POLYPODIACEAE 27 



lower ones somewhat deflexed, the segments falcate 

 or subfalcate by the strongly re volute edges, and thus also 

 apparently acute or acutish, entire, the basal pair much 

 larger than the others, auricle-like, sometimes incised: 

 veins 8-15 pairs, simple: sori medial or nearer the 

 margin: indusia pubescent. [D. stipularis (Willd.) 

 Maxon.] Hammocks. Fig. 15, reduced. 



This shield-fern is one of the late additions to our 

 flora. It grows on the floor of the hammock rather 

 than in the lime-sinks. Although scattered throughout 

 the hammock, in some places it forms extensive beds 

 to the exclusion of nearly all other vegetation. It 

 reaches its best development in Royal Palm Hammock. 

 The leaves are arched, yet the blades lie often in an 

 almost horizontal position, thus completely hiding the 

 ground. A single plant was discovered in Florida in 

 1905, but it was not until a decade later that plants were 

 found in abundance. It is common in tropical America 

 generally. 



12. NEPKBOLEPIS Schott 



Graceful epiphytic or terrestrial wood-ferns. Leaves 

 approximate or clustered on the short rootstock, spread- 

 ing, arching, or pendent; blades elongate, sometimes 

 greatly so, 1-pinnate, the petiole not jointed to the 

 rootstock; leaflets numerous, narrow, approximate, 

 jointed to the rachis. Veins free, usually forked. Sori 

 reniform or orbicular-reniform, borne at the apex of 

 the upper branch of a vein, usually near the margin of 

 the blade. Indusia reniform or orbicular-reniform, at- 

 tached near the sinus. About ten species, widely dis- 

 tributed in tropical and subtropical regions. 



Blades of the leaflets distinctly auricled at the base : In- 

 dusia reniform. 1. N. exaltata. 



Blades of the leaflets rounded or merely 



angled at the base : indusia suborbicular. 2. N. biserrata. 



