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1929

JULY BULLETIN

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^ JUL 20 1929 *

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1. M. BASSETT

I

Hammonton, N. J.
U. S. A.

SCHIZAEA PUSILLA

(curly grass)

This curious little fern, which bears so little resemblance to
a fern as popularly understood, has long been most prized among
the many botanical rarities of the Pine Barrens. It was first
discovered in 1805 at Quaker Bridge, where an Inn well-known to
the botanists of old, offered shelter to those who wished to stop
over night on their way to the coast. Situated as it was in the
very heart of this interesting country, it furnished one of the few
available stopping places for those who wished to study the flora
or fauna of the Pines, and who in the absence of the railroads were
unable to return to Philadelphia at night. It thus became the only
known station for many species of plants which were later found
to have a much wider distribution. With the coming of the rail¬
road and the abandonment of the old wagon roads to the sea, the
old hostelry at Quaker Bridge disappeared, as did other similar
buildings, so that the spot is now more of a wilderness and less
accessible than it was a century ago.

The party who had the good fortune to discover the Schizaea
consisted of Dr. C. W. Eddy, J. LeConte, Fredr’k Pursh and C.
Whitlow. Pursh described the curious little plant in his flora in
1814, leaving one to infer that he alone was the discoverer ; but
Rafinesque in his review of Pursh ’s work states that he did not
find any of the specimens and that he described the plant without
permission of the real discoverer. Dr. Torry has confirmed the
first part of this statement, saying that Dr. Eddy was the discov¬
erer and that LeConte was the only other member of the party to
find any other specimen. The plant was apparently not found
again until 1818, when Dr. Torrey and Wm. Cooper drove from
Philadelphia to South Amboy, by way of Quaker Bridge and
Monmouth spending a week in the Pines, while Dr. Torrey made
his first aquaintance with the peculiar flora.

Owing to the scarcity of this little plant, it is available only
in a small way as a curiosity or specimen. Some of the old locali¬
ties are vanishing.

PINTS ECHINATA