissimae, intense fuscae, globosae, annulo lato cinctae, breviter pedicellatae. 

 Semina fusca, subrotundata, tuberculata. 



Fig. 1 . Squama e stipite. f. 2. Squama e fronde. f. 3. Capsulae. f. 4. Semina : — magn. auct. 



Communicated, with several other rarities of this family, from South America by William Jameson, 



t 



- 



Esq., resident at Guayaquil. The species is unquestionably very nearly allied to Acrostichum obtu- 

 satum, figured at Tab. 22. of this work : but that, besides its widely different geographical situation 

 (the Island of Tristan da Cunha), has fewer and narrower scales upon the frond and stipes, a longer 

 pedicel to the capsules, and a much less distinct costa or midrib ; and it wants the pellucid margin 

 to the fertile fronds, which is so distinct in this. • 



Mr. Jameson has remarked a curious property in the fertile fronds. " 



a 



is in a young and tender 



their fronds are 



" When the plant," he says, 

 riably expanded; but as soon as the seeds 



beg 



to ripen, they collapse, as in the specimens sent ; 



»> 



and 



as 



the 



erality of those here 



figured. 



The Acrostichum piloselloides of Presl. (Reliq. Hcenk.), A. Pilosella, Spreng., a Peruvian 

 plant, diifers from this in its almost sessile and spathulate sterile fronds ; and the Acrostichum 

 spathulatum of Bory (from the Isle de Bourbon), by its much larger size and differently-shaped 

 fronds. They should, however, all together, with our Acrost. Raddianum, rank next to each other 

 in a natural system. 



