162 



tose; stipites erect, J - 1 ft. 1. scaly or naked; fronds, barren divisions 

 deltoid, usually petiolate, very variable in size, from 1 in. to a foot each 

 way. bi-tripinnate ; pinnae lanceolate, stipitate gradually reduced from 

 the basal pair to the apex of the frond ; tertiary segmeats (secondary in 

 the smaller states) ovate or obovate, cuneate at the.base, the outer edge 

 dentate entire or lobed, chartaceous ; striated, the upper side glossy, 

 slightly ciliate beneath, the rachis, costae &c., more so ; veins fine, close, 

 forked, spreading ; panicles two, branches open or spreading, close or 

 distant, petioles as long or shorter. — PI. Fil. t. 158. SI. Herb p. 38. 

 Eat. Fer. N. Am. PL 15. A. asplenifolia, Swartz, Hook and Gfrev. 

 Icon. t. 16. 



Abundant on open banks and rocks in the lowlands and among the 

 lower hills reaching 3,000 ft. altitude. It is exceedingly variable in 

 size and consequently in cutting, some fully fertile fronds being hardly 

 more than an inch each way, while the largest are nearly a foot. In 

 some specimens the fertile fronds are distinct from the barren, as in 

 coptophyllum but with normal fronds on the same rootstock and in 

 others the lower pinnae are contracted and fertile, the upper remaining 

 leafy, combining both states in one leaf. Usually the barren division 

 is petioled above the point from which the fertile branches spring, but 

 the character is only constant in large fronds. 



Grenus 3^LI. Lygodium, Sw. 



Sporangia attached by the side, lying singly at the base of shell- 

 shaped biserial imbricating indusaeform scales on the back of oblong 

 or linear spikes which terminate the excurrent veins and form a fringe 

 along the margins ; barren and fertile pinnae leafy, but the latter usually 

 somewhat narrowed in the pinnules ; veins free or united ; fronds flexuose 

 turning. 



This is a peculiar genus, the fronds having slender turning stems 

 which ascend often 2U-30 feet on trees, with distant barren pinnae 

 below, and fertile ones at the top either palmately or pinnately divided. 

 There are between twenty and thirty known species, widely diffused 

 round the world, but mostly within the tropical belt. 



Inferior pinnules usually auricled or lobed at the base, rarely all, 

 entire. 



1. L. volubile. 



Pinnules generally auricled or lobed at the base surfaces pubescent. 



2. L. venustum. 



1. L. volubile, Swartz. — Rootstock short, with strong, wiry descend- 

 ing roots, acd densely clothed with minute black glossy scales, stipites 

 tuited, erect, straight, 2 ft. or more 1. ; fronds several or many feet 1., 

 twining, bi-tripinnate ; pinnae opposite, spreading, freely, petiolate, 

 composed of '6-4: alternate, linear-oblong spreading pinnules, which are 

 subcoriaceous, glabrous, bright green, 3-4 in. 1. ^-f in. w. subcuneate, 

 cordate or truncate at the^ase and jointed at the top of the J-J in. 1., 

 petioles, which, with the slender, stramineous, flexuose costae are slightly 

 margined and faintly puberulous-pubescent, entire, or auricled lobed or 

 with a short pair of spreading pedicillate pinnae at the base, the apex 

 generally obtuse ; veins conspicuous, free, 2-3 times forked, very 

 oblique ; spikes contiguous, 30-40 to a side Jth-J in. I. the sgales 5-20 

 in a series. SI. Hist. t. 46 f. 1. Ophioglomm, Linn. ... 



