MAXOE STUDIES OF TROPICAL Wll.liu \N FERNS. l^' 1 



Dryopteris oligophylla Maxon, aom. QOV. 



Polypodium invisum Sw. Prod. 133. L788, qo1 Forst. L786. 



Vephrodium sloanei Baker Id Hook. & Baker, Syn. Fil. ed. i'. 263. i x 7J. not 



Presl, 1825. 

 Dryopteris sj>,n,,>i Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 813j 1891. 

 Vephrodium invisum !><-s\. M6ni. Soc. Linn. Paris 6: S>~. l s '_'7. 

 'riif above synonymy, If complete as to specific names, indicates 1 1 1 « - need of a 

 new oame for iliis common tropical American fern. Swartz followed his brief 

 but excellent first description with ;i reference to Sloane's plate 51, Illustrating 

 :i Jamaican specimen. This is unmistakably the planl known of late years as 

 Dryopteris (or Vephrodium) sloanei and besl described by Jenman. Why 

 Qhristensen should have it-N-Lr.-i i «-i l it to subspecific rank and that under 

 Dryopteris patens is nol clear; for its specific (lisiin.-iii.-ss is evident, and in any 

 case the alliance is with Dryopteris serra, ms Jenman pointed out. The lat- 

 ter's remarks on its occurrence in Jamaica are otherwise of Lnteresl : " < Sommon 

 among tin- h.wcr hills and widely spread through the country, ascending i<> 

 .".r»iM» ft. altitude, on banks and other open places. A very tin*' species, the 

 fronds however not erecl hut arching from the base outwards, a much wider- 

 pinnaed plant than Serra, to which it is closely allied. The texture is rather 

 thin hut hard, becoming rigid when dry. The rootstock is very wide-creeping 

 under the surface of the ground, with the stipites scattered along it. Frequently 

 the fructification does not reach the outer of the ]»inna'.*' 

 The following collections are in the National Herbarium: 



Jamah a: Elevations mainly of 600 meters or less. Maxon 995, 1003, 1777. 

 17si. 1859, 1935, 1991, 2379, 2527, 2823 : Underwood 104, 3249, ::::'»i ; Clutt 

 131; Harris 8962; •/< n man. 

 Cuba : Wright 3922; Maxon 3920. 



Porto Rico: Heller 6345; Underwood a- Griggs 75, 7<;-j; Bintenis J<*>:;<;. 

 St. Kitts: Britton & Cowell 4S3. 

 Haiti : Picarda 1030. 

 Costa Km a : •/. 1). Smith 6901; Pittier 20964; WerckU (as Aspidiutn 



macrourum) . 

 Colombia . //. //. Smith _:4..i. 

 Nephr odium paucijugum Jenman is referred to by Jenman (7. c.) as possibly 

 a young state of the present species. Under this name in the Jenman herbarium 

 at the New York Botanical Garden are two immature sterile plants on separate 

 sheets. One of these, with creeping rhizome and serrate segments, agrees well 

 with the original description of paucijugum and is undoubtedly the type; it is 

 too young to refer with certainty to any described species, hut it is positively 

 not 8loanei i /'. '. oligophylla) . The second is a different species, with entire 

 segments and long-attenuate pinna 1 : it also is young, hut apparently a young 

 state of sloanei i /'. '. oligophylla). Jenman's erroneous association of this a 

 olid specimen with his type of paucijugum explains satisfactorily his later sii:- 

 gestion that paucijugum might he a young state of sloanei. Vephrodium 

 paucijugum itself, properly restricted to the original, must for the present be 

 kept among the ~<i><<i<s inquirendae. 

 Dryopteris pyramidata (Fee) Maxon. 

 Goniopteris i>iinnni<iut<i Fee, lime Mem. 61. pi. /'>'. /. ,'. I s -''.''.. 

 This little known species was founded on a plant collected in Gaudeloupe by 

 L'llerminier in lsr.1. No. 50240 in the v. s. National Herbarium, collected in 

 Santo Domingo by Wright, Tarry, and Brummel (no. 12) in 1871 is apparently 

 the same, it is a true Dryopteris ( * Budryopteris of Christ ensen) and is by 



"Bull. Bot I>ept. Jamaica II. 3: l<;p L65. L896. 



