74
HYPOLEPIS.
5—8 inches long chartaceo-membranaceous pellucid pale
green bi- subtripinnate, pinnules distant elliptical approach­
ing to rhomboid very obtuse at the apex and the base petiolulate deciduous, petiolule short intensely black glossy dilated
at the apex and inserted a little within the margin beneath,
veins and marginal sori few remote, involucre pale membra­
naceous subrotund rather large, stipes and rachises dark
black-purple glossy slender. (TAB. L X X X V I I I . C.) Adiantum pauperculum, Kze. in Schkh. Fil. Suppl. ii. p. 65, t. 127.
Cassebeera micromera, Hort. Berol?Klotzsch, in Herb, nostr.
i
H a b . Province of St. Jago, Cuba, Linden, n. 1864.—A very remarkable
plant, but assuredly rather referable to Hypolepis or Cheilanthes than to
Adiantum.
In age the involucres are often seen spread open, yet not bear­
ing the sori. The shape o f the pinnules is very constant, and a great pe­
culiarity, noticed though not represented by Kunze, is the dense black short
petiolule to each pinnule, which on careful iuspection will be found lo be
attached to the pinnule a little within the margin, and there articulated :
from this petiole the pinnule is easily detached, and the petiole remaining
on the rachis is seen to be dilated at the top into a small disk, which is the
point of attachment.
I know not that this curious species has been found
anywhere but in Cuba and by Linden. Some of our specimens are tripinnate, as represented by K u n z e .
30. H. Gardneri, Hook. ; tufted small (3 inches high),
fronds oblong-lanceolate pinnate glabrous, pinna? sessile ho­
rizontal herbaceous oblong obtuse subfalcate entire or slightly
lobed dimidiato-cuneate at the base and auricled at the base
above, sori several approximate marginal extending to the auri­
cle, involucres membranaceous between reniform and semiorbicular rather small, stipes very short (scarcely any) and as well
as the rachis glossy purple-black ebeneous. (TAB. X C I I . B.)
H a b . Side of a narrow ravine on the summit of the Serra de Natividade,
Brazil, Gardner, n. 3556. — Perfectly distinct from any other Hypolepis or
Cheilanthes, and the fructification is entirely that of the present genus.
Notwithstanding the simply pinnated character of the fronds it must natu­
rally, in the habit and texture of the fronds, auricled pinna?, and in the p o ­
sition and arrangement of the sori, and in the ebeneous stipes and rachis
rank with the two preceding.
The roots are tufted, very fibrous. A s in
H. radiata and H. pedata, the venation is not visible (save in the young
pinna) unless held up between the eye and the light, it will then be seen
to be pinnated, and that the sorus originates from a single vein.
I have
seen no other specimens but those of Mr. Gardner above referred to.
Dubious
Species.
Hypolepis Sellowiana, Klotzsch, in Hook. Herb., does
not appear to possess an involucre, on which account I do
not describe it here. It is a Brazilian plant, and I know not
if Dr. Klotzsch has anywhere published it.