268 



into a free spinulose- pointed, ovate free segment. — Sloane's Hist. t. 36, 

 Fig. 5. Aspidium ti apezioides, Swartz. 



Common in light stony woods and on similar shady banks at 2000- 

 3000 ft. altitude; the sub-type in St. George, Portland Parish, gathered 

 at C lydesdale, and the variety in the western Parishes, Clarendon, 

 Manchester and St. Elizabeth. A strong robust plant, very coiiaceous 

 the two states described being each veiy uniform in itself; in the for- 

 mer the fronds gracefully arch over and root at the apex, and the pin- 

 nae tire uniformly pinnate-pinnatifid along both sides, the segments 

 ovate, crowded and sharply spinulose at the point ; in the latter the 

 fronds are not radicant and the p nnaa are only serrated, or lobed only 

 at the upper base. This latter is often mistaken for A. mucronatum, 

 Sw.— which in form it closely resembles, but differs from in its paler 

 colour, and chiefly, the absence of the dense rusty vestiture which 

 clothes the rachis of that species. 



sub. sp. rhizophorum. — Stipites slender, slightly scaly, spreading. 3-9 

 in. 1. ; fronds horizontal or erect-spreading, 6-10 in. 1. 1-2 in. w. 

 pinnate, not or somewhat reduced at the base, the apex of the barren one 

 terminating in a slender pliant, often thread-like, radicant tail several 

 inches long ; pinnae contiguous or more or less apart or distant, auricled 

 at the base, the margins even, crenate or dentate, but not much spines- 

 cent ; rachis slender. 



a. var. bipinnatum, — Stipites a foot or less long, slender, scaly at the 

 base ; fronds a foot or more 1. uniformily fully bipinnate, passing into a 

 short blender straight radicant tail at the apex ; pinnae apart, spreading 

 the outer part dentate lobate, spinulose ; segments spathulate, 2-5 li 1 

 1-2 w. spinescently acute 



Frequent on the Red Hills near Kingston and extending through 

 the western Parishes. This resembles Pott/podium reptans, Sw. in habit, 

 the fertile fronds being erect, devoid of a tail, as a rule, and with peti- 

 oles twice as long as those of the barren ones. In the latter the upper 

 pinnae become gradually more distant to the uppermost of all, termin- 

 ating abrubtly. The roots are reddish — villose. This is somewhat dif- 

 ferent from Folystiehum ilicifolium, Fee, Wright n. 829 Cuba, in which 

 the fronds are narrower, the pinnae as broad as long, and very spinu- 

 lose at the angles. Wright n. 828 is near our plant. The variety a found 

 in the Western Parishes, differs only from A. aculeatum. Sw. by the 

 tailed apex and its coriaceous texture, and is a nearly complete final 

 link in the series of forms passing from typical triangulum to that 

 species. 



tub sp. caudatum. — Stipites 4. — 8 in. 1. scaly at the base, caespitose, 

 springing from a decumbent or upright rootstock, fronds spreading or 

 prostrate, lanceolate or oblong lanceolate, tapering gradually upwards 

 and terminating (both the barren and the fertile alike) in a 1 — 2 in 1. 

 naked stiffish tail,- with a scaly bud at its summit ; pinnae numerous, 

 horizontal, apart but contiguous, the lower ones hardly or little reduced 

 1 — 1^ in. 1 ^ — \\ in. w bluntish or acute, serrulate or lobulate, not at 

 all spinulose. A. caudatum, Jenm. Journ. Bot. vol. 8. p 2( 0. 



Frequent in the western Parishes, Manchester, Clarendon, &c, above 

 1,500 or 2,000 ft. altitude. In this, as a rule, the rigidity and 

 spiuulosity of the type are quite wanting, but odd fronds present 



