TRICHOMANES. 



Jiurgin of two rounded valves, edged with brown. The 

 .tjiumn is certainly prominent. Our defcription differs from 

 Ur. Swartz's in fome material points, though taken from 

 his own fpecimens. 



T. reptans. Trailing Briftle-fern. Swartz Ind. Occ. 

 1727. Willd. n. 9. R. A. Hedw. Fil. t. 3. f. 4, bad. 

 — Fronds obovate-oblong, nearly feflile, irregularly pinna- 

 tifid, with oblong obtufe fegments ; their bafe wedge- 

 ihaped. Involucrum immerfed, its orbicular mouth not 

 projefting beyond the leaf. — Native of old moffy trunks of 

 trees, in the mountainous part of Jamaica. If we are 

 right in our ideas of this fpecies, it is browner and thinner 

 than the laft, with a larger frond, but ^ortitx jla]k ; the 

 veins much lefs thick and prominent. The involucrum 

 moreover does not projeft, till dripped by age, nor is its 

 margin divided. The column is certainly prominent. We 

 do not boaft, in this cafe, an original fpecimen from the 

 author, and therefore may be miilaken. 



T.Jinuofum. Sinuated Briille-fern. Willd. n. 10. 

 Lamarck f. I. (T. crifpum ; Linn. Sp. PI. ed. I. 1097. 

 ed. 2. 1560, excluding the fynonyms of Plumier and Pe- 

 tiver.) — Frond lanceolate, pinnatifid ; tapering at the bafe; 

 fegments ovate, obtufe, fomewhat angular, with zigzag 

 veins, and moftly folitary fruftifications. — Native of the 

 Weft Indies ; Willdenow fays of Guadaloupe. A very 

 elegant and diftinft fpecies, fometimes refembhng the out- 

 line of an oak-leaf, but it is more ufually of a linear-lan- 

 ceolate figure, tapering at each end, four inches, more or 

 lefs, in height, light olive, pellucid, finely reticulated, flat, 

 rarely a little hairy, with elegant, zigzag, equally difperfed 

 veins. Involucrum immerfed at the blunt point of each feg- 

 ment, almoft always folitary, its dilated orbicular border 

 not projcfting beyond the leaf. Column flender, prominent, 

 full twice as long as the involucrum. This feems, by the Lin- 

 nasan herbarium, to be what Linnaeus intended for T. crif- 

 pum ; but it is evident from the fpecific charafter and name 

 that he had full as much in his contemplation Plumier's 

 t. 86, quoted for a fynonym ; and the latter being univer- 

 fally received as the true crifpum, we (hall fo retain it. See 

 the next feftion. 



T. polypodioides. Polypody Briftle-fern. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 ed. I. 1098. ed. 2. 1561. Swartz Fil. 145. Willd. 

 n. II. — "Frond lanceolate, pinnatifid, wavy. Flowers 

 folitary, terminal." — Native of India. — " Frond the length 

 and breadth of the finger, pinnatifid almoft to the mid-rib ; 

 lobes lanceolate, bluntly ferrated, acute at the fummit, 

 each of them furnifhed with a folitary flower at the point. 

 The frond moreover is pellucid, with alternate veins." — 

 Such is Linnseus's defcription of this fpecies, which no per- 

 fon has ever difcovered, and which can only be determined 

 from his works or herbarium. In the latter nothing pre- 

 fents itfelf under this name; but the fpecimen marked 

 crifpum, mentioned under our preceding fpecies, fo pre- 

 cisely anfwers to this defcription of polypodioides, that we 

 cannot but believe it is the very plant, and that Linnaeus 

 has here fallen into a moft complicated miftake. As we 

 are, neverthelefs, unable to prove this, we would ftill re- 

 tain the excellent name ol Jmuofum, to which thofe who 

 think as we do may reier polypodioides as a fynonym, with 

 or vnthout a mark of doubt. 



T. elegans. Elegant Briftle-fern. Rudge Guian. 24. 



t. 35. Willd. n. 12 Barren fronds lanceolate, deeply 



pinnatifid ; fertile ones linear, pinnate, on longer ftalks. — 

 Native of watery moffy places in Guiana. Fronds tufted ; 

 the barren Ones leafy, pellucid, of numerous, deep, paral- 

 lel, linear, bluntifh, fomewhat jagged fegments, that are 

 near an inch long ; their common Jlalk round, about two 



inches in length, riearly {mooxh ; fertile ones fewer, their 

 Jlalks ereft, five or fix inches long, the /ron;/ itfelf four or 

 five, and only half an inch wide, fcarcely at all leafy, but 

 compofed of two denfe rows of numerous, crowded, ftalked, 

 cylindrical, two-edged involucral cups, each with a fm^ll or- 

 bicular border, and protruding a long, curved, rough, 

 flightly club-fhaped column, thrice the length of the involu- 

 crum itfelf. 



