110 TRICHOMANES. 



Hab. West Indian Islands, abundant on the trunks of trees, Swartz and 

 others. — Fronds varying much in size, from 1 — 3 inches long, and often 

 as much broad, cordate or cuneate at the base and sometimes much attenu- 

 ated, the margin entire or erose or cut and jagged, or more or less deeply 

 incised ; the barren plants, more especially, fringed with ciirious, nearly or- 

 bicular, membranaceous, peltate scales, lying flat upon the edge in pairs, 

 one on each side and placed back to back. These are situated between the 

 veins, alternate with them, so that they cannot be supposed in any way to 

 be abortive involucres. Besides the usual flabellate veins of this group, 

 there are intermediate very slender ones, parallel with them, between which 

 the reticulations appear also arranged in lines parallel with them. One of 

 the most delicate and elegant of Ferns. 



6. T. punctatum, Poivet; caudex creeping toraentose, 

 fronds small imbricating sessile simple orbiculari-cordate or 

 obovate and obtuse at the base shortly petiolate crenato-lo- 

 bate with marginal stellated hairs, the lobes obtuse, veins 

 compact flabellate dichotomous, involucres few exserted free 

 cylindrical attenuated below the mouth 2-lipped, receptacle 

 a little exserted. — Poiret, in Encycl. Bot. viii. p. 64. Kaulf. 

 Emim. Fil.p. 201. Hook, et Gre'v. Ic. Fil. t. 236.-/3. base of 

 the frond sometimes cuneate. T. sphenoides, Kze. in PI. 

 Crypt. Poepp. p. 102, {excl. si/n. of Hooker). 



Hab. Martinique, Poiret. Guadeloupe, {Kaulfuss). Trinidad, Lovk- 

 hart. Gorgona, Pacific side of Central America, Barclay. Guiana, C.'S. 

 Parker. — j3. Peru, Paeppvj. — Poeppig's T. sphenoides, according to his spe- 

 cimen in my herbarium, only differs from T. punctatum in the cuneate base 

 of the fronds. 



7. T. reptans, Sw. ; caudex creeping tomentose, fronds 

 small erect simple cuneato-ovate entire inciso-pinnatifid ta- 

 pering into an elongated slender stipes, margin with a few 

 stellated hairs, veins flabellate compact dichotomous, involu- 

 cres few exserted cylindrical attenuated below 2-lipped at the 

 mouth, receptacles included. — Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. p. 1727. 

 Syn. Fil. p. 142. Willd. Sp. PI. v. p. 501. Hedw. Fil. cum 

 Ic. Hook, et Grev. Ic. Fil. t. 32. — T. hymenodes, Hedw. Fil. 

 cum Ic? Phyllitis scandens &c. Sloane, Jam. i. t. 27,/. 1. 



Hab. Jamaica, Swartz, Macfadyen. St. Vincent, L. Guildiny. Cuba, 

 Poeppig. — Scarcely exceeding an inch or an inch and a half high, includ- 

 ing the stipes, and allied to T. punctatum, especially to var. /3., but distin- 

 guished by the long slender stipes. The figures in Hedwig's Fil. above 

 quoted, it must be confessed, are both of them very unsatisfactory : the 

 central costa represented would induce me to refer thetn to T. muscoides ; 

 but the prominent involucres indicate a greater affinity with T. reptans. 



8. T. Bojeri, Hook, et Grev. ; caudex creeping more or 

 less tomentose, fr-onds small erect simple flabelliform mem- 

 branaceous lobed, the margins quite glabrous, lobes rounded 

 subcrenate soriferous, veins flabellate dichotomous rather dis- 

 tant, involucres subcylindrical attenuated at the base wholly 



