Prats 65. 
PTERIS (§ Lrroprocnta) popopnyuya, Sir. 
Long-stalked Pteris. 
PrERIS (§ Litobrochia) podophylla, Sw.; stipes bright pale-tawny, tall, very stout 
(thicker than one’s finger), more or less muricated near the base, branched, 
as well as the stout rachis in a bi-trifurcate manner; fronds ample, tri-quadri- 
pinnate (several feet long and broad), subcoriaceous, glabrous; ultimate pinne 
or pinnules petiolate, four inches to a foot long, broad, linear-oblong, acu- 
minate, an inch to an inch and a half broad, deeply and regularly pinnatifid; 
segments approximate dimidiato-oval falcate acute (scarcely acuminate) ser- 
rated at the apex, the sinuses rounded ; veins copiously anastomosing, form- 
ing three or four series, its broad oblong subhexagonal areoles, of which the 
costal ones are the largest and parallel with costa, sori continuous following 
the course of the sinuses. 
Preris podophylla. Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 100. Willd. Sp. Pl. v. 5. p. 403. Ag. Sp. 
Gen. Pterid. p. 15. Hook. Sp. Fil. v. 2. p. 227. 
Litoprocuta podophylla. Pr. Tent. Pteridogr. p. 149. 
Litoprocusa camptocarpa. Fée, Gen. Fil. p. 187. 
Loncuitis pedata. Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 1536. 
Loncuitis erecta tribrachiata, lateralibus bipartitis, mediorecto simplici. Browne, 
Jam. p. 89. t. 1. 
Has. Tropical America, Jamaica, P. Browne, Swartz, Tussac, Purdie, Dr. Alea- 
ander Wilson ; Venezuela, Fendler, n. 98, 99; Moritz, n. 47; Caracas, Lin- 
den, n.175, 1539, and n. 542.—Var. minor, Bogoté, Holton, x. 50; Ecuador, 
Jameson ; Ocafia, altitude 4-5000 feet, Schlim, n. 661.—Cultivated in the 
Gardens at Kew. 
This is one of the finest of the many fine species of Pteris, 
§ Litobrochia. The only figure hitherto published of it is that 
of Patrick Browne, more than a hundred years ago, and far 
from a bad one, considering its antiquity. A healthy, but still 
young, fertile specimen in the Royal Gardens, has enabled us to 
give a reduced figure of the entire plant, and of two pinne of the 
natural size, but these are far from being among the largest 
the plant produces. The stipes, not often found in the herba- 
rium, is always of a rich tawny colour, and is smooth, or more 
or less muricated, especially near the base. For a long time the 
species was supposed to be a native of Jamaica only. 
Puiate 55. Fig. 1. Very reduced figure of Péeris (Litobrochia) podophylla, Sw. 
2. Portion of a rachis, with two fertile pinnules,—natural size. 8. Portion of a 
sterile segment, showing the venation,—magnified. 4. Portion of a fertile seg- 
ment, showing the involucre and capsules,—more magnified. 
FEBRUARY Ist, 1862. 
