7 



protection, Cypresses are also good. I maintain that a Lemon-orchard is the best investment there 

 is in California, it is a perpetual source of income. I have learned a great deal about the fruit since 

 I came here, and am still learning. 



" We shall not commence picking the Oranges until May, as the fruit ripens here so much later 

 than that of Florida. There are several "Washington Marvel (an early variety) already ripe enough 

 for eating. I have only had to sit up six nights at present to watch the state of the thermometer ; 

 it only went down to freezing point twice out of the six times and even then not lasting long enough 

 to necessitate lighting the pots of oils in the orchard." R. W. C. in Gardeners' Chronicle. q 



FERNS : SYNOPTICAL LIST.— XX. 



Synoptical List, with description, of the Ferns and Fern-Allies of Jamaica by G. S. Jenman, Superin- 

 tendent Botanical Gardens, Demerara, (continued from Bulletin No. J/.^-) ^ 



Tribe VIII. Aspleniece. 



Sori linear or oblong, rarely arcuate or subreniform, single or double, situated on the backs o^ 

 the veins, close and parallel, or less commonly diverging, lying at a varying angle with the midrib* 

 in some instances nearly parallel, in others nearly at a right angle therewith, between these extremes 

 directed to the margin with varying obliquity, more or less falling short of both midrib and margin, 

 or near to or distant from one or other ; involucres superior, persistent, the same shape as the sori, 

 attached along one edge, free along the other, flat or vaulted, sometimes double and back to back, or 

 the reverse with the free edges connivent ; veins free or united. 



In spite of the great variety, and, in some cases, of extreme dissimilarity of habit in the mem- 

 bers, this is a particularly well marked Tribe in the essential characters of the form and arrange- 

 ment of the sori and involucres, though in the subgenus Athyriuyn there is an evident leading and 

 approach in these organs to the sub-genus Nephrodium of the next Tribe. Of West Indian species 

 the Tribe comprises only the genus Asplenium. 



Genus XX. Asplenium, Linn. — Characters as given above for the tribe. Locally this genus has 

 its headquarters in the middle and higher mountain regions, (not reaching, however, the highest alti- 

 tudes) decreasing gradually both in number of types and individuals in descending from the central 

 line to sea-level. Some species delight in the hot, sunburnt surface of weathered walls, the face or 

 crevices of open rocks, or of more or less unshaded banks, while, on the other hand, as many affect 

 the deep shade of forests where on steep escarpments, among the disintegrated rock of valleys, ravines 

 and banks of streams and rivulets, with loose hold, or on decaying logs, or aloft on the branches of 

 trees, they appear to be largely sustained by the copious moisture in the atmosphere. 



a. Veins free. 



b. Sori uniformly single on the veins. 



c. Fronds simple, entire. 



1. A. serratum. Linn, 

 cc. Fronds pinnate-tripartite. 



2. A. pumilum, Swartz. 



ccc. Fronds simply pinnate ; pinnae entire, serrate or inciso-serrate. (See also A. auritum and A, 

 rhizophorum.) 



d. Rachises very slender, wiry, blackish, scariose-edged ; fronds 1 in. or less wide. 



3. A. Trichomanes, Linn. 



4. A. parvulum, Mart. & Gal. 

 6. A. ebeneim, Ait. 



6. A. monanthemum, Linn. 



7. A. formosum, Willd. 



dd. Fronds herbaceous, gray-green, including rachises, base truncate, stipites from two-thirds to 

 fully as long as the frond. 



e. Fronds from ^-l^in. br. 



8. A. dentatum, Linn. 



9. A. jamaicense, Jenm. 

 ee. Fronds over l|in. w. 



10. A. abscissum, Willd. 



11. A. cultrifolium. Linn. 



12. A. ohtusifolium. Linn. 



13. A. salicifolium, Linn. 



14. A. anisophyllum, Kunze. 



15. A. auriculatum, Sw. 



16. A, hastatum, Klotzsch. 

 eee. Kachis winged with green membrane. 



17. A. pteropus, Kaulf. 



18. A. alatnm, H.B.K. 



eeee. Fronds twice or thrice as long as the stipites; pinnae numerous, chartaceo-herbaceous. 



19. A. latum, Sw. 



20. A. lunulatum, Sw. 



21. A. harpeodes, Kunze. 

 eeeee. Texture coriaceous and stiff. 



22. A. falcatnm. Lam. 



I 23, A. dimidiatum, Sw. 



