Alsophila woodwardioides (Kaulf.) D. S. Conant

Cyathea araneosa Maxon, sp. nov
Caudex 3-4 meters high, very thick, densely covered with old stipes, rough and very spiny; stipe 30 cm. or more long, 2 cm. or more in diameter, dark-brown, deciduously furfuraceous, dark -paleaceous at the base and with numerous stout straight or slightly curved purplish-brown conical spines 7 mm. or less long, the rachis similar but smooth or muricate below, the reduced slender spines borne at the sides above ; lamina 2 meters or more long, about 110 cm. broad, tripinnate, exceedingly coriaceous, brittle, lurid-green above, paler and glaucous below; pinnae alternate, approximate, 50-55 cm. long, 13-15 cm. broad, lanceolate, sessile, the apex short-acuminate ; secondary rachis brownish below, slightly roughened and obscurely furfuraceous, glabrescent, above lighter, striate, densely covered with stiff brownish appressed hairs ; pinnules 30-35 pairs, lanceolate, sessile, cut to thecosta at the base, above scarcely so, the apex abruptly acuminate, crenate ; costae yellow, glabrous above, below stramineous, muricate, with a few deciduous linear-lanceolate purplish-brown appressed scales; segments very close, 18-20 pairs, 7-9 mm. long, oblong, slightly falcate, the lowermost pair sessile, those above adnate and connected in the apical half by a narrow wing, the margins subentire, faintly crenulate at the apex, revolute, or the entire segment deeply concave ; costules glabrous above, below bearing a few yellowish-brown dark-tipped scales toward the base and lighter bullate ones toward the apex ; veins about 9 pairs, concealed, mostly once-forked near the base ; sori 1-3 pairs, at or near the base, close to the costule ; indusium light-brown, deeply hemispheric, slightly constricted, the margin entire, smooth and delicately whitish araneose-ciliate, glabrous with age ; receptacle stout, setif erous, short and included.
Type collected on partially open southern upper slopes and summit of the Gran Piedra, Oriente, Cuba, altitude 900 to 1200 meters, April 14, 1907, Maxon 4035 (U. S. Nat. Herb. no. 522680). Distribution : Known only from this collection.

Cyathea nigrescens (Hook.) J. Smith, Ferns
Brit. & For. 242. 1866.
Cyaihea arborea nigrescens Hook. Sp. Fil. 1 : 17. 1844.
Caudex erect, 1-3 meters high, 10-12 cm. in diameter, long-spin escent and rough with bases of the slowly deciduous fronds, the stipe-scars rough with protruding fibrovascular bundles; stipe stout, 45-60 cm. long, 3 cm. in diameter at the base, dark purplish-brown, scurfy, armed with numerous stout purplishblack spines 1 cm. or less long and bearing copious rigid dark-brown shining deciduous scales at the base ; lamina up to 2 meters long, 1-1.25 meters broad, tripinnate, rigidly coriaceous, above dark-green, below paler and somewhat glaucous, the rachis darkor purplish-brown, lucid, puberulous, smooth or slightly muricate below, spinescent above ; pinnae approximate, 45-65 cm. long, 15-20 cm. broad, lanceolate, sessile or the lower ones shortstipitate, the apex deeply serrate-acuminate ; secondary rachis smoothish or slightly muricate below, dark purplish-brown, sparingly furfuraceo-paleaceous, glabrescent, above sulcate and densely hirsute with appressed brownish hairs, a few slender scales intermixed; pinnules about 30 pairs, approximate or slightly spaced, subsessile or the inferior short-stalked, 8-9 cm. long, 1.5-2 cm. broad, lanceolate, at the base fully pinnate, above cut almost to the costa, the apex acuminateserrulate ; costae yellowish -brown, brownish-strigose above, below yellowish, furfuraceo-paleaceous, glabrescent ; segments about 20 pairs, 9-10 mm. long, narrowly oblong, falcate, obtusish, the lowermost spaced and sessile or short-stalked, those above adnate, the margins entire and strongly revolute ; costules glabrous above, below paleaceous, especially toward the base, the scales y el lo wish -brown , bullate, deciduous, with occasional yellowish hairs intermixed and toward the apex; veins distinct, about 10-12 pairs, mostly once-forked near the base ; sori close to the costule, usually 1 or 2 pairs, confined to the base of the segment, rarely several pairs ascending to the middle or beyond ; indusia deeply hemispheric, brownish, membranous, persistent ; receptacle stout, setiferous, scarcely included.
Type locality : Jamaica.
Distribution : Confined to Jamaica ; not uncommon in wooded and open situations in the central and western portions at altitudes of from 700 to 1500 meters.

Alsophila woodwardioides is a species of tree fern native to Jamaica, Cuba and Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic).