8 



Frequent in woodland and forest among the lower hills ; gathered hy Sloane at " Archer's 

 Bridge." The pinnse being few and close, the fronds are very short in relation to the long petioles, 

 which disproportion gives them a characteristic appearance. As in a few other instances, the petioles 

 are 4-sided at the base and 3-sided above. I have taken the identification from Grisebach's Flora, as 

 quoted above, but neither in the S2)ecies nor Synopsis lilicvm is the name mentioned with Hooker as 

 the authority. Kaulfuss's plant under the same name is either fovearum or intermedium. However, 

 the species is a well marked one, and is widely and plentifully spread through the West Indies, Guiana 

 and Brazil, with hardly the least variation. The variety has exactly the same range, preserving a 

 similar unity of character. 



12. A. fructuosum, Spreng.- -Rootstock short, fasciated, densely scaly ; stipes 1-2 ft. 1. angular, 

 channelled, black, clothed with dark furfuraceous tomentum ; fronds bipinnate, ft. 1. and nearly 

 as w. firm, dark green and glossy above, paler beneath, rachis and costae densely rusty-furfuraceous ; 

 pinna? spreading, apart, about 5 to a side, with a similar long terminal one, 5-8 in. 1. in. w. ; seg- 

 ments numerous, close dimidiate, oblong, rounded at the end, the base truncate, barren denticulate, 

 5-8 li. 1. 2-2\ li. b. the lower ones reduced, terminal small, often minute, or elongated and linear ; 

 veins fine, free, close, repeatedly forked ; sori numerous, close, small, extending along the upper and 

 round the outer margins. 



I include this species on the authority of a frond in Sloane's herbarinm mounted on the sheet with 

 A. striatum, Swartz, locality where collected not recorded. It is common in Guiana and Brazil. Marked 

 by its densely furfuraceous stripes rachis and costoe, a few slight scales often appearing on the under- 

 side of the segments, very dark glossy colour, and uniform copious small sori, which extend quite round 

 to the end of the basal margin. It comes nearest to obtusum. The mainland species of the obtusum and 

 tetraphyllum group were nearly all named by the continental European Botanists, and much confusion 

 exists in herbaria, books, and among workers and students as to the identity of the types. 



13. A. obtusum, Desv. — Rootstock shortly repent, densely scaly ; stipes 1 -2 ft. 1. dull black, 

 nearly . or quite naked, channelled ; fronds 1^-lf ft. 1. 1-1J ft. w. bipinnate, chartaceous, both sides 

 rather bright green, and with the dull, but blackish, rachis and costoe naked ; pinnse subdistant, spread- 

 ing, 3-5 to a side with similar long termunal one, 6-9 in. 1. an inch, less or more, w ; segments nume- 

 rous, close, dimidiate, oblong, the inferior reduced, \-% in 1. 2^-3 li. w. the truncate base broadest, the 

 apex rounded, barren denticulate, terminal linear elongated ; veins repeatedly forked, free, fine, close ; 

 sori short, contiguous, along the upper and outer margins. 



Infrequent in woodland and forest in the eastern parishes up to 1,000 ft. alt. In different coun- 

 tries different plants are ascribed to this species, The Jamaica form approaches tetraphyllum, but is 

 distinguished by its smaller more rounded segments. 



14. A. tetraphyllum, Willd. — Rootstock repent, scaly ; stipes strong, angular, channelled, 1-2 ft 

 1. polished, black, at first coated with deciduous rusty tomentum ; fronds bipinnate, ft. 1. nearly 

 or quite as wide, subcoriaceous, both sides dark green, upper glossy, rachis and costoe rusty-furfuraceous, 

 other surfaces glabrous ; pinnce 3-6 to a side, with a similar long terminal one ^-1 ft. 1. l|-2in w. sub- 

 distant ; segments numerous, subdimidiate, oblong or lanceolate oblong, |-1 in. 1. \-§ in. w. contiguous 

 but frequently the lower somewhat reduced ones becoming more remote, parallel margined, but the 

 superior side longer, forming with the straight oblique outer margin an acute or roundish point, 

 barren serrulate, terminal linear elongated ; veins free, fine, repeatedly forked ; sori interrupted, short 

 extending along the upper and round the outer margins : — A. prionophyllum, H.B.K. 



Infrequent in woodland and forest, and in shady situations generally, up to 1,000 ft. alt. A large 

 species, with wide spreading pinnas, not so coriaceous, but, as mentioned under that species, closely 

 resembling villosum in size of frond and form of segments, differing by the interrupted sori. The 

 framework too is not so strong, and appears weak for so large a plant. 



