NEPllRODIUM § LASTUEA. 107 



rounded base broad-oblong acuminated very deeply pinnatifid 

 quite to the rachis pinnate in the lower half, pinnae and 

 segments close-placed oblong subfalcate obtuse and suban- 

 gulato-dentate at the apex, the rest, of the margin entire, 

 veinlets rather obscure forked, sori small distant cinnamon- 

 coloured always on tlie superior brancli of the fork and half- 

 way between the slightly pubescent costule and the margin, 

 involucre minute but apparently persistent reniformi-rotun- 

 date. 



Hal). At the foot of Cliimborazo, Ecuador, Spruce {without number). — This is 

 probably a rare plant. I cannot refer it to any described Nepfirodiiim, and am 

 inclined to consider it a distinct species. The from! is of rather a brigbt-gieen co- 

 lour; the i)inn:c are not attenuated at the base; but two or three of the lowest 

 pairs of pinnules or segments are shorter than the rest, so as to give a rounded 

 and not truncated form to the base. The broader jjinnules or segments are thus 

 nearly in the middle. All the segments (except at the apex) are cut very deeply 

 down to the very rachis. and the inferior ones are clearly distinct, so that the 

 frond is in that part of it bipinnate ; but the pinnules and segments are both equally 

 approximate. 



83. N. (Lastrea) schizotis. Hook. ; caudex ?, stipes long 

 stout ^ of an inch broad near the base and there only sparsely 

 and deciduously scaly glabrous, rachis and costae on both 

 sides pubescenti-hirsute, frond 3-4 feet or more long ovato- 

 oblong acuminate coriaceo-membranaceous pinnate, pinnse 

 spreading from 6 inches to a foot long sessile (with no 

 gland beneath) from a broad l)ase elongato-oblong much 

 and long-acuminated pinnatifid three-quarters of the way 

 down to the costa with very numerous lanceolate sub- 

 falcate acute entire segments, the basal ones above and 

 below especially those of the lower half of the fronds much 

 the largest forming large auricles parallel with and close to 

 the rachis laciniato-pinnatifid, veinlets simple 10-12 on each 

 side of the costules bearing prominent sori forming two 

 series on the segments from the rachis nearly to the apex, 

 involucres small rotundato-reniform canescently hairy. 



Hal). Near Tarapota, Eastern Peru, Spruce, n. 4030. — My single s))ecimcn of 

 tliis has the frond 4 feet long, and 2 feet wide in the broadest part ; and but for 

 its great size, and the large and laciniato-pinnatifid auricles or basal segments, I 

 might have been disposed to have referred it to N. patens. It is however, I think, 

 quite distinct. 



84. N. (Lastrea) Tarapotense, Hook.; caudex ?, stipes 1^ 

 foot and more long moderately stout angled when dry, at the 

 dilated base densely clothed with brown linear-subulate ra- 

 ther long crisped scales less copious and smaller higher up 



