Alsophila nockii (Jenm.) R. Tryon

Cyathea nockii Jenman, Jour. Bot. 17: 257. 1879
Caudex 10-20 cm. long, 2-A cm. in diameter, procumbent and rooting beneath, rough with the bases of old fronds, the crown clothed with numerous shining bright-brown lanceolate to ovate scales with a dark median stripe ; fronds erect, cespitose, broadly oblanceolate, bipinnate, 40-110 cm. long, 12-25 cm. broad in the middle, tapering in both directions, the apex acuminate, the basal pinnae gradually much reduced and extending nearly or quite down to the caudex, the frond exstipitate or nearly so ; primary rachis deeply sulcate, covered with grayish linear scales, these mixed with broader striped brownish scales below; pinnae numerous, spaced, spreading, the middle ones 6-12.5 cm. long, 1.5-2.3 cm. broad, lanceolate from a broad base, coriaceous, dark-green and glossy above, lighter below, pinnate, with about 14-20 pairs of segments below the rigid short-acuminate apex, the costa with both slender striped grayish scales and whitish bullate ones ; segments slightly spaced, narrowly oblong, falcate, oblique, acute, mucronate, mostly adnate (only the lowermost free and deeply incised at the rounded base), the margins subentire, revolute, the costules with a few whitish bullate scales ; veins about 7-10 pairs, evident, once-forked near the base, or the upper ones simple ; sori 1-6 pairs, close to the costule, not reaching the apex ; indusia subhemispheric, persistent ; receptacles large, setiferous.
Type locality : Bellevue, near Cinchona, Jamaica.
Distribution : Confined to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica ; not uncommon upon steep forested slopes near Vinegar Hill, altitude 1000-1200 meters, also below Cinchona.