American #ern Fournal
Published by the
AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY
Bd EDITORS
WILLIAM R. MAXON RG; rains G. Vv. MORTON 3 RA L. WIGGINS : VOLUME 34 19.4 4 | = : ae LAYS 4 Ke me oul R HOT, Tay >>
LANCASTER PENNSYLVANIA
CONTENTS
VOLUME 34, NUMBER 1, PAGES 1-36, ISSUED MARCH 22, 1944
Reminiscences of Fern Collecting in Fiji. cu. A.C. Smith 1
A Southern Variety of Polypodium sien .C. A. Weatherby 17
A New Trichomanes from Colombia C.V. Morton 19
Diplazium lonchophyllum in Louisiana ............. William R. Maxon 21 Shorter Notes: The Southeastern San of Lycopodium inundatum; A Fern New to W r Co., Massachu-
tts ; a tuberosa aa ‘Prest ese srenie ena 24
Recent "Pern Lite 25
American Fern eas 30
VOLUME 34, NUMBER 2, PAGES 37-68, ISSUED JUNE 19, 1944
nee Ferns in wlonsinsicn Memeo 33 Ira L. Wiggins 37 The Name of the Dee William R. Maxon 50 oeatienond of Equis ae in New Jersey..... William F. Rapp, Jr. 51 Status of Botrychium dissectum var. oneidense.
Robert T. Clausen 55 Shorter aie x Asplenium Gravesii in Virginia: Bradley’s
Spleenwort in Ohio Recent te Literature 63 American Fern Society 66
VoLuME 34, NUMBER 3, Pages 69-100, ISSUED OCTOBER 10, 1944
The New World Species of Azolla H. K. Svenson 69 Mass Collections: Equisetum sylvaticum.......... sais orman C. Fassett 85 bie aia Bluff ar T. Wherry 92
horter Notes: Osmunda cinnamomea f. ees, Two
Fe New to Trinidad Recent Fern Literature 96 American Fern Society 98
VOLUME 34, NuMBER 4, Pages 101-132, IsSUED NOVEMBER 30, 1944
Some Conspicuous Ferns of Northern South America. Oscar Houokt 101 Annotations on West American Ferns—TI11 ............. Joseph Ewan 107 A New Isoetes from Ecuador Henry K. Srenqon 121 Another Occurrence of the Apparent sph Cystopteris arren H. TERS Jr. 125
Recent Fern Literature 127 American Fern Society ....... 129 Index to Volume 34 130
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Vol. 34 January-March, 1944 No, 1
American #ern Journal
nna ATER
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Counril for 1944 OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR
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American Fern Journal
Vou. 34 JANUARY—Marcu, 1944 No. 1
Reminiscences of Fern Collecting in Fiji A. C. SmirH
During the present period of turmoil in the southwest- ern Pacific, botanists who have worked in any of the archipelagoes of that region are prone to wonder what changes will result from the war. There is, fortunately, no longer a possibility that the southwestern groups will pass from the control of friendly countries and become closed to occidental explorers, as have the mandated Micronesian islands. It is now only a question of time until the Pacific will again be at peace and all its islands open to further scientific exploration. Many of these archipelagoes, for example the Solomons and the New Hebrides, are very nearly unexplored from a botanical standpoint; others, such as Fiji, are much better known. Although not in the actual combat area, Fiji is strategi- cally important for its position; from a phytogeographic viewpoint also it is highly important, lying at the edge of the supposed old continental shelf and in the route of major plant movements from Papuasia eastward.
It is just ten years ago that, as a Bishop Museum Fel- low in Yale University, I made a collection of plants in Fiji! Herbarium studies in the interval have kept my
r brief accounts of this trip see Journ. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 35: 261-280, 0, figs. 1— a (1984) and non Woods 41: 1-5 (1935). f the JouRNAL, pages 113-148, was issued bk! 15, eas] 1
y AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
memories of this period vivid, and the present recollec- tions are set down in the hope that they will interest fern students whose experiences may not extend to the Pacific tropics. In general, the Pacific islands, excluding the low limestone groups, are among the wealthier parts of the world in ferns, a large proportion of their vascular flora being made up by this fascinating group.
During the course of my nine months in Fiji, I col- lected on eight or ten islands of the more than 200 which make up the archipelago. With the intention of avoid- ing the better-collected localities visited by earlier bot- anists, I concentrated on the higher portions of the large voleanic islands, spending several months on Vanua Levu (the Great Land), the second island of Fiji in size. Al- though more than 100 miles long, Vanua Levu is com- paratively narrow, averaging perhaps 20 miles in width. A nearly continuous mountain range extends for most of
its length, and this range, lying athwart the southeast —
trade winds, sharply divides the island into a wet south- ern slope and a fairly dry northern slope. Like many other collectors of tropical plants, I have a certain aver- sion to dry countries; consequently I neglected the north- ern portions of Vanua Levu in order to concentrate on the wet and heavily forested southern slopes. Let him who will seek out the deserts, the grasslands, the dry reed-covered hills of tropical countries; surely fern stu- dents on the whole will agree with me in turning to the wet forests, where swollen streams pour over dark boulders and the trees are clad in masses of soaking epi- phytes. Here, in these cool green recesses of the rain- forest, is found the wealth of ferns that more than repays one for the sudden showers, the day-long torrential down- pours, the wet camp-sites, the soaking shoes, and other attendant discomforts. Eventually, I have always found, there is a morning when the sun shines, and an open place
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FERN COLLECTING IN Fut g
along a creek where one can absorb the steaming heat and simultaneously let one’s eyes roam over the edge of a bright green forest, with mosses and ferns cloaking the dripping branches and the drenched rocks. What equal recompense has the-fern-lover in dry countries, where, parched and exhausted by desiccating winds, hot, thirsty, he may eventually stumble upon a boulder beneath which lurks a sere brown clump of some depauperate Chei- lanthes? No, let us write only of the forest, the wet green forest, where graceful tree-ferns abound, where large-fronded epiphytes and minute mosslike filmy ferns cover the lower branches and the trunks of the canopy- forming trees.
To be sure, the reed-covered northern slopes of Vanua Levu are not devoid of ferns. Here are impenetrable tangles of stiff-fronded species of Gleichenia; here are extensive areas in which Pteridium aquilinum is domi- nant. But one need not go to the southwestern Pacific to study the Bracken.
To obtain representative collections of the Vanua Levu forest, I ascended the main ridge in several places from the south coast. During my work in Fiji I was accom- panied by a Fijian boy of about 20—-Manoa by name— who obtained additional help in each village as we needed it, and who acted as interpreter and ‘‘head boy.’’ To obtain other local helpers was no problem, for most Fijians are woodsmen and look upon an excursion into the mountains as a lark, for which a few shillings or some trade-goods are ample recompense. Letters to the vari- ous district and village chiefs are also of the greatest value to a collector; in general these chiefs themselves are pleased to accompany such excursions, even though the motives behind the gathering of leaves and bits of moss are more or less inexplicable to them. By passing myself off as a vunikau (doctor of trees)—a sort of occi-
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL VoLUME 34, PLATE 1
FERN COLLECTING IN F gt 5
dental medicine man—I invariably obtained willing (if sometimes amused) cooperation from my Fijian friends. As illustrating the life of a plant collector in Fiji, I shall here confine my recollections to a period of a few days spent in western Vanua Levu.
The western end of the island is dominated by Mount Seatura, an extensive mass rising very gradually from the coasts to an elevation of about 850 meters. To col- lect on the slopes and summit of this mountain was my principal motive in visiting Mbua, the westernmost of the three provinces making up Vanua Levu. At this time I was making my headquarters in the village of Ndama, about two miles up the Ndama River, which debouches somewhat south of the famous—or infamous—
ua Bay, scene of certain lurid negotiations between sandalwood traders and Fijians more than a century ago. It is not unsatisfying to a botanist that some of these traders, who made Santalum Yasi a rarity, found an uncomfortable permanence in Mbua.
After some days’ collecting in the coastal hills of Mbua, I set out to ascend the mountain. The best approach from Ndama lies up the so-called Ndriti Gap, which cuts off the southern Seatovo Range from the main mass of the mountain. On the afternoon of the selected day, Manoa and I, accompanied by eight or ten boys ‘‘ap-
pointed’’ as carriers by the mbuli (chief) of the Ndama district, walked up the valley a few miles to the smaller village of Nangandoa. Here the Ndama is a pleasant slow stream about six meters wide, and we enjoyed a leisurely swim before dark. The turanga ni koro (head man) of Nangandoa turned over a little house to us, and we set up a secondary headquarters here.
In the morning we again set out, carrying only the minimum amount of baggage and leaving all drying equipment behind. The trail through Ndriti Gap passes
A. CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSE, SHOWING CAUDEX OF CYATHEA LUNULATA ATTACHED TO END OF RIDGE-POLE.
FERN COLLECTING IN FI 7
first through dry open country, in which reeds (Mis- canthus japonicus) and species of Gleichenia predomi- nate; but soon the lowland forest is entered, and the tiny village of Ndriti lies in a clearing in this forest, beside the now swift stream. Our party was expected at Ndriti; consequently. we were welcomed with a yanggona ceremony, the inevitable traditional performance of pre- paring and drinking the universal beverage of the Pacific, made from the roots of Piper methysticum. The ritual of making and partaking of this drink readily consumes a couple of hours, but to slight the courtesies it demands is very impolitic; and anyway, this day it was raining hard, so I did not object to the time spent in social ameni- ties. After this ceremony and an excellent lunch of prawns, ndalo (Colocasia antiquorum), and native greens, I was able to discuss with my hosts plans for ascending the mountain. As they assured me that there was no trail, I offered to pay three or four of the local men to mark a trail part way up the slope and to make an over-night shelter. This they proceeded to do, while I took Manoa and a couple of other helpers and collected in the rain in the nearby forest.
The wet forest of low and middle elevations on Vanua
Levu abounds in ferns, and the most casual collector soon
becomes acquainted with such terrestrial forms as Athyrium melanocaulon, A. esculentum, A. tripin- natifidum, Microlepia speluncae, Tectaria latifolia, and the more common species of Dryopteris, of which about 30 species are known in Fiji. Among the tree-ferns are Cyathea propinqua and C. lunulata; the latter, probably the most common tree-fern in Fiji, is known all over the group as mbalambala. It is one of the few ferns which the Fijians use in their native economy, its long caudices serving as adornments to terminate the ridge-poles of houses, and also in some cases as interior wall uprights.
8 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
The young fronds of this fern are eaten in times of scarcity, like those of many other species. Most ferns, of course, can be so eaten; but in a country as rich as Fiji, where yams, taro, breadfruit, coconuts, and many other delicious plant foods can be had at the cost of slight effort, the natives seldom rely upon ferns as food. In this tropical forest the epiphytic ferns are perhaps more conspicuous and varied than the terrestrial forms; simple-fronded epiphytes of common occurrence are Polypodium accedens and Antrophyum alatum, the lat- ter covering tree-trunks with dense mats of creeping tangled rhizomes. Curious epiphytes with pendant fronds are Vaginularia paradoxa and Vittaria scolopen- drina, the former with fronds up to 25 em. long and only about 1 mm. broad, simulating narrow hanging grass- blades, the latter somewhat larger, with fronds up to a meter in length but proportionately broader. Among the peculiar humus-collecting epiphytes are to be men- tioned Asplenium nidus, Polypodium linguaeforme, and ~ Drynaria rigidula; these have large coarse fronds and are ‘‘nest-like’’ in growth, the bases of their fronds tend- ing to collect debris and humus. Common epiphytes with attractively divided fronds are Asplenium remotum, A. bipinnatifidum, and Davallia fejeensis; to see the last species in abundance in its native home is of especial interest, for it is widely used as a greenhouse plant in hanging baskets. :
Our afternoon in the forest near Ndriti having resulted in the collection of some of the above-mentioned species and numerous flowering trees and shrubs, I decided to spend the following morning in the same pursuit and to return to Nangandoa to dry the collection before pro- ceeding up the mountain. Such flexible plans are really necessary in a region where the weather and the native temperaments are both subject to unpredictable vagaries.
FERN COLLECTING IN FIJI 9
In the vicinity of Ndriti, however, the weather is actually quite dependable; it is raining. Guppy,? in his invalu- able geological study of Vanua Levu, describes Ndriti as one of the wettest places on the island. As I walked back down the trail to Nangandoa the sun was shining, but, looking behind me, I could see heavy clouds hanging in the deep valleys of Seatura.
After putting into press our collections, we again started out for the mountain. Arriving at Ndriti, we found that all the men I had engaged were on the moun- tain except one, who then guided Manoa and me up the trail they had marked. This trail, an overgrown sur- veyor’s track that would have been invisible but for the recent clearing, leaves the valley of the Ndama for a small northern affluent, which is forded repeatedly. The forest here is dense and is dominated by a small ulma- ceous tree, the masivau (Gironniera celtidifolia). In- visible birds, with thrushlike notes, accompanied us. Common terrestrial ferns, as one ascends the mountain ridges, are Syngramma pinnata, Blechnum orientale, and Asplenium laserpitiifolium, the last a handsome plant with quadripinnate fronds, which is often found on tree- trunks as well as on the ground. Species of Nephrolepis, either terrestrial or epiphytic, are abundant, among them N. exaltata and N. biserrata. A small tree-fern with large decompound fronds is Culcita straminea, while Schizaea dichotoma is common on the forest floor, with species of Selaginella. This Schizaea is not very rem- iniscent of our northern species; it has a stiff stipe often 30 em. in length and a dichotomously branching fanlike blade up to 10 em. long, with the sporangia borne on pinnately arranged spikes at the tips of the segments. Didymochlaena truncatula is fairly abundant at middle elevations, and its presence in the Pacific is somewhat
? Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific, Vol. 1 (1903).
