206 



simply bipinnate, and a larger fully tripinnate state is found at the 

 higher altitudes. The powder is as a rule very white, but there is a 

 beautiful golden state in Dominica. 



G. ornithopteris, Kl. also gathered in Jamaica, is more rigid than the 

 type, the pinnae resembling pinnulae of Pterin aquilina, the edges of the 

 segments revolute. This is a much stiffer plant than calomelanos, of 

 spreading (not erect) habit, with less cut broader more obtuse seg- 

 ments and whiter powder. They occupy, too, separate zones in altitude. 



10. G triangulata, Jenm. — Stipitei tufted from an erect fibrous 

 scaly rootstock, slender, 1-1^ ft. 1., very dark, polished, deciduously 

 scaly at the base ; rachis slender like-coloured, channelled ; fronds 

 tripinnatifii ovate-deltoil, acuminate, broadest at the base, spreading, 

 f-l| ft. 1. £-1 ft. w., firm, chartaceous, upper surface bright clear 

 green, under sparingly coated with white powder ; pinnae spreading, 

 petiolate, the lowest pair largest and rather deeper on the under side, 

 4-6 in. 1. 1^-2 iu. w., lanceolate-acuminate ; pinnulae oblong, broadly 

 rounded at the lobed or subentire apex, \- \ in. I. J-^rd in w. uniformly 

 pinnatifid, linal segments apart, short, rather ovate or rounded 

 narrowed or cuneate at the base ; 1-1^ li b. and d. outer edge entire or 

 dentate ; veins pellucid, dichotomously forked, flabellate ; sori linear, 

 confluent. 



Infrequent at 4,000 ft. attitude ; gathered at Moody's Gap, St. 

 Andrew. A broader less coriaceous and more freely cut plant than 

 iat tarea, to which it is more closely allied than to calomelanos, with 

 the final segments not broadly adnate as in that species, but narrowed 

 or more or less free at the base. It is uniformly tripinnatifid, and 

 shows hardly any variation in its features. Of the three silver species 

 it is much the prettiest. All the vascular parts are relatively slender, 

 the lower pinnae are subdistant and the upper ones are not close, and 

 generally the fronds narrow directly from the base upwards. The 

 slender costae are rather flexuose, and flat and margined in the outer 

 part. The rachis, too, is often to the same slight degree flexuose, at 

 the top. It differs from G. peruviana, which species it most nearly 

 approaches by being more lax in habit, and having no powder on the 

 upper surface. No goldea form has yet been found but should it 

 would be the most lovely of all golden ferns. 



11. G. calomelanos, Kaulf. — Rootstock fibrous, scaly, erect; stipites 

 densely tufted, erect, polished, blackish, or dark castaneous, with a few 

 deciduous scales at the base, 1-2 ft. 1.; fronds erect 1-2 ft. 1. J-l ft. w. 

 lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, chartaceous, naked and dark 

 glossy green above, beneath white or grayish with copious farina ; bi- 

 tripinnatifid ; rachis channelled, polished and coloured-like the stipites ; 

 pinnae numerous, erecto-spreading, more or less distant below, petiolate, 

 lanceolate-acuminate, 3-6 in. 1. 1-2 in. b., pinnulae contiguous or sub- 

 distant sessile and cuneate, acute-pointed or sometimes acuminate, 

 varying from oblong to linear-lancaolate, simply toothed or deeply 

 pinnatifid in the lower two-thirds, the outer part entire, £-1^ in. 1., 2-4 

 li. w., lobes acute, the lowest largest ; veins close, curved, once or twice 

 forked ; sori linear, confluent, covering the whole surface at maturity. 

 PI. Fil. t. 40. 



var. a. G. Martensii, Bory. — Fronds bipinnate ; pinnulae ovate-oblong, 



