20 



FERNS SYNOPTICAL LIST— XXXII. 



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

 maica, by O. S. Jenman, Superintendent Botanical Gardens, Berne' 

 rara, {continued from Bulletin II, 12.) 



Tribe IX. Aspide^e. 



1. Nephrodium basiattenuatum, Jeam., Stipites tufted, J-l in. l.i 

 very slender, channelled, clothed with a slight gray pubescence ; 

 fronds 3-6 in. L, 1-1J in. w., bipinnate, base gradually dwindling, 

 the upper part tapered to the finally entire or semilobed point, green, 

 clothed with a fine gray pubescence, the very slender channelled rachis 

 and other vascular parts similarly clothed, texture barely firm , pinnae 

 numerous, spreading, contiguous, the greater part of each pinnatifid, 

 fully pinnate only at the sessile base, the acute point entire, surface 

 glossy above ; in. L, 3-4 li. w. ; lobes blunt or round-pointed, 

 the basal dimidiate ones free, the rest decurrently connected, f-1 li. 

 w., 1-2 li. 1., entire or somewhat cremulate ; veins free, pinnate, 

 simple ; sori minute, medial, copious ; involucres as large, gray, with a 

 stellate pubescence.-Grard. Chron. March 17th, 1894. Aspidium, Jenm. 

 Gard. Ghron. 2nd Feb. 1895. 



Mount Moses, 2,000 ft. altitude, St. Andrew parish. Small and 

 distinct, and only connected with the conterminum group by its 

 free veins and dwindling base of the fronds, the dimidiate basal seg- 

 ments distinguishing it. 



2. N. sanctum, Baker. — Stipites densely tufted, and tenaciously ad- 

 herent to a fibrous, erect (often a few inches high) rootstock, slightly 

 scaly and dark coloured at the base slender, 1-2 \ in. L, channelled ; 

 frond narrowly lanceolate, bipinnatifid, gradually redueed to the base, 

 4-10 in. 1. 1J-2J in b., clear light green, naked ; texture chartaceous ; 

 rachis very slender, and with the costae, channelled and very stramine- 

 ous ; pinnae inequilateral, sessile, spreading, subdistant, the lower ones 

 gradually dwindling to tiny, trifoliate, auricles central longest and 

 f-l£ in. 1., 1J-3 li. b., lobate, pinnatifid, or within fully pinnate, 

 widest at the base, thence tapering to the subentire bluntish point ; 

 segments oblong, bluntish or rounded at the point, the larger narrowed 

 to the base, the lowest pair of all usually the largest, most of all that 

 on the superior side, \-\ li. b. 1-3 li 1. the inner ones apart : except 

 usually the basal one, those on the inferior side of the pinnae much re- 

 duced or nearly abortive ; veins pinnate in the larger segments, with 

 simple branches ; sori dorsal, medial on nearer the edge than midrib, 

 involucres minute, fugacious. SI. t. 49 fig. 2, Polypodium, Sw. Aspidium, 

 Mett. 



A. var. hirtum. — Fronds small and compact, pinnae only lobed, col- 

 our, dark, rachises brown, surfaces especially the rachises and ribs, 

 freely pubescent. 



B. var. magnum. — Fronds 10-15 in. 1. 3-4 in. b. stipites 3-5 in. 1. 

 pinna3 contiguous or apart, 1J-2 in, 1. 4-5 li. b. deeply pinnatifid 

 above the fully pinnate base. 



Common on wet rocks and banks up to 3,000 ft. altitude or higher. 

 The fronds are adherent, and remain on the rootstock after they are 

 dead till they decay away. In small states the pinnae are merely ere- 



