22 



which however only shows when pressed in paper to dry, and forming 

 large patches, and in substance quite distinct from all the rest of this 

 section. 



3. A. simplex, Swartz. — Rootstock slender, short-creeping, clothed 

 with small very dark lanceolate-acuminate scales ; stipites erect, con 

 tiguous, 2 - 3 in. 1. slightly scaly at the very base ; fronds linear-Ian 

 ceolate, erect, tapering equally at bolh ends, very acuminate, the base 

 decurrent on the petioles, J - 1 ft. 1., ^ - } in. w., very coriaceous and 

 stiff, naked, the upper side glossy dark green, under paler, the margins 

 reflexed when dry, the rachis prominent beneath ; veins obscure, close, 

 simple or forked ; fertile fronds usually somewhat smaller, though as 

 broad, acute at the apex, the stipites rather longer — Hook. Gen. t. 

 105. A. 



a. A. martinicense, Desv. — Fronds linear, 10 - 15 in. 1. 2 - 4 or 6 1. 

 w. very numerous ; rootstock more slender; upper surface with a blueish- 

 green tinge, under pale and at first sprinkled with a few minute ap- 

 pressed scales ; fertile fronds shorter and broader. — Hist. Acrost. p. 45 

 t. 16. 1 3. 



Infrequent on decaying logs in forests and coffee plantations at 

 2000 - 4000 ft. altitude. This is not nearly so abundant as the follow- 

 ing allied species from which it is distinguished by its narrow linear- 

 lanceolate fronds, a occupies the trunks and branches of growing trees 

 chiefly in moist forests up to 4000 ft alt. and is much more common. 

 Though equally coriaceous it is usually pendant or much curved in habit, 

 and the rootstock interlaces, forming patches as large or larger than 

 one's outspread hands, with numerous densely aggregated fronds. 



4. A. inceqiiali folium, Jenm. — Rootstock free-creeping, cylindrical, 

 thick as a quill, horizontal, densely clothed with chesnut coloured pale- 

 margined paleae ; stipites scattered, erect, 2-3 or 4 in. 1„ rather freely 

 clothed at first with spreading scattered brown scales, subsequently 

 naked; fronds stiffly erect, linear lanceolate, very acuminate, tapering 

 equally to the apex and base, 4-10 in. 1. Jrd-lJ in. w , coriaceous, dark 

 bright green, paler beneath, dotted with scattered very minute fimbriate 

 pale-edged scales, which are paler, less ab indant and more fibrillose on 

 the upper surface; margins cartilaginous-edged, and rather reflexed when 

 dry; veins fine, forked from the base, close obscure; fertile fronds 

 conform but on stipites, which are more or less distinctly scaly, usually 

 twice as 1 ng as the barren. — Journ. Bot. 1886, p. 273. 



Frequent in high mountain fore«ts on logs and decjying vegetable 

 matter ; like chartaceum with which it grows, in colour, but uniformly 

 smaller, much stiffer and coriaceous, the minute scales of the surface 

 more fibrillose and paler, the petioles freely palaceous at first, the fertile 

 ones always so while the fronds are fresh, and twice the length of the 

 barren, and with a slender free-creeping horizontal rootstock, by which 

 it can always be distinguished, several inches long, dark coloured and 

 with a double series of the bases of past stipites J-f in. 1. on the upper- 

 side. 



5. A. alatum, Fee. — Rootstock shortly repent, freely clothed with 

 dark or ferruginous reticulated, fine, acuminate scales ; stipites appro- 

 ximate or sub-tufted, erect, lJ-4 in., 1. slightly scaly or naked; fronds 

 erect, oblong-lanceolate, or lanceolate, acuminate, the base decurrent as 

 wings to the upper part of the stipes, subcoriaceous, dark green, 