10 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
surprising to one who has seen it so common in South America.
Mount Seatura is a massive formation of criss-cross ridges and buttresses, and even from the high points one obtains no clear idea of the topography. Our trail led up the ridges fairly steeply, but in no parts was stiff climbing called for. By mid-afternoon, by pushing along without collecting, we found our advance party at about 500 meters elevation at a place they called ‘‘Sea- tura.’’ Here the ridge flattens out momentarily and there used to be an old fortified town, the name of which has now been applied to the whole mountain, although the various peaks have other local names. The highest, for which I was aiming, is called Navotuvotu, but on some of the charts it is marked as ‘‘West Peak.’’ At present there is no indication whatever of a town site at ‘*Seatura’’; dense heavy forest covers the ridge. I gath- ered that the natives of the Ndriti district used to retire to this easily defended spot in the old days, when things got too hot for them in the valley. Episodic warfare between the various tribes and villages, no more than a century ago, was a commonplace, and strategic village sites were essential.
In the present century Seatura presents a peaceful enough aspect, beneath the huge quiet trees. My advance guard had here built a frame shelter, covered with the large leaves of Alpinia spp. and Heliconia Bihai. A frame for my canvas fly was erected in a few moments, and the solicitous Manoa made me a bed of saplings raised from the ground, covering it with the fronds of Angiopteris evecta and Marattia Smithu. There is no especial significance in the specific epithet of the latter, and I doubt if the Smith for whom it was named, nearly a century ago, ever spent such comfortable nights on its soft fronds. These two huge-fronded eusporangiate
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FERN COLLECTING IN FI 11
ferns are among the most striking plants of the Fijian forests; in addition to their soporific qualities, the fronds of Angiopteris evecta are said to be eminently edible.
As soon as we were fairly settled at Seatura the daily downpour began, and soon afterward a large percentage of the female population of Ndriti toiled up the hill, bringing our supper. This shows what sort of campers Fijian bushmen are. It was a good supper; the prawns in this region are large and delicious, and I prefer them even to tinned beef and salmon, something my compan- ions found hard to believe. In Fiji I always carried a supply of tinned meat and fish, but seldom used this myself, as native food is usually abundant. Living in a region where the rivers and coastal reefs teem with deli- cious fish, the inhabitants look upon a can of salmon as areal prize. During the night the rain stopped and a hazy moon sent splotches of light through the forest to our peaceful camp. There was, of course, conversation ; in Fiji to talk at any time and on any subject is an in- alienable right. An old man named Masima (which means salt) held forth at great length, while everyone else went to sleep or pretended to. At about three o’clock I heard one of the women making a long loud speech, which evoked no rejoinder whatever ; possibly she was complaining about the crazy ‘‘papalangi’’ causing her to leave her comfortable bed to climb mountains in the rain. In the morning I found Manoa sleeping under my bed, for he said the shelter was crowded. As it held nine young men and boys, four women, one old man, and one small boy, I considered this an understatement. So much for roughing it in Fiji.
With seven or eight of the boys, I proceeded to Navo- tuvotu. Some of them went ahead to open the old trail; the rest followed slowly with me, and we collected every- thing in good condition. The trail follows a gradually
12 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
rising ridge through dense forest, of which the tree- trunks are cloaked in masses of wet bryophytes and long drooping Lycopodiums. The hard- and simple-fronded epiphytes Oleandra Parksvi and Selliguea feeioides are here abundant. Among noteworthy filmy ferns are Trichomanes omphalodes, a species with minute peltate fronds less than 1 cm. in diameter, forming masses on tree-trunks, and 7. apiifoliwm, strikingly different, with large epiphytic quadripinnatifid fronds 30 to 50 em. long. Toward the summit the forest is thinner in patches, and the typical ridge ferns are the harsh-fronded Blechnum capense, B. Patersonii, and Dipteris conjugata. The last of these often forms conspicuous stands, and its large orbicular dichotomously cleft fronds, with scattered minute dorsal non-indusiate sori, are suggestive of no temperate fern. One of the most peculiar Fijian ferns of the upper slopes is Leptopteris Wilkesiana, a member of the Osmundaceae but in no way suggesting an Osmunda. It is a treelike fern with a small slender caudex and comparatively small and membranaceous bipinnate fronds. Unlike the osmundaceous plants of temperate regions, Leptopteris bears its sori dorsally on the green fronds. The ultimate two miles of our ridge toward Navotuvotu is clothed with tangled thickets of Freycinetia—a relative of the screw-pines—and one of the few ferns which is thoroughly objectionable, Histiop- teris sinuata. The sprawling fronds of this unwelcome fern, 6 meters and more in length, form interlaced tangles which are nearly impenetrable. The polished rachises and axes are tough and resilient, resisting machete strokes, so that one must crawl through a tunnel made by bodily pressure. In this manner, creeping and squirming through harsh masses of Histiopteris fronds, we came to the summit of Navotuvotu and found a sur- veyor’s beacon in a small tangled clearing. The day was —
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Fern CoLurectTiIne iw Fy 13
surprisingly clear and we had an excellent view in all directions. From this summit several adjacent islands, such as Ovalau and the mass of Viti Levu, can be seen, as well as a large part of Vanua Levu. To the east, one looks across the Wainunu and Ndreketi valleys, with their picturesque sharp peaks of curious names— Ndrandramea, Mbonolailai, Navungingumu, Osoyan- gairokokumilevu, and others nearly as strange.
Fijians show the greatest interest in surveying their country from the peaks, and I believe they welcomed my excursions as a legitimate excuse to ascend their little- known mountains, from whose summits they eagerly pointed out landmarks to one another. On this occasion I soon had them all collecting in the vicinity of Navotu- votu, and in a few hours we had fairly well exhausted the immediate locality. Our return trip to the camp at Seatura beat the darkness and the usual downpour by a few minutes. This night I had no difficulty in sleeping all the dark hours, conversation notwithstanding.
The procession which straggled down to Ndriti the next morning consisted of : Manoa, carrying a plant press and an axe; one botanist, carrying a machete and trying to keep his footing while looking up for flowering trees; one boy, carrying a copra sack to hold the day’s collections ; three boys, carrying yesterday’s plants; Masima, dressed in a couple of leaves and wondering how he got into this party ; four women bearing culinary accessories and even a yanggona bowl; one small boy, carrying a basket full of empty tin ‘cans; five or six boys carrying assorted baggage and earning their pay very easily. This parade gradually trickled past its head, and Manoa and I, col- lecting the plants marked on the upward trip, were the last to reach Ndriti. Here we had a spot of yanggona, said farewell to our companions, and continued to Nan- gandoa, where the next two days were spent in preparing and drying the Seatura collections.
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The preceding paragraphs will perhaps have given the reader a sketchy impression of collecting methods in Fiji—at least of the writer’s methods, which will pos- sibly seem somewhat leisurely and haphazard to collectors who follow a more rigid schedule. Ferns probably are not so conspicuous in the vegetation of Fiji as in that of some other Pacific groups—the Societies, for instance. The phanerogamie flora of Fiji is much richer than that of the eastern archipelagoes, and the pteridophytes there- fore are comparatively subsidiary to the dense and varied rain-forests.
Our first knowledge of the ferns of Fiji is searcely more than 100 years old, dating to the U. S. Exploring Expedi- tion of 1838-1842. The ferns collected by this expedi- tion were described by Brackenridge, one of its members, in Volume 16 of the publications of the U. 8. Exploring Expedition (1854-55), one of the rarest of botanical books, now to be found in only a very few libraries. Seemann’s Flora Vitiensis (1865-73), still the standard reference work pertaining to the Fijian fiora, although necessarily incomplete by modern standards, includes a section on ferns (pp. 331-378) contributed by Carruthers (1873), in which the collections made by Seemann, MacGillivray and Milne, and Harvey are discussed. A later collection made by Horne was discussed by J. G. Baker*® and 14 species were described as new. Horne’s collections were uniformly poor and badly preserved, but they were said to have contained about 200 species and varieties of ferns.
The most important and most recent comprehensive treatment of Fijian ferns is Prof. E. B. Copeland’s “Ferns of Fiji,’’* in which knowledge pertaining to the group is summarized and keys to genera and species are
3 Journ. Bot. 17: 292-300. 1879. 4 Bishop Mus. Bull. 59. 1929
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FERN COLLECTING IN Fut 15
given. All the major fern families are present in Fiji, and Copeland recognizes 63 genera and 230 species (excluding Lycopodium, Selaginella, Equisetum, ete.). His treatment of generic lines was perhaps more conser- vative in 1929 than it would be in 1944, and the number of Fijian genera will be considerably augmented if one recognizes the many segregates in the Hymenophyllaceae.
Copeland’s interesting analysis of the fern flora of Fiji shows that only 46 species were considered by him to be endemic—a mere 20 per cent of the total. This is notably low, in comparison to the percentage of endem- ism among ferns in such Pacific groups as Hawaii, New Caledonia, and New Guinea, and it is well below the percentage of endemism among indigenous flowering plants in Fiji. Although no figures are available for this, because our knowledge of Fijian flowering plants is still far from complete, I estimate that the percentage of endemism, excluding obvious introductions, ap- proaches 50 per cent. The only endemic genus of ferns in Fiji is the monotypic Orthiopteris. That compara- tively few new species of ferns remain to be discovered in Fiji is indicated by the fact that, among about 600 numbers of ferns collected by myself in 1933-34 and by Mr. Otto Degener in 1940-41, Dr. Carl Christensen and Professor Copeland discovered a total of only six species which appeared new to them.
Excluding the endemics and a few species of dubious range, Copeland analyzes the remaining 170 Fijian species as follows: 21 (12 per cent) are known only from islands to the east, whereas 149 (88 per cent) are known farther west than Fiji, although some of these also occur to the east. Of these 149 species, 45 are cos- mopolitan or pantropical, 43 range into Asia beyond the Malay Peninsula, 31 are Malayan, 6 occur no farther west than New Guinea, and 24 are known from the New
16 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Hebrides, New Caledonia, or Australia. These figures, of course, are not too accurate, primarily because of our scanty knowledge of the ferns of the New Hebrides, the Solomons, and New Guinea. As to the last huge island, a vast amount of knowledge has been accumulated since 1929 because of the collections of the Archbold Expedi- tions, and Copeland would doubtless now revise his fig- ures substantially as a result of his studies of these collec- tions. In regard to the ferns, as to flowering plants, it may confidently be stated that a true understanding of the Fijian representatives will not be gained until the flora of New Guinea is better understood, for the course of plant migration from New Guinea through the Solo- mons and New Hebrides and into Fiji becomes more evident with every collection from these regions. Of course, the Fijian flora had other sources than Papuasia; some elements are distinctly Australian or New Cale- donian, others are Micronesian, and a comparatively few are Polynesian. But in general one must look to New Guinea for the major Fijian relationships, among ferns as among spermatophytes. ARNOLD ARBORETUM or Harvarp UNIVERSITY.
ceslaeaiaiaas
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A VARIETY OF PoLYPODIUM PELTATUM 17
A Southern Variety of Polypodium peltatum C. A. WEATHERBY
In my revision of the group of Polypodium lanceo- latum,' I noted under P. polylepis Roem. (now to be called P. peltatum Cav., an earlier name?) two collections from Chiapas and Guatemala which differed from most individuals of the species (a plant chiefly of the highland of central and southern Mexico) in their larger blades, only sparsely beset beneath with small scales. At the time, because of the scant material available, I attempted no taxonomic recognition of this variant. The ample collec- tions of Standley cited below are, however, remarkably uniform and agree well with the two specimens originally Seen. They indicate a well-established regional variant, apparently confined to the Sierra Madre of Chiapas and adjacent Guatemala, which may be described as follows:
PoLypoprum pELTaTum Cay. var. interjectum, var. nov., paleis rhizomatis ut in varietate typica, a qua differt laminis lanceolatis, paleis laminae paginae phan diametro 0.5 mm. vel minoribus subsparsis. A P. lanceo- lati, cui habitu simillimum, varietatibus omnibus differt paleis integris, eorum rhizomatis cellulis medianis parvis lumine ineonspicuo.
Rhizome-scales as in the typical variety, from which it differs in its lanceolate blades, the under surface of which is only sparsely beset with peltate seales 0.5 mm. or less in diameter. From all varieties of P. lanceolatum it differs in its entire scales, those of the rhizome with the cells of banal dark central band small and with inconspicuous umina
Mexico, —Cuapas: San Cristébal, Collins & Doyle 135 (US). ANGcO: Kellerman 5947
GUATEMALA.— QUETZALTEN. (US); on rocks, Cerro la Pedrera, south of Quetzalte-
1 Contr. Gray Herb. 65: 10. 1922. 2 See Pieliduenia. ee Taxonomic Fern-Studlies ITI,’?’ in Dansk Bot. Arkiv, oF 11: 1937.
18 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
nango, 2400 m. alt., Feb. 18, 1939, Standley 66488 (F); on tree in forest, 3300 m slopes of Voleén de Santa Maria, above Palojunoj, March 6, 1939, Renalieg 67602 (F). ToTon Cumbre del Aire, 3000-3450 m., Feb. 20, 1939, ‘Standley 65926 (F). Sonond: ‘‘Hohen- strasse Totonicapam,”’ 3400 m., Jan. 23, 1929, F. Morton 498 (F). CHIMALTENANGO: Dens e Cupressus forest, on bie Cerro de Tecpam near Santa Elena, 2700 m., Dee.
1938, Standley 58769 (F) ; same locality, Dec. 26, 1938, Patek 60957, TYPE, in herb. Field Museum.
