﻿NOV. 
  19, 
  1922 
  maxon: 
  ferns 
  new 
  to 
  cuba 
  439 
  

  

  reports 
  only 
  from 
  the 
  Lesser 
  Antilles 
  (Martinique, 
  Guadeloupe, 
  and 
  St. 
  

   Kitts). 
  The 
  Cuban 
  plant 
  is 
  essentially 
  like 
  recent 
  Haitian 
  specimens 
  

   {Leonard 
  4273, 
  4273a), 
  which 
  will 
  be 
  discussed 
  shortly 
  in 
  reporting 
  on 
  Mr. 
  

   Leonard's 
  collections. 
  

  

  Dicranopteris 
  jamaicensis 
  Underw. 
  Bull. 
  Torrey 
  Club 
  34: 
  258. 
  1907. 
  

  

  Northwestern 
  spur 
  of 
  Pico 
  Turquino, 
  altitude 
  1,900 
  meters 
  (11112). 
  

  

  Known 
  hitherto 
  only 
  from 
  Jamaica, 
  where 
  it 
  is 
  abundant 
  at 
  1,600 
  to 
  2,225 
  

   meters, 
  forming 
  extensive 
  thickets 
  on 
  the 
  half-open 
  ridges, 
  along 
  with 
  D. 
  

   palmata. 
  

  

  Dicranopteris 
  leonis 
  Maxon, 
  sp. 
  nov. 
  

  

  Plant 
  of 
  medium 
  size, 
  sparingly 
  branched; 
  rhizome 
  not 
  seen; 
  primary 
  

   leaf 
  -axis 
  (incomplete) 
  olivaceous, 
  mottled 
  with 
  brown, 
  about 
  3 
  mm. 
  thick, 
  

   dull, 
  deciduously 
  scurfy-paleaceous. 
  Primary 
  branches 
  apparently 
  1 
  or 
  

   2 
  pairs, 
  35 
  to 
  40 
  cm. 
  long, 
  twice 
  pseudodichotomous, 
  the 
  included 
  buds 
  all 
  

   dormant, 
  the 
  scales 
  firm, 
  up 
  to 
  7 
  mm. 
  long, 
  narrowly 
  deltoid, 
  flexuous 
  at 
  

   the 
  long-attenuate 
  apex, 
  bright 
  castaneous 
  and 
  lustrous 
  with 
  pale 
  borders, 
  

   or 
  paler 
  and 
  concolorous, 
  the 
  friable 
  borders 
  obliquely 
  and 
  laxly 
  long-ciliate; 
  

   first 
  internode 
  of 
  the 
  branches 
  2 
  to 
  3.5 
  cm. 
  long, 
  naked, 
  subtended 
  by 
  1 
  or 
  

   2 
  small 
  segments; 
  second 
  internodes 
  2 
  to 
  8 
  cm. 
  long, 
  diverging 
  at 
  an 
  angle 
  

   of 
  60 
  to 
  80°, 
  completely 
  pectinate 
  except 
  at 
  the 
  outer 
  side 
  near 
  the 
  base, 
  

   the 
  lower 
  segments 
  gradually 
  shorter; 
  pinnae 
  diverging 
  at 
  an 
  angle 
  of 
  60°, 
  

   linear-lanceolate, 
  25 
  to 
  32 
  cm. 
  long, 
  3.5 
  to 
  5 
  cm. 
  broad, 
  abruptly 
  narrowed 
  

   at 
  the 
  base, 
  attenuate 
  at 
  the 
  apex, 
  pectinate 
  throughout, 
  cut 
  nearly 
  to 
  the 
  

   rachis, 
  the 
  sinuses 
  linear, 
  acute; 
  rachises 
  of 
  pinnae 
  brownish 
  or 
  (in 
  the 
  outer 
  

   part) 
  greenish, 
  persistently 
  paleaceous 
  beneath, 
  the 
  scales 
  spreading, 
  light 
  

   castaneous, 
  firm, 
  freely 
  long-ciliate 
  ; 
  segments 
  90 
  or 
  more 
  on 
  each 
  side, 
  close, 
  

   Hnear, 
  1.8 
  to 
  2.8 
  cm. 
  long, 
  4 
  mm. 
  broad 
  at 
  the 
  base, 
  3 
  to 
  3.5 
  mm. 
  broad 
  at 
  

   the 
  middle, 
  acutish 
  or 
  narrowly 
  obtuse, 
  herbaceous, 
  minutely 
  pale-papillate 
  

   beneath; 
  margins 
  entire, 
  narrowly 
  revolute; 
  veins 
  30 
  to 
  35 
  pairs, 
  close, 
  

   once 
  forked, 
  green, 
  elevated 
  both 
  above 
  and 
  beneath, 
  these 
  and 
  the 
  strongly 
  

   elevated, 
  stramineous 
  costae 
  minutely 
  paleaceous 
  beneath, 
  the 
  scales 
  cas- 
  

   taneous, 
  reduced, 
  substellate, 
  with 
  firm 
  spreading 
  cilia, 
  minute 
  ones 
  extending 
  

   sparingly 
  almost 
  to 
  the 
  margin, 
  4 
  or 
  5 
  larger 
  ones 
  invariably 
  borne 
  close 
  against 
  

   the 
  leaf 
  surface 
  from 
  the 
  base 
  of 
  the 
  receptacle 
  of 
  the 
  son 
  in 
  a 
  close 
  radiating 
  

   indusium-like 
  group, 
  the 
  scales 
  otherwise 
  all 
  distinct, 
  never 
  forming 
  a 
  tomen- 
  

   tum 
  or 
  obscuring 
  the 
  leaf 
  surface; 
  sori 
  mostly 
  4-sporangiate, 
  inframedial. 
  

  

  Type 
  in 
  the 
  U. 
  S. 
  National 
  Herbariima, 
  no. 
  1,049,896, 
  collected 
  in 
  the 
  

   Turquino 
  region 
  of 
  the 
  high 
  Sierra 
  Maestra, 
  Oriente, 
  Cuba, 
  July, 
  1922, 
  by 
  

   Brother 
  Leon 
  (no. 
  11092). 
  The 
  description 
  is 
  partly 
  drawn 
  from 
  another 
  

   specimen 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  number 
  in 
  the 
  Underwood 
  Herbarium, 
  New 
  York 
  

   Botanical 
  Garden. 
  

  

  In 
  gross 
  structural 
  characters 
  D. 
  leonis 
  is 
  not 
  very 
  unlike 
  D. 
  palmata 
  

   (Schaffn.) 
  Underw., 
  D. 
  mellifera 
  (Christ) 
  Underw., 
  and 
  D. 
  brittonu 
  Maxon, 
  

   in 
  all 
  of 
  which 
  the 
  stellate 
  scales 
  of 
  the 
  under 
  surface 
  are 
  very 
  greatly 
  re- 
  

   duced 
  and 
  truly 
  capillary, 
  even 
  flaccid. 
  In 
  the 
  presence 
  and 
  distribution 
  

   of 
  firm 
  true 
  scales 
  beneath 
  it 
  is 
  nearer 
  D. 
  longipinnata 
  (Hook.) 
  Maxon, 
  of 
  

   Surinam, 
  but 
  the 
  scales 
  are 
  utterly 
  different 
  in 
  color 
  and 
  structure. 
  ^ 
  

  

  2 
  Cfr. 
  Contr. 
  U. 
  S. 
  Nat. 
  Herb. 
  24: 
  47-49. 
  1922. 
  

  

  