Alsophila balanocarpa (D. C. Eat.) D. S. Conant

Cyathea balanocarpa D. C. Eaton, Mem. Am
Acad. II. 8: 215. 1860.
Caudex erect, 2-A-.5 meters high, 8 cm. or more in diameter, rough above with stipebases of previous seasons ; fronds several, erect or slightly spreading, narrowly lanceolate, 1.5-2.5 meters long, 40-70 cm. broad in the middle, the apex acute or acuminate, the base short-attenuate, finally abruptly reduced, the basal pinnae short and distant ; stipe 10 cm. or more long, 1-1.5 cm. in diameter, light-brownish, densely and minutely furfuraceous, armed with numerous stout ebeneous shining curved spines 4-6 mm. long, and clothed with scattering brownish linear-lanceolate scales 5-7 mm. long; rachis spiny or tuberculate at the base, above light-brownish, minutely furfuraceous ; pinnae numerous, approximate, slightly oblique, sessile, narrowly deltoid-lanceolate, the middle ones 25-37 cm. long, 4-7 cm. broad, with 35-50 pairs of spaced pinnules below the crenulate caudate apex ; pinnules linear-oblong, the lower ones straight, free, auriculate at the inner base, the margins irregularly and deeply dentate-crenate, the upper pinnules similarly auriculate, gradually adnate, subfalcate, the margins subentire or interruptedly sinuatecrenate ; secondary rachises furfuraceous with small lacerate yellowish dark-tipped scales, with yellowish hairs intermixed ; costae similarly clothed, but also with numerous yellowish bullate imbricate ciliate scales ; veins evident, 12-18 pairs, close, 1-3-forked, or those of the lobes mostly pinnately forked; sori 8-15 pairs, near the conspicuously elevated costa, faced outward, occupying most of the pinnule ; indusium hemispheric, reddish-brown with age ; receptacle large, capitate, setiferous, protruding.
Type locality : Eastern Cuba.
Distribution : Mountains of eastern Cuba, on partially wooded mountain slopes, at an altitude of from 1000 to 1200 meters.

Alsophila balanocarpa, synonym Cyathea balanocarpa, is a species of tree fern native to Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola. Despite its wide distribution, little is known about this species. It is apparently of hybrid origin.

In southeastern Cuba it hybridises with Alsophila woodwardioides to form the natural hybrid Alsophila × boytelii.