Superficially P. peltatum var. interjectum strongly resembles both typical P. lanceolatum and its var. tri- chophorum (which occurs in Guatemala, but, so far as the specimens at hand show, farther north and east), and has usually been determined as P. lanceolatum. In all varieties of that species, however, the scales are finely erose-serrulate and the central cells of the rhizome scales are so large as to be rather readily made out under a 10 x hand-lens. In the new variety, as in typical P. peltatum, all the seales are essentially entire and the central cells of the rhizome scales are small, with lumina difficult to see under a hand-lens.
Typical P. peltatum has, commonly, linear-lanceolate or linear-oblanceolate blades, the lower surface of which is densely covered with relatively large, orbicular, peltate scales 0.8-1 mm. in diameter. It also occurs in Guate- mala, but, like P. lanceolatum var. trichophorum, appar- — ently north and east of the area of the present variety. As might be expected, broad-bladed individuals of P. peltatum sometimes occur in Mexico, for example, Lyonnet 898 from the Federal District (G@) and Arséne 1839 from Puebla (G) ; but they have the large scales of the lower surface characteristic of the typical variety.
I am much indebted to the staff of the Field Museum for the privilege of examining specimens and for many other courtesies during my stay there. Abbreviations
Te CO a ee ee eee
A New TrICHOMANES 19
after specimens cited are those usually employed for the herbaria concerned: F, Field Museum; G, Gray Her- barium ; US, United States National Herbarium.
Gray HERBARIUM.
A New Trichomanes from Colombia! C. V. Morton
The Filmy Ferns of Colombia are not well known at the present time. Nevertheless, the present species seems very different from any thus far described. It is dedi- cated to the collector, Mr. Oscar Haught, whose numerous and beautifully prepared specimens are adding so greatly to our knowledge of the floras of Colombia and Ecuador. I am indebted to Mr. E. C. Leonard for the illustration of this interesting species.
Trichomanes Haughtii Morton, sp. nov.
Planta epiphytica ; rhizoma late repens, gracile, 0.25— iam., dense nigro-pilosum ; folia solitaria, dis- tantia, 3-6.5 em. longa, stipitibus usque ad 3 cm. ina fere usque ad basin late viridi-alatis, basi ipsa par inconspicue pilosulis, alibi glabris ; lamina glabra, aa alter membranacea, viridis, valde craic subpinnata, rhachi ubique valde alata, segmentis 4-6, alternis, re- motis, usque ad 2.5 em. longis, simplicibus vel dichotomis, segmentis ultimis oblongis, 2-6 mm. longis, 1.5-2 mm. latis, apice emarginatis, margine integris, planis, glabris ; venae dichotomae, in segmentis solitariae; venae falsae nullae; involucra immersa, in lobis frondium venas pri-
’ marias vel secundarias interiores terminantia, infundi-
buliformia, limbo anguste dilatato, integro, glabro, re- ceptaculo longe exserto.
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 1,705,823, collected in vicinity of Barranca Bermeja, between Soga-
1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
20 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
moso and Carare Rivers, Magdalena Valley, Department of Santander, Colombia, at 100 meters elevation, Decem- ber 7, 1936, by Oscar Haught (no. 2095).
The present species is referable to the genus Vanden- boschia of Copeland’s ‘‘Genera Hymenophyllacearum,”’ ie., Hutrichomanes of most authors, a group containing T. pyxidiferum L., T. hymenophylloides van den Bosch, T. scandens Swartz, and many other species. None of the known species are very closely related to the present one, however, which is distinguished by its very broad seg- ments and very simple branching. In its coarse aspect it strongly suggests young plants of Rape caudiculatum Mart.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. |
DIPLazIUM LONCHOPHYLLUM 21
Diplazium lonchophyllum in Louisiana Wituiam R. Maxon
Following their illustration and brief description of Diplaziwm lonchophyllum in ‘‘Ferns and Fern Allies of Louisiana’’ (1942), Brown and Correll remark: ‘‘This Mexican and Central American species is well estab- lished in a densely wooded ravine on the south side of Avery Island. Possibly it is a natural introduction, since the species is not supposed to be in cultivation any- where on the island.”’
The plant in question is represented in the National Herbarium by two specimens (D. 8S. & H. B. Correll 9491), collected in July, 1938, and reported to Dr. Correll by the writer in October of the same year as D. loncho- phyllum Kunze, which is apparently the name to be adopted for this highly variable Mexican and Central American species, wrongly taken up by Christensen in the Index Filicum as D. denticulosum (Desv.) C. Chr. In response to the writer’s query as to whether the plant might have been introduced upon Avery Island by the owner, Col. E. A. MeIlhenny, Dr. Correll wrote: ‘‘Col. McIlhenny told me that he had not introduced any ferns on the south part of the island, where the Diplazium was found. I did not see any of the fern in cultivation on the island, and I believe it is most likely an introduction from Mexico. It was well established in a wooded ravine about 50 feet deep.’’ Subsequently (Feb. 6, 1939), upon receiving from Dr. Correll a letter upon the subject, Col. MclIlhenny wrote him as follows:
“*So far as I know, no Diplazium lonchophyllum have ever been brought to Avery Island from the outside.
nowhere else i se the United States. Yor f few Mexican or
a AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
West Indian plants have been brought here. I cannot give you a list of the plants that have been tested at Avery Island, but I will say that for the past 30 years all the plants imported by the U. S. Bureau of Plant Introduction that will grow in a similar climate to the Gulf Coast have been tested here. I have now something over 7,000 varieties that seem happy in my grounds
From the foregoing it might be readily assumed, at first, that in some way D. lonchophylium has been intro- duced upon Avery Island by man; nevertheless the answer to the riddle is neither simple nor certain. In the first place, Dr. Correll states that there were 25 or 30 clumps of the fern, growing luxuriantly, with every ap- pearance of being native and quite at home in the deep, damp ravine. This, of course, would indicate natural propagation over a considerable period, for the delib- erate introduction of so many individuals (unless very young plants) can hardly be assumed; besides which there is no record of this species having been available in the United States horticultural trade.
As to its possible origin from a Government source, the records of the Office of Plant Introduction, U. 8. Department of Agriculture, show that no living fern plants have ever been distributed to growers and that the spores of only six species have been sent out, these all from Ceylon, Java, or the Philippines and, so far as known, all failing to reproduce. There is the bare possi- bility that living flowering plants of Mexican or Central American origin, distributed by the Department of Agri- culture, may by accident have earried the Diplaziwm spores; but this is most unlikely, if one considers the length of time ordinarily required for propagation before living plants are ready for distribution. Of other human agencies of introduction we have no record. Individuals may have brought or sent in living plants or viable spores in ignorance or disregard of plant quarantine regula- tions, or before such legislation was enact
DIPLAZIUM LONCHOPHYLLUM 23
There remains the possibility that migrant birds, on their visits in great numbers to this well-known coastal Sanctuary, may have brought in the spores on their muddy feet. But this could have happened also in the case of perhaps a hundred other fern species, equally well fitted (it would seem) to make their home in Louisiana, which are still known only from tropical regions.
Perhaps the occurrence of D. lonchophyllum as nu- merous individuals on Avery Island will remain a puzzle; yet, despite the disquieting shadow of known plant intro- duction, one may suggest that this species is possibly native there, either as a relict or as an adventive. Dr. Correll mentions as its common associate Pteris cretica, a tropical and subtropical species whose status as a native of the Southern States, though often questioned, now Seems assured. Tropical elements in our southern fern flora are numerous and diverse, and the number con- stantly grows as exploration proceeds. Perhaps the most remarkable extension of range is that of Dicranopteris flexuosa, found on Mon Louis Island, in the extreme southwestern coastal region of Alabama, separated from the mainland only by Fowl River, a bayou connecting Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound. This record,’ which added a new fern family to the United States flora, is beyond question, though the locality has since been de- stroyed, and there are more than a few examples of similar disjunct distribution. Diplaziwm lonchophyllum may be another. The case is well worth looking into. At first a doubter, to say the least, the writer has nearly convinced himself that the plant under discussion is native to Avery Island, and he will not be much sur- prised to have it turned up by collectors at other points in southern Louisiana in the course of botanical explora- tion. npneeceaed D. lonchophyllum is well worth cul- tivating. Of our native species it most resembles
1 Amer. Fern Journ. 4: 15-17. 1914.
24 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Athyrium (or Diplazium) acrostichoides, but the pinnae are comparatively few, distant, triangular-lanceolate from an inequilateral base, and coarsely and unequally pinnatifid.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
Shorter Notes
NOTE ON THE SOUTHEASTERN RELATIVES OF LycopopIUM INUNDATUM.—In reviewing a pamphlet on the ferns of Charleston, South Carolina, in the April-June number of Tuts JouRNAL,’ Mr. Weatherby noted the care with which the compilation had been done. One error fre- quently made by synonymizers is however copied in it,— namely, placing Lycopodium adpressum (Chapm.) Lloyd & Underw. as an equivalent of L. inundatum var. Bige- lovii Tuckerm. If there is to be any such reduction to synonymy, it is var. pinnatum Chapm. which must be placed under Bigelovii, as they differ only in size. On the other hand, L. adpressum differs from all the others concerned in its strikingly appressed peduncle-leaves and sporophylls. If, as Professor Hunt holds, the entities concerned are only varietally distinct, his No. 28 should become L. inundatum var. adpressum Chapm.—EpGaRr T. Wuerry, University of Pennsylvania.
A Fern New To Worcester County, MAssAcHUSETTS. —The present note is for the purpose of recording the recent discovery of Polypodium virginianum forma cam- bricoides in Worcester County, at an elevation of about 1,400 feet, by Miss Patience Fay, of Princeton, Mass. Two plants were found, each producing several fronds; they were not growing on rocks. I have myself found this fern in southern New Hampshire, at about the same altitude, along with the typical form of the species, on leaf mold so thick that rocks were not in evidence.—Mrs. Frank C. Smiru, Worcester, Mass.
133: 77. 1943.
RECENT Fern LITERATURE 25
NEPHROLEPIS TUBEROSA (Willd. ) Presl.—At the begin- ning of the article containing a description of Poly- podium tuberosum from Ecuador, in the last number of the Journat, casual reference is made to a well-known ‘“tuberous’’ Nephrolepis there called, inadvertently, N. tuberosa, which is a synonym of N. cordifolia (L.) Presl. This is a common and widely distributed tropical species. Notes regarding its supposed occurrence in Florida will shortly be published —Wiutam R. Maxon, Smithsonian Institution.
Recent Fern Literature
Dr. R. M. Tryon, Jr., has published’? a revision of Doryopteris, a rather small genus of the tribe Pterideae, distinguished from related genera such as Cheilanthes and Pellaea by having the long-stalked sporangia borne on a continuous receptacle connecting the vein ends and covered with a continuous, reflexed, marginal indusium, and by the generally pedate type of division of the frond, Suggesting somewhat in outline the well-known United States species Pityrogramma triangularis and Bommeria hispida. The species are all tropical and are found in various, parts of the world, but they are most numerous in southern Brazil. The best known species is D. pedata, common in the West Indies and, in varietal forms, from Mexico south to Argentina and Bolivia.
The genus has never before had a critical treatment. Christensen’s Index Filicum and Supplements recognized 44 nominal species. Dr. Tryon now recognizes 26, the others being either reduced to varietal status or to synon- ymy or excluded from the genus. Tryon’s work im- presses one as being exceptionally thorough and scholarly. Although obvious characters of habit and indument are not neglected, he has investigated especially the steles of
1 Contr. Gray Herb. 143: 1-80. 1942.
26 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
the stipe, the vascular structure of the blades, and the characters of the spores, and he finds that these all afford good specific criteria, much better than those given by the division of the blade, usually stressed by previous authors. Dr. Tryon’s descriptions are very well drawn, and his practice of italicizing the principal specific dis- tinctions is an aid to the student. The fine line-drawings of all the species are especially noteworthy.
Tryon divides the genus into sections, Lytoneuron and Eudoryopteris, which were orginally proposed by Klotzsch on the basis of venation, the first having free, the second reticulate veins. It is unfortunate that Tryon has not been able to keep up this distinction. By includ- ing in Lytoneuron one species with areolate venation he has rendered the sectional lines somewhat obscure. This was done because he believes that in determining rela- tionship in the genus the structure of the scales and the presence of two vascular strands in the stipe are of more importance than venation.
Exception must be taken to his choice of type for the genus. Doryopteris was described by John Smith in 1841 with six original species. In 1875 he chose Pteris pedata L. as the type of the genus, and in this he has been followed by Christensen and Tryon. This is, however, nomenclaturally an impossible choice, because Pteris pedata is not one of the species originally included in the genus, and was not referred to it until some ten years later. Of the six species originally included, _ Pteris palmata Willd. is the logical choice as type. is the oldest and best known of the species, and moreover it is the one chosen by John Smith? to illustrate the genus.
Tryon’s specific concept is broad, perhaps too much so in at least one case. Doryopteris decipiens is considered as merely a variety of D. decora, although the two are
2 Ferns Brit. & For. 194. 1866.
Patel Se eo a a 2S scree Sri
RECENT FerN LITERATURE 27
typically very different and may be distinguished at arm’s length. To be sure, Tryon states that there are intermediates, but those in the National Herbarium that he has so labeled do not seem to me truly intermediate; Degener 9193 is surely typical D. decora, and Safford 863 and Yuncker 3479 quite as surely D. decipiens. On the other hand I have no special objection to his treat- ment of D. palmata and D. Raddiana as varieties of D. pedata, because the characters separating these forms seem not quite so fundamental as those exhibited by other Species of the section. Typical palmata is distinguished by the presence of buds at the base of the leaf blades, but not all leaves have them. In fact one specimen so identi- fied by Tryon (F. L. Herrera, from Cuzco, Peru, U. 8. Nat. Herb. 1,237,072) has no buds on any of the leaves, and thus is hardly distinguishable from some of the Bolivian forms of D. pedata var. multipartita (D. Raddiana).
