88 POLYPODIACE^ OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



(32) STENOCHLAENA J. Smith. 



High-scandent ferns, with pinnate dimorphous or polymorphous fronds; 

 veins free near the margin; sori parallel to the costa, finally spreading 

 over the whole under surface; indusium wanting. The stipe in some species 

 is segmented to the rhizome, as in Polypodiece. Stenochlaena is not very 

 evidently related to any other genus. 



1. Stipes articulate to the rhizome. 



2. Rhizome scaly, frond herbaceous - . (1) S. sorbifolia 



2. Rhizome naked, frond coriaceous (2) S. palustris 



1. Stipes not articulate to rhizome ^ (3) 8. laurifolia 



(1) S. sorbifolia (L.) J. Sm. Rhizome climbing indefinitely high, 

 woody green, muricate, bearing few hard brown scales (roots?) ; stipes 

 obscurely articulate to rhizome, 10 to 30 cm. long, stramineous with or 

 without a conspicuous umber line; frond simply pinnate, the segments 

 articulate to the rachis on stalks about 1 cm. long; sterile pinnae 15 cm. 

 long, nearly 2 cm. broad, acuminate, entire or obscurely serrate, base 

 cuneate, glabrous, herbaceous or subcoriaceous ; fertile pinnae 20 cm. long, 

 filiform. 



Castillo, 800 m., and Mariveles, 1,400 m., Loher; foot of Mariveles, 

 Barnes Forestry Bureau 368; Isabela Province, Warburg 11600, 11974, 

 11978; Paragua, Merrill 773; Davao, Warburg 14107, 14108, 14111. 



Pantropic. 



Beside the sterile fronds described above, bipinnate variously incised 

 or divided ones also occur. 



S. haenkeana Presl is a dubious species described from the sterile plant 

 alone; the pinnae are elliptic-oblong, abruptly acuminate, rounded at the 

 base, the terminal twice as large as the lateral; rhizome and base of 

 stipe clothed with peltate scales. 



Sorsogon, Haenke. 



(2) S. palustris (L.) Mett. Rhizome climbing indefinitely, scaleless; 

 stipes naked, 15 to 30 cm. long; fronds 50 to 80 cm. long the sterile rather 

 the larger, pinnate, with almost sessile pinnae articulate to the rachis; 

 pinnae of sterile frond 10 to 12 cm. long, 2.5 cm. broad, finely but sharply 

 serrate, subcoriaceous, the two sides at the base forming a right angle; 

 segments of the fertile frond 15 to 20 cm. long, 3 mm. broad, the lower ones 

 remote. 



Luzon, Haenke, Cuming 133; Davao, Copeland 532. 



India to Queensland and Fiji. 



8. juglandifolia Presl is described as differing from S. palustris in 

 having longer naked petioles, the sterile pinnae rounded at the base, fertile 

 pinnae leafy at the base, and muricate stipes; it is usually regarded as only 

 a form of the same species. 



Luzon, Haenke, Cuming 133 in part. 



(3) S. laurifolia (Hook.) Diels. Stipes firm, erect, naked; frond 60 

 to 90 cm. long, 30 to 45 cm. broad, simply pinnate; sterile pinnae 15 to 

 25 cm. long, 4 cm. broad, narrowed gradually from the cordate base to 



