DAVALLIA. 11)1 



unequally bi-trifid the lobes broad cuneate 2 — 4-veined, 

 raclus wiry flexuose or zigzag ])iicldy with curved spines, in- 

 volucres terminal rather small cup-shaped or half oval not 

 confluent less than the diameter of the segment. (Tab. L) V. 

 B.) — !)• aculeata, Sw. in. Act. Taur. 1793. Sw. Sijii. Fil. 

 p. 134. FL I fid. Oct: iii. p. 1099. IVilld. Sp. PL v. p. 479. D. 

 dumosa, Sw. St/n. Fil. p. 135 and 353. IVilld. Sp. PL v. 

 ]). 4H(), {not Kiuizc). Adiantum aculeatum, L. " Spretuj. 

 AnleU."" — Adiantum frutesccus, spinosum ct repens, Plum. 

 FiL J). 77, /. 9i.—Sloiuie, Jaw. i. p. 99, t. CI. 



Hab. West Iiuli;ui Islands, Meuzics. Hispaniola, Plinnier. Jamaifa, 

 Sirartz, Dr. Bancroft. Doniiiiira, Dr. Imrai/, n. 7. — This lias all tlie ap- 

 pearance ol a large climbing Fern. The caiidex, Plumicr tells us, " is 

 no thicker than a writing pen, but it extends in every direction by 

 means of long branches, wliich are as hard as wood and quite black and 

 woolly. Fronds arc produced from this caudex of prodigious length, 

 with their stipes and rachis polished like ebony, and beset with hooked 

 spines: from these spring long branches, sometimes alternate, sometimes 

 opposite, waved and tortuous ; from each bend or angle a branch proceeds, 

 beset with pinnules or leaves resembling those of the Maiden-hair," Adia7i- 

 tuiii Cnpillus. "The whole plant, however," continues Plumier, " resembles 

 a Ruhus rather than an Adiantum, in consequence of its spiny character. 

 It occupies a great quantity of surface and invests the largest forest-trees 

 if growing near them. I have seen a whole field entirely covered with 

 this Fern, in a place which the Buccaneers call ' Spiny bottom.' The 

 same Buccaneers call the plant the French Fern.''' — By its broader pinnules 

 and segments this plant seems to bear the same relation to D.fumarioidcs, 

 that D. retusa does to D. tenuifolia. 



It will be seen that I have difl'ered from all my predecessors in uniting 

 the D. dumosa with D. aculeata. For the D. aculeata the authority is 

 Sloane's figure, which is sufficiently characteristic. The D. dumosa is 

 a species wholly taken up from Plumier, whose figure is equally satisfac- 

 toiy, if we only make allowance for a little exaggeration in the si)ines of 

 our plants. Spreugel seems to have been the first to consider Phimier's 

 plant distinct, and to have misled the excellent vSwartz, who in the Flora 

 Ind. Occ. correctly enough referred to Phimier's figure for D. aculeata, 

 which in his Synopsis Filicum he has removed to D. dumosa, in which 

 work however he has under both species included the Adiantum aculeatum, 

 L. : and, so conscious was he of the similarity of the two, that he observes, 

 under D. dumosa, " simillima D. aculeata: toto habitu, ita ut non valde 

 miror Cel. Sprengeliuin 1. c. banc pro illam habuisse." 



99. T>. fiiniarioides, Sw. ; fronds spreading ample scandent 

 subtriplicato-pinnatc firm submembranaceous, lower primary 

 pinn;D 3 — 4-pinnate, pinnules ovato-lanceolate deeply bipin- 

 natifid, segments cuneate digitated, the segments linear- 

 cuncatc obtuse single-veined, rachis wiry flexuose or zigzag 

 prickly with decurved spines, sori solitary terminal, invo- 

 lucres cup-shaped or half-oval as broad as the segment. — 

 Sw. Syn. FiL p. 135. FL Lid. Occ. iii.;;. 1701. .SV///.7/. Fil. 

 t. 129 [excellent). IVilld. Sp. PL v. p. 480. D. acideata, 