Doryopteris nobilis is a species of southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia, but Tryon cites also three specimens from Colombia, hundreds of miles out- side the normal range of this species. Two of these are in the National Herbarium, and after studying them it seems to me probable that they are only slightly aberrant specimens of D. pedata var. palmata, which is very abun- dant in Colombia. They do not show to any perceptible extent the serrulate toothing which is characteristic of D. nobilis.
The few criticisms I have just made are purely minor in nature. Dr. Tryon’s paper is a real advance in the taxonomy of the Pterideae. It is only after similar studies of Notholaena, Cheilanthes, Pellaea, and some other groups have been made that pteridologists will be in a position to redefine the genera of Pterideae along more natural lines—C. V. M
28 AMERICAN FERN. JOURNAL
What we know about ferns as food is ably summarized for the regions covered in two especially well prepared and authoritative recent publications—Fernald and Kin- sey’s ‘‘Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America’” (except peninsular Florida) and Merrill’s ‘‘ Emergency Food Plants and Poisonous Plants of the Islands of the Pacific.’’? The former gives a more or less detailed ac- count of about a thousand American species which may be used for food, with the particular virtues of each and ways of preparing it; descriptions, statements of range, habitat and season of availability where needed; and comment full of information and very readable. Only two species of ferns, Bracken and Ostrich Fern, are ad- mitted to the recommended list; Cinnamon Fern (the young central fronds of a crown, eaten raw) is given a qualified endorsement; and Equisetwm limosum, which is said to have been used for food in Europe, is mentioned only to be condemned. Dr. Wherry’s warning against eating fern fiddle-heads (Tus JourNAL 32: 108), though not mentioned, is evidently regarded as inapplicable to the recommended species—only, one should make sure of the identity of any wild plant he is about to eat.
Dr. Merrill’s work, of pocket size, is designed pri- marily for the use of the armed forces in the Pacific. Necessarily much more condensed than Fernald and
y’s, it yet gives well illustrated and clear accounts of the appearance, habitats, and uses of the food-plants likely to be encountered in the Pacific islands. As might be expected in the tropics, the proportion of ferns 18 comparatively large. The buds of many tree-ferns, the whole plant of Swamp-fern (Ceratopteris thalictroides,
1 Fernald, M. L. and A. C. Kinsey. Edible Wild Plants of East- North Par age Idlewild Press, Cornwall- aio Pie New 943. 0
the Islands of t the Pacific. U. 8. War
TM 10-420. 1943. Pa, 149 pp., 113 figs. Pole eis by the are.
a of Documents, Govt. Printing Office, Washington, 15 cents; stamps no piginot
Pees tk
RECENT FERN LITERATURE 29
experiments in the cultivation of which were described by Dr. Copeland in Tuts Journau 32: 121-126), the fiddle-heads of Athyrium esculentum, and the young leaves of Stenochlaena palustris and Acrostichum aureum may be eaten. The Ceratopteris and Athyrium are especially recommended, cooked or raw.—C. ‘WEATHERBY
That the members of the genus Equisetum take up from the soil large amounts of silica is generally known, but the accumulation of aluminum by Lycopodiums is less familiar. An exhaustive study of these plants from this standpoint has just been published by Mr. G. Evelyn Hutchinson and Miss Anne Wollack.1 They find it con- venient to recognize two genera, the primitive Urostachys, which includes the eastern United States species U. selago (L.) Hert. and U. lucidulus (Michx.) Hert. (combina- tions which failed to get included in Broun’s Index’) and the more specialized Lycopodium proper
Twelve species of Urostachys were scuba. and proved to be little richer in aluminum than ordinary plants. The 22 species of Lycopodium similarly studied were not only high in aluminum, but actually, at least in one group (Eulycopodium), showed a correlation be- tween aluminum content and morphologic specialization : The relatively primitive L. annotinuwm showed the lowest content, followed in order by L. clavatum, L. obscurum, L. sabinaefolium, and then by the overlapping compla- natum-flabelliforme-tristachyum series.
A complete analysis was also made of the ash of L. flabellif orme, and compared with the average for vegeta- tion in general. In most constituents the percentages were roughly equal, but the aluminum content of the Lycopodium was 137 times that of ordinary plants.—
DeaR T. WHERRY. _ | 1 Biological oe of Aluminum. Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts & 35:
2 Index to N, pus Ferns. 1938.
30 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
American Fern Society Report of the President for 1943
The past year has been a quiet one for the Society. Like most other scientific associations, we have cancelled our usual meetings. Only the Fern JouRNAL—always our central activity—has gone on quite as usual, or better than usual. In the capable hands of Dr. Maxon and his fellow editors it has been notable for the readability, variety, and solid value of its contents.
The Society was founded in 1893; last year was its fiftieth. Ordinarily, such an anniversary would have been marked by special ceremonies ; under war conditions, it seemed best not to attempt anything of the sort. Pos- sibly a postponed celebration can be held later. Mean- while, some of the looking back at the past and forward at the future which an anniversary should bring about is possible and useful.
The earlier history of the Society, up to 1910, has been well reviewed in reminiscent articles by Dr. Waters, Mr. Winslow, and Professor Clute in recent volumes of the JOURNAL. The most striking and significant feature about the whole course of action of the Society since 1910 is that it has obviously been based on faith in the vitality and permanent usefulness of the organization. The founding of the Fern JourNau; the setting up of life memberships with a capital fund to receive their fees; the beginning of a library; the generous and very help- ful support of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the establishment of physical headquarters there; the in- corporation of the Society—all these have teatified to that faith. There is always room for improvement; some projects have failed; no doubt opportunities have been lost. But on the wae through good times and through the difficulties incident to the last war and to the mis- deeds of a too much trusted treasurer, the Society has,
AMERICAN FERN Society a1
so far, justified our faith. Our task, now, is to see that the justification continues.
There is very much for us to do. The fear, long ago expressed by Professor Clute, that the Society’s work was done and that ‘‘fern study’’ would in future be too technical for a largely amateur group like ours has proved groundless. I would eall especial attention to the Treasurer’s remarks as to the value of the contributions to science made, and still to be made, by amateurs. They are very true. Two examples, taken at random, may Serve as illustrations of what any of us can do. rs. Griffeth’s spore-cultures of Scott’s Spleenwort have gone far to explain the behavior in nature of that once contro- versial plant; Mr. Harlow’s little experiment with one of the forms of the Polypody has shown it to be only a curious and unexpected response to conditions of growth. Everyone who has a bit of back yard or even a few flowerpots in a window wherein to grow and observe ferns, everyone who will take an occasional walk, with his eyes open, through some handy bit of woodland, has the opportunity to uncover such new bits of knowledge. Careful local lists are still, and always will be, of value. The officers of the Society are ready to advise. And, above all detail, it is our duty and our privilege in these darkened and perilous times to ‘‘keep lighted the lamp of knowledge which must never go out if future genera- tions are to profit from the advances of the past.’’
I stoutly believe that we can carry on effectively only if the Society continues to function actively as a rallying point for lovers of natural history, professional and amateur, who have a common interest in ferns, and to maintain the Fern JouRNAL as what it now is, a nearly unique medium of publication and source of information for them. The past year has not been altogether encour- aging. Expenses have risen; receipts have fallen off.
32 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
There have been a rather large number of delinquent members and, naturally in the midst of the preoccupa- tions of war, a rather small accession of new ones. Our only resource lies in the active interest of the members. We can but repeat and ask them to take to heart, the old, but always valid, adjurations: Pay your: dues promptly; interest others as you have the chance; stand by. C. A. WeatHerBy, President
Report of the Secretary for 1943
Due to the necessary curtailment of travel facilities, the Society held none of its usual meetings during the year. But to some of the members, especially those of longer affiliation, it has not been forgotten that March marked the fiftieth anniversary since a small group of friendly fern lovers got together and organized The Linnaean Fern Chapter of the Agassiz Association, which later changed its name to American Fern Society. Cele- bration of this half-century of work and progress must await a return to more normal travel conditions.
Since the last report we have lost by death one of our esteemed Honorary Members, Dr. Carl Christensen, and several other members of long standing: J. B. Flett, who joined in 1899; H. E. Ransier, 1902; C. L. Gruber, 1907; and Dr. T. E. Hazen, 1910. Death also has removed Dr. C. Stuart Gager, Bennet B. Bristol, Mrs. George Kelton and W. H. Cathcart. Through resignation and for non- payment of dues 34 others are missing from last year’s membership list. Thirteen new members have been added, making the membership 358 on December 31st, 4 figure somewhat less than our maximum of a few years ago. It is quite understandable that under the stress of war conditions some of our members have been too fully occu- pied with war work to keep up an active interest in ferns; — to some it may seem even that it is too luxurious 4
AMERICAN FERN Society 33
‘“‘hobby”’ to be indulged in while the eall still comes for more workers in hospitals, Red Cross activities, and other relief agencies. In common with most other scientific societies, and judging from experiences during the last war, we should expect a certain dropping-off in members. This does not indicate, necessarily, any lessening of in- terest, but only that for the time it has been over- shadowed by greater necessity. When our ‘“‘boys and girls’? come home again, from possible brief adventures with foreign floras, we may expect our fair share of new and enthusiastic members.
Meanwhile we who hold the fort on this home front may well keep in mind and act upon a sentence in the first President’s first report. Willard N. Clute, then president, said, ‘‘It is hoped that the members will neg- lect no opportunity to enlarge the Chapter.’’ When we remember that this admonition was addressed to only about 25 members (and see how we have grown!), we may expect that at the second semi-centennial it will be possible to look back and say, ‘‘The first fifty years was the hardest !’’
Respectfully submitted, Wuarrtney, Secretary
Report of the Treasurer for 1943
In my report for 1942 I mentioned that the American Fern Society was still in fairly good financial condition but that cooperation of all members would be needed to keep it so. As in all other scientific organizations during this period of war, our financial situation has gradually deteriorated, and we find ourselves on December 31, 1943, with a cash balance of approximately $100 less than we had one year previously. This means that we did not really meet expenses during the past year. The sale of back numbers of the FERN JouRNAL was somewhat less,
34 | AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
but the primary cause was loss of income in respect to dues and the greatly increased costs of printing. Our membership campaign of a few years past resulted in a considerable increase in our numbers which has been offset by losses of the last three years. In the new trends of natural history of the present day, popular interest in the known things around us is being stressed, rather than the oddities of foreign lands. Anyone ean recog- nize ferns in general. They occur in all parts of the country, and the intricacies of their distribution and habits of growth and actual identity are such that the beginning amateur with good judgment can add greatly to the stock of information that has been acquired over the years by the professional botanist. This is the first time that the treasurer has entered upon a discussion of the non-financial aspect of the Fern Society, and he does so with a strong belief that the unprofessional citizen will contribute more to our future natural science. For this we need more members.
Last year the Auditing Committee recommended that the item Notes Receivable be reappraised to an inventory value of $1.00. This has been done. The liability for the note, however, remains the same. It is felt that the inventory value for the American Fern Society library has been too high and we have accordingly reduced the acount by 20 per cent in the following statement.
ke Amount Sub-Total Total Cash on hand J LO |» Saari oa $232.42 41 Membership Arrears ......c0.. $ 4.50 $ 4.50 1942 Members PDI ORN ta trae 20.30 20.30 1943 Membershi a {Seatnoittisa! | BOT 1943 New Mem 12.00 397.50 1944 Membership ‘Renewal He Siem a 10.10 1944 New Mem 10.50 20.60 1945 Mestertkip g Meir 2.01 2.00 1943 Subscription Renewals .... 67.12 1943 New Subscribers ............ 8.9. 76.07 1944 Subscription Renewals 44.43 ew Su tae 2.50 46.93 1945 Subseription Renewals .................. 1.25 LL
AMERICAN FERN Society
Sale of back numbers A.F.J. 0000000... 64.05 Sale of pas and Forms of Ferns of E. N. 2.50
Member iacoe at ce postage) ...... 1.40
Gift (books) A.F.S. Library 0.0.0.0... 3.50
Gift (books) A.F.J. tox numbers ...... 32.87
943 Prion 4.00
Reprints . 36.95_-
Pp Transferred from Bissell Herbarium Fund
Deduction aye Gift (books), A.F.S. Librar
eure ae bag (books), A.F.J. numb Deduction a/e Profit on Bales? o.2.5: 305.
35
10.05 $724.47
$956.89
7 18.50 $ 54.87
$902.02 @ Transferred to A.F.S. meg Fy Acct. (books). > Transferred to Myaboonti © Transferred to Reserve tit fot . aii aca Science Pres: A.F.J. Vol. > A REE Cat ase eee a A.F.J. Vol. 33, No. 1 Any Vol. 33, _ - a AD a. Ved, 08) No.8 oe Parke, Austin & Sobel Ine. AF 1. 33, No. 3 (Half-tone ie 4.77 $597.03 res he gti Membership List (1942) 2.00 2.00 Repri 36.95 36.95 Trade Dise NG ce 4.70 4.70 Agency Coumensoidn 8.71 8.71 Bank Charges oo AGRE ST Refund . d 5.23 5.23 Prepaid Mailing Charges... 52 52 nse Treasurer 34.90 90 Secretary 27.83 27.83 Gite 9.21 9.21 iibravien 3 50 8.50 Curator 21.76 21.76 $772.61 Cash on hand Jan. 1, 1944 cco $129.41 Statement December 31, 1943 Assets Liabilities Cash te hand ee $129.41 Capital Account ..$2,302.45 Spec. Acet. 944 Memb. Susp. gene
36 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
In Spee. Acct. 1945 Memb. Susp.
ehh ek ys EO oc Yo OE « iene een, 2.00 In Reserve Fund... 113.03 $ a 1944 sha Notes Receivable ................. Sus 42.68 Inventory A.F.J.. ................ 006. 79 Distrib, vel, ss. A.F.S. Library (books) .. Ge 00 4 Susp. sini
a is $3,033.20 —_ Bissell “Herb. und aoe
10.15 Life Memb. Fund 54.82 $3,033.20 Respectfully submitted, Henry K. Svenson, Treasurer Report of the Judge of Elections The results of the recent balloting for officers of the American Fern Society for 1944 is as follows:
For President
C. A. Weatherby 82 Robert T. Clausen 1 Herbert Dole i T. M. MeCoy i For Vice-President Joseph Ewan 82 W. Herbert Dole a Mrg. Frank ©: Smith, Sr: 15200... 1 For rinsing 8. Elsie G. Whitney... ccmcccnnnn 82 . Killip I For Treasurer Henry K. Svenson 83. W. S. Allen a
I therefore declare the following candidates elected to the several offices: President, C. A. Weatherby; Vice- President, Joseph Ewan; Secretary, Mrs. Elsie G. Whit- ney; Treasurer, Henry K. Svenson.
