TAB. CXXVIII. 
HYMENOPHYLLUM POLYANTHOS. 
FILICES.—GvnaATx. Br.  PorvropniacExX. Kaulf.  Firicrs vere. Willd. 
Gr. CHan. HYMENOPHYLLUM, Sm. Sori marginales. Capsule sessiles, receptaculo 
communi cylindraceo insertz, intra Zmvolucrum bivalve, textura frondis, valvis planis, exte- 
rius liberis. Zr. 
HywENOPHYLLUM polyanthos ; fronde ovato-deltoidea tripinnatifida, laciniis linearibus integerrimis 
obtusis glabris, infra soros contractis, involucris terminalibus exacte ovatis bipartitis, rachi 
superne marginata. i 
Hymenophyllum polyanthos. Swartz. FI. Ind. Occ. p. 1757. Syn. FA. p.149.  JFilld. Sp. 
Dl. v. 5. p. 531. * Hedw. Fil. Ic." — Spreng. Syst. Veget. v. 4. p. 132. 
Has. In Jamaica. Swartz. Insula Sancti Vincentii. ev. L. Guilding. 
Caudex longe repens, capillaris, hic illic radiculosus. 
Stipes biuncialis, erectus, teres, fusco-ater, superne subobscure marginatus. 
Frons, circumscriptione, ovato-acuminata, subdeltoidea, tripinnatifida, segmentis primariis lanceolatis, secundariis 
subdigitatis, dichotomis, laciniis linearibus, obtusis, integris vel bifidis, omnino glabris, costatis, integerrimis, 
minute reticulatis, sub involucros contractis. 
Sori terminales, in laciniis praecipue segmentorum superiorum. 
Involucra exacte ovata, textura frondis, usque ad basin in segmentis vel labiis duobus paululum convexis integer- 
rimis glabris fissa. 
Receptaculum inclusum, involucro multo brevius. 
Capsule orbiculatee, peltatze, annulo integro cinctze. 
Semina magna, intense fusca, limbo pellucido. 
Fig. 1. Portio frondis cum soris. f. 2. Involucrum cum capsulis. f.3. Semina:—magn. auct. 
According to Swartz, £H. polyanthos is very nearly allied to .H. c/avatum ; differing in the more 
numerous fructifications and the somewhat winged stipes. The former character we can conceive 
to be liable to great variation according to age and other circumstances : and with regard to the 
latter particular, in our own specimens we find the stipes of some to be almost entirely naked, and 
others distinctly margined or winged in the upper part. 
Authors, and even ourselves in some of our descriptions, have described the compound fronds of 
this and other Z/ymenophylla (and the same observation holds good with the genus Z'ichomanes) as 
pinnate, whereas they are truly pinnatifid. It is rare that the rachis, or main branch of the frond, 
is destitute of the foliaceous margins :—generally its structure is the same as that of the ultimate 
divisions. 
