MAXON STUDIES OF rBOPI< \l. AMERICAN PERNS. 491 



under this Inst name Swart/ citea both plate 29 and plate •".". Qgure l.' the 

 prototypes of the Linnsean Asplenium radicans, L758. 



r,\ L806, then, the transfer of the Jamaican plants from the several Lin- 

 mean names under Asplenlum had become complete. The confusion could 

 have been avoided by a slighl regard for the Linnsean citations. 



Sloane's long description 6 is well worth perusal. His specimens In the 

 herbarium of the British Museum were determined as Polypodium rcptans by 

 Jenman who cites plate 29 and plate •"><>. figure i. adding, " Sloane well 

 describes the great variation of form in this species, and says thai in- had 

 'tint seen in any Plant so -feat sporting of nature.*'* 



If there is the slightest evidence that any true Asplenlum formed a part 

 of the original Asplenlum radicans \... 1759, i. rhizophyllum L., p. 1540, 1763, or 

 .1. rhizophorum L., 17«'', it is unknown t<» the writer. The Asplenlum commonly 

 listed under these names (usually under the last i ranges from simply pinnate 

 t<> tripinnate and appears in have first received a tenable name at the hands 

 of Richard as Asplenium cirrhatum, d on specimens from Gaudeloupe. These 

 were simply pinnate. Between this state and the most compound there is 

 every intermediate stage, as shown alone by the Jamaican series in the U. s. 

 National Herbarium. The figures given by Hooker show some of these,' hut all of 

 Hooker's synonyms are not to be credited. .1. cirrhatum Ls especially common 

 ill the "West Indies and occurs less frequently on the continent. In its various 

 forms it has received many names: several of these have recently been reap- 

 plied by Urban.' 

 Dryopteris serrulata (Sw.) I '. Chr. Ind. Fil. l".»ii. 1905. 



Polypodium serrulatum Sw. Schrad. Journ. Bot. 1800": 25. 1801, not Mett. 

 1856. 



Polypodium asplenioides Sw. Schrad. Journ. Bot. 1800": 26. 1801. 



f Polypodium lunanianum Hew. Mag. Nat. Hist. II. 2: 460. 1838. 



Nephr odium serrulatum Jenman. Bull. Bot. Dept Jamaica II. 3: 189. 1896. 



The three names here involved were all given originally to Jamaican plants. 

 Polypodium serrulatum Sw. was founded upon Sloane's plate \:\. figure 1, 

 representing a plant of which Sloane says: " it -rows on Mount Diablo, near 

 Archers Ridge, and other inland woody parts of the Island." 



Polypodium asplenioides Sw. was founded on Sloane's plate 4.".. figure 2. this 

 showing a plant upon which Sloane comments at length, in part as follows: 

 "This is in everything the same as the former, only, although as high, yet 'tis 

 in everything lesser, the Pinnae a little more frequent, shorter and narrower 

 by much than that immediately preceding, being not over half an Inch broad 

 at Base where broadest, ending in a point. And in this, which seems to be 

 quite different from the former, there are some varieties. It grew with the 

 former/' 



a Also Plukenet, }>l. 286, fig. 2, which had been cited by Poiret (Encyc. 5: 

 530. 1804) under Polypodium radicans. Poiret's use of the term radicans 

 is apparently independent of Linnaeus, 1759; and Polypodium radicans Poiret 

 is a doubtful synonym of Dryopteris radicans. The Polypodium rhizophyllum 

 Sw. cited by him as a doubtful synonym is. of course. Polystichum rhizo- 

 phyllum i Sw.) Presl. 



b Pa ire 77. 



c Journ. Pot. 24: 34. Iss.;. 



tf\Yilld. Sp. PI. 5: 321. 1810. 



' Sp. Fil. 3: i>l. !S7. 1800, as .t. rhizophorum. 



i Symb. Antill. 4: 35. 1903. 