Binders; submitted, oBERT A. Ware, Judge of Elections
ERRATUM
In the October-December, 1943, number of the JouRNAL, p. 127, the following should be substituted for line 18:
state of California. This fact surely has ceniton
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OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR C. A. WEATHERBY, Gray Herbarium, Cambridge 38, Massachusetts — President JOSEPH Ewan, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado Vice-President
Mrs. Eusiz Gisson WHITNEY, 274 South Main Ave., mage” (2 N. Y. Henry K. Svenson, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn a, 5 N. x
WiuiaM R, Maxon, Smithsonian Institution, Washi 25, Doe ; aitor-i- Chief me
OFFICIAL ORGAN
Ampvrican # eri Journal,
‘ibaa 34 | Apen-Jw UNE, 19d ies
i} bo |
Collecting Ferns in Northwestern Mexico Ira L. Wicerns
In September, 1929, I began a series of botanical field trips into northwestern Mexico and the deserts of south- eastern California and adjacent Arizona. Since that time over a dozen trips have been made to various parts of the area, ranging from the Bill Williams Fork of the Colorado River in Arizona to Cajeme (or Ciudad de Obregén), Cedros, and Quiriego in southern Sonora, and from the northern edge of the Colorado Desert in south- ern California to San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. Most of the traveling was done in automobiles, with occasional side trips by saddle and pack animals. Many miles were covered on foot, for often it was necessary to scramble over rocky hillsides or up boulder-strewn canyons to reach plants growing only where the cliffs and rocks protected them from grazing cattle. Different trips took me, together with various assistants and companions, into the field during every month in the year except November and December, so the seasonal fluctuations in the vegetation were well covered. On all occasions the objective of the field trips was the accumulation of infor- mation about the general vegetation of the area; the col- lection of ferns was, at the beginning, purely incidental.
Possibly because one rarely thinks of ferns in connec-
[Volume 34, No. 1, of the JouRNAL, pages 1-36, was issued March 22, 1944.]
37
38 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL |
tion with the vegetation of the desert, these trips brought surprises in the form of numerous species of ferns and fern allies growing in canyons and ravines, on rocky hill- sides and, less commonly, on the flats of the desert. : : After the first two or three times that ferns had been found unexpectedly in niches in canyon walls, they — became something of a special objective. Thereafter, — although they occasionally surprised one tap their abundance or luxuriance, they no longer were ‘‘unex- |
pected,’’ for, paradoxically, one came to expect them in unexpected habitats.
But it was almost startling to find luxuriant patches of Marsilea Fournieri growing in a slight swale about 20 miles south of Pozo Aleman, Baja California, in the spring of 1931. The small fronds oceupied hoofprints less than a yard from the base of one of the giant cacti, Pachycereus Pringlei! Sporocarps were abundant, and evidently the colony was an old one. The same species — was found along the margins of dry watercourses at two localities in Sonora—once between Libertad and Carb6, in the fall of 1932, and the second time between Hermosillo and Kino Bay, the late summer of 1941. At both localities the plants grew on nearly vertical banks in sandy clay soil, but were absent from the sandy beds and nearly level banks a few feet from the immediate — course of the stream. The dense mats of the inter- tangled roots and stolons possess a remarkable resistance to the erosive power of the sand-laden floods that sweep down the canyons and spread out on the desert flats. Sporocarps were numerous at all three stations.
Equisetum, on the other hand, is rarely found on the — desert, even where water is present the year around in tinajas or ‘‘tanks’’ in the rocky canyons. The only species representing this genus is E. Funstonii, and it rarely gets into the truly desert ranges, but rather clings to the margins of the deserts and is much more abundant
COLLECTING IN NORTHWESTERN Mexico 39
in the chaparral and yellow pine belts than it is in or near the desert proper.
A rare fern apparently nowhere common, but long known from isolated localities in western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Chihuahua, is Phanero- phlebia auriculata. What seems to be the first record from Sonora was established when a party of four, con- sisting of Dr. Forrest Shreve, Dr. T. D. Mallery, Mr. Jack Whitehead, and the writer, found it in the Sierra Babiso, between Magdalena and Cucurpe in the summer of 1934.1. We were attracted to the box canyon in which it grew by a fine stand of a native palm and had not anticipated the presence of ferns when we climbed the rocky canyon to investigate the palm, Sabal uresana. But well back under an overhanging rock at the foot of the north-facing cliff where the direct rays of the sun rarely, if ever, penetrated, we found a small colony of this striking fern and several plants of the delicate little Asplenium Palmeri. This fern association gave us two rare finds, and when added to the presence of the grace- ful palms made the locality one to be remembered. The leathery pinnae of the Phanerophlebia bore few spo- rangia—in fact, most of them were completely sterile. Since there were restrictions governing the importation of living specimens, we did not attempt to bring back rhizomes to grow. Herbarium specimens were obtained, however, and duplicates have been deposited in several herbaria. Probably a careful search in the mountains between this Sonoran station and those in Arizona would reveal the presence of Phanerophlebia at intermediate localities.
One of the richest fern collecting areas in the Sonoran. Desert region, La Mina Verde, was mentioned by White-
a 1 Whitehead, Jack. Some Arizona Ferns Collected in Sonora, Mexico. Amer. Fern Journ, 27: 43-51. 1937.
>
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL VOLUME 34, PLATE 3
TTxr N Sy
NNAMED Box CANYON IN PHLEBIA AURICULATA AND Ag SLIFF
THIS CL
COLLECTING IN NorRTHWESTERN MExIco 41
head (l.c.), but the remarkable assemblage of ferns there deserves further notice. On the north-facing side of the canyon, opposite the abandoned mine buildings, was an area less than 100 yards long and half as wide upon which 14 species of pteridophytes were growing. Pel- laea ternifolia and P. Seemannii grew in deep leaf mold among jagged rocks and boulders. The same type of habitat was shared by Gymnopteris hispida, Anemia anthriscifolia, Woodsia Plummerae, Notholaena Grayji, and Cheilanthes Kaulfussii. All the latter species were more plentiful than the first-named pair. I believe that this is an extension of the known range of Anemia anthriscifolia, for I find no published record of it from onora
A crumbling rock wall, which had been built without mortar or cementing material, supported Notholaena aurea, N. sinuata, and Cheilanthes Lindheimeri. As- plenium Palmeri occupied a few sheltered niches beneath the overhang of huge boulders and was the most delicate of the ferns found on the mountainside. Cheilanthes Wrightii and Selaginella rupincola clung to crevices in the rugged outcroppings of basalt.
Cheilanthes Pringlei, although not growing among the other ferns at La Mina Verde, was found a few hundred yards down the canyon toward Cumpas. Although deli- cate in appearance, it is a hardy endemic of the Sonoran Desert region. We found it growing in tiny green tufts from crevices in the basaltic cliffs near Los Angeles de Fabrica (a village between Carbé and Ures) in the sum- mer of 1934; in similar situations in the canyon of the Rio Magdalena about 8 miles east of Imuris, in the same Season; on a dry, brushy hillside 45 miles west of the Magdalena-Hermosillo highway, in 1932; at La Palma, a Canyon about 50 miles north of Guaymas, in 1933; and Dr. Reed Rollins and I obtained it again along the north- ern fringe of the Sierra Batue in 1941. During the dry
42 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
season the delicately dissected fronds dry out and curl into inconspicuous, gray-green balls that are easily crushed, but within a few hours after a shower they un- fold, becoming bright green and leathery, able at once to continue the processes of growth and spore-production that may have been halted at almost any stage by the onset of arid conditions. This species is remarakbly well adapted to desert conditions, and although rarely very abundant at any station is widely distributed from south- ern Arizona to south-central Sonora.
Still another fascinating Cheilanthes is C. peninsularis, from the vicinity of Comondt, Baja California, south- ward to the tip of the peninsula. It somewhat resembles C. Pringlei, but has less finely cut fronds and brownish instead of whitish scales on the stipes and rachises. I found it between the southern end of Bahia de la Con- cepcion and Comondia in 1931, but did not find it in the Cape Region, whence T. S. Brandegee obtained the type specimens.
Another fern endemic to Baja California, Cheilanthes Brandegei, reminds one of a succulent Adiantum. The fronds are crisp and fleshy, the upper surfaces about the same shade of green as those of Adiantum Jordanu, but of course they do not have the denticulate margins of that species. It is a unique fern, for the fronds are so crisp during the rainy season that the segments break when flattened in a press, unless they are allowed to wilt for a few minutes after picking. Then, in the dry months of the year the fronds are so dry and brittle that the curled pinnae shatter into minute fragments under slight pres- sure. The stipes are peculiarly adapted to arid condi- tions, for they are modified in such a way that many of the fronds are quickly separated from the plant when the
ground dries out, thus preventing excessive loss of water —
through an abnormally large transpiring surface. The
stipes have several transverse zones of weakness similar
es ee
pss apictad
CoLLEcTING IN NoRTHWESTERN MEXxIco 43
to abscission layers near the base, so they snap off close to the rhizome when dry or under slight tension. The Stipe may even break into a half dozen short pieces from 1 to 10 millimeters long when placed in the press; so an herbarium specimen is very apt to be little more than a pile of fragments by the time it is ready for mounting, unless extreme care has been exercised in the preparation and handling of these fragile plants. Cheilanthes Bran- degei grows under overhanging rocks and among the jagged fragments on basaltic hillsides; I have never found it in granitic or limestone areas. Two weird des- ert trees, Idria columnaris and Pachycormus discolor, grow in the vicinity (a few miles east of Punta Prieta) in which I found it most abundant in 1935, and together with the various species of cacti and agaves give the land- Scape a pronounced desert appearance.
One would hardly expect Azolla in the desert, but it was found at the margins of shallow pools along the Stream flowing through Pitiquito, Sonora, and in larger quantities in pools between Cajeme and Cedros, about 40 miles east of Cajeme. In Baja California it occurs at a number of places where seeps provide permanent pools in the true desert ranges, and abundantly in the Sierra San Pedro Martir in the chaparral and yellow pine belts. _ However, not all of the charming ferns in northwestern Mexico are confined to the deserts. In the spring of 1941, Dr. Albert M. Vollmer, of San Francisco, and I went on a two weeks pack trip through the southern half of the Sierra San Pedro Martir in Baja California. Dr. Vollmer was interested chiefly in the native lilies, but we made a general collection of vascular plants. During the trip we collected 14 numbers of pteridophytes, extending the known range of several ferns, and obtained what I believe to be the first collection of Selaginella eremophila from the Mexican side of the International Boundary.
44 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
The circuit of the Sierra San Pedro Martir began at Rancho San José de San Telmo, more commonly known among Americans as Meling’s Ranch. This ranch, owned by a Mexican citizen of Norwegian birth, is sit- uated in the foothills of the main range at an elevation of about 2,300 feet. It ison the western flank, about half- way between the northern and southern tips of the range, and is about 125 miles, air line, from the United States. On previous trips into the northern part of the range I had collected Pellaea mucronata, P. andromedaefolia, Dryopteris arguta, Polypodium californicum, Pityro- gramma triangularis, and Adiantum Jordanii, all of which occur commonly in the chaparral from near sea level to elevations of 3,500 feet or more.
From the ranch we climbed to one of the series of meadows that dot the whole range at elevations of 6, to 9,000 feet, and camped at La Grulla, a station which has been visited by several collectors from the United States. Most of the earlier naturalists visiting this re- gion were interested primarily in the birds and mammals, but T. S. Brandegee camped at La Grulla and worked the surrounding country for plants in the spring of 1893. He reported several ferns among his collections, notably Woodwardia fimbriata (as W. radicans), Polypodium vulgare, Pellaea mucronata (as P. ornithopus), Asple-
nium septentrionale, and Woodsia oregana.? So far as —
I have been able to learn, Asplenium septentrionale has not been re-collected in the vicinity, though it doubtless occurs in some of the shaded canyons leading back
i ac
ee eee ee
toward the higher peaks above La Grulla and La En- — |
cantada.
We rode southward from La Grulla to a large meadow called Ciénega de Santa Rosa or Llano de Santa Rosa, but although we passed through several small canyons we
2 Zoe 4: 210. 1893.
CoLLEcTING IN NorTHWESTERN Mexico 45
saw no ferns. After leaving Llano de Santa Rosa, the trail led upward to the summit of the pass between the tableland and the desert side of the range, at an elevation of 8,800 feet, and dropped rapidly to the floor of the San Felipe Desert at the mouth of El Cajon Canyon. In places it barely clings to the steep shoulders of the granitic and andesitic ridges. On this escarpment we found two ferns, Pellaea mucronata and P. longimucro- nata. Pellaea mucronata had not previously been col- lected on the desert side of the San Pedro Martirs, and P. longimucronata had never been found before anywhere in that range.
