H a b . — “ Six tufts of it in a low damp hummock bordering on the
Everglades, F lo rid a ;” discovered April, 1877, by A. P. G a r b e r , Esq.
Common in the West Indies, and in Tropical America from the Isthmus
of Panama {Scemann, Hayes) to Brazil.
D e s c r i p t io n . — Root-stock short and thick, erect, with abundant
rootlets covered with crisp brown wool. The stalk or stipes
is very short, — rarely more than an inch long, and often much
less, — concave on the upper or inner side, and much carinated or
keeled on the other, the lamina of the frond forming a very narrow
wing or border to the very base. Just where the stipes leave
the root-stock there is an abundant growth of narrowly linear-
acuminate, dark fuscous-brown scales, nearly half an inch long.
Otherwise the stipes and the frond are perfectly smooth. The
fronds are very numerous from one root-stock, and rise from it
erect or obliquely, gracefully curving outwards in all directions,
the tips often somewhat drooping. Their length is from a foot
and a half to nearly three feet; and, from the middle to near the
end, they have a breadth of from two and a half to four inches.
From near the middle they taper gradually downwards to the
base, and become more and more concave or channelled, so as to
carry the rain-water to the roots. When fresh, the texture is
firmly chartaceous, or almost coriaceous; but specimens long
dried become very brittle. The veins are closely placed, about
twenty to the inch, a few of them unbranched, but most of them
forking near the base, or even divided into three. They are very
straight, and diverge from the midrib at an angle of from sixty
to seventy degrees. The tips of the veins are within the marginal
teeth of the frond, but do not reach to the very points of
the teeth. The Florida specimens are quite sharply serrated, as
are specimens collected in Cuba by Mr. W r ig h t , and in Santo
Domingo by the botanists attached to the United States Commission
of Inquiry; but specimens from Panama, collected by Mr.
S u t t o n H a y e s , and from New Granada (Mr. A. S c h o t t ), are
obscurely crenulated, like the Brazilian form figured by R a d d i .
The sori are mostly confined to the upper half of the frond, occasionally
descending nearer the base, and are very narrow and
about an inch long, running along the superior side of the veins,
or of most of them, from near the midrib half way, or a little
more than half way, to the margin. The midrib is very stout in
the lower portion of the frond, and is there much developed on
the lower or outer surface ; so that a section of it is triangular,
and shows a double band of vascular tissue. The color of the
frond is a fine leaf-green, slightly glossy on the upper surface,
and a little paler and duller beneath. The under side of the midrib
shows more or less of a deep purple, especially in the living
plant.
This noble species is the latest addition to the fern-fiora of
the United States; and Mr. Garber is to be congratulated on so
fine a discovery. The number of typical West-Indian ferns
which have now been found in Florida is considerable ; the list
embracing Acrostichum aureitm, Polypodium Phmutla, P. Phyl-
litidis, P . aureum, Pteris longifolia, Pt. Crética, Vittaria lineata,
Bkchmtm serrtilatum. Asplénium serratum, A . dentatum, A .
myriophyllum, Aspidium patens, A . unittim, var. glabrum, Ne