17 



FERNS : SYNOPTICAL LIST — XLIII 



Synoptical List, with descriptions, of the Ferns and Fern-Allies of Ja- 

 maica. By G. S. Jenman, Superintendent Botanical Garden, 

 Demerara. 



5. Nephrolepis biserrata, Schott. — Stipites strong, erect, tufted, 6-10 

 in. 1. polished, slightly fibrillose or f urfuraceous ; fronds 2-4 ft. 1. 6-10 

 in. w., narrowed at the base; chartaceous or membranous, bright; often 

 pale, green ; naked puberulous or slightly pubescent when young ; 

 pinnae numerous, spreading horizontally, linear-lanceolate and acumi- 

 nate, approximate or subdistant, 4-6 in. 1. |-f in. w., base substipitate, 

 truncate or rather rounded or the inferior subcordate, sightly disposed 

 to be auricled on both sides ; margins variable, even, serrulate or bi- 

 crenate-serrulate, rachis strong, glossy, channelled, deciduously furfu- 

 raceous ; veins twice forked ; midrib strong, channelled ; sori intra- 

 marginal punctiform, sporangia yellowish when ripe ; involucres small, 

 naked or ciliate, ultimately cordate-orbicular. PI. Fil. t. 112. N. acuta, 

 Presl. and several other names. Aspidium punctulaum, Swartz. 



Plentiful among bushes and on banks and trees among the lower 

 hills. A much larger plant than the preceding, of erect spreading or 

 pendent habit, growing more or less in masses. It varies much in size 

 and in the vestiture of the surface. There is a pubescent form with 

 pinnae only 4-5 1. w., more deeply and uniformly serrulate, and often 

 furcate, the sori submarginal. The upper surface is papillose over the 

 sori. 



Gtenus XXVIII. Oleandra, Cav. 



Sori round, dot-like, scattered, or in irregular transverse lines, on the 

 back of the veins, more plentifully toward the costae ; involucres supe- 

 rior cordate-orbicular, attached by the sinus, free around the edge 

 fronds entire, naked or ciliate, with a satiny gloss ; stipites articulated 

 veins free, spreading at a wide angle ; root-stock long-repent. 



This genus, like the preceding, depends upon the homology and dis- 

 tinct habit, and the common physiognomy of its members, in the ab- 

 sence of any distinguishing characters of fructification, to give it gene- 

 ric recognition. It contains a score or so of species or varieties which 

 inhabit rocks, prostrate trunks of decaying trees, the crowns of palms 

 and similar situations, and are scattered over the tropical and warm re- 

 gions of the world, reaching southward to Australia. 



0. nodosa, Presl. — Rootstock repent, prostrate extending often seve- 

 ral feet long ; firm, cylindrical, not so thick as a quill, branched, clothed 

 with copious silky fine squarrose ferruginous scales ; stipites distant, 

 slender polished, dark-coloured, 4-6 in. 1., the raised articulate joint J-2 

 in. from the base ; fronds oblong lanceolate, acuminate or cuspidate, 

 the point fine, 10-18 in. 1. l|-3 in. w. the base tapering or cuneate ; 

 margins often repand, entire ; cartilaginous-edged, chartaceous, pellucid ; 

 or bright-satiny green, naked or with a few deciduous scattered minute 

 scales along the costae beneath ; veins fine, very close, simple or once 

 forked from near the base, nearly horizontal ; sori copious, scattered but 

 most crowded near the dark, coloured, glossy costae, which is channelled 

 down the face ; involucres dark-brown, naked. — PI. Fil. t. 136. Aspi- 

 iium l Wilid. 