We saw no ferns along the desert side of the mountains until we again climbed to the summit of the divide above a spring halfway between the desert floor and the summit of a pass about 35 miles south of El Cajén. This spring, called El Banco, is marked by a splendid colony of the blue palm, Erythea armata, but for some reason supports no ferns. Not even Selaginella Bigelovii, one of the most xerophilous of the little clubmosses, was present on the sun-drenched ridges. But after we reached the summit of the divide and started down the western slope, we again found ferns and collected several species. Selagi- nella Bigelovii was particularly abundant on dry hill- Sides and canyon walls in the vicinity of Arroyo del Agua Amarga, and here we again found Pellaea longimucro- nata, thus establishing two new stations for the species, one on the desert side and one on the western flank of the Sierra San Pedro Martir.
We found Selaginella eremophila on dry hillsides in the vicinity of Rosarito, about 50 miles south-southeast of San Quintin. This locality is the first to be reported from Baja California, and is further remarkable in that it is on the western slope of the range instead of on the desert side. The type locality of this rare Selaginella is Palm Canyon, Riverside County, California, but it has
“
46 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
also been collected along the western margin of the Colo- rado Desert in San Diego County just a few miles north of the Mexican border.
The richest fern collecting ground discovered on the 1941 trip through and around the Sierra San Pedro Mar- tir was just below the falls of the Rio Santo Domingo. The locality is less than 10 miles distant from La Grulla by air line, but is nearly 4,000 feet lower. The falls are a series of cascades that drop through an impenetrable canyon. Some of them are estimated to drop as much as 700 feet, and the whole series descends at least 1,500 feet as they twist and plunge downward around a sharp curve in the narrow gorge. The adjacent walls of rock are granite, in places polished smooth by the torrents of water that roar down the canyon after heavy rains and during the spring as the snow melts from the highlands above.
At the foot of the lowest of the main cascades gorgeous banks of Adiantum Capillus-Veneris cling to crevices in the spray-drenched walls of rock. Dryopteris Feei and Woodwardia fimbriata grow in profusion under huge, dripping boulders nearby. In marked contrast to these ferns of moist habitats, numerous colonies of Notholaena californica grow on the dry ridges less than 200 feet away, and Selaginella Bigelovii carpets considerable areas not much farther distant. |
t seems remarkable that Adiantum Capillus-Veneris should be so abundant in this one locality, yet absent from the scores of canyons that cut into the main range of the San Pedro Martirs. This fern has been reported
from at least two localities in southern Baja California®* =
and collected in two others, but has been found in north- ern Baja California at only one other locality—a canyon about 20 miles south of the border. The last locality was
3 Proe. Calif. Acad. II. 3: 181. 1891. 4 Proc. Calif. Acad. IV. 12: 980. 1924.
CoLLECTING Iv NorTHWESTERN MExIco 47
found by Mrs. Harvey of San Diego. Brandegee did not: find this species at or near La Grulla, less than 10 miles away.
The fact that many of the desert mountain ranges have not been carefully explored botanically adds to the zest of hunting ferns in the canyons that knife back into their jagged masses of granite, basalt, and andesite. The col- lector may wonder to himself, ‘‘What is growing in that canyon filled with blue haze in the Mohawk Mountains?’’ He is elated when he finds a colony of Notholaena Parryi (among other things) under a precariously balanced boulder, after he has driven 15 miles across the desert, sans road, to find out! Or he is equally pleased to find Asplenium resiliens in the Kofa Mountains, the only known locality for that species within the confines of the Sonoran Desert.
What are some of the ranges that should be more com- pletely explored for ferns?) The Ajo, Chocolate, Growler, and Hareuvar Mountains; Mesa del Pinal and the vol- canic Tres Virgenes; the Sierras Alamos, Babiso, Desen- ganios, and de la Giganta; the Superstition, Tinajas Altas, and Whipple Mountains; the Sierra Pinacate, Sierra Pinta, and Sierra Santa Maria; all these and very many more; big ones, small ones and middle-sized ones. They present enough territory to keep scores of fern enthu- Siasts active for decades, for each canyon presents differ- ent ecological conditions that make possible the growth of plants with varied habitat requirements.
Within the confines of the Sonoran Desert, where I have done most of my collecting in Mexico, 53 species and Several varieties of ferns and fern allies are known to oceur. The Schizaeaceae are represented by only one Species, Anemia anthriscifolia, and the families Mar- Sileaceae, Azollaceae, and Equisetaceae each by a single
_ Species also. In the Polypodiaceae are the following
NSS ee bei
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL VoLUME 34, PLATE 4
GILA BEN
a *AJO
— SONOYTAF-~ S) SA
CABORC
SA 4 30 3 LIBER “ : 28 TA. Ao e Sy SAN IGNACIO > MULEGE# c 26 24 MAP OF THE SONORAN DESERT a —— a ——— —— ——__— oe ———— | ° 100 2 MILES CABO AN OS50 SAN LUCAS . 6 Na N2 ee L
COLLECTING IN NORTHWESTERN MEXICO 49
genera, the number of species included in each indicated by the figures in parenthesis: Woodsia (2), ee phlebia (1), Asplenium (2), Pityrogramma (1), nopteris (1), Adiantum (3), Cheilanthes (17), Has (6), and Notholaena (12). Four different species of Selaginella have been found in the Sonoran Desert, S. rupincola and S. arizonica in Arizona and Sonora, and 8. Bigelovii and S. eremophila in southern California and Baja California. Does the assemblage look tempting ? StTANForRD UNIVERSITY.
GAZETTEER OF MOUNTAIN RANGES Since the accompanying map suet not show the location of the mountain ranges, the following brief gazeteer will help to locate them approximately. This list nate only a small fraction of the total number of ranges and isolated peaks of the Sonoran Desert region.
Ajo Mountains. ae ahs and the ser snug Boundary.
Chocolate Mountains. out Pe miles northwest of Yuma; an- other range of same fete 50 miles nort woh . uma.
Growle r Mountains. Along ae border, 30 to 40 miles west of
Harcuvar Mountains. About lat. 34° N., long. 1 Mesa del Pinal. Esca axpment along western ae ee desert west and southwest of Mexi Si os. Near — see of Cabor Sierra Babiso. Between Magdalena and Oe eurpe, : ; rieta. Sierra de la Gigan’ Main range near the Gulf of ~ as from sibek the ‘‘ NA in Comondt swath nearly to La Sierra te. About 30 miles southwest of Son genes Pinta. Next range north of the Sierra Pinaeate, but in ona; second range of same name 15 to 20 miles west of the — of ‘the Gulf of Bea ornia Santa Maria. rallel to Pacific Coast from about the ‘‘S’’ n Sa acio onion to tip of peninsula, terminating ju ie Cedros Island. Su tion Mountains. About 40 to 50 miles east “s nema Tinajas Altas Mountains. About 40 miles east 0 etree genes. Volcanic peaks - to 25 miles eat of Santa
le Mountains. On California side, in oer bend of Colo- rado River about 80 miles north of Yuma
59 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
The Name of the Deer-fern WiLuiAM R. Maxon
The species under discussion is the Osmunda Spicant of Linnaeus (1753), which was based on European mate- rial. In North America it is a common plant in mainly coniferous forests of the Humid Transition Zone along the Pacific coast from Alaska to the Santa Cruz Moun- tains, California, and because of its furnishing food to elk and deer in winter is commonly called Deer-fern.
During the last century American writers mostly called this fern Lomaria Spicant Desv., following the lead of Hooker and Baker, who maintained Lomaria as generi- cally distinct from Blechnum, mainly on the basis of its strongly dimorphic fertile and sterile fronds. In 1900 Underwood, also recognizing both genera, took up the name Struthiopteris Seopoli (1760) in place of the much later Lomaria Willd. (1809), but wrongly attributed the combination Struthiopteris Spicant to Scopoli, whereas it had not been published until 1770 and then by Weis. Struthiopteris has since been adopted by the writer and many other American fern students, and it is in fact the name that must be applied to the Lomaria element if two genera are recognized. But even in Great Britain, despite the influence of Hooker and Baker’s work, our plant appeared in many fern books as Blechnum Spicant, and most non-English writers—for example, Kuhn, Ettingshausen, Sturm, Luerssen, Makino, and Christ— merged Lomaria in Blechnum, as advocated by Mettenius in 1856.1 More recently, Diels, Hieronymus, Christen- sen, Rosenstock, and most other fern students have re- garded Blechnum in this inclusive sense, and not without reason. This view will presumably find general accept- ance in the United States.
1 Fil. Hort. Bot. Lips. 60-65. 1856.
nee, —beieciinincearinrenaiiny
EQuiseTuM IN New JERSEY 51
It has been customary to write as authors’ sta of Blechnum Spicant either “‘ (L.) J. E. Smith”’ or ‘‘(L.) Withering,’’ but both are wrong. In his 1793 <Tentar men,’’ Sir James Edward Smith indicated Osmunda Spicant as a third species of Blechnum but did not actu- ally make the transfer. He has, however, been errone- ously given as second author by the writer in Abrams’ “‘Tllustrated Flora of the Pacifie States,’’ by Broun in “‘Index to North American Ferns,’’ and by other writers.
The Withering reference given by Christensen in the Index Filicum (p. 159) is to the third edition of ‘‘A Bo- tanical Arrangement of All the Vegetables Naturally Growing in Great Britain,’’ p. 765 (1796); but the transfer of Osmunda Spicant to Blechnum had been made two years earlier by Roth, as pointed out not long ago by Mansfeld,” the correct citation being as follows: Blechnum Spicant (L.) Roth in Usteri, Neue Annalen, Vol. 2, pt. 10, p. 46 (1794). The treatment of this species by Roth occupies nearly a page and includes diagnosis and detailed description, with comments.
The Distribution of Equisetum in New Jersey Wiuiam F. Rapp, JR.
The New Jersey species of Equisetum have been treated in Norman Taylor’s ‘‘Flora of the Vicinity of New York’’ (1915) and J. K. Small’s ‘‘Ferns of the Vicinity of New York’’ (1935), but in neither is a true picture of their distribution given. Since the first volume was written much field work has been done, especially in the southern and northwestern parts of the state. The data on distribution in Small’s work tend to be general, rather than specific.
The present detailed study is based on the abundant material in the following herbaria: New York Botanical
2 Repert. Sp. Nov. Fedde 45: 202. 1938.
VoLuME 34, PLATE 5
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
EQuiseTruM IN NEw JERSEY 53
Garden; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia; Brooklyn Botanical Garden; Princeton University ; Chrysler Herbarium, Rutgers nicest: ; American Fern Society ; and the private herbaria of Dr. R. T. Clausen and Mr. J. L. Edwards. I am grateful to the curators for allowing me to study the specimens in their care.
It is unnecessary to present a key to the species, since several good ones are readily available. The nomencla- ture follows that of Broun’s ‘‘Index to North American Ferns’’ (1938); synonyms are given only when neces- sary. The maps are reproduced by permission of the McKinley Publishing Company, Philadelphia, Pa.
EQUISETUM ARVENSE L. Sp. Pl. 1061. 1753. A map of the distribution of this species is not pre- sented. It is the commonest and most widely distributed
where it has been introduced or at localities which, Githougl within that region, are not truly Pine Barren country.
EQvuisETUM PRATENSE Ehrh. Hannoy. Mag. 22: 138. 1784.
This boreal species reaches its southernmost limit i New Jersey, where it is rare, only three oe pains known, as follows: Closter, Bergen Co., C. ustin. Palisades, Bergen Co., Apr. 30, 1865, C. ir Austin. Sparta, anes Co., 1868, C.F. ‘Austin; July 19, 1937, J. L. Edwards; Aug. iF 1938, Wherry.
Equisetum syivaticum lL. Sp. Pl. 1061. 1753. This species is found in New Jersey only in the Appa- lachian Valley and Highlands, and on the Piedmont lain, the grea mber of known stations being
located i in ie ee. Valley.
PLATE 5.—Fig. 1, Equisetum pratense ; fig. 2, E. litorale (circles) and E. Psy abies var. americanum (crosses) ; fig. 3 3, E. sylvaticum ; fig. 4, E. fluviatile; fig. 5, E. prealtum ; fig. 6 s prealtum -var. affine.
54 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
semana PALUSTRE var. AMERICANUM Victorin, Equis. u Québee 51, 121. f. 7 if aoe are only two New J gg tl Sheng for this Ameri- can variety of the Eurasian E. palustre L., viz.: Sparta, Sussex Co., C. F. Austin; Coster Bergen Co., 0; 2a Austin,
EQUISETUM LITORALE Kiihl. ex Rupr. Beitr. Pfl. Russ. Reich. 4: 91. 1845 Schaffner claims that E. litorale comprises various Te forms of E. palustre and E. arvense, and per- ybrids. Since this matter has not been definitely suttlod. it has been thought best to i suena . as a distinct species. The specimens referred her : Dingman’s Ferry, Sussex Co., Aug. 19, 1893, Van Sickle, Flatbrook- ville, Sussex Co., June. 17, 1884, Britton & Ru sby. Belve- dere, Warren Co o., Aug. 2, 1885, Britton. Phillipsburg, Warren Co., July 23, 1886, T. C. Porter. Carhart, War- ren Co., Mackenzie 5164.
EQUISETUM FLUVIATILE L. Sp. Pl. 1062. 1753. Equsetum limosum Li. Sp. Pl. 1062. 1753.
his species is chiefly found in the northern part of the state and along the Delaware River from Camden County north.
EQUISETUM PREALTUM Raf. FI]. Ludov. 13. 1817. Equisetum hyemale auth., not At present this species is known from widely scattered stations throughout the state, being commonest in t northern part. Future collections will probably show it to be more generally distributed.
