7 



occupyinf; the whole space, having no exterior free veinlets, and with or without two unequal, dig- 

 connected narrow costal areolae between each pair of ribs ; sori continuous below the outer spinulose, 

 serrate part of the segments. — Litobrochin. Presl. 



Infrequent in very wet forests above 2,000ft. alt., gathered at Tweedside, St. Andrew, and on Mt. 

 Diabolo, St. Ann. Distinguished by the singular, separate, development of the fronds, (the indi- 

 viduality of each of which produces the articulation of the stipes), less evident tripartite habit, con- 

 spicuously long (especially the terminal) and very acuminate segments, broad and rounded sinuses, fine 

 and copious areolation of the veins, devoid of exterior free branches, with disconnected (or entirely ab- 

 sent) costal areoles. The incipient fronds at first are like several nutlet-j or small bulbs aggreated 

 together, each distinct, with its own separate rootlets, and coated with minute black and glossy subu- 

 late scales, which are mixed with dense, gray, scurf. The buds eventually burst and the frond 

 develops, leaving the vestiture surrounding the base of the stipe. Though growing in community, 

 with a common centre of origin, each frond is as it were a separate, independent plant. The occi- 

 sional spine that occurs on the rachises, must not cause the species to be confounded with the copiously- 

 armed aculeata. 



14. P. gigantea, Willd. — Root-stock very stout, upright, scaly, stipites caespitose, stout, erect, 

 channelled, 4-6 ft. 1, 1 in. thick, scaly only at the base, prickly throughout, fronds erect, deltoid, 

 tripartite, 4-6 ft. each way, dark, green, naked, coriaceous, the lateral divisions nearly as large as the 

 central, but more developed and branched at the base on the inferior side than the upper ; pinna} 1-2 

 ft. 1. 4-6 in. w. uniform in width from the base outwards, sessile or shortly petioled, deeply pinnatifid ; 

 segments ligulate, 2-4 in. 1. in. w. the apices acute or acuminate and serrate with rather bluntish 

 teeth beyond the lines of sori, which extend from the close or open sinus ; rachis and costae channelled, 

 dark or pale brown, the former more or less prickly, the latter spinesceut on the face, veins forming 

 1-2 series of areolae, with exterior free branches, the transverse costal areolae narrow, reaching from 

 rib to rib — Litobrochia, Presl. Plum. Fil. t. II. 



Infrequent in very moist forest at 2,000-3,000 ft. alt. ; gathered at DoUwood, St. George, Port- 

 land Parisn. The species may be readily recognised by its large size, even in Herbaria specimens, 

 the pinnae being twice or thrice larger than in any of its allies. The final segments are not falcate, 

 but spread right and left, nearly horizontally, are serrate only in the outer part, whether fertile or 

 not and the serration is coarse and not spinulose as in the two preceding. The central division in this 

 and its nearer allies have the pinnsc opposite, while in the lateral they are more or less alternate. 

 Plumier's figures show a portion of the top of a frond, and part of the base of a stipe. It is repre- 

 sented in Sloane's Herbarium, collected by Dr. Houston in 1730. 



15. F. laciiiiata, Willd. — Root-stock stout, fleshy and greenish, shortly repent, stipites 1-2 ft. 1. 

 stout, fieshy, light green, strigose ; fronds 3-5 ft. 1. l|-3 ft. w. dark green, paler bineath, raembrauo- 

 herbaceous, bi-tripiunate, hirsute on the fleshy rachis and cos tie ; pi nnaj large, subovate, acuminate, 

 usually broadest at the base, 1-lJ ft; 1. ^-1 ft. w. the lower petioled; pinnulae 3-6 in, 1. 1^ or 2 in. w. 

 deeply pinnatified, slightly adnate at the base, apex tapering, entire ; ultimate segments oblong, curved, 

 ^-i in. 1. 2-4 li. w. the sides entire or in the interior oneslobed or pinnatified, the end rounded, an even, 

 veins rather open, simple or widely forked ; sori continuous from the sharp sinus, not reaching the top 

 of the segment ; involucres pale, silvery, ciliate, — Lonchitis hirsuta, Linn. 



Frequent in very moist woods, near streams, ascending to 4,500 ft alt. Resembling Lonchitis 

 exactly in appearance and texture, from which the free veins and exclusively lateral sori separate it. 

 The substance is thin and membranous, very flaccid, densely pellucid-dotted, the frame work fleshy and 

 green, and everywhere hispid. The hairs magnified are beautifully translucent, jointed, and full of 

 liquid. Plumier's fig, 20, appears to be iatended for this, but shows the abundant sori exclusively 

 confined to the sinuses, as in Lonchitis. Sloane first gathered it — on the "Banks of the Rio d'Ore ; 

 St. Maries on the northside." 



16. P. heterophylla, Linn. — -Stipites densely tufted, slender, 6-10 in, 1, channelled, green, naked, 

 arising from a fibrous scaly rootstock; fronds separately sterile and fertile, ovate-acuminate, 5-10 in. 

 L, 3-5 in, w. firm but herbaceous, naked, bright green, the upper side glossy, bi-tripiunate; pinnae 

 few, erecto-spreadiug, subdistant, the lowest largest and bipinnate, the several next above simply 

 pinnate, passing gradually into simple segments at the apex with a similar terminal one ; final seg- 

 ments distant, oblique, linear-oblong, or ovate, in. 1. L\-2 li. w. blunt or acute, thj base cuneate- 

 siipitate, margins even in the fertile, deeply and uniformly serrate in the barren fronds ; rachis and 

 and costae green naked, both flattened or margined in the outer part; sori continuous to almjst the 

 apex of the segments; involucres pale and rather silvery. — Sloane, t, 53, f. 2, Plum. t. 37. 



Common on wet rocks at low elevations in or near the beds of streams, abundant in the eastern 

 parishes up to 2000 ft. alt. A pretty, distinct, looting plant of no close local atflaity, of very lax 

 kabit, all the segments being in. apart, with coarser cutting, but somewhat the habit of Oiii/ckiain. 

 It grows only near shady springs and. in woods on calcareous rocks over which water constantly 

 trickles, in strong tufts, with numerous grass green quite erect fronds, the barren outside, and fertile, 

 rather taller, inside. 



17. P. incisa, Thunb. — Rootstock, wide-creeping, clothed with fine subulate scales; stipites 

 scattered, strong erect, subangular, dark, polished, naked, 1^-2^ ft. I, ; fronds 4-8 ft. 1. 2-4 ft. w. 

 tripinuate, sub-coriaceous, naked, dark green and glossy above, glaucous beneath pinnae erect, spread- 

 ing in distant sessile opposite pairs, 1^-2 ft. 1. 6-10 in, w. ovate-lanceolate, the acuminate apox entire ; 

 pinnulae sessile, in opposite pairs, usually sub-distant, lanceolate, 3-5 in. I. 1-1| in. w. pinnate at the 

 base, pinaatiiid in the outer part, termiaatiag in a rather long, broudish, subeutire point ; final seg- 



