366 



FERNS : SYNOPTICAL LIST— XXX. 



Synoptical List, with descriptions of the Ferns and Fern-Allies of Ja- 

 maica, by G. S.Jennan, Superintendent Botanical Gardens, Deyfte- 

 rara, {continued from Bulletin II, 9.) 



Tribe IX. Aspide^e. 



5. Aspidium mmronatum, Swartz, — Rootstock usually upright, stout? 

 fibrous and very densely paleaceous and fibrillose ; stipites strong, 

 spreading, caespitose, 3-10 in. 1., thickly clothed like the rootstock ; 

 fronds spreading around, pinnate, 1-2J ft. L1J— 3 in. w., acuminate, 

 reduced at the base ; very coriaceous, glossy dark green above and nearly 

 or quite naked, beneath pale and slightly rusty ciliate, the rachis strong, 

 channelled, and densely rusty-fibrillose ; pinnae sessile, very numerous, 

 spreading horizontally, close and often imbricated, sub-distant in the 

 lower part, 1-lf in. 1., 4-5 1. b., truncate and auricled on the upper 

 side of the base, the inferior shortly cut away and often hollow, 

 tapering outwards, the apex acuminate and mucronate, margins 

 cartilaginous-edged, sub-entire or more or less deeply crenulate- 

 serrulate, teeth rounded, or appressed and slightly mucronate ; veins 

 obscure, very obliqup, 2-3 times forked ; sori copious, uniserial on each 

 side, nearer the margin than midrib ; involucres circular peltate, 

 deciduous. — Hook. Sp. Fil. vol. 4. t. 216. 



A. var. pinnattfidum, fronds 4-5 in. w. pinnae \ in. w. lobed or 

 deeply pinnatified, lobes sharp and mucronate. 



Abundant in dry stony woods and on shady and open banks, from 

 4,000-6,000 ft. altitude. Remarkable for its dark colour and copious 

 ferruginous vestiture of the crown and main rachis, that of the former, 

 ascending the petioles. The vestiture is of a mixed character, — large 

 paleae, which are often tinged black, and fine fibrillae or tomentum. 

 The sori become dark brown with age, often blackish. It is sunk in 

 the surface, which is papillose on the upper side. The lower reduced 

 pinnae are generally barren. The veins are pinnate in i lie basal 

 auricles, and the sori in a double series. There is a fasciated form, 

 gathered by Mr. Nock, that is repeatedly furcate. It is a well indi- 

 vidualised species, much more robust, and not nearly so variable as the 

 next. 



6. A. triangidum, Swartz. — Rootstock usually upright, fibrous, clothed 

 with glossy, blackish, brown-margined scales ; stipites tufted, rather 

 slender, clothed, especially at the base, with dark brown paleae, above 

 this deciduously fibrillose as is less so the rachis, 3-9 in. 1. : fronds 9-18 

 in. 1. in. w., erect, or spreading, pinnate, acuminate, not prolifer- 

 ate, usually somewhat reduced at the base ; very coriaceous, naked or 

 the underside slightly filamentose- scaly light green ; pinnae spreading 

 often rather falcate, very numerous, close above and subdistant below, 

 \-\ in. 1. 2-6 1. w., deltoid, lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, the base ex- 

 panded and auricled on the upper or both sides, the lower usually 

 obliquely cut away, the auricles and point mucronat^, margins suben- 

 tire, or dentate spinescent, rachis rather slender pale brown, naked or fib- 

 rillose ; veins close, very oblique, 2-3 times forked, pinnate in the auri- 

 cle ; sori forming a nearly medial row on each side of the midrib ; in- 

 volucres circular peltate, deciduous. — Hooker aud Baker, Syn. Fil. p. 

 250. Gr. Fl. B. W. I. p. 689. 



