6. ALSOP1IILA. 37 



especially in the small, very close-spaced and strongly pinnatifid lobes, of which the lowest 

 pairs are exactly square, adnate on two sides with the costa and costule. 



28 A vernicosa, Mett. ; Jr. ample, tripinnatifid ; racidses brown-stramineous 

 glabrous; pinnae oblong - lanceolate, ^-1 ft. 1. ; pinnl. subsessile ligulate 

 U-2| in. 1., cut down to a broad wing into oblong ascending close blunt entire 

 segm. i in. br. ; texture subcoriaceous ; both surfaces green, subglabrous, the ribs 

 below with a few broad whitish scales ; veinlets 4-5-jugate, the lower forked ; 

 sori supra-medial, moderately large. Kuhn Linncea, 36. p. 155. 



Hab. Venezuela, Fendler, 844. Cutting like villosa, with a very different vesti- 

 ture. 



29. A. melanopus, Hk. ; " caud. 3-15 ft. high, 1 ft. diam., unarmed, ramen- 

 taceous " (Spruce) ; st. 3 ft. 1., 1 in. thick, intense ebony -black (as well as iheprim. 

 rachises), slightly tuberculate and at the base paleaceous with very long, narrow 

 scales ; fr. coriaceo-membranaceous, glabrous ; prim, pinnae 5 ft. 1., 12 pairs 3 ft., 

 or nearly so 1., 1 ft. w. in the broadest part ; pinnl. 6 in. 1., 12-14 lines w., distinctly 

 petiolate, from a broad base oblong, rather suddenly tapering into a serrated 

 acumen, deeply pinnatifid to nearly the costa ; lobes oblong, falcate, 3 lines wide, 

 obtuse, entire ; veins distinct, all forked, sori at the forking of each vein, much 

 nearer the costule than to the margin ; costce and costules quite free from scales and 

 mostly quite glabrous. ? /3 caudex slender, subflexuose, 3 ft. high ; pinnl. sessile ; 

 lobes narrower and more acute. 



Hab. In woods, Chimborazo, alt. 3,000 ft., Spruce, n. 5742. j8 Montana de Canelos, 

 Spruce. Habit and size of the pinnules very much as in Cyathea divergens (p. 17), but 

 clearly an Alsophila, with intensely ebeneous prim, and second, rachises. I am doubtful 

 about my var. /3, which may prove a distinct species. 



30. A. chimborazensis, Hk. ; " caud. 15 ft. high, 4 in. diam., aculeate (Spruce) 

 St. very stout, 3-4 ft. 1., furfuraceo-pubescent, dirty brown, aculeated witK very 

 sharp, strong spines, and paleaceous with large, dark, brown, glossy scales ;" fr. 

 9-10 ft. 1., ovato-lanceolate, subcoriaceous (" subscandent amongst neighbouring 

 branches") ; prim, pinnce 2^ ft. 1., by 1 ft. w. ; pinnl. rather distant, distinctly 

 petiolate, 1-1 J in. w., horizontal, from a broad base oblong, acuminate, deeply 

 pinnatifid near to the costa ; lobes oblong, obtuse, subfalcate, entire, the margins 

 a little recurved ; veins conspicuous, forked near the base ; sori at the forks and 

 close to the costule ; main rachis thicker than a man's thumb, and as well as 

 the second, ones aculeate, having a dirty aspect from a clothing of furfuraceo- 

 pubescence. 



Hab. Chimborazo, alt. 3,000-4,000 ft., Spruce, n. 5743. This has still more the aspect 

 of Cyathea diverging than our Als. melanopus ; but here, again, the sori are.clearly those 

 of A tsophila. It is, however, the much more strongly aculeated of the two. 



31. A. conjugata, Spruce ; "caud. 40 ft. high, 1 ft. diam., aculeate, destitute of 

 scales " (Spruce) ; st. 3 ft. 1., 1 in. and more thick, prickly with short, stout, not very 

 sharp spines ; fr. 9 ft. 1., ovato-lanceolate, coriaceous ; prim, pinnce 23 pairs, 

 " all exactly opposite, save at the very apex," 2-3 ft. 1. ; pinnl. alternate, quite 

 sessile, 4-5 in. 1., 6-7 in. w., pinnatifid nearly to the costa ; lobes linear, from a 

 broad base, acute, crenato-serrate at the slightly recurved margin ; sori rather 

 small, close to the costule, one to each serrature ; rachises (all) and costce and 

 costules rusty-pubescent and hairy. Spruce, mst. in Hb. nostr. 



Hab. Chimborazo, alt. 3,000-4,000 ft., Spruce, n. 4745. Very remarkable for the 

 exactly opposite prim, pinnae : the second, ones are alternate. 



32. A. Sprucei, Hk. ; " caud. none, reduced to a subglobose rhizome" (Spruce) ; 

 st, 4 ft. 1., stout, strongly aculeate at the base, clothed with ferruginous scales of 

 two kinds, long, very slender, dense, hair-like ones, and others large and lan- 

 ceolate; fr. subcoriaceous, glabrous, 4 ft. 1. ; prim, pinnce 12-14 in. 1. ; pinnl. 



