124 PLANTS OF PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND. 



1. Acrostichum aureum, Gmel. 2, 1295. 



" Pinnas alternate, tongue-shaped, quite entire smooth " 

 Petiv. til. 142, t. 8, f. 5. Plum, fil, 87, t. 104, Amer. 5, t. 7, 

 Pluk. Aim. 2, 288. f. 2. Found in thickets of underwood ; and 

 by the road side. 



2. Acrostichum calamarium, H. (Gleichenia sp.). 



Frond dichotomous, bipinnate, tendril bearing ; leaflets 

 linear, entire, parallel. Compare. Acrostichum furcatum Linn. 

 Gmel. 2, 1296. Pium. Amer. 13, t. 20, Tel. 22, t. 28. Petiv. 

 fil. 51, t. 5, f. 4. Polypodium dichotomum. Swartz. Prod. 

 133. Thumb, jap. 338, t. 37. Filix calamaria. Rumph. 6, 85, 

 t. 38. Stipe; round, smooth, suffruticose, pithy, terminating 

 with a tendril. Frond : dichotomous, bipinnate ; leaflets 

 opposite nearly joined at the base, linear, entire, smooth. 

 The stipe grows to a length of twelve or fourteen feet. It is 

 first erect, but as it lengthens, it falls down, and runs along 

 the ground. Having the structure of a reed, it is used by the 

 natives to make writing pens. Grows on the hill. 



The description given by Rumphius of his Filix calamaria 

 agrees with mine in many respects ; but in his figure, the leaf- 

 lets are more completely united at the base and broader in 

 proportion to their length ; his fronds are not so regulary 

 dichotomus throughout ; and he has a long portion of naked 

 stipe between the subdivisions of the fronds, which do not 

 occur in mine. 



The Acrostichum fucatum of Linneus (Polypodium dichoto- 

 mum of Swartz. and Thunberg) as far as I can judge from the 

 figure of Thunberg, differs from mine in nearly the same parti- 

 culars as that of Rumphius. And in rny plant the fructifications 

 cover the whole lower surfaces of the pinnae, constituting a 

 true Acrostichum. 



Polypodium, Schreb. 1632. 



Smith, Tracts p. 231. " Fructifications in roundish, scatter- 

 ed, not marginal spots. Involucrum umbilicated, separating 

 on almost every side." 



Jour. Straits Branch 