EQUISETUM PREALTUM var. AFFINE (Engelm.) Broun, Index No. Amer. Ferns 93, 1938. Equisetum robustum var. affine Engelm. Amer. ourn. Sci. & Arts 46: 88.1 Equisetum hyemale var. aa ADA Eaton, Fern Bull. 11: 75, 111. 1903. This variety seems to be mainly limited to the Dela- ware River Valley, but there are a few stations in other parts of the state.
BotrRYCHIUM DISSECTUM VAR. ONEIDENSE 55
On the status of Botrychium dissectum var. oneidense
Ropert T. CLAUSEN
The classification of the ternate Botrychia, despite my studies and those of other contemporaries, still stands far short of perfection. Even some of the most familiar spe- cies and their variations must be reconsidered in the light of new evidence and fresh points of view. The idea advanced in the present discussion is only an hypothesis at the present stage, an idea to be critically considered and then either accepted or rejected on a basis of the evidence.
Several careful field students have referred Gilbert’s Botrychium ternatum var. oneidense to Botrychium mul- tifidum rather than.to B. dissectum. Among these may be mentioned the late E. W. Graves (1935) and Prof. W. L. Dix, both enthusiastic students of Botrychium. The latter, in a recent letter (April 28, 1943) to me has re- marked that he has ‘‘leaned to the interpretation of Graves in regard vy. oneidense.’’ Others, including my- self, have leaned the other way and preferred to regard var. oneidense as a variation of B. dissectum. This dif- ference of taxonomic opinion is sincere and is supported in each instance by a degree of evidence. Those who favor the alignment of var. oneidense with B. multifidum have in favor of that point of view the evergreen condi- tion of the sterile blade in oneidense, also the rounded condition of the penultimate segments. Those who favor the other relationship have as supporting evidence the thin texture of the blade, the elongate penultimate seg- ments, and the late fruiting time, all characteristics of B. dissectum. Because the latter set of details seemed
56 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
more important to me than the first set, I have tried to maintain var. oneidense under B. dissectum. All along I have become increasingly aware that something must be wrong with this idea, both from the reaction of other fern students and from further observation in the field. In central New York, var. oneidense is fairly common. Around Utica it apparently fruits as freely as do any of the other varieties of B. dissectum. In the section around Ithaca and in the southern tier of counties in New York this is definitely not the case, for the plants develop fertile panicles only rarely. On many a trip I have had to search long and patiently to find a fruiting plant of var. oneidense, whereas fruiting plants of var. typicum or var. obliquum could easily be obtained. Desiring to check the relative fertility of var. oneidense and var. obliquum, I have counted the fertile and sterile specimens in my personal collection, with the following results:
OTAL NUMBER NUMBER OF PERCENTAGE OF
Variery OF SPECIMENS SPECIMENS PLANTS WITH TERILE OR § WITH FERTILE FERTILE PANI- ILE) PANICLES oneidense 72 11 15% obliquum 148 80 54%
Examination of the available fertile panicles of var- oneidense indicates the presence of some abortive sp0- rangia, but in a number of specimens the panicles seem to have as good sporangia and to be as productive as any of var. obliquum. Most of my specimens are from the Finger Lakes region and from the southern tier of coun- ties in New York.
A similar survey of specimens in the herbarium of Cor- nell University yields the following additional data:
pees Se i
BotrRYCHIUM DISSECTUM VAR. ONEIDENSE 57
OTAL NUMBER NUMBER OF PERCENTAGE OF
Varrery OF SPECIMENS SPECIMENS PLANTS WITH (STERILE OR WITH FERTILE FERTILE PANI- PANICLES oneidense 72 48 66% obliquum 217 193 88%
The latter figures indicate a difference of fertility in the two varieties which is much less convincing than the figures for my own smaller series, but they do suggest atrend. By themselves, these data perhaps are not sig- nificant, particularly since most collectors strive to collect plants with fertile structures. When viewed in the light of my own experience in the field, however, they seem to substantiate the statement which S. J. Smith and I (Clausen and Smith, 1939) published regarding the con- dition in south-central New York, namely that ‘‘in the above area, this population produces fertile segments less frequently than do any of the other varieties of B. dissectum.’’
To explain the decreased fertility of var. oneidense, also the intermediate character of this variety, which is Seemingly midway between B. dissectum and B. multi- fidum, I now suggest the hypothesis that var. oneidense may be an interspecific hybrid, only more or less fertile. Arguments for and against this idea may be cited imme- diately. Already some of the favorable evidence is before us. The var. oneidense is phenotypically intermediate between the two suggested parent species; further, the plants exhibit decreased fertility. Another favorable argument derives from the geographical distribution of the so-called variety : It occurs chiefly in the northeastern states and southern Canada, in an area where the ranges of B. multifidum and B. dissectum overlap and in which hybrids naturally would be expected. The general pat-
58 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
tern of distribution (see figs. 1 & 3 in my monograph [1938] ), seems to favor the hybrid hypothesis. Wherever B. multifidum and B. dissectum oceur together in eastern North America, var. oneidense is likely also to be present.
On the other side of the argument, details of distribu- tion may also be mentioned. B. multifidum is at present unknown in eastern North America south of Pennsyl-
vania. Yet there are records of var. oneidense from west--
ern North Carolina and Virginia (Rockingham Co., G. R. Fessenden), also from sections of Ohio, Indiana, and other localities from which B. multifidwm has never been recorded. Another weakness with the hybrid idea is that the sporangia of the panicles of some individuals of var. oneidense seem to be as fertile and productive of spores as are those of either parent. Finally, there is the ob- vious objection that the hypothesis is simply a guess not supported by experimental evidence.
The three negative arguments may be considered in order. First there is the occurrence of var. oneidense in sections where B. multifidum has not been found. This can be accounted for in three possible ways: (1) that B. multifidum does occur in these localities, has been overlooked, and will eventually be discovered there as @ result of further search; (2) that B. multifidum formerly occurred there and no longer exists, but that an inter- mediate population has persisted which is in process of blending with the dominant B. dissectum; and finally (3) that spores of hybrid plants have been blown from locali- ties where both species occur and on germination in the new locality have produced gametophytes which, when self-fertilized, have developed F., hybrids. This last possibility may help to explain the fact that var. oneidense seems most fertile in areas where both B. mult?- fidum and B. dissectum are frequent, whereas fertility seems to decrease in sections where B. multifidum is less
‘ a TT TY TTT, — RY nm
BotTrRYCHIUM DISSECTUM VAR. ONEIDENSE 59
common or absent. In other words, perhaps the F, is more fertile than the F,. Another consideration concerns the possibility that some plants whieh have been identi- fied as var. oneidense really are hybrids or back-crosses, whereas others, particularly small plants, are simply juvenile forms of B. dissectum.
The second argument suggested against the hybrid hypothesis refers to the occasional high fertility of plants of var. oneidense. This is significant, because it suggests that, since B. multifidum and B. dissectum are interfertile in the region where their ranges overlap and there pro- duce intermediates, they are only subspecies of a poly- typic species. This is definitely a possibility ; but if true, the hybrids, theoretically at least, should be almost as fertile or as fertile as plants of either kind, and the popu- lation in the region of intergradation should be inter- mediate in character. Data presented earlier in this discussion already indicate a marked tendency towards a lower fertility. With respect to the population of the northeastern United States being intermediate in char- acter, this is not the case. Most plants can definitely be assigned to either B. multifidum or B. dissectum, which may be found growing side by side but differing in the eutting of the sterile blade, time of fruiting, and the stoutness and texture of the whole plant. The factors - isolating these two major populations seem sufficiently strong for us to regard the plants as belonging to two Separate species, even if they are just in process of reach- ing that stage from a previous condition as freely inter- grading subspecies.
The third argument against the idea that var. oneidense is an interspecific hybrid can be met only by actual ex- perimental work in which the cross is produced under controlled conditions. Perhaps this will eventually be done. Meanwhile, the above information may afford basis for speculation and observational checking.
60 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
The subspecies involved in the suggested cross are the ssp. silaifolium of B. multifidum and the ssp. typicum of B. dissectum. The var. obliquum of the latter is prob- ably the variation most often involved, but certain plants from Wayne and Lackawanna Counties, Pennsylvania, and from Chemung County, New York (W. C. Wilson & k. T. C. 2428) suggest that the dissected phase of ssp. typicum may sometimes participate. The late Professor Chamberlain (1920) advanced the theory that ‘‘B. dis- sectum’’ (var. typicum) is a sterile mutant. The mutant idea coincides exactly with my notions about the plant, but I question the sterility feature, though realizing that the fertility may vary in different parts of the range. In any ease, this detail is probably not relevant to the status of var. oneidense.
The conclusion of the above discussion is that some evidence exists for regarding as an interspecific hybrid the plant which I have called B. dissectum var. oneidense. Fern students in localities where this plant occurs may aid the work of determining its status by comparing con- ditions in their areas with the evidence presented here. Further data may support or detract from the value of the hybrid hypothesis, which has as its chief merit the furnishing of an explanation for the intermediate char- acteristics and peculiar distribution of var. oneidense.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY.
LITERATURE CITED aia ify C.J. 1920. “es and mutation in Botrychium. Bot. Gaz. 70: 387-398. 11 figs.
Clausen, R. T. 1938. A gna of the Ophioglossaceae. Mem. Torrey Club 197: 1-177. ill
Clausen, R. T., and 8S. J. Smith. "1939. On — ete - south-central New York. Amer. Fern Jou
Graves, E. W. Dese ihdag Botrychiums. fy Fern wae Pop: 109-120. 8 figs.
Suorter Notes 61
- Shorter Notes
x ASPLENIUM GRAVESII IN VirGInta.—The discovery of Graves’ Spleenwort in Virginia has been expected, since the two probable parent species (A. pinnatifidum and A. Bradleyi) have been found to oceur sporadically in the state. On the 6th of May, 1939, during a foray in the neighborhood of Chatham, Pittsylvania Co., Va., the region around Moses Mill Pond, west of Chatham, was visited. A part of the foray group followed the writer along the south shore of the pond. Approximately half- way up this shore one finds large boulders. On these, two distinct types of Asplenium were found. One was identified as Asplenium pinnatifidum Nutt., the second was not recognized. These were cared for and filed away in the herbarium. Some months later the specimens were shown to Dr. E. T. Wherry, who identified the question- able one as Asplenium Gravesii Maxon and agreed that the other was Asplenium pinnatifidum. The area has been visited again to search for more specimens of Asplenium Gravesii and for A. Bradleyi D. C. Eaton, but as yet only two specimens of the former have been found and none of the latter. The two of Asplenium Gravesii were found on the same boulder with Asplenium pinnatifidum and within two feet of it. Brooks and Margolin™ report a similar situation in relation to the
this hybrid fern . . . is on a sandstone cliff in heavy deciduous woods ... A. pinnatifidum is present, but persistent search has failed to reveal A. Bradley: in the loeality.’’
The Virginia station for A. Gravesii is in Pittsylvania County, in the inner Piedmont, 2 miles west of Chatham along the southwest shore of Moses Mill Pond on Cherry-
1The Pteridophytes of West Virginia. West Va. Univ. Bull., Series 39, No. 2; 35. 1938.
62 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
stone Creek, 350 feet above sea level. The two specimens collected are filed in the herbarium of the Virginia Poly- technic Institute, A. B. Massey 2922 and 4404 (V.P.I. sheets 9736 and 9737).
The distribution of Asplenium Gravesii as given by Broun? is ‘‘. . . on sandstone and mica-gneiss ledges, Appalachian and Piedmont regions, northwestern Geor- gia and adjacent Alabama to central West Virginia and southeastern Pennsylvania; rare.’’ Thus the Virginia station is not an extension of the range but fills in a
gap—A. B. Massey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Picci, Virginia.
BRADLEY’s SPLEENWORT IN OuI0.—About 70 years ago Professor F. H. Bradley discovered a small new ever- green fern growing in the crevices of sandstone cliffs in eastern Tennessee, and in his honor it was named Asplenium Bradleyi by D. C. Eaton. Some two years ago Clyde Jones, of the Ohio State University, found this species on a cliff called Jacob’s Ladder, in Fairfield County, near Lancaster, Ohio. The urge to find another locality for this fern in Ohio prompted Leslie L. Pontius and myself to explore a region of Sharon conglomerate and sandstone cliffs in Clyce Hollow, Jackson Township, Pike County—one of my favorite hunting grounds for ferns. Diligently for hours we scaled cliffs and searched the crevices, finding here and there Asplenium platy- neuron, A. pinnatifidum, A. montanum, and A. Tricho- manes. It was getting late and we were almost ready to quit our search, when, lo and behold! in a crevice on the south face of a cliff we found the object of our quest, Asplenium Bradleyi. The day ended, and two very happy men returned to their homes. The treasure was found.—F.Loyp BartLey, Circleville, Ohio.
2 Index to North American Ferns, 20. 1938.
REcENtT Fern Literature 63
Recent Fern Literature
Gualterio Looser, continuing his scholarly and accurate work with Chilean ferns, has published three articles in Volume 28 of the Revista Universitaria of the Universi- dad Catélica de Chile (1943). The first (pp. 31-34)? records a new station in the Province of Antofagasta in northern Chile for the very rare and geographically curious species Polypodium masafuerae Philippi. It is now known from Juan Fernandez, five or six localities in northern Chile, and Mollendo, Peru. Sr. Looser adds a critical discussion of the nomenclature of the species.
The second article (pp. 123-134)? is a supplement to a previous publication on the type localities of Chilean species of ferns and is the result of a visit to botanical institutions in Argentina and Uruguay. The type collec- tions of some forty species are listed with nomenclatural and other notes.
The third article (pp. 169-180)* gives a very readable account of a collecting trip to the voleano Osorno in southern Chile, which covered many altitudes from the bare slopes just below the snow-cap of the summit to the rain-forest at the base. The narrative is interspersed with critical and descriptive comment on the ferns seen and is supplemented by an annotated list of the 22 species collected and a new key to the Chilean species of Dicra- nopteris,
Sr. Looser has also published a brief account* of the work of the late Dr. Christensen —C. A. W.
