88 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL

Two Mexican Ferns C. A. WEATHERBY

Among the collections made by Dr. H. E. Moore, Jr., in Mexico in 1947 are two ferns of especial interest, a striking new species of Woodwardia and the second known collection of Cyathea delicatula Maxon. The former proves to have been taken, at the same locality, by Prof. M. Martinez in 1940. Dr. Maxon then gave it a name, but never published upon it: it is here given a description and technical publication. The latter was described from incomplete material; Dr. Moore's care- fully prepared specimens enable me to fill out the origi- nal description. It is a privilege to carry to completion these unfinished bits of Dr. Maxon's work.

Woodwardia Martinezii Maxon in herb., sp. nov., tex- tura, margine cartilagineo spinuloso-serrulato, venatione extra areolas costales plus minusve areolata, sporisque W. spinulosae similis, differt: paleis rhizomatis pallide brunneis vix ultra 1 cm. longis; lamina deltoidea pinnis imis inaequilateraliter dilatatis; soris superficialibus valde elongatis contiguis secus costas costulasque lineas sicut continuas formantibus; indusiis basi chartaceis mar- gine hyalinis.-Rhizoma longe repens basibus stipitum marcescentium dense obsitum. Pinnae 6-8-jugae, acumi- natae; inferiores liberae profunde pinnatifidae cata- dromae, laciniis oblongis vel lineari-oblongis acutis acuminatisve cum apice pinnarum leviter undulato- crenatis, sinubus rotundatis; superiores ala lata secus costam conjunctae pinnatifidae, laciniis ovatis late obtusis. Costae, venulae, paginaque inferior laminae fibrillis longis pluricellularibus brunneis glandulisque stipitatis sparse obsitae. Areolae extra costales ad sinus incomplete 3-seriatae. Sori secus costam ad 2 cm. longi. Two MEXICAN FERNS 89

Sporae ellipsoidales vel subreniformi-ellipsoidales granu- latae exalatae, ca. 60 x 35 p. TYPE:near Zacualtipan, State of Hidalgo, Mexico, alt. 1800 m., April 15, 1940, M. Martinez 27, sheet no. 1,791,- 178 in U. S. Nat. Herb. (photo in Gray Herb.) Other specimens examined: same locality, Jan., 1940, Martinez 14 (U. S. Nat. Herb.); rich, mixed woods in ravine beside Rio Teponapa, Zacualtipan, alt. 2000 m., July 2, 1947, H. E. Moore, Jr. 3202 (Gray Herb.) W. Martinezii combines the texture, spinulose-serru- late margin, areolate venation (outside the costal areoles) and spore-characters of W. spinulosa with the creeping rhizome, the strong development of costal soriferous areoles and the superficial sori of W. virginica. From all other pinnate-pinnatifid species of the genus it dif- fers in its very narrow and elongate sori and in its de- velopment of a tendency cropping out in .many groups of ferns of like architecture-the tendency to a shorten- ing and compensatory broadening of the lamina, ac- companied by a reduction in the number of its divisions and a considerable increase in the size of the lowest ones. The mingling of characters in W. Martinezii empha- sizes the untenability of Anchistea as a genus. As repre- sented by its type and sole original species, W. virginica, Anchistea is characterized by a creeping rhizome; super- ficial sori, placed along both costae and costulae and with fiattish, somewhat membranous indusia; veins mostly free except for the costal areoles; and smooth, winged spores-the "wing" being presumably a loose perispore as viewed by transmitted light. True Wood- wardia, as represented by its generally accepted lecto- type, the European W. radicans, has a thick, erect or ascending rhizome; sori immersed in short, shallow pits along the costules only and with a vaulted and thickened indusium; the veins with one or two rows of areolae out- 90 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL side the costal ones; and spores granular as seen by transmitted light and quite wingless or at most with a few tiny and irregular bits of tissue clinging to them.1 These contrasting characters, or most of them, should remain correlated if Anchistea is to stand. Four other species beside W. virginica have superficial sori. In the east-Asiatic W. Harlandii these are found along both costae and costules, and rhizome and spores are as in W. virginica; but the venation is almost as completely areolate as in Lorinseria. In W. Martinezii rhizome and sori (except that these are much longer) are of the same sort as in W. virginica, but there are extra-costal areoles and the spores are as in Euwood- wardia. W. japonica and W. Cochinchinensis have super- ficial sori and mostly free veins; but the sori are along the costules only and rhizome and spores are as in Euwoodwardia. That is, no two of the four features which should characterize Anchistea remain linked to- gether through the five species, though one or more occur in each. Incidentally, assuming a blechnoid origin for Wood- wardia (as most phylogenists do), the two characters which should be primitive-elongate costal sori and free veins-part company quite completely. CYATHEA DELICATULA Maxon, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 13: 4 (1909). This species was described from specimens lacking the stipe and accompanied by no in- formation as to the trunk. So far as I am aware, it has hitherto been known only from the type-collection-be- tween Tactic and Coban, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, v. 1 Woodwardia, as originally delimited by J. E. Smith, Mem. Acad. Turin, 5: 411 (1793), included W. areolata, W. virginica, W. japonica and W. radicans. Presl, Epim. Bot. 71 (1849), set off the first two species as Lorinseria and Anchistea respectively, leaving the name Woodwardia for the two remaining. His impli- cit typification has been accepted by all subsequent authors. W. radicans was probably first definitely designated as type by John Smith, Hist. Fil. 309 (1875), who also has been generally fol- lowed. SHORTERNOTES 91

Tiirckheim II 1629. Dr. Moore found it again in the vicinity of Molango, State of Hidalgo, Mexico (his no. 3484). From his material and notes it is now possible to supply the data lacking in the original description. Trunk 1 dm. in diameter, about 1.5 m. tall; fronds about 1.75 m. long; stipe ca. 6.5 dm. long, 3 cm. thick at base, dark brown below, becoming pale above, chan- neled on the upper side and here strigose-pubescent with short, rather thick, jointed, appressed or incurved hairs, on the lower, rounded surface aculeate toward the base (the broad-based aculei 3 mm. or less high, above pass- ing into minute tubercles), sparsely scurfy with small, pale brown, much dissected scales. Scales of the base of the stipe entire, pale brown, shining, deltoid-lanceo- late or deltoid-linear, up to 4.5 cm. long, tapering rather evenly from a subtruncate base about 4 mm. wide to a long capillary tip, which often occupies half the total length of the scale. GRAY HERBARIUM.

Shorter Notes ANOTHER STATION FOR Asplenium ebenoides.-In the summer of 1940 two plants of Asplenium ebenoides were found on a calcareous sandstone cliff on the north slope of a ravine in the northern end of Powell's Fort Valley about one mile southwest of Elizabeth Furnace Forest Camp, Shenandoah County, Virginia. One desiccated plant of this fern was removed from its hopeless position in a semi-detached bit of moss. Transplanted to a more favorable habitat, it still sur- vives. The other plant, in a small crevice beneath over- hanging rock, had all but a small portion of soil re- moved from its roots by erosion. Earth packed about its roots and small check dams built above and below saved this Asplenium ebenoides from which there are specimens in the Gray Herbarium and in the herbarium