Goebel's "Roraima Ferns"

Abstract

Although it is now several years since Goebel's paper on some Roraima ferns was published, no review of it has hitherto appeared in the AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL. Any paper by Professor Goebel is, of course, deserving of serious study by all botanists, but this one is of particular interest, and the present somewhat extended account may not be inappropriate. introduction to the paper gives a brief summary of explorations of Mt. Roraima. summit, the dividing point between British Guiana, Venezuela, and Brazil, is one of the most floristically interesting regions in the world. Quoting im Thurn, The district of Roraima is an oasis clothed with vegetation distinct from that of the country which immediately surrounds it . percentage of endemic species is very high. Plants are here subjected to extreme climatic conditions: strong winds, comparatively low temperatures, intense light, excessively high humidity and daily downpours of rain. chief interest of the paper lies in the description of a new genus of ferns, Hymenophyllopsis, of doubtful affinity. genus is described from plants collected by Dr. Ph. von Luetzelburg, who gives the Indian common name as Curacumura. Goebel remarks that either the plant must be very common in order to have attracted the attention pf the natives (for it is small and to the untutored eye without any very striking characteristics) or that it must be possessed of medicinal properties. latter is perhaps the case since the fern is