198 



eluded veinlets, receptacles bristling with copious brown hairs. PL 

 Fil. t. 118. Craspedaria, Fee, Lcpholepis, J. Smith. 



Corxmon from the lowlands up to 5,000 feet altitude, growing on 

 stones, banks and the stems and branches of trees, in open places. The 

 Tootstock when divested of its scales is hardly thicker than strong 

 thread. The barren fronds vary considerably in shape, in the largest 

 state ihey are ovate-lanceolate, pointed, 2 in. 1. on slender petioles 

 nearly as long; in the smallest they are ovate-oblong, rounded, \ in. L 

 the stipites only 1-2 li. 1. Generally the barren and fertile fronds are 

 distinct in foim, but not uniformly. In P. cilintum, Willd. the fertile 

 fronds are linear and so narrow that the two lines of sori touch on the 

 inside, and project on the outside over the margins, giving a moniliform 

 aspect to the margins. 



76. P. raccinifolivm, Fiech & Langsd. — Eootstock as thick as strong 

 cord, wide-creeping ard freely branched, very densely clothed with 

 long fibrillose fine reddish scales which eventually become pale; fronds 

 scattered, copious, coriaceous, glabrous, bright green, glossy on the 

 upper side, subsessile or very shortly petioled, dimorphous ; barren 

 oblong, rounded at the top, the base cuneate, in. 1, \— \ in. w. ; 

 fertile linear, \-4\ in. 1. 1^-2^ li. b., the margins even, veins immersed, 

 costal areolae large, each containing a free veinlet, exterior meshes 

 smaller , sori copious in long medial lines, the sporangia mixed with 

 reddish fibrillae. — Lopholepis, J. Smith. 



Spreading abundantly over the branches and trunks of trees, usually 

 at low elevations. This has a stouter, more densely clothed and wider 

 diffused rootstock than any of the other species of the group. In a 

 barren state the fronds resemble those of the next species, but are much 

 smaller. In this condition the different venation is a reliable dis- 

 tinguishing character. It presents however nearly at all times the two 

 kinds of fronds, -when the rush-like fertile ones are so distinct as to 

 distinguish it at sight. I have only seen Jamaica specimens in the 

 Kew Herbarium ; collected by Bancroft. 



77. P. lycopodioides, Linn. — Hootstock eord-like, wide-creeping, 

 branched and forming a copious net-work, densely coated with fine 

 appressed scales, which are pale at first but ultimately dark ; fronds 

 coriaceous, naked, a bright glossy green, scattered, with hardly any, 

 <or very short, distinct petioles, 4-7 in. 1. Jrd-fths in. w., oblong or 

 linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at the apex, the base tapering 

 end decurrent on the short stipites, barren ones shorter and broader 

 than the fertile, margirs entire; primary veins more or less distinct, 

 but evanescent before reaching the margins, fertile areolae medial, with 

 included free or united branches, and smaller costal and exterior 

 meshes ; sori sunk, the opposite surface papillose, medial or nearer the 

 margins, terminal on a single, or two or more united enclosed vein- 

 lets. — PI. Fil. t. 119. 



a var P. salcif olium Willd. — Fronds usually rather narrower, the 

 sterile and fertile conform, or less distinct, — PI. Fil. t. 121. 



Common, abundant at low elevations but attaining 5,000 ft. alt. ; 

 spreading over the trunks and branches, of trees, and on rocks and 

 banks, chiefly in exposed places, but also in loose forests. Variable 

 in size, and usually smaller at the higher elevations. In the type 

 the barren tnd fertile fronds are generally distinct and different in shape 



