112 



FERNS: SYNOPTICAL LIST— XL VI. 



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

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

 Demerara. 



6. Polypodium serrulatum, Mett. — Rootstock slender, capillary with 

 small, appressed pale linear scales stipites slender close or apart, 3 li. 1. 

 narrowly winged ; fronds linear, stiff bright-green, naked, |-1 li. w., 1-3 

 in. 1. the lower part deeply serrated with open or subdistant sharp teeth, 

 the upper entire, with the sides eventually reflexed or folded together ; 

 veins simple, spur-like, stiff, immersed, but prominent as are the slen- 

 der filiform midribs ; sori on the decurrent base of the veins of the up- 

 per part of the fronds, oblong or at length quite confluent, forming a 

 linear costal band. Grammitis, Sw. Xiphopteris, Kaulf. Hook. Gard. 

 Ferns, t. 44. 



Common on decaying logs in coffee plantations and on trees in forest 

 from the lower altitudes to the heighest peaks. The linear costal sori, 

 which it ultimately presents, suggests affinity with pleurogramme, and 

 to justify its generic separation, but the two following allied species 

 clearly connect it with Polypodium. The slender filiform erect root- 

 stock reaches 3 in. 1. is often branched, and throws down prop-like wiry 

 roots to the supporting surface. Casually an odd vein is forked. The 

 pagina is often so little as to merely form a covering to the central rib 

 and the spur-like veins along its sides. 



7. P. Jamesonii, Jenm. — Stipites tufted from a slender shortly-elon- 

 gated scaly rootstock, a line to § in 1. dark coloured and slightly ciliate ; 

 fronds 1^-3 in. 1. \\ li. w., stiff, bright green, glabrescent, puberulous 

 on the midrib beneath ; the apex pointed, the base tapering and decur- 

 rent, the upper J or ^ d subectire' — serrulate, the lower part pinnati- 

 fid, with blunt oblong- deltoid open teeth, all ultimately deciduous 

 leaving the naked filiform dark rachis ; veins conspicuous, rigid close, 

 simple, hardly reaching the edge, decurved at the base; sori short, ba- 

 sal on the veins, early confluent and covering the rachis. — Xiphopteris 

 Hook. 2nd Cent. Ferns, t. 14. 



Frequent on trees in forests at 6,000-7,000 ft. alt. but much less 

 common than the preceding, with a rootstock similar in character, but 

 stouter, shorter, and not uniformly vertical, and fronds two or three 

 times as wide, the fertile entire portion usually remaining flat. The 

 sori are at first oval, and quite distinct, but at length form a confluent 

 band down the centre, but not reaching the margins. 



8. P. myosuroides, Swartz. — Eootstock shortly ascending, clothed 

 with small acuminate reticulated scales ; stipites tufted, varying from 

 hardly any clear to £ in. 1., puberulous or slightly ciliate ; fronds 2-4 in. 

 L, 1^-2 1. w., tapering at the base, as also, but less, to the apex, stiff 

 dark green, glabrescent ; pinnatifid throughout, but less deeply in the 

 upper fertile portion ; segments nearly deltoid, bluntish, adnate-decur- 

 rent, a line or less deep and half or two-thirds as w., reduced below to 

 mere teeth, rachis dark coloured, slightly ciliate beneath ; veins simple, 

 not reaching the edge ; sori oval, one to each lobe near the midrib, *n 

 the upper \ or §rds of the fronds, ultimately partially confluent. P° 

 retosum, Mett. Grammitis, Sw. Xiphopteris, Klf. 



