89 



Clyde river, a few hundred feet below the same Plantation. The forms 

 however are widely dispersed in the region mentioned. It is impossible 

 to study this species and its allies except in a wild state ; and for the 

 same reason it is useless to attempt to disentangle its frightfully con- 

 fused synonymy. 



47. A. duale, Jenm — Rootstock woody, oblique or decumbent, 

 clothed with dark scales, stipites tufted, strong, stiff, dark, channelled, 

 naked or with a few small scales at the base, rachis similar ; fronds ob- 

 long-lanceolate, pinnate, firm and stiff, dark glossy green, paler be- 

 neath, glabrous, ft, L 2\-b in. w. the base truncate, gradually 

 reduced at the top to the lobate -serrate acuminate apex ; pinnae spreading 

 obliquely, oblong lanceolate, acuminate, l-J— 8 in. 1. J— 1 in. b. the base 

 cut away shortly on the inferior side, the upper side expanded and often 

 auricled, petiolate, the lower freely so, the margins conspicuously lobate- 

 serrate, and incised; veins once or twice forked, curved, the inferior fas- 

 cicled or again pinnatiform ; sori linear. J— § in. 1 forming a single or 

 double series on each side, diverging from the mid vein at a narrow 

 angle, single or double ; involucres narrow, firm, even. 



Locally frequent in the central parishes at the mean and higher eleva- 

 tions ; gathered in St Ann and Clarendon. The larger fronds only 

 have the sori diplazioid, and this character with the sharp and uniformly 

 grouped teeth of the margins, readily characterise it from A. falcatum 

 which, of local species it most resembles and its other near allies — A. 

 macrophyllum, Swartz, A. Gardnpri, Baker and A. caudatum, Forst. 

 of the Eastern and Southern hemispheres. 



48. A. arboreum, Willd. — Rootstock small, shoit, upright, the crown 

 scaly ; stipites caespitose, a span to a ft. 1. channelled, brown, deciduously 

 paleaceous at the base ; fronds pinnate, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolote, 

 usually slightly narrower at the base, the apex lobed at the serrate- 

 acuminate point, ft. 1. 3-6 in w. firmly chartaceous, pellucid- 

 dotted, Jight rather glossy green ; pinnae numerous, nearly horizontal, 



in. 1. -J— f in. w. close or sub-distant, lower stipitate, cut away 

 briefly on the inferior base, the opposite side expanded, auricled or with 

 a partly free ovate segment, beyond this subentire, s irate or slightly 

 lobate-serrate to the entire acuminate point, ; veins forked (pinnate in 

 the auricle) pellucid ; sori linear, oblique, rather curved, 2-o li. 1. on the 

 lowest exterior branch, mostly uniserial, but often occurring on the 

 outer branches too, few or several double ; involucres pale, membra- 

 nous. — A auriculatum, Mett. (non Swartz). 



a. Var. unifolium, — Pinnae entire, but crenate-serrate, only the one 

 or two lowest pairs auricled. 



b. Yar. pinnatiiidum — Pinnae uniformly lobed one third deepthroug- 

 out both sides, the basal lobe free only in the lowest pair or two. 



c. Var. pinnatnm.— Pinnae of the. lower half, quarter, or less of the 

 frond with a distinct, quite free, ovate, cuneate pinnule on the superior 

 base. 



d. Yar. obtusum. — Fronds a space or over 1. ; pinnae 1J in. 1. or over, 

 the upper entire, next below auricled or lobed, the lower pairs with a 

 single or opposite pair of free pinnules at the base. — A. semihastatum, 

 var. obtusion, Mett. 



Common in forests and on shady banks from 3,500-6000 or 7000 ft. 

 alt. ; a well marked but highly variable species, the variation being more 



