254 UNDERWOOD: AMERICAN FERNS 
first branching, 2-forked at the second; primary internodes 3.5—4.5 
~ em. long, naked with more or less appressed pubescence, the buds 
rather large with small pallid finely ciliate scales; secondary inter- 
nodes about equal length, sometimes nearly naked, but sometimes 
with segments decurrent from the tertiary forks one-half to two 
thirds the length; pinnae 25-30 cm. or more long, 5—7 cm. wide, 
the segments narrow, widening at the base, separated by 2-3 times 
their width, smooth above, covered beneath with a fine pure white 
appressed tomentum in which the sori are embedded ; veins forked, 
mostly near the base, distinct; sporangia mostly in 3’s and 4's. 
On clay banks, slopes of El Yunque, near Baracoa, Cuba, Under- 
wood & Earle 1416 (type), 1796; also collected by Wright 921 
(in part), z8zo. - 
6. Dicranopteris farinosa (Kaulf.). 
Mertensia farinosa Kaulf. Wesen der Farrenkr. 37. 1827. 
Mertensia subtrisperma Fée, Mém. Foug: 11: 122. pl. 32. f. 2: 
1866. (Type from Guadeloupe.) 
TypE LocaLity: “ Deren Vaterland ich nicht kenne” — 
Kaulfuss. 
DistRiBUTION : Known only from the island of Guadeloupe. 
ItLustRations: Kunze, Anal. Pterid. 6.f/. 3. 1837; Fée, /oc. cit. 
This is another characteristic species that has been strangely 
misunderstood in spite of the two excellent illustrations cited 
above, both of which call attention particularly to the very unique 
covering of the under side of the segments which we have seef 
in no other species of the family. Under the name Gleichenia far-_ 
inosa or Mertensia farinosa it has been mistakenly reported from all 
the greater Antilles. It appears very rarely in collections and has 
probably a limited range on the islands of the Lesser Antilles. 
Although Kaulfuss was not aware of its original place of collection, — 
his figure in Kunze’s Avadecta is unmistakable and it is more than 
probable that he found his specimen among some of the plants 
brought in by Sieber’s collectors. 
7. Dicranopteris flexuosa (Schrad.). 
Mertensia flexuosa Schrad. Goett. Gel. Anz. 863. 1824. 
Mertensia rigida Kunze, Linnaea 9: 16. 1834. (Type from Sa 
bangata, Peru, Poeppig.) 
Gleichenia flexuosa Mett. Ann. Lug. Bat. 1: 50. 1863. 
