8 



3. A. Trichomanes, Linn. — Rootstock small, fasciculate, densely clothed with fine black scales ; 

 stipites 1 - 4 in. 1. tufted, slender, wiry, scariose-margined, blackish, finally naked, rachises similar ; 

 fronds stiflf, 4 • 8 or 10 in. 1. 6 - 8 li. w. pinnate, rather narrowed toward the base, dark green, gla- 

 brous or glabrescent ; pinnse contiguous above, more or less apart and often distant below, the former 

 ovate-oblong, the latter ovate-orbicular, elastical, 3 - 4 li. 1. 2 li. w. sessile or subsessile, equilateral, 

 the base cuneate and centrally attached, outer part broadly rounded, the margin serrulate ; veins 

 pinnate, the inferior branch on the superior side forked ; sori oblique, barely \ li. 1., near the midvein ; 

 involucres small, scale- like. — Hook. Brit. Fer. t. 29. Eat, Fer. N. Am. PL 36. 



Var. A. castaneum, Cham, and Schl. — Fronds 1 - 1| ft. 1., stipes 1 - 3 in 1, rachises strong and 

 stiff ; pinnae ^ in. 1. 2 li. w. oblong, lower sub-deltoid. 



Abundant from 4,000 to over 6,000 ft. alt., on open banks and rocks, in coffee fields, caves and 

 waysides ; best distinguished from the two following by the more ovate distinctly serrulate nearly 

 centrally attached and consequently equilateral and cuneate based pinnae. It is interesting as being 

 the quite typical common British spleenwort ; generally distributed through the temperate and 

 elevated tropical region of the globe. The variety is a much larger stronger plant, of which there is 

 a sheet in the Kew Herbarium marked from Jamaica, the locality not recorded. 



4. A. parvulum, Mart, and Gal. — Rootstocks small, fasciculate, densely clothed with fine hair- 

 like scales ; stipites tufted, 1 - 3 in. 1. wiry, dark chestnut or ebenous, scariose-edged, glossy, naked 

 eventually ; fronds pinnate, stiffish, firm, a variable shade of green, naked or glabrescent, 3 - 8 in. 1. 

 ^ - f in. w. tapering both ways ; pinnae spreading or deflexed, sessile, even-edged or subserrulate, 

 contiguous or somewhat apart, oblong or ovate-oblong, subdimidiate and laterally attached, truncate, 

 and slightly auricled on the superior base, the inferior base shortly cut away or not, 2 - 5 li. 1. 1^ - 2 

 li. b. rounded at the outer end, the lower reduced ones subdistant and cordate-deltoid ; rachis like 

 stipes ; veins pinnate, oblique, simple and forked; sori copious, i - ^ li. 1. forming a. row on each side 

 the midveins, nearer the margin ; involucres small, scale-like, the edge even, — Eat. Fer. N. Am. PI. 

 36. fig 5 - 6. 



Frequent on open banks, stony moorsides and in coffee fields at 4,000-5.000 ft. alt. : gathered at 

 Old England, below the Government Cinchona Plantation, and by Purdie, on the Manchester hills. 

 The sori, confluent at maturity, are very short, and directed to the margin, to which they are nearer, 

 with slight obliquity. The texture is not so elastical as in the preceding, with which, in Jamaica, till 

 late years it was confounded, and the colour is yellowish green. 



5. A. eheneim, Ait. — Rootstock small, clothed with minute dark scales, and the roots with a 

 lighter tomentum ; stipites wiry, l-3in. long, polished, dark chesnut or ebeneous, scariose-edged, 

 finally glabrous ; rachises similar ; fronds 6-8in. 1. ^ to fin. w, pinnate, gradually reduced below, ta- 

 pering to a shortly elongate, serrate or lobate obtuse segment at the apex, dark green, stiffish, glabrous ; 

 pinnse spreading apart, elastical, opaque when dry, oblong, subdimidiate, rounded and somewhat dentate 

 at the end, the base truncate, laterally attached, auricled on the upper side, 1-l^li. 1. 4-5 li, br, the in- 

 ferior reduced distant ones auricled on both sides but not cordate ; veins pinnate, inner superior 

 forked ; sori on both sides of the midveins, to which they are nearer, obliquely directed to the margin, 

 ^li. 1.; involucres pale.— Eat. Fer. N. Am. PI. 4. 



Frequent on rocks, rocky banks and moorsides and in caves at 4,O00-6,000ft' alt. ; resembling 

 most parmlum, but with more open elastical, dark green pinnae, rather longer sori, directed at a shorter 

 angle and nearer the midveins than margin. This, parvulum and Trichomanes grow in the same situa- 

 tions, intermixed ; monanthemum preferring a different soil (shale debris) and a measure of shade. 



6. A. monanthemum, Linn. — Rootstock short, fibrous, erect or oblique, the apex clothed with 

 dark minute fine scales ; stipites naked, 3-6in. 1., densely tufted, wiry, dark chesnut brown or blackish 

 more or less flexuose, scariose-margined ; rachis similar; fronds pinnate, ^-Ift. 1. |-lin. w., somewhat 

 reduced below, the apex tapering to a serrate point, stiffish, chartaceous, glabrous, slate-green ; pinnae 

 numerous, horizontal close, |in. 1. l^-21i. w., oblong or linear- oblong, the end rounded, subdimidiate and 

 laterally attached, the upper base truncate and slightly expanded and auricled, the under margin straight 

 and even, upper and outer crenate-serrate, lower reduced ones distant and cuneate-flabellate ; veins pin- 

 nate, the inner branch forked ; sori 1-2 or 3 to a pinna, usually confined to the inferior side of the 

 midvein in the outer part beyond where the margin is cut away, running parallel with the edge, 1-1^ 

 H. 1,. involucres pale-tinged.— Plum. Fil. t, 65. 



Common on loose shaly ground, in forest and on half shaded banks at 5,000-6,000ft. alt,, abund- 

 ant in the region of the Govt. Cinchona Plantation. A larger plant than any of the three preceding, 

 to which it is closely allied, with more numerous, closer pinnae, and specially distinguished by the 

 few sori, generally only one or two, being confined to the inferior side of the leaflets. The naked 

 stipites are occasionally viviparous, producing fronds as large as the original. These buds are pecu- 

 liar as springing from the smooth indurated surface, with no nidus for their origin. 



7. A. formosum, Willd. — Rootstock short, fibrous, erect, finely scaly ; stipites cacspitose, numer- 

 ous, 1-2 in. 1. slender, scariose-margined, dark brown, at first slightly scaly at the base; rachis con- 

 form ; fronds pinnate, J-1 ft. 1. f-li in. w. narrowed toward the base, light green, thin and elastical, 

 naked, plumose ; pinnae \ in. 1. 2 li. w., close, horizontal, linear-oblong ; blunt or rounded, the upper 

 base truncate and rather expanded, the under cut away to J or | the inferior margin, upper and outer 

 margins inciso-serrate, reduced lower segments more distant, inciso-flabelliform ; veins pinnate, the 

 interior branches forked; sori \ li. 1. usually 2-6, confined to the outer ^ or f of the pinnae, when few 

 uniformly on the inferior side of the midvein ; involucres silvery, broadish. — Plum. Fil. t. 66, B. Hook. 

 Fil. Ex. t. 16. 



Common among the lower hills on wet rocks along the sides of rivers within wash of the water ; 

 with similar slender wire-like rachises to the four preceding, but thinner, light green, deeply inciso- 

 serrate pinnae. The plumose habit makes it a very pretty little plant in growth. 



