164 



when dry : rachis channelled, and with the costae more or less pubes- 

 cent on the face, puberulous beneath and on the ribs ; surfaces other- 

 wise naked; veins conspicuous, close, simple, 10-12 to a side, lowest 

 pair running together to the sinus, a medial pellucid streak from the 

 costae passing between them sori nearly medial, dark purplish- brown, 

 deciduous ; involucres small, fugacious. — Polypodium, Swartz. 



Common in most forests from 2,000-4,000 ft. altitude. The lower 



1- 2 pair of the normal pinnae are usually a little shortened and 

 deflexed. The segments are close together at the ends, not divergent 

 there, as is more or less generally the rule in other cases. It is a very 

 peculiar plant in several of its features. The auricles which constitute 

 the lower half of the frond, and dwindle from \ or f in. 1. at the top to 

 less than a \ in. at the <base, exceed the normal pinnae in number, 

 usually considerably. The pellucid medial streak which runs from the 

 costae between the lowest pair of veins to the sinus is also an exceptional 

 character. The veins are raised on both sides. 



41. iV, Serra, Desv. — Rootstock free-creeping, subterraneous ; stipites 

 apart, strong, erect, stramineous, 2-3J ft. 1. ; fronds 2-4 ft. 1. 1-lf ft. w. 

 hard, and rather rigid when dry, light green, naked above, beneath 

 grayish and rather puberulous ; pinnae very numerous, spreading, linear, 

 and finely serrrato-acuminate, 8-12 in. 1. J-J in.w., sessile, the lower ones 

 (in part) narrowed at the base, 1-1 \ in. apart, the terminal conform but 

 wider ; cut rds to the costae into close, sharply-acute, subdeltoid or 

 subf alcate segments ; rachis subangular, channelled, and with costae and 

 ribs stramineous and coated with stellate puberulae ; veins very close, 

 simple, 8-L2 to a side, 3-4 lowest pairs terminating at the sinus; sori 

 medial ; involucres as large, pale, puberulous. Aspidium, Swartz. 

 SI. t. 48 fig. 1. 



a var. angescens. — Pinnae 2-4 li. w. narrowed at the base, less deeply 

 incised ; teeth subdeltoid, or acute, broader and more shallow than in 

 the type. — Aspidium angescens, Sk. 



Common and gregarious on road side banks or in wet ground near 

 rivers or streams up to 2,000 or 3,000 ft. altitude. The two varieties 

 are well marked. Var. a has very narrow pinnae, which are narrowed to 

 the base, and cut, not so deeply as in the other, into short, deltoid, or 

 sometimes, roundish segments, This is Wright n. 923, gathered in 

 Cuba, and by Purdie in Jamaica at Lapland, St. James, but it is 

 common, and I have gathered it in several places elsewhere in Jamaica. 

 It is well figured in Sloane tab. 48. fig. 1. vol. 1. The other has wider 

 pinnae, not reduced toward the base, and narrow falcate segments as in 

 N. Sloanei, Baker, but the pinnae are narrower. This is exactly 

 identical with the Polynesian N. unvisum, Carr. Both have a distinct 

 terminal pinna similar to the lateral, but broader, and have more or 

 less puberulae on the under surface. The rhizome is long and spreads 

 diffusely subterraneously. 



42. N. Sloanei, Baker. — Root-stock horizontal, subterraneous, free- 

 creeping, strong, scurfy ; stipites apart or distant, erect, strong, sub- 

 angular, dark and little scurfy-scaly at the base, above stramineous, 



2- 4 ft. 1. fronds ample 3-4J ft. 1. 1-2 ft. w., firm and rather stiffish, 

 naked on the ribs, slightly pubeiulous beneath, rather light green ; 

 pinnaB numerous, spreading 1J-2J in. apart, very finely serrate-acumin- 

 ate, the upper ones broadest at the base and sessile lower ones narrowed 



