Caribbean Dana Fern

Danaea nodosa (L.) Smith, Mem. Acad. Turin 5 : 420. 1793
Acrostichum nodosum LSp. PI. 1070. 1753.
Danaea longifoUa Desv. Ges. Nat. Freunde Berlin Mag. 5 : 307. 1811.
A large species ; leaves rather dull throughout, up to 2 meters long, the stipes without nodes, up to 1 m. long, brown, finely mottled, dotted with small purplish-brown dark-centered scales ; sterile lamina often as much as 1 m. long and 60 cm. broad, oblong, usually about half as broad as long, the rachis brown, finely tnottled, darkest at the nodes ; pinnae 15-33, dull-green, oblong (elliptic in young fronds), slightly falcate, unequally rounded or sometimes cuneate below, acuminate, entire or sometimes undulate or faintly serrulate near the apex, 20-40 cm. long, 3-5 cm. broad ; midveins sparsely scaly, the veinlets mostly
^ Completed by RAI.PH Curtiss Benedict.

Danaea elliptica Smith, in Rees, Cycl. 11 : Danaea no. 2. 1808
Danaea media Liebm. Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. V. 1 : 306. 1849. Danaea poly morp ha I^eprieur ; Baker, Ann. Bot. 5 : 499. 1891. Danaea oligosora Fourn.; Christ, Hedwigia44: 369. 1905.
A broad-leaved species ; rhizome rather stout, the leaf -nodes close ; leaves rather glossy throughout, 30-90 cm. long, the stipes with one to five nodes, purplish-brown or brown, darker at the nodes, finely mottled, sparsely dotted with brown to purplish dark-centered scales ; sterile lamina broadly oblong or somewhat ovate or rounded, 20-35 cm. long, 12-30 cm. broad, the rachis similar to the stipe ; pinnae 5-13, oblique, mostly elliptic, sometimes lanceolate, oblong, or oblanceolate, 8-17 cm. long, 2-3.5 cm. broad (the lower pinnae often much reduced, the terminal pinna broader), straight, unequally rounded or cuneate below, usually acute above, or less commonly acuminate, entire throughout, the margin slightly and more or less unevenly repand ; midveins not scaly, the veinlets forked near their origin, 8-11 per cm.; sporophyls mostly much narrower and taller, the pinnae up to 12 cm. long and 2.5 cm. broad.
Type locality : Jamaica.
Distribution : West Indies and Mexico to Brazil.