Seft. 2. Frond pinnate. Three fpecies ; Willd. 



T. crifpum. Crilped Briftle-fern. Linn. Sp. PI. 1560 ? 

 Swartz Ind. Occ. 1731. Willd. n. 14. R. A. Hedw. 

 Fil. t. 4. f. 2. (Trichomanes n. i ; Linn. Hort. Cliff. 

 476. Poly podium crifpum caliciferum ; Plum. Fil. 67. 

 t. 86; copied in Petiv. Fil. t. 11. f. 8.) — Frond pin- 

 nate ; leaflets oblong, obtufe, wavy, crifped, hairy, many- 

 flowered at the extremity ; the upper ones confluent. — 

 Native of various parts of the Weft Indies. The tufted 

 hairy roo/ bears many lanceolate ftalked _/)-OHi/f, about a foot 

 high, of a light pellucid olive-green, very thin and mem- 

 branous ; their numerous leaflets about an inch long, ele- 

 gantly crifped and plaited, copioufly veined, clothed with 

 fcattered tawny hairs. The blunt extremity of each leaflet, 

 except fome of the inferior ones, bears from four to fix large, 

 immerfed, rather crowded, tubular involucrums, with orbicu- 

 lar entire flightly dilated mouths. From each proceeds a long 

 flender, almoft capillary, roughifli column, whofe point when 

 entire is blunt, or rather capitate. 



T. floribundum. Many-flowered Briftle-fern. Willd. 

 n. 15. (T. pinnatum ; Swartz Fil. 142. R. A. Hedw. 

 Fil. t. 4. f. I. T. rhizophylla ; Cavan. Leccion. 279. 

 Swartz Fil. 142.) — Frond pinnate; leaflets lanceolate, 

 ferrated ; the upper ones decurrent, confluent. Fruftifica- 

 tion marginal, fringe-like, prominent. — Native of feveral 

 parts of the Weft Indies. Twice the fize of the laft. The 

 leaflets are ufually near two inches long, above half an inch 

 broad, alternate, bluntifli, nearly fmooth, befet with innu- 

 merable clofe tranfverfe veins, connefted by fine reticulations ; 

 their margin undulated and finely ferrated : thofe of the 

 barren fronds crowded ; of the fertile ones remote, moft of 

 their ferratures tipped with a little, brown, cup-fliaped, en- 

 tirely prominent and naked involucrum, with a capitate 

 column about its own length. Cavanilles fpeaks of this as 

 the handfomeft fpecies he had feen. His defcription leaves 

 no doubt as to the identity of his plant, though we have not 

 feen an inftance of any fprouting roots from the tip of the 

 frond, which probably led Dr. Swartz, vsdthout feeing fpe- 

 cimens, to adopt it as diftinft. 



Seft. 3. Frond doubly pinnatifid. Six fpecies ; Willd. 



T. crinitum. Hairy Briftle-fern. Swartz Ind. Occ. 

 1730. Willd. n. 19. R. A. Hedw. Fil. t. l — Frond 

 pinnate ; leaflets obtufe, pinnatifid, decurrent, confluent ; 

 hairy at the margin and veins ; fegments often cloven. Stalk 

 hairy .-7-Found on the trunks of trees, on the lofty moun- 

 tains of Jamaica. Frond about three inches in length, pale, 

 pellucid ; its tawny-haired flalk fcarcely fo long. Involu- 

 crumshexe and there imbedded at the ends of the fegments 

 of each leaflet, with a dilated, fringed, orbicular margin. 

 Column long, roughifli, capitate with a taper point. The 

 fegments of the leaflets are lanceolate, bluntifli,_not fo ge- 

 nerally divided in our fpecimens as in Hedvvig's figure. 



T. pyxidiferum. Covered Briftle-fern. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 i;6i. Swartzlnd. Occ. 1739? Willd. n. 21. (Filicula 

 pyxidifera; Plum. Fil. 74. t. 50. f. E ; o .'Kd in Petu'. 

 Fil. t. 13. f. 13.) — Frond pinnate; leaflets oblong, obtu.e, 

 decurrent, pinnatifid, with linear, obtufe, decurrent, entire, 

 moftly three-cleft fegments. Stalks all winged. Involn- 

 crum clofed by a lid bearing the column.— Found by 1 m- 



