410 60. ACROSTICIIUM. 



56. A. tectum, Wiild. ; rhizome thick, woody, the scales dense, linear, rigid, 

 black ; st. 3-4 in. 1., firm, erect, clothed with small furfuraceous adpressed and a 

 few spreading scales ; barren fr. 6-12 in. 1., i-f in. br., narrowed gradually to 

 both ends ; texture coriaceous ; lower or both sides clothed with small thin 

 scales, which are brown, darker in the centre, ultimately bleached ; veins 

 hidden ; fertile fr. narrower than the others, on longer stems. A. rubiginosum, 

 Fee. HL Sp. 5. p. 222. 



Hab. Mexico and West Indies to South Brazil and Peru. Distinguished by its long 

 narrow frond, the upper surface of which is nearly or quite naked, with the scales 

 beneath, though dense, thin and closely adpressed. A . Schiedei and nivosum of Kunze 

 appear both to belong here. 



57. A. Bettermanianum, Klotzsch ; rhizome woody, the scales dense, linear, 

 glossy, reddish-brown ; st. 3-6 in. 1., firm, erect, densely clothed with large 

 spreading ovate-lanceolate pale-brown scales ; barren fr. 4-6 in. 1., 1|-1| in. br., 

 the point very blunt, the base cuneate or rather rounded ; texture coriaceous ; 

 both sides with small scattered furfuraceous scales, those on the midrib beneath 

 black in the middle ; veins slightly raised, usually once forked ; fertile fr. much 

 narrower than the others and on longer stems. Hk. Sp. 5. p. 236. 



Hab. Columbia and Ecuador. Habit and texture of A . conforme. 



53. A. muscosum, Sw. ; rhizom? woody, short, the scales dense, glossy, linear, 

 bright chesnut-brown ; st. 4-6 in. 1., firm, clothed with large ovate spreading 

 pale-brown ciliated scales ; barren fr. 6-12 in. 1., 1-1^ in. br., narrowed at both 

 ends ; texture coriaceous ; upper surface slightly scaly, at last often naked, lower 

 quite hidden by imbricated ovate-acuminate short-ciliated ferruginous scales, 

 which are often dark chesnut-brown in the middle ; barren fr. much smaller 

 than the other, the st. longer. Hk. Sp. 5. p. 231. A. Langsdorffii, //. & G. 

 t. 234. 



Firmer in texture than A . squamosum, and often glabrous above when mature, but even 

 more densely scaly beneath, but the cilia of the scales much shorter. A. polylepis, Kze., 

 A. rupestre, deorsum, caulolepia, and truncicola, Karst., are either this or closely allied. 



59. A. obductum, Kaulf. ; rhizome woody, the scales dense, rigid, fibrillose, 

 black ; st. 3-4 in. 1., firm, erect, the scales small, peltate, and also linear, with a 

 black centre and grey edge ; barren fr. 12-15 in. 1., 1-1 J in. br., the point acute, 

 the base narrowed gradually ; texture subcoriaceous ; upper surface naked, lower 

 thinly matted with small pale peltate scales ; veins conspicuous ; fertile fr. much 

 smaller than the other. Hk. Sp. 5. p. 237. 



Hab. Mauritius and Bourbon. Most like the large forms of viscosum in habit and 

 texture. The scales are altogether peltate and very minute, and the coating, though 

 close, is very thin, and easily rubs away. The American A. elongatum, Kze., gathered 

 in Peru by Poppig, and in Brazil by Lindberg, does not appear to be safely separable 

 from this. 



60. A. auricomum, Kunze ; caud. erect, woody, the scales linear, reddish- 

 brown ; st. 2-3 in. 1., densely clothed with spreading linear and soft fibril] ose 

 scales like those of the base; barren fr. 12-18 in. 1., ~\\ in. br., the point 

 acuminate, the lower part narrowed very gradually ; texture subcoriaceous ; 

 upper surface naked or slightly scaly, lower thinly matted with minute bright- 

 brown scales, densest and longest on the midrib ; veins close, mostly simple ; 

 fertile fr. 1 ft. 1., in. br., the st. 5 in. \.-Hk. Sp. 5. p. 239. 



Hab. Andes, from Columbia to Peru, and reported by ~F6e from Mexico. Probably 

 a variety of squamosum. The scales are bright reddish-brown, and reduced down, except 

 on the midrib, to mere stellate tufts of hair. A. mcridense, Klotzsch, is like this, except 

 that the stem is longer, and the scales of the stem and midrib are not so narrow or so 

 dense. 



