112 



developed on the inferior side, those above these oblong-lanceolate, acu* 

 minate, 9-12 in. 1. 4-8 in. w , lowest pair lj-lf ft. L 1-1J ft. w. ; pin- 

 nulae oblong- acuminate, 4-6 in. L 1 J-3 m. w., petiolate as are the pinnae, 

 the lowest one on the superior side usually the largest ; the costulae flat 

 and narrowly green- winged ; ultimate segments flat-oblong or ovate^ 

 oblong, acute, sharply toothed throughout, 2-6 li. 1. 1-2 J li. b., teeth 

 about \ li. b. ; rachis and costae glossy, naked or slightly puberulous 

 down the face, green ; veins pinnate in the final segments, the branches 

 simple, not reaching the edge; sori dorsal, very small, copious, reddish- 

 brown. Poly podium, Swartz. P. diver gens, Hk. P. multifidum, Jacq. 

 Icon. t. 643. Aspidhim Gr. Phegopteris diver gens, Fee. 



Common from the low-lands, on banks way sides and in dry woods, 

 up to 5000 ft. altitude, and generally distributed over the island. Dis- 

 tinguished by its decumbent short -creeping rootstock having the bases 

 of past stipes persistent, naked shining bright green colour, thin but 

 firm texture, green winged costulae, sharp and freely toothed segments, 

 and minute copious aureous sori. At the higher elevations it produces 

 beneath a few inches below the apex, in the axil of a pinnae, a large 

 densely dark scaled radicant bud. 



26. N. mexicanum, Hook. — Stipites 1-1^ ft. 1. erect-spreading, pu- 

 bescent, with scattered minute scales above the more paleaceous base ; 

 fronds oblong, acuminate, bi-tripinnate 1^-2 ft. 1. 9.12 in. w. charta- 

 ceous, light green, slightly ciliate on the surface, rachis costae and ribs 

 finely pubescent and sprinkled with minute scales ; lowest pair of pin- 

 nae largest, and deeper on the underside, those above these equilateral, 

 spreading ; pinnulae adnate at the base, or the lower ones quite free, cut 

 more or less deeply on both sides into oblong round-ended segments, 

 1-2 li. w. 2-3 li. 1.; veinlets simple not reaching the edge ; sori medial ; 

 involucres deciduous or obortive. Hook Sp. Fil. vol. 4. p. 138 t. 267. 



There are two sheets of this collected by Wilson; but without loca- 

 lity in the Kew Herbarium, which are marked in Grisebach's hand 

 as a variety of N. villosum. Of other Jamaica species it comes nearest 

 Aspidium Christiana, but differs by deeper and more uniform cutting 

 of the pinnules, lowest pair of pinnae longest, the peculiar vestiture, 

 and the reniform sori. 



27 iV. ascendens, Domiell Smith.— Root-stock strong. J-l in. thick, 

 densely scaly, wide creeping on the ground or up the trunks of trees ; 

 stipites scattered, strong, 6-9 in. 1 naked, except at the very base ; 

 fronds deltoid, dimorphous ; the barren 2-2 \ ft. 1. and about the same wide, 

 tri-quadripinnate, broadest at the base and thence tapering to the apex ; 

 coriaceous ; naked dark- green, glossy, rachis and costae light or dark 

 brown, the latter pubescent down the channelled faces ; pinnae petiolate, 

 spreading, basal pair largest and deeper on the inferior side 12-15 in. 

 1. 7-10 in. w., acuminate ; pinnulae much the same shape, stipitate, 

 ultimate segments oblong, pointed, cuneate or obliquely-cuneate at 

 the base, lobate or only dentate ; veins simple or forked, entering the 

 marginal teeth, pellucid ; fertile fronds the same shape, but smaller, 

 their segments contracted, sinuate, 1-1^ li. w.; the sori biserial, occupy- 

 ing the entire lobes of the under surface, involucres at first suborbicu- 

 lar, ultimately reniform, dark-brown, persistent. — Dicitsonia apiifolia, 

 Swartz. Aspidium, Heward. Nephrodium duale, Don. Sm., Amer. Bot. 

 Gaz. 1890, 29 tab. 4. Common in the parishes of Manchester and St. 



