ADIANTUM. 3 



Copious specimens in my possession of botli — the reniformc from Madeira 

 and Teneriffe, the asai-ifoiium from Mauritius and Bourbon — incline me 

 to a dilTcrent opinion : the western one is uniformly more slender and 

 lon<:;cr in proportion in the stipes, less scaly ; the frond smaller, of a thinner 

 texture, with a broad and shallow sinus, and constantly smaller and less 

 densely approximated involucres. A. asarifolium is altogether and always 

 a stouter and coarser plant. It is not a little remarkable that these two 

 species appear peculiar to their respective localities, nothing like them bav- 

 in};: l^cen delected in any part of the vast intermediate continent of Africa. 

 Whether the following is allied or not, cannot be determined from the 

 figure of Petiver. 



3. A. PhiUppense, L. ; "frond reniform, simple, alternate, 

 petiolate, loLcd, many-flowered." Linn. Sp. PL 155G. Sw. 

 Sf/n. Fil. 120. Willd. Sp. PL v. 42Q.—Peth\ Gazoph. 8, t. 

 4,/. 4. 



Hab. " Philippine Islands." — Petiver seems the only authority for this 

 dubious plant, as well as for its locality. 



§ II. Fronds pinnate, rarely suhhipinnate. (Sp. 4 — 32). 

 * Sori continuous and solitary, or more or less elongated and unequal. 

 (Sp.4-11). 



4. A. macrophyllum^ Sw. ; frond pinnate, pinnaj large 

 chartaceous opaque somewhat glaucous beneath sessile or 

 on very short petioles subfalcate, lower ones opposite, 

 sterile ones broadly but obliquely ovate acuminate slightly 

 lobed and serrated, fertile ones narrower obliquely and an- 

 gulato-cuneate at the base, sori linear elongated more or 

 less interrupted, stipes and rachis ebeneous glabrous. — Sw. 

 Syn. FU.p. 122. Willd. Sp. PL v. p. 429. H. B. K. Nov. 

 Gen. Am. i. p. 16 el vii. t. (iQQ. Hook, et Grev. Ic. FiL t. 132. 

 —Br. Jam. t. 38,/. 1. 



Hab. West Indies and tropical America, common. — A veiy fine and 

 well-marked species ; yet the shape of the piuuJB is highly variable. In one 

 specimen we find the lower pinnae pinnate, but it seems a monstrosity. 



5. A. platyphyllum, Sw. ; " fronds pinnate, pinnae petio- 

 late ovate attenuate at the apex entire oblique at the base 

 and gibbous at the upper base glaucous beneath, sori oblong 

 contiguous occupying the whole margin." Sw. KoiiyL Ve- 

 tersk. Ac. Handl. 1817, p. 74, t. 3,/. (>. Kze. Anal. Pterid. 

 p. 31, t. 20, an Kze. in Linncca, ix. p. 79 } (not Kze. Poepp. 

 Fil. exsic. in Herb. Hook. J. 



Hab. Near Villa Rica, Brazil, Freyreis (Swartz). Brazil, Herb. 

 Kaulf. propr., sterile {Knme). Pampayaco, Peru, Porppig (Kiinze). — 

 Swartz's figure represents a very remarkable Brazilian plant, such as 

 neither myself nor Mr. J. Smith have seen, with quite the habit, so far as 

 can be judged from the figures, of our^l. yVilsoni; the pinnae few (four), 



