THE PHILIPPINE SPECIES OF DRYOPTERIS. 



By H. CiiRiST. 

 (Basel, Switzcrland.) 



Some timo ago IMr. Ehury D. McrrUlf Botanist of tlie Bureau of 

 Seience, ]\Ianila, sent nie all the Philippine material of the genus 

 Dryopieris from tho herharium of that institution, in order to give me an 

 opportunitv to prepare a ehissified list of the spocios found in the 

 Archipehigo. Tho colleetion contains many of Cuming's plants, and a 

 large number of spccimens collected by the American botanists since 

 the occupation of tlie Pliilippines by the United States. In additiou 

 to the above material I have also received from Dr. E. B. Copeland 

 a notaljlo collection, and Mr. Lolier has had the kindness to furnish 

 me witli aii additional and very interesting collection, supplementary 

 to the one he sent me in 1S9T and which was the basis of my work 

 "Filices Insuhirum Pliilippinarum."^ Since the publication of the above 

 paper some important works of Dr. CopeJand have notably advanced 

 our knowledge of the ferns of the Philippines. In his Polypodiacea' 

 of the Philipjnne Islands,- Dr. Copeland admits 60 species of Nephrodium, 

 compiling the descriptions of all the species credited to the Philippines, 

 even of those spocies of which he had not seen specimens. In my present 

 paper I have not attempted to account for all the species of the genus 

 that have been credited to the Archipelago by various authors, but 

 have considered only those of which specimens are before me. In a 

 group so difficult as Dryopteris and so subject to diverse interpretation, 

 it appears to me that tlie hitter treatment is the surest, even if com- 

 pleteness is sacrificed. 



I have limited Dnjopleris iu tho sense of Christensens ludex Filicum; 

 that is, excluding Pleocnemia and Sagenia and treating only Lastrea 

 {mchiding PJiegopteris) and Nephrodium propor (including Goniopteris, 

 ^ Mesochlaena and Meniscium). As the Philippines are particuUirly 

 ^ rich in speeies and forms of Dryopteris, the task of troating all the 

 *"' species was sufficiently arduous. In regard to nomenclature I have 

 ^^ followed Christensens Index Filicum and accepted tlie generic name 



: "^Bull. Ilcrh. Boiss. 6 (1898) 127-ir)4; 189-210. 



-Govt. Lab. Piibl. 28 (190(5) 18-32. 



189 



