Alsophila polystichoides Christ

Cyathea hemiotis Christ, Bull. Herb. Boiss. II. 6 : 182. 1906
Caudex undescribed ; fronds ample, tripinnate ; stipe stout, 2 cm. or more in diameter, castaneous, shining, armed with distant stout broadly conical spines about 5 mm. long and sparsely clothed with tortuous filiform brownish scales about 1 cm. long ; rachis castaneous or dark-purplish, polished, subfurf uraceous ; pinnaesubsessiletopetiolate(upto2cm.), up to 75 cm. long and 25 cm. broad, elongate deltoid-oblong, terminating very abruptly in an acuminate pinnate apex, the secondary rachis polished, castaneous, minutely and lightly puberulo-furfuraceous ; pinnules about 25-30 pairs, close (or in sterile specimens subimbricate ) , sessile, elongate-oblong, acuminate, 11-13 cm. long, 2-2.75 cm. broad, the costa appressed ferruginous-pilose above, below minutely and deciduously grayish puberulo-f urfuraceous, narrowly sinuate-alate nearly throughout ; segments numerous, 25-30 pairs, rigidly herbaceous, dull dark-green above, paler and subglaucous below, approximate (closer in sterile specimens), rhomboid-oblong or narrowly so, subacute to acute, 1-1.4 cm. long, 4—6 mm. broad, falcate or subfalcate, mostly sessile or above semiadnate, the bases of the larger ones subcordate to unequally subauriculate, the margins lightly or deeply crenateserrate, sometimes unequally so, the fertile segments least incised, the costules glabrescent ; veins about 10 pairs, concealed, 1-3 times pinnately forked, glabrate ; sori small, 3-5 pairs, close to the costa ; indusium globose, pale, membranous, bursting irregularly, quickly fragmentary or disappearing ; receptacle elevated, subglobose, dark, deciduously grayish furfuraceopilose.
Type locality: Navarro La Luna, Costa Rica; Distribution : Known only from Costa Rica.

Cyathea hastulata Christ, Bull. Herb. Boiss. II. 4: 945. 1904
Caudex and stipe undescribed ; frond very ample, tripinnate ; primary rachis stout, unarmed, purplish-castaneous, lustrous beneath a very short detergible rufous pubescence, the secondary rachises similar; pinnae subsessile to petiolate (2.5 cm.), narrowly oblong^ about 70 cm. long, 22 cm. broad, very abruptly acuminate, the apex pinnate ; pinnules about 30 pairs, dark-green above, rather lighter below, rigidly herbaceous, approximate, spreading, sessile, narrowly oblong, 11-13 cm. long, up to 2.5 cm. broad, acuminate or long-acuminate, the costae slender, very narrowly sinuate-alate, brownish, with a few lacerate grayish squamules ; segments 20-23 pairs, distant, falcate, linear-oblong, 12-14 mm. long, about 3 mm. broad, sessile or at least constricted at the base, deeply crenatedentate, the teeth obtuse, more than 1 mm. each way, the lowermost outer one usually produced to 2-3 mm. in length, the segment thus unequally hastulate ; veins of the lower lobes pinnately forked, 2 or 3 pairs, in the upper lobes once-forked near the costule, both the costules and the basal portions of the veins grayishsquamulose ; sori about 9 pairs, small, brownish, close to the costule, extending nearly to the apex ; indusium globose, pale yellowish-brown, fragile, readily rupturing, the basal portion subpersistent, disciform ; receptacle dark, elevated, globose-capitate, deciduously grayish squamulose-pubescent.
Type locality : Arias Agua Punta, Costa Rica. Distribution : Known onlj'from Costa Rica.

Cyathea werckleana Christ, Bull. Herb. Boiss
II. 6 : 181. 1906.
Caudex undescribed ; fronds ample, irregularly quadripinnatifid ; stipe stout, 2 cm. or more in diameter, light-castaneous, polished, armed with stout conical spines about 7 mm. in length, at the base thickly clothed with tortuous linear-subulate scales about 1 cm. long ; rachis castaneous, polished, delicately and minutely light puberulo-f urfuraceous ; pinnae subsessile to petiolate (2 cm.), oblong, acroscopic, up to 75 cm. long and 25 cm. broad, acuminate, terminating abruptly in a pinnate apex, the secondary rachis like the primary ; pinnules about 35 pairs, rigidly herbaceous to subcoriaceous, dull dark-green above, below paler and subglaucous, deciduous, sessile, contiguous or slightly imbricate, linear-oblong, acuminate, ll-15cm. long, 2. 5-3. 1cm. broad (the superior ones longest), fully pinnate throughout, the costae minutely grayish puberulo-f urfuraceous below, with a few greatly reduced substellate brownish scales ; segments deciduous, approximate or contiguous, wholly sessile, free, linear-oblong, 1.3-1.8 cm. long, 4-6 mm. broad, straight or in drying slightly falcate, subacute, subcordate at the base, above deeply and regularly serrate-lobate, the lobes (5-8 pairs) semiovate, acute, 2 mm. long, the margins usually entire, revolute, the costules like the costae ; veins pinnately branched, 2-5 pairs to each lobe ; sori minute, 1-3 to each lobe, nearly basal ; indusium delicately membranous, globose, rupturing readily, the fragments mostly disappearing ; receptacles dark, elevated, broadly capitate, grayish pilose-furfuraceous.
Type locality : La Palma, Costa Rica, altitude about 1500 meters. Distribution: Known only from the mountains of Costa Rica.