198 



stipites J— 1 in. 1. caespitose, clothed freely like the root- stock ; fronds 

 erecto-spreading, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 5-12 in L or over, 1-3 

 in. w. acuminate but bluntish at the apex, tapering at the base, 

 pinnatifid to a slightly margined rachis or fully pinnate at the base, 

 chartaceo-herbaceous, pellucid-dotted ; pale green naked of scales, but 

 densely glandulose on both sides as is also the rachis ; pinnae very 

 numerous, spreading, fully adnate and decurrent at the base, dwind- 

 ling downwards to small deltoid auricles, rather apart, ^-1J in. L 2-6 L 

 w., blunt or rounded at the point, rather auricled on the upper side of 

 the base ; the margins dentate-crenate or more or less sinuate-lobate 

 and dentate in the largest states ; veins pinnate, branches very oblique, 

 1-3 times forked, anterior branch longest and fertile ; sori medial 

 forming a row on each side of the middle rib, distant in the larger 

 fronds ; involucres peltate, orbicular, deciduous, or not. — Hook & Grev , 

 Icon. t. 140. 



On rocky banks and skirts of forests from 1,500 — 3,000 ft. altitude ; 

 plentiful in one place at least between Gordon Town and Guava Ridge. 

 A pretty and distinct plant ; usually small, but occasionally with fronds 

 over a foot long and three inches wide. Densely viscid while green. 

 The colour is a very light green, that becomes pale brown in drying. 

 In small fronds the sori are confined to the outer part of the segments, 

 and often to the upper half of the fronds. 



4. A. semicordatum, Swartz. — Rootstock stout, upright, fibrous, the 

 crown densely clothed with long dark-brown fibrillose scales ; stipites 

 caespitose, 4—8 in. L, strong, freely coated like the rootstock; fronds 

 pinnate to the apex with a similar terminal pinna, lanceolate, 2-3 ft. 1. 

 6-9 in. w. ; dark-green, glossy on the upper side ; naked ; sub-coria- 

 ceous ; pinnae very numerous, alternate, spreading horizontally, close or 

 subdistant linear oblong and acuminate, 3-5 in. 1. 5-8 li. w., base free, 

 cordate, the lower side auriculate, sessile, lower ones gradually reduced ; 

 margins even or sub-crenulate ; rachis strong, sub-angular, naked or 

 more or less fibrillose ; veins close, spreading at a wide angle less than 

 right, 2-3 times forked ; sori close in 1-3 contiguous parallel rows on 

 both sides the midrib ; involucres firm orbicular and peltate, dark 

 coloured, quite embracing the sori, deciduous with age. — Cyclopeltis, J. 

 Smith. 



Frequent on banks and limestone rocks both fully exposed and in 

 shade, below 2,000 ft. altitude ; very abundant on the Manchester 

 mountains and in other parts of the Island. A fine well marked species. 

 The sori as well as the involucres drop away with age. In some cases 

 the pinnae dwindle to mere half-round or deltoid auricles \ in. deep, 

 which extend considerably down the petiole, and in others they are not 

 less than 2 in. L, and remote from the base of the stipe. The auricle 

 at the base of the pinnae overlaps the rachis, There is a form with the 

 pinnae pinnatfid and another in which they are furcate at the end, fish- 

 tail like. 



