256 



Bracts of the fruit-spikes all of one kind. 



Fronds prostrate or sub- erect, not flagelliform at the apex. 



Eachises not exceeding l-lj li. wide across^ the leaves iacluded. 



1. S. caribense. 



2. S. porelloides. 



3. S. denudata. 



4. S. confusa. 



Rachises not exceeding l|-2 li. w. across, the leaves included. 



5. S. albonitens. 



6. S. serpens. 



7. S. didymostachya. 

 Fronds prostrate or suberect, flagelliform at the apex. 



8. 8. patula. 



9. S. setigera. 



10. S. stolonifera. 



Fronds erect. 



11. S. cuspidata. 



1. 8. caribensis, Jenm. — Fronds prostrate, very delicate, 1-2 in. 1., 

 usually leafy to the base, the shorter ones quite simple, the longer with 

 short alternate mostly distant branches which are 1-6 li. 1., f-1 li. w. 

 over the leaves ; leaves contiguous, apart, or the lower ones subdistant, 

 about I li. 1. or less and rather less w. point rounded or subacute, base 

 subcordate, the upper auricled side ciliate and deeper than the rather 

 contracted lower ; minor leaves minute, apart, aristato-acuminate, sub- 

 cordate, the outer side longer than the inner, the margins slightly cili 

 ate, spikes about a li. 1. the bracts not distinctly keeled, ciliate-marginal, 

 lax or spreading and revealing the sporangia. Baker, Fern Al. p. 68. 



Rare in forests at 5000-7000 ft. alt. on trees and decaying logs. In- 

 termediate between confusa and rotundifolia, much weaker and more 

 delicate than the former, and not so lax and delicate as the latter. 

 The leaves only imbricate at the tips of the short branches, elsewhere 

 they are more or less apart, increasingly so downwards. Both the main 

 rachis and branches are the same width over the leaves. The fertile 

 bracts are rather broader, but otherwise conform with the intermediary 

 leaves. The sporangia are very few to a spike, only 2-3 or 4 in my 

 specimens. 



2. S. porelloides^ Spring — Fronds rooted at the base, variable in out- 

 line-subdeltoid or irregular, bright or dark green, membranous, freely 

 but openly branched, twice-pinnate, the branches about 1 H. w. over 

 the leaves ; rachises very slender and angular ; major leaves apart, 

 oblique, ovate-oblong, J Ji. 1. less w. barely pointed, inequilateral, the 

 rounded and broader superior base imbricating on the rachis, the mar- 

 gins faintly spinulose-cii ate, minor leaves apart, ovate-cuspidate, the 

 margins ciliate, the outer side extending beyond the rachis ; spikes co- 

 pious, 2-5 li. 1. ; outer bracts sharply keeled, cuspidate, inferior open. — 

 Fee, Fil. Ant. t. 34. fig. 3. Baker, Fern Al. p. 85. 



Forests at 6,000 ft. alt. In its leaves this resembles confma but it is 

 quite differently branched, and is of a much broader and different shape. 



3. S. denudata, Spring. — Fronds 6 in. 1. irregularly branched, the 

 branches flaccid and laxly sparingly again branched: major leaves apart 

 on the rachises, but crowded on the outer part of the final branches, 

 ovate, subobtuse, 1 li. 1. horizontal; subequilateral, the base equally 



