DAD COXVIIE 
TRICHOMANES RADICANS. 
FILICES.—Grnarx. Br. PorypropraCcEsx. Kaulf.  Frrrczs vere. Willd., Spreng. 
GEN. Cuag.. TRICHOMANES, Sm.  Sori marginales. Capsule sessiles, receptaculo com- 
muni cylindraceo insertz, intra Znvolucrum monophyllum, suburceolatum, ore hiante, textura 
frondis. Br. 
TaurcHOMANES radicans ; caudice longissime repente, frondibus numerosis subsessilibus flaccidis pro- 
cumbentibus (costis radicantibus) ovato-oblongis bi-subtripinnatifidis, laciniis lineari-oblongis 
obtusis, involucris exsertis cylindraceis ore brevi patente brevissime bilabiato. 
Trichomanes radicans. Swartz, FI. Ind. Occ. v.3. p. 1736. Syn. Fil. p. 143. JV'illd. Sp. PI. 
, OV. 9. p. 518. Kaulf.. Enum. Fil. p. 267. — Spreng. Syst. leget. v. 4. p. 180. 
Trichomanes diaphanum. — Kwnth et Humb. INov. Gen. v. 1. p. 21. (fide Sprengel). 
Has. In montibus altis Jamaice, ad arborum radices. Swartz; Dr. Bancroft. Insula Trini- 
tatis. LLockhart. Insula Sancti Vincentii. L. Guildins. Brasilia. Chamisso. In umbrosis 
temperatis provinciz: Venezuele. Zfumboldt. 
Caudex longissimus, repens, crassitie pennae passerines, superne nudus, inferne radiculosus. 
Frondes subsessiles, spithamzeze fere ad pedalem, copiosz, alterna, circumscriptione oblongse seu oblongo-ovatze, 
bi-tripinnatifidae, flaccidee, procumbentes; rac; seu costa primaria ssepissime radicante; radicibus fibrosis 
brevissimis; segmentis primariis oblongis, basi paululum latioribus, horizontaliter patentibus, tenui-membra- 
naceis, reticulatis, diaphanis, costatis nervosisque; laciniis brevibus, lineari-oblongis, integris vel patenti- 
bifidis, obtusis. — SZzpes perbrevis, lineam seu sesquilineam longus, alatus. 
Involucra ad apices laciniarum, exserta, cylindracea, ore dilatato, membranaceo, sub-bilabiato, labiis brevissimis 
demum patentibus. - 
Rieceptaculum exsertum, involucro duplo longius. 
Capsule inclusse, peltatze, orbiculares, compresse, annulo lato cinctze. 
Semina subglobosa, pallide fusco-flavescentia, nunc obscure reticulata, et sublimbata. 
Fig. 1. Segmentum frondis fertilis. f. 2. Involucrum. f. 3. Capsule. f. 4. Semina:— magn. auct. 
We have already had occasion to remark, that some of the older species of Ferns stand as much 
in need of illustration as those that have recently been discovered. Such is eminently the case 
with the present individual, which, though described by Swartz, and taken up by many succeeding 
 botanists, has never yet been figured, nor does it appear to have been correctly described. We can 
hardly believe but that our plant is the true 7* radicans of Swartz; and it is indeed frequent in 
Jamaica and other of the West Indian islands: but in all our numerous specimens, the fronds are 
universally upon so short a stipes, that at first sight they would naturally be called sessile: yet 
Swartz describes the s/pes as from one to three inches in length: again he observes, that it is 
* simillimum | T. scandenti" of Linnzus, and refers to the figures of Plumier Z4. £. 93, and Sloane 
Jam. v. 1. t. 58, as authorities for this latter plant; but surely no two species can well be more 
different ; and if we are correct in what we judge to be the 7* scandens of Swartz, the figures just 
quoted represent it in caricature; but as we do not feel sure about that species, we refrain at present 
from offering any remarks upon it. We shall be glad, however, to have it in our power to give an 
authentic figure of it. 
T. radicans appears to us to be very different from every other species of the genus. It is 
characterised by its very long creeping main-stems or caudices, which climb for a great way upon 
the trunks of trees, and are as it were pinnated with numerous flaccid fronds, closely bi-tripinnatifid, 
the ultimate segments frequently forked, and their divisions considerably spreading. "The texture 
is very pellucid ; and Sprengel is probably correct in referring to it the 7^ diaphanum of Kunth. 
