ACUOSTICIIUM, § KLAPnOGLOSSUM. 201 



costa slender (' arcta/ my specimens have the costa singu- 

 larly stout and very prominent beneath) slightly channelled 

 above, veins parallel slender approximate spreading at an 

 angle of 85°, stipes triangular Hrm ; fertile fronds smaller 

 lanceolate acute (in Herb. Deless. terminated by a short ob- 

 tuse mucro), caudex thick scaly, scales linear-lanceolate 

 amber-colour [succlneis), the margin scarcely sinuated." Fee, 

 Acrost.p. 32. /. 8. Griseb. in Herb, nostr. — Elaphoglossum, 

 Moore, Ind. Fil. p. 14. A. latifolium, " Kze. in Herb. Deles- 

 sert {not Siv. nor Sieber)." Elaphoglossum, Moore, Ind. Fil. 

 p. 358 {excl. Acrost. (Ilymenodium) pachyphyllum, A7. in 

 Linnaa, xx. p. 428, atid in Herb, nostr.). — Var. ellipticum. 

 A. luridum, Fee, Acrost. p. 33. /. 19. 



Ilab. Britisli Guiana, Schomburyk, n. 450. New Granada, Mr.rida, Morilz, n. 

 321 (" A. pachyphyllum," from A7.). Ecuador, near I'asto. — Var. ellipticum. 

 Province of Arima, Purdie. French Guiana, Le Prieur. — I fear this fine plant 

 is not clearly understood or well defined. It was first detected by Schomhurgk 

 in 1837 and circulated as his n. 450, and named and described by Fee, 1. c, p. 

 32, in 1844 ; but, strangely enough, at p. 29, the same plant of Schomhurgk (n. 

 450) is brought forward as the Acrostichiun brevipes, Kze., and is said to be A. 

 latifolium, J. Sm., and A. callafolium, Lk. (not Bl.) ; and M. Fee seems altoge- 

 ther to ignore an A. lalifullum. I have purposely omitted here the A. brevipes, 

 Kze. ; for I cannot tell what is intended by it ; and in regard to A. Schomburf/Jtii, 

 my original specimen is quite at variance with the "fronds membranaceous " of 

 Fee, as it is with the character " costa slender." My Schomburgkian specimen 

 has the sterile frond more than 2 feet long, 3 inches wide, singularly thick 

 and coriaceous, broad-lanceolate, much acuminated, the costa very stout, very 

 prominent at the back, and together with the stipes (a foot long) as thick 

 as a goose-quill. Specimens identical with this are from Merida, in my 

 herbarium, as "^1. (Ilymenodium) pachyphyllum, Kl. (not Kze.). Again, I 

 have from Purdie an allied plant, I believe a variety, which Dr. Grisebacii 

 has named on my specimen and in his Fl. of the British W. Ind. vol. ii. 

 ined., A. Schomburgkii ; but it has some considerable points of difference from 

 the other samples I have alluded to and is unquestionably identical with 

 the figure oi A. luridum. Fee, Acrost. p. 35. t. 19, where the same number of 

 Schomhurgk, viz. n. 450, is given for this plant also. This has scarcely any 

 stipes, but a frond from 8-12 inches long, 22-3 inches wide, elliptical, siia- 

 thulate, thin, coriaceous, obtuse, gradually decurrent almost to the base of 

 the winged stipes, a somewhat cartilaginous margin, ciliato-squamulose at the 

 edge, and a slender and flattened costa. May they not all be forms of A. lau- 

 folium ? 



13. A. (Elaphoglossum) impressnm, Fee; "fronds lanceo- 

 late coriaceous opaque acute unequally cuneatc at the base ; 

 sterile ones coriaceous revolute at the margin, veins spread- 

 ing at a right angle approximate rimajform on the upi)er 

 side, beneath immersed, costa deeply grooved on the upper 

 side; fertile ones scarcely altered wider at the base slightly 

 decurrent, the margin entire incrassated, veins superticial 



VOL. V. 2 u 



