182 PTERIS. 



30. Pt. (F^npteus) pwigens, A"N'illd.; "fronds pinnate, pin- 

 ntc subpetiolate lowest ones bipartite, segments linear-lan- 

 ceolate serrated at the base equally and broadly confluent, 

 veins forked inferior basal one geminate proceeding from 

 the costa, stipes externally aculeate and purplish," Aff. — 

 Willd. Sp. PL V. p. 387 [according to Ag!). Ag. Sp. Gen. 

 Pterid. p. 28. Pt. macroura, Willd. Sp. PL v. p. 380. Pt. 



pinnatifid, the apex caudate and entire the lower pair bipartite, costae spinulose 

 on the upper side, laciniae linear-lanceolate obtuse entire slightly falcate, veins 

 forked close to the costula free the pair terminating in the sinus of the lacinia;." 

 /. Sw. En. Ferns of Kew, Dec. 1845 ; Comp. to Bot. Mag. Ixxii. p. 24 ; Cat. 

 Kexv Ferns, p. 4 ; Vat. Cult. Ferns, p. 36. 



Ilab. " Jamaica. Cult, in (since) 1822. — Fronds 2-3 feet high, rising from an 

 erect rhizome. Pinn?e C-8 inches long, terminated by a long, lanceolate cauda." 



Now in all the above characters there is nothing whatever at variance, but 

 everything to correspond, with the common form of Pt. quadrinvrita, with which 

 the author does not compare it, but says, in regard to its affinities : " It has been 

 long known by the names of Pt. Plumieri and Pt. nemoralis, but the latter is 

 given under Campteria : and as the figure of Plumier, Fil. t. 15, is also quoted 

 for Pt. biaurita, which can only be known as distinct from the present species by 

 the anastomosing of the lower veins, and which characterizes Campteria from 

 true Pteris, I therefore view this as an undescribed species ; and as my attention 

 has often been called to it by its peculiar smell, I have chosen to designate it by 

 the above name. I possess native specimens of the same from Jamaica." — I, too, 

 possess specimens from Jamaica, which I believe to be identical, but which are 

 certainly included in what I venture to consider Pt. quadriaxirita. Kunze retains 

 the species, or at least the name, in his Index Fil. Hort. Europ., without any re- 

 mark. Mettenius, on the other hand, unhesitatingly refers it to Pt. repandnla. 

 Link, making it a synonym along with Pt. Blumeana, Ag., and gives India, Brazil, 

 and Columbia as the native countries. (See Wetten. Fil. Hort. Bot. Lips. p. 57.) 

 The peculiar odour to which Mr. J. Smith alludes, arises from some minute 

 glandular hairs, chiefly on the under surface of the frond, but which are quite 

 scentless in the dry state. 



Of Pteris sulcata, Hort. Berol., Mr. J. Smith remarks : " This is so hke my 

 Pt.felosma, that I hesitated whether it was truly distinct: its chief ditference is 

 the smaller size, and its being quite destitute of the odour of that plant. Our 

 cultivated plant from Berlin seems to be identical with Pt. quadriaurita." This 

 is assuredly the same that Mettenius describes as 



Pt. (Eupteris) sulcata, Meyen, MSS. ; "rhizome erect, petiole 1' long straw- 

 coloured sparingly paleaceous, lamina 2' long membranaceous finely pubescent 

 on the costa beneath ovate acuminate pinnatisected, segments shortly petiolate 

 deeply pinnatipartite, costa at the base of the costula with a spinulose seta, la- 

 ciniaj confluent into a wing separated by broader sinuses from a broad base oblong 

 with a thin callous margin rounded at the apex obtuse slightly repand, lowest seg- 

 ments bipartite or at the base below pinnatisected, secondary segments nearly 

 equal to the primary one, nervation of Eupteris, veins forked, branches free the 

 lowest ones extending a little above the sinus." — Metten. Fil. Bot. Hort. Lips, 

 p. 57. Kunze, in Linnxa, win. p. 290, name only. J. Sm. En. Ferns, Hort. Kew. 

 p. 55. 



Hab. China (Mettenius). — Smith gives this species as of Link, "Hort. Berol.," 

 but 1 do not find it in any of the editions of that work, and indeed Kunze quotes 

 as a synonym "Pt. nemoralis, Lk. ad part." 



