TAB. LXV. 
Adiantum fragile, Sw. 
Frondibus caespitosis ovato-lanceolatis tri-quadripinnatis, pin- 
nulis brevi-petiolulatis (petiolulis gracillimis) tenui-membra- 
naceis obovato-cuneatis basi in petiolulum articulatis apice 
rotundatis, sterilibus serratis, fertilibus 3-4-lobatis omnibus 
cito caducis, lobis fertilibus retusis sinu soriferis, involucris 
oblongis rectis, stipite brevissimo vix ullo racbique nigro- 
ebeneis nitidis, radicibus caespitosis fibris rigidis lanuginosis. 
Adiantum fragile, Sw. FI. Ind. Occ. 3. p. 1721. Syn. Fil. 
p. 125. 
A. cuneatum, Kunze. PL Exsicc. Poepp . in Herb . Nostr. ; in 
Linncea , 9. p. 82 ? 
Hab. Calcareous Rocks, Jamaica, Swartz , Dr. Wright , Otto, 
Wilson , Purdie. Cuba, Poeppig. 
I have received West Indian specimens from different 
persons of this singular and well marked plant, all of them 
exhibiting the same peculiarity of shedding almost every 
leaflet or pinnule, a circumstance due to the presence of an 
articulation where the leaf is inserted upon the petiole : so 
that the specimens, when they reach me, are mere skeletons, 
consisting of wiry stipites, with the exceedingly slender and 
wiry rachis, very much branched, and the petiolules from which 
the pinnules had fallen, the latter all lying apart from the plant. 
There are ample characters for recognising this species. I 
know no Adiantum with so peculiar a growth, so tufted, so 
very short in the stipes, and with such caducous pinnules. In 
other respects the latter a good deal resemble A. cuneatum 
of Brazil, and A. venustum of Northern India. 
Fig. 1. Sterile pinnae, f. 2. Fertile pinnae : — magnified. 
