JAMAICA FERNS. 325 



Hemitelia Imraijana, Hook. — Herb. J. Smith, Brit. Museum. A 

 plant iutermecliate between horrida and g r and i folia. 



Alsophila sessilifolia, n. sp. — Trunk stout, erect, attaining a 

 height of 20 feet ; stipites 2-2^ feet long, prickly, as is also the 

 caudex ; fronds ample, 8 or 9 feet long, bipinnate ; pinnae 18-24 

 inches long, about 8 inches wide, sessile ; pinnul^e apart, with 

 half their own width between them, 3-3^ inches long, f inch 

 wide, all, even the basal ones, quite sessile, cut ^ or f toward the 

 midrib into flat, rather broad, rounded or subpointed lobes ; 

 colour pale, almost pruinose beneath ; texture thinly coriaceous ; 

 surface naked above, beneath having a few brown scales on the 

 costse and sparse wool-like tomentum on the ribs and veins ; apices 

 of pinnulse acuminate and serrate with oppressed shallow teeth ; 

 veins all simple, or the bottom one on the inferior side rarely 

 forked, five or six to a "side ; sori reaching the top of the segment, 

 nearer the margin than the rib, evident on the upper side ; rachis 

 straw-coloured and prickly. — Mansfield, near Bath. Wilson, Herb. 

 Kew, 520 ; Herb. Brit. Mus., 513, A 1, 520. Wilson says the 

 caudex is covered with roots from top to bottom. Its nearest 

 ally is A. aspera, E. Br., from which its pale colour, simple veins, 

 and quite sessile pinnag and pinnule will distinguish it. — A. nitens, 

 J. Sm., in part. Herb. Brit. Mus. 



W^ilson's No. 689 resembles Alsophila aspera, K. Br., exactly in 

 cutting, but in habit is rather lax. Wilson, on his label, says it is 

 known as the Black-spined Tree-fern. Spines very dark and 

 shining. Caudex 12-16 feet high, a great many to a stool, six or 

 eight or more, the central one tallest. He seems to have regarded 

 A. aspera (his 513, A 2, which is typical) as distinct. 



Alsophila ferox, Presl. — Wilson,- in Herb. J. Smith, Brit. 

 Mus. ; and there is a specimen marked A. aculeata, J. Sm., which 

 is also A, ferox, Presl. taken from a garden plant derived from 

 Jamaica. 



Trichoimmes macilentuni, Hk., lately discovered. Distinguished 

 from T. Bancroftii, Hk., by its creeping rhizome and broader 

 fronds. 



There is a beautiful thinly membranous form of Trichomanes 

 alatum, Sw., in J. Smith's plants, gathered by Wiles, with fronds 

 18 inches long from the base of the stipites and 3 inches wide. 



Hymenophyllum inyriocarpum, Hk., and H. sphcerocarpum are 

 identical. The plant varies a good deal in form and degree 

 of fruitfulness. The free globose mvolucres on short pedicels, 

 which are often uniformly reflexed and show only on the under- 

 side, mark it from H. pohjanthos, Sw. There is no such plant. 

 Is N. Jiavescens, Moore, intended ? It is a Central American species. 

 See the specimens. 



Aspleriiwn ohtusifolium. L., var. — The rootstock is unknown. It 

 has probably the habit of A. dentatum, L., between which and 

 marinum it comes. 



Asplenium expansum, Willd. — From Wilson in Herb. J. Smith, 

 is a large plant of lax habit, with a rather slender stipe and rachis ; 

 pinute distant, and pinnulae, which are very slightly lobed, ^ inch 



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