114 



situated on the anterior branch near the fork, nearer the midrib than 

 margin ; involucres very minute, early quite obliterated. — Aspidium, Gr. 

 Polypodium Sloanei, Kze. Common in dryish woods and half-exposed 

 or open banks at low elevations. The fronds present a peculiar colour, 

 produced partly or chiefly by the dull furfuraceous-scaly vesti- 

 ture of the vascular parts ; which on the stipites has a rather fuscous 

 variegated aspect. The rachis and costae are not at all channelled. The 

 involucres are exceedingly minute and only observable in the earliest 

 stages of the sori. In cutting it resembles Grisebachii and villosum but 

 is very dissimilar to either in colour and clothing, and may be easily 

 recognised by the vestiture of the rachises and by the matted, shaggy, 

 soft and silky tawny or yellow-red clothing of the rootsock, a conside- 

 rable tuft of which is attached to the base of each petiole. Mr. Baker 

 conjectures this may be Plumier's t. 34. Aspidium lutescens, Willd. Cuba 

 and French Islands, Mexico to Ecuador. 



30. N. villosum, Presl. — Eootstock stout, erect, J-l ft. diameter, 

 densely clothed with linear-acuminate dark-coloured scales \-l in. 1. \\ 

 li. b. ; stipites caespitose, erecto-spreading, stout, 3-5 ft. 1. in. thick 

 at the base, dark, slightly channelled, scaly throughout, but densely so 

 at the base ; fronds deltoid, 4-6 ft. 1. and the same w., tri-quadripinnate, 

 chartaceous, dark brown-green, the upper surface silky-looking ; pinnae 

 spreading, lowest pair far the largest amply developed on the under- 

 side, those above these oblong-acuminate, 1^-2 ft. 1. 6-8 in. w. shortly 

 petiolate, the upper one sessile ; pinnulae very numerous, contiguous, 

 oblong-acuminate, sessile, 3-4 in. 1. f -1 in. b., pinnatifid nearly to the 

 costulae, or the inferior ones fully pinnate at the base ; tertiary seg- 

 ments oblong, blunt, in. 1. 1^-2 li. w. serrulate lobed or pinnatifid; 

 teeth f li. b. less or more deep, blunt or rounded ; rachis and costae fib- 

 rillose-scaly and rusty-furfaceous ; costulae pubescent, other surfaces 

 more or less ciliate, especially on the ribs and margins ; veins pinnate, 

 branches forked ; sori copious, dorsal on the anterior branch, at the base 

 of the teeth, medial ; involucres ample dark-brown, permanent. — PL 

 Fil. t. 27. Hooker Sp. Fil. vol. 4. t. 264. Aspidium. Swartz, Poly- 

 podium, Linn. 



a. var. Karstenianum. — Fronds as large or larger rachis costae ribs 

 and general surfaces most densely clothed with a bright rusty or au- 

 reous villose down ; involucres apparently uniformly absent at all 

 stages of growth. — Polypodium h arstenianum, Klotzsch. 



b. var. subincisum. — Fronds variable in size, final segments rather 

 broader ; vestiture very variable, the stipites, rachis and other variable, 

 parts more or less freely scaly, the general surfaces often bare ; desti- 

 tuie uniformly of involucres. — Polypodium, Willd. P. spectabile, Klf. 



c. var. reductum. — Fronds much smaller, oblong-acuminate, pinnae 

 1 ft. 1. 3-4 \ in. w. the lower ones not enlarged, and the lowest nearly 

 or quite equilateral. 



Frequent in damp woods and forests, especially near water-courses, 

 above 2,000 ft. altitude. This is a magnificent species, possessing the 

 spread and ample dimensions of frond which as a rule characterise the 

 true tree-ferns. In the lowest pair of pinnae the pinnules on the upper 

 sides are not larger than those of the other pinnae, but on the inferior 

 side they are so greatly enlarged that the lowest are from 1-1 \ ft. 1. 

 and 4-6 in. w. In old plants the eaudex is weedy, frcm 1-2 ft. 1. and 



