167 219 



thai his new species was foiindeci on a s|)ecimen from Browne, not on Ihe plates 

 quoted. Subsequently .4s/)/. radicans L. (= A. rhizophyllum L,) is not the same as 

 P. reptans Sw., and the right name of our species must be D. reptaiis (Ginel.). 



D. reptans is a common species in Jamaica and Cuba and occurs also but 

 more rarelj' in some other islands, Florida and Central America. The smallest 

 form occurs in the eastern islands, the largest in Cuba and Florida. I shall here 

 mention some of the more characteristic forms. 



1. var. tenera (Fée). 



Syn. Goniopleris tenera Fée, 11 mém. 60 tab. 15 fig. 8. 1866. 



A small, thin-leaved form: leaves apparently never radicant. Stipe very slen- 

 der, shorter than the lamina, this 6—12 cm long, 5 cm broad at the base; pinnæ 

 short-stalked, close, the lower ones reduced or not, about 2^s cm long by 1 cm 

 broad, obtuse at the point, rather deeply lobed, broadest at the truncate base. 

 Veins about 3 to each side. — DitTers from the next variety by its not radicant leaves 

 and uniform fronds, from D. asplenioides by its thin texture, not prominent veins 

 and especially by the leaf tissue of both surfaces being rather densely but minutely 

 pubescent by stellate hairs. 



Jenman's var. tenera is probably not the same; I have seen no Jamaican 

 specimens, which exactly corresponds with Fee's type, although single leaves from 

 rhizomes, which also bear radicant or differently shaped leaves, are very slightly 

 different. 



Guadeloupe: I^'Herminiek (type; Herb. Cos.son Paris!; Bi. 

 Porto Rico: Sinteni.s nr. 1770 iB, C, W). 



2. var. eu-reptans Jenman, loc. cit. 



Hereto a good many forms which I have tried in vain to distinguish from 

 each other. Not only are two identical specimens not to be found but the leaves 

 from the same rhizome also are often very different. Very often the sterile and 

 fertile leaves are different, the former being very short-stalked, prostrate, rooting 

 or not, the latter much higher on long stalks and often of a much more rigid 

 texture, radicant or not, the pinnæ generally distant; in other specimens also the 

 short, prostrate leaves are fertile. The pinnæ are very differently shaped, even in 

 leaves of the same rhizome; in the short-stalked leaves they resemble those of var. 

 tenera, i. e. short-stalked, obtuse at the apex, rather deeply lobed, 2—4 cm long, 

 ^/4— 1 cm broad, but not so closely placed. The long-stalked, most often fertile 

 and often radicant leaves are more varying, the pinna- being sessile or stalked, 

 entire or crenate or lobed, often hastate at base, acute or rounded at the apex, etc. 

 A peculiar form is that described as Pol. repanduni Sw.; here the short-stalked, 

 prostrate, sterile leaves are radicant, while the fertile leaves are very long-stalked 

 (stipe up to 20 cm high), not radicant, pinnæ very distant, scarcely ^i cm broad, 

 2 cm long, almost coriaceous, the margins revolute, crenate or almost entire; veins 



