Lygodium volubile Sw.

Lygodium volubile Sw. Jour. Bot. Schrad. 1801': 304. 1803
Hydropossum volubile Willd. Sp. PI. 5 : 78. 1810. Lygodium Wrighiii D. C. Baton ; Prantl, Schiz. 78. 1881.
Fronds climbing 4-10 meters; rhizome short-creeping, corrugate, dark-brown, densely clothed with slender blackish hairs; stipe and rachis up to 3 mm. in diameter, yellowish to brownish-castaneous, subterete, narrowly marginate, puberulous, glabrescent ; primary branches evident as short tubercles upon the rachis, the terminal bud inconspicuous ; sterile secondary (geminate) pinnae petiolate (1.5-3 cm. ), orbicular to broadly oblong-ovate, acute, 10-20 cm. long, 8-20 cm. broad, pinnate, the rachis relatively slender, subdivaricate-flexuous, stramineous to brownish, narrowly marginate, short-pubescent (especially above), glabrescent ; tertiary segments 2-4 pairs, subequal, distant, petiolate (5-10 mm.), oblonglanceolate from a broadly cuneate or rounded subtruncate (or, rarely, sharply auriculatehastate) base, 4-15 cm. long, 1-2.5 cm. broad, the apex acute, acuminate, or rarely attenuate, the costae nodose-articulate, flexuous, elevated, stoutish, extending to the apex, bearing a few antrorse hairs ; terminal segment conform, rarely confluent with the next below ; veins oblique, curved, elevated, mostly 1-2 times dichotomous, glabrous; leaf-tissue coriaceo-herbaceous, bright-green, lustrous upon both surfaces, paler below, glabrous or obscurely short-pilose, the margins cartilaginous, lightly crenulateserrate, the serrations distant. Fertile secondary (geminate) pinnae similar to the sterile in shape, pinnate or commonly bipinnate, the lower tertiary segments then deltoid, the quaternary segments l-jugate or rarely subbijugate, opposite, short, spreading ; sporangiophores numerous, terminating the stronger branch of the mostly 1-2-forked veins, up to 1 cm. long, serrate, glabrous above, sparsely short-pilose below ; spores minutely punctate, obscurely subcristate-tuberculate .
Type locality : Jamaica.
Distribution : Jamaica and Cuba ; also from northern South America to Brazil.

Lygodium micans Sturm, in Mart. Fl. Bras. 1' : 178. 1859
Osmunda scandens Aubl. PI. Guian. 2 : 961. 1775.
Lygodium scandens Schkuhr, Krypt. Gew. 1 : 138, excl. syn. 1809. Not L. scandens Sw. 1801.
Fronds very ample, apparently high-climbing; primary rachis stout, subterete, very narrowly marginate, dull-stramineous to light-brown ; primary branches evident only as stout protuberances upon the primary rachis, the terminal bud minute ; sterile secondary (geminate) pinnae petiolate (2^.5 cm.), very broadly ovate or oblong to transversely oblong, 15-30 cm. long, 15-35 cm. broad, once-pinnate, the rachis nearly straight, narrowly marginate above, brownish short-pubescent (especially above), glabrescent; tertiary segments 2-5 pairs, subequal, distant or subdistant, petiolate (5-10 mm.), broadly ligulate to oblong-lanceolate from a rounded or subcordate base, 10-25 cm. long, 1-3.8 cm. broad, the costae nodose-articulate, greatly elevated, straight, stout, extending to the apex, bearing a few scattering antrorse hairs, the terminal segment sometimes joined to the next below ; veins directed toward the margin at a wide angle, 2-3 times dichotomous, the branches straight and parallel, elevated, glabrous ; leaf-tissue rigidly cor iaceo -herbaceous, lustrous upon both surfaces, paler below, glabrous, the margins distinctly crenate-serrate, the teeth close. Fertile secondary (geminate) pinnae similar to the sterile, the veins similarly dichotomous, nearly all the branches extending to the sporangiophores, the few sterile branches excurrent to sharp marginal teeth ; sporangiophores very numerous and close, up to 1 cm. long, sharply serrate, pilose along the midvein above and at the base below ; spores coarsely subcristate-tuberculate.
Type locality : British Guiana.
Distribution: Panama; also in Trinidad and Guiana; accredited to Santo Domingo.