139 



fronds chartaceous, naked, green on both sides, 2-4 ft. 1. 1-2 ft. w. 

 with a long terminal acuminate pinna and several erecto-spreading 

 lateral ones, that are about a foot long and 2-2 J in. w. the margin even 

 or repand-dentate, decurrent and connected at the base by a narrow 

 winjj to the rachis ; sinuses oblique, rounded and open by the narrowing 

 of the base of the pinna), rachis and costa) slender, dark polish- 

 ed; main veins distinct in parallel lines to the margin, areolae re- 

 gular sori impressed, small, multiserial, occupying all the space be 

 tween the midrib and the margin. Vide Baker Kew Ferns, 1874-91, 

 p. 88. 



This very fine and very distinct plant is distinguished not only by 

 its larger size and green colour from any of the forms of aureum, but 

 by its distinct and regular primary venation as compared to theirs, 

 and the much more plentiful sori, of which there are 4-6 series between 

 the costa and margin and which are often cretaceous dotted on the up- 

 per side of the fronds. 



68. P. petrafolium, Jenm. — Rootstock strong, short-creeping, scaly ; 

 stipites few, contiguous, suberect, stiff but slender and wiry, 3-8 in. 1. 

 dark- brown, naked; fronds coriaceous rigid, naked or nearly so, grayish- 

 brown £-1 ft. 1 4-6 in. w. deeply pinnatifid, rachis and midribs con- 

 cealed under the pagina, the wings of the former together about as 

 broad as the pinnae ; pinnae 6-10 or 12 to a side, erecto-spreading, often 

 unequal, 2-3 li. w. 3-6 in. 1., uniform in width or tapering to a bluntish 

 point, dilated and both sur-and decurrent at the base, with broad oblique 

 rounded sinuses^- \ in. w., terminal pinna similar, longer or shorter not 

 wider, the margins even or slightly sinuate; veins immersed, obscure, 

 forming narrow angular areolae ; sori large uniserial but interrupted and 

 irregular, occupying the whole width from the midrib to the margins. — 

 Drynaria elastica, Fee, Fil. Ant. t. 20. fig. 2. 



Rare at 2,000-3,000 ft. altitude, growing on decaying logs in coffee 

 plantations, and on trees ; gathered at Murray's Flat, Mt. Moses, St. 

 Andrew, where a single plant was found. It is well marked by its 

 narrow rigid pinnae and relatively large sori. It differs from P. angus- 

 tum, Mett, with which it is united at Kew, by the different form of the 

 frond, and entire absence of the peltate scales which clothe the surface of 

 that species. As in P. curvatum, the entire vascular ramification of the 

 frond is concealed in the pagina. In my specimens the pinnae are 6-8 

 to a side, and the lowest pair shortly decurrent or not on the stipites 

 Fee's name is inadmissable, it having been given to several species in 

 the genus. 



69. P. crassifolium, Linn. — Rootstock woody, short-creeping, clothed 

 with largish dark brown ovate-acuminate, reticulated scales ; stipites 

 strong erect, 2-4 in. L, naked or with a few deciduous scales below, 

 castaneous ; fronds simple, erect, thickly coriaceous, opaque, naked, 

 glossy, dark green, the underside paler, 2-3 ft. 1 2.^-5 in. w , tapering 

 at the base and decurrent on the stipites, the apex usually acute, en- 

 tire, cartilaginous-edged ; rachis prominent on both sides, light or dark 

 brown, naked or with a few deciduous scales down the back ; primary 

 veins oblique, 2-3 li apart not reaching the edge, slightly nexuose, 

 areolae immersed, many with free included veinlets ; sori copious, large, 

 embossed, 1-2 in. diameter parallel lines reaching from the rachi» 

 nearly to the margins, usually confined to the upper half or two-thirda 



