422 



POLYPODIACEAE. 



1. Asplenium dentatum 



L. Toothed Spleenwort. 

 (Fig. 458.) Petioles tufted, 

 2'-6' long, naked, weak, 

 blackish below. Fertile leaf- 

 blades 2-3' long, with 6-8 

 pairs of stalked oblong or 

 rhombic pinnae, the lower 

 side truncate with a curve, 

 the outer edge irregularly 

 crenate; sterile leaves simi- 

 lar but with shorter petioles ; 

 rachis naked; sori copious, 

 in parallel rows. 



Shaded rocks, caves, holes 

 and crevices betwieen Harring- 

 ton Sound and Castle Harbor 

 and on Abbot's Cliff ; recorded 

 by Lefroy from Grace's Islnad. 

 Native. Southeastern United 

 States and West Indies. 



2. Asplenium heterochroum Kunze. 

 Long Spleenwort. (Fig. 459.) Rootstock 

 short ; petioles tufted, black, ^'-4' long, stiff, 

 erect or somewhat spreading; leaf -blades 

 linear in outline, 6'-16' long, 1' wide or less, 

 once pinnate, with mostly 20-40 pairs of 

 pinnae; pinnae close together or the lower 

 distant, mostly opposite, very nearly sessile, 

 oblong, obtuse, few-toothed, or the lower 

 nearly orbicular and much smaller than the 

 middle ones, all subtruncate at the base ; 

 veins, except the lowest on the upper side of 

 the pinna, simple; sori oblique, about 14" 

 long, borne close to the midvein, the indu- 

 sium membranous. [Asplenium Tricliomanes 

 of Reade, Lefroy, Hemsley and Rugg; A. 

 Trichomanes ma jus of Gilbert; A. muticum 

 Gilbert.] 



Common on cliffs, walls and shaded rocks 

 in most parts of the islands. Native. Florida, 

 Cuba, Porto Rico. For some years after the 

 description of this fern by Mr. B. D. Gilbert, as 

 Asplenium muticum (Am. Bot. 4: 86, 1903), 

 it was supposed to grow only in Bermuda and 

 in Florida, but Mr. W, R. Maxon has recently 

 pointed out its equivalency with A. hetero- 

 chroum. 



