The Philippine Journal of Science, C. Botany. 
Vol. IX, No. 3, June, 1914. 
THE GENUS MACROGLOSSUM COPELAND 
By Douglas H. Campbell 
( Stanford University, California, U. S. A.) 
In 1909, Professor E. B. Copeland described a new Marattia- 
ceous fern, to which he gave the name Macroglossum Alidae. 
The specimen was collected near Bau, in Sarawak, Borneo, where 
in February, 1913, the writer collected at the original station 
abundant material for a morphological study of this interesting 
fern. After leaving Borneo, a visit was made to Buitenzorg, 
and in the famous botanical garden there a single fruiting speci- 
men of what was taken to be the same plant as Macroglossum 
Alidae, was growing. This specimen was labeled Angiopteris 
Smithii Raciborski, and inquiry showed that it was the type of 
that species. It had been growing in the garden for about 
twenty years, but its origin was unknown. It was conjectured 
that the plant had been sent from either Borneo or Sumatra, 
but no record of its origin was extant. 
Material from this plant was shown to Professor Copeland 
who thought it was identical with the Sarawak species ; but the 
sporangia were immature, and a careful comparison of mature 
sporophylls of the two plants has shown that they are not iden- 
tical, although doubtless closely related. It is also evident that 
the genus Macroglossum cannot be united with Angiopteris. 
Raciborski’s Angiopteris Smithii must therefore be transferred 
to the genus Macroglossum. 1 
The two species of Macroglossum closely resemble each other 
in habit, but the Buitenzorg plant was considerably smaller than 
the larger specimens of M. Alidae. The leaves of the latter were 
about 4 meters in length, while those of M. Smithii scarcely 
reached 3 meters. 
A comparison of Macroglossum with Angiopteris shows a 
number of notable differences. The habit of the plants is quite 
unlike, the upright simply pinnate leaves of Macroglossum being 
more numerous than the broad-spreading bipinnate leaves of 
1 Macroglossum Smithii (Raciborski) Campbell ( Angiopteris Smithii 
Raciborski in Bull. Int. Acad. Cracov. (1902) 54). 
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