THE FERNS OF NICARAGUA. 



163 



These pinnae are more deeply lobed than many others which 

 were collected. The latter resemble Fendler's No. 141 from 

 Trinidad, in the Shaw Herbarium, quite closely. It is not 

 improbable that these pinna? belong to what Hooker 1 has called 

 A. ottonis var. ft (?). The stipe when fresh, is thick, green- 

 ish, spotted with purple, and hollow. The fronds were 2 to 

 3 feet long. 



Not rare on moist banks along the La Juana River. 



Not reported from Nicaragua. Baker in Synopsis Filicum, 

 gives the distribution from " Cuba and Columbia to Ecuador 

 and Brazil." 



12. A. sylvaticum Presl. PI. xv, Fig. 7; PI. xvi, Figs. 1, 2. 



Presl, Rel. Hrenk., p. 42; Mett, Ub. Ein. Farng., pt. vi, p. 179; Hook., Sp. 



Fil., vol. in. p. 248; Bed., Ferns of S. Ind., p. 53, pi. clxi; Hook, and 



Bak., Syn. Fil., p. 232; Hemsl., Biol. Cent. Am., vol. in, p. 640; Bak., 



Jour. Bot, vol. xxii, p. 362. 

 Diplazium sylvaticum Swartz, — Smith, Ferns, Br. and For., p. 223. 

 A. mutilum Kunze, — Mett., Ub. Ein Farng., pt. vi, p. 180; Hook., Sp. Fil., 



vol. in, p. 248. 

 A.ottonis Klotz., — Eaton, Fil. Wr. et Fend., p. 206; Hook., Sp. Fil., vol. 



in, p. 243. 



The diplazoid species of Asplenium, of the group of which 

 A. grandifolium is a type, are in a sad state of confusion. 

 The shape of the base and the division of the margin of the 

 pinna?, together with the venation and the length and position 

 of the sori, — characters on which the species are chiefly 

 based, — are all so variable that they are extremely unsatis- 

 factory. It is probable that a more thorough study of large 

 series will necessitate the union of this and other related 

 forms with A. grandifolium Swartz. The only reasonably 

 satisfactory distinction is in the form of the base of the pinna 1 

 being wedge-shaped or rounded in the latter, and truncate or 

 cordate in the former. But some variation is shown even in 

 this character, and the value of most of the species of the 

 group is extremely uncertain. The specimens in the collec- 

 tion are A. ottonis, but this is no doubt rightfully referred to 

 A. sylvaticum by Baker. 



1 Sp. Fil., vol. in, p. 243. 