Although it is not customary to review in the JOURNAL books relating to subjects other than ferns, an exception 1 Nueva localidad cerca de Antofagasta del helecho Polypodium
masatuorac Philipp: 2 Los localidades de los tipos de los helechos chilenos. Primera
~ adicion.
3 Coleccionando helechos en el Volean Osorno (sur de Chile). + Revista Argentina de Agronomia 10: 279-280. 1943.
64 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
may well be made in the present instanee. ‘‘Shrubs of Michigan’’* is an attractive and thoroughly meritorious publication. In addition to being of high scientific worth, the book is so planned as to help and encourage the amateur in the study of shrubs, and to provide him with an understanding of methods of collection and identification. Clear line-drawings illustrate each spe- cies and a map shows its distribution in Michigan. Of the blackberries and hawthorns our knowledge of species is meager, and the author has made it clear that in this, as in many other groups, problems to be investigated by the amateur are at hand. Most of these shrub species extend across the northeastern part of the country. Besides providing a ready means of identifying shrubs, the text sets a good standard for our contributors on the subject of ferns ——H. K.S
Mr. J. P. Anderson has published? recently Part I of a ‘‘Flora of Alaska and Adjacent Parts of Canada,”’ which includes the pteridophytes and conifers. The author lived for many years in Alaska and collected extensively in almost all parts of the region. His treat- ment, which has keys to the families, genera, and species, as well as brief descriptions, will naturally be compared with Hultén’s recent account® covering the same terri- tory. Fifty-four species of Pteridophyta are recognized, as compared with 53 by Hultén, the extra one being Equi- setum alaskanum (A. A. Eaton) Anderson, which is based on the plant treated by Hultén as Equisetum variegatum subsp. alaskanum. Line drawings are given for 47 species, but these show such small portions of the fronds that their usefulness is somewhat impaired. Nevertheless, they will be helpful to many amateurs. 1 Hg a Michigan. By Cecil ee Cranbrook Insti- e of Science. Bulletin No. 20. 249 pp., 161 figs. and maps. — peste Hills. 1943. ere 50 postpaid.
2 Reprinted from Iowa State Coll. Journ. Sci. 18: 137-175. 1943. 3 Reviewed THis JOURNAL 32: 74. 1942.
Recent FERN LITERATURE _ 65
Anderson’s account does not take into consideration any of the fern studies of the last few years. For exam- ple, Clausen’s work on the Ophioglossaceae is ignored; consequently the name Botrychium silaifolium Presl [B. multifidum subsp. silaifolium Clausen] is used, whereas, according to Clausen, this subspecies (or species) does not oceur north of British Columbia, the Alaskan plants being referable to B. multifidum subsp. robustum (Rupr.) Clausen. The Alaskan Bracken is called Pteridium aqui- linum var. lanuginosum Bong. {an error for (Bong.) Fernald], but Tryon has pointed out that this varietal epithet is not available, the proper name for the Alaskan plant being var. pubescens Underw. The reviewer showed several years ago that the Oak-fern must bear the name Dryopteris disjuncta (Rupr.) Morton, rather than D. Linnaeana GC. Chr., as given by Anderson. There are other nomenclatural errors, such as the authorities for the following entities; Blechnum should be L., not (L.) With.; Pteridium should be Gled. ex Scop., not Seop.; Botrychium boreale should be Milde, not (Sw.) Milde; Athyrium Filix-femina var. cyclosorum should be (Rupr.) Ledeb., not (Rupr.) C. Chr.; and Struthiopteris (in the sense of Pteretis) should not be Seop., for Scopoli’s genus Struthiopteris is a synonym of Blechnum (sens. lat.).
Mr. Anderson has attempted to simplify the keys so that they may be used successfully by untrained persons, but in some cases they are so short as to be scarcely usable; for example,
Segments reniform or fan-shaped «0.0.0... Botrychium Lunaria.
Segments rounded Botrychium boreale. mewtiente gente oe Botrychium lanceolatum.
Here the ‘‘segments’’ mentioned are not comparable. Those of B. Lunaria are whole pinnae, whereas those of the other two are the ultimate lobes of pinnae. Or again:
66 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Blades 1—2-pinnate.
Blades small, thick Dryopteris fragrans. Blades large, thin Dryopteris oreopteris. Blades 2—-3-pinnate os. . Dryopteris austriaca [D, dilatata].
These three species are so dissimilar that a far more definite yet simple key could readily have been con- structed.
The errors above mentioned are chiefly of importance to fern specialists and will not detract much from the usefulness of the work to amateurs and botanists in general. In fact, Mr. Anderson’s paper will be much more usable for them than Hultén’s, which contains no descriptions or illustrations. For the professional tax- onomist, however, Hultén’s scholarly work will be indis- pensable for its definite information as to ranges, com- plete citation of synonymy, citation of specimens, and valuable discussions of variation —C, V
American Fern Society Report of the Auditing Committee
The undersigned have checked all the receipts and expenditures of the American Fern Society for 1943 and find the Treasurer’s statement correct.
We call to the notice of the Society that our recommen- dation of a year ago that the valuation of the Library be reduced by 20 per cent has been entered in this report.
We recommend that the item Inventory A.F.J. (back —
numbers) listed in the Assets column in the sum of $2,006.79 be reappraised and entered with an Inventory value of $500.00, and that the Liability Capital Account be reduced accordingly in next year’s report.
We wish to express our high appreciation to Dr. Sven-
AMERICAN FERN Society 67
son and his staff, who have given careful attention to the work of the Treasurer’s office. WALTER 8, ALLEN FREDERICK L., FAGLEY Auditing Committee
Calvin L. Gruber
We regret to have to record the passing away of one of our few Life Members, C. L. Gruber. He was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1864, and for some 45 years was a teacher in the State Teachers’ College at Kutztown. At an early age he took up plant collecting as a hobby, at first specializing on certain groups of flowering plants, and discovering several new hawthorns. Becoming interested also in ferns, he joined our Society in 1907, and contributed to the JouRNAL several notes on the species of his region, including the description of some new forms, the type specimens of which were placed in the Society’s herbarium. Shortly before his death, which oceurred July 21, 1943, he presented his collection of Berks County ferns to the Academy of Natural Sci- ences of Philadelphia.
Mr. Gruber was a rather small man, who spoke with a strong Pennsylvania German accent. Active, energetic, and keen-eyed to an advanced age, he was a delightful field companion, and nothing made him happier than to ‘be able to guide members of the Fern Society to the loeali- ties of his unusual finds. The writer will always remem- ber his keen enjoyment of a visit we made to ‘‘ Cystopteris Bluff’’ opposite Moselem, where we found what seemed to be four different variants of Cystopteris fragilis — E. T. WuHerry.
In order that the Society may comply with new postal regulations, it is requested that members send their
i ig
68 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
addresses, corrected to include zone number, to the Secretary. NEW MEMBERS
Miss Bertha Earle Bill, 12 Boynton St., Worcester 2, Massachusetts.
Mr. ae J. Borsch, ah cpa
Mrs. Z. W. Craine, 155 North Broad St. , Norwich, New York.
Mr. = ohn W. K. Glynn, 56 sone oe, New Rochelle, N. Y.
Mr. W. A. Grace, 92 Anzac Parade, Wanganui, New Ze aye
Mr. Henry G. Leach, 170 Bast 64th St., New York 21
Mrs. ee a Moslaptlin, 416 Mountain View Apts., ai ames St., Sou amilton, Ontario, Canada,
Mr. Bett Metoy, 6349 North Spring Mill Road, Indianapolis 5,
India Mr. George G. McKinley, 104 Northwestern Parkway, Louisville,
tite Kentueky. ~yirs. R. ‘“ Rembert, Rockledge, Florida.
r. H. B. Rust, 200 Liberty Life Bldg., Birmingham 3, Alabam: 23 —— Schrameyer, 1752 Nicholson Place, St. Louis 18, Mis
ae Sobert W. Storer, Mus. Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, Calif. Mr. aang Strickler, 5303 South Kimbark Ave., Chicago 15, nois
ye oj Teresita Holy Family Convent, R. D. 1, Manitowoc, Wis Mr. J. Dale ‘Whiting, New Bedford, Pennsylvania.
CHANGES OF ADDRESS
Mrs. Kathleen S. Boyd, 1353 Mathews ee Lakewood, Ohio. Mrs. W. D. Diddell, R. D. 9, Box 296 A, Jacksonville, Florida.
o, New Jersey. Mr, G. W. Strattan, Inwood, Buck Hill meni Pennsylvania.
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Vol, 34 July-September, 1944 No, 3
American Fern Journal
A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO FERNS Published by the
AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY
Bd EDITORS WILLIAM R. MAXON R. C. BENEDICT Cc. V. MORTON
IRA L. WIGGINS Bad GONTENTS
The New World Species of Azolla..........H. K. Svenson 69
Mass Collections: Equisetum sylvaticum Norman ©. Fasserr 85
Cystopteris Bluff... esas ._Epean T, WHEERy 92
Shorter Notes: Chenaciaie cinnamomea f. cornucopiae- folia; Two Ferns New to Trinidad
Recent Fern Literature 96
American Fern Society 98
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Che Ameriran Fern Society a fur 1944 OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR C. A. WEATHERBY, Gray Herbarium, Cambridge 38, amass er JosEPH Ewan, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado Vice-President Mags. Evsiz Gisson Wuitney, 274 South Main Ave., Albany, N. Y.
ecretary Henry K. Svenson, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn poelnctt N. Y. bs:
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American Fern Journal
EDITORS WiLL BR. Maxon... Smithsonian tution, . R. C. Benepicr...............1819 Dorehester Road, Brooklyn N. ¥. C. V. Morrow.............. Smithsonian Institution, Washington Tea L. Wieetns.......Dudley Herbarium, Stanford University, ’ Calif.
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ae ae M. Rusk, Broeklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn 25,
«CURATOR OF THE HERBARIUM Minis Heorss M. Rusk, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn 25,
Amprican Fern Journal
VoL. 34 JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1944 No. 3
The New World Species of Azolla! H. K. SvENson
The water-ferns, represented by Salvinia and Azolla, are among the most curious of plants, and would not ordinarily be taken to be related to the ferns. Salvinia plants consist of a shoot up to one or two inches long, with clusters of round floating leaves rarely as much as a centimeter in diameter. Azolla likewise is a floating plant, chiefly of the tropics; the entire surface of quiet ponds may be so covered by the tiny branching fronds as to exclude mosquitoes from the surface, and for this reason the plant is sometimes known as ‘‘mosquito-fern”’ (cf. Benedict, Amer. Fern Journ. 13: 48. 1923). These little floating plants send rootlets down into the water much in the manner of the duckweed (Lemna) ; their small size, branching habit, and the almost crystalline appearance of the tiny individual leaves may be judged from the accompanying drawings of living, non-fruiting plants from the greenhouses and out-door pools of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (Pl. 6, fig. 1). The succulent leaves, in the center of which blue-green algae always live, gleam under the lens like leaves of Mesembrian- themum. In full sunlight the fronds often become red- dish, but those in shaded localities remain bright green.
The branches of Azolla show a dorsiventral structure Suggesting that of Selaginella. The leaves are two-lobed, the lower lobe being usually larger than the upper, mostly "1 Brooklyn Botasie pepe Contributions, No. 100.
[Volume 34, No. 2, of the JouRNAL, pages 37-68, was issued June 19, 1944. ]
69
70 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
without chlorophyll and only one ¢ell thick. These lower lobes are so adapted for floating the plant that water comes in contact only with their lower surface. The upper lobes do not reach the water at all. During the growing stage they are flattened in the same plane as the lower lobes, and it is only in age that they become some- what erect.
As early as 1725, Feuillée had made erude illustrations of plants from the Peruvian region. Commerson, during his romantic voyage around the world with Bougainville (1767-1769), collected somewhere in the Magellan area the specimens upon which Lamarck in 1785 founded the genus Azolla, based on the single species A. filiculoides. No other species were known until 1810, when Willdenow described A. caroliniana, based on material derived from Richard in Paris, and therefore probably collected by Michaux in the southeastern United States. As yet, dif- ferentiation of species was based only on vegetative aspect, A. caroliniana being noted as having spreading leaves in distinction to the imbricate appressed leaves of A. filiculoides. In the same year that A. caroliniana was described, Robert Brown (Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. 167. 1810) placed the genus upon a scientific basis; both his genius and that of his artist, Ferdinand Bauer, contrib- uted to the essential understanding of the reproductive bodies, as illustrated in Plate 10, accompanying the Botany of Captain Flinders’ voyage (1814). Martius in 1834 beautifully illustrated A. microphylla Kaulf. (Icon. Pl. Crypt. Bras. pl. 74, 75), of which the figures are perhaps based on Brazilian plants, and Meyen followed shortly in 1836 (Beitriige zur Kenntniss der Azollen) with a fine series of drawings of A. filiculoides. It was not until 1847 that Mettenius?, characterized by Christen- sen (in Verdoorn, Manual Pterid. 523. 1938) as the keen- est fern student of the nineteenth century, published a
2 In Linnaea 20: 259-282. pl. 2, 3. 1847.
‘ Beg RS Se ee ee a
NEw Worwp Species oF AZOLLA 71
monograph of the genus in which the species were care- fully delimited. Unfortunately he did not describe and figure them from type material. Thus a change in the application of the names A. microphylla and A. mexicana may be necessary when the types can be studied, but I have found it expedient to follow his usage except in the interpretation of A. caroliniana. Since the time of Mettenius the systematic treatment of Azolla has erad- ually deteriorated; the elaborate work on the genus by Strasburger (1873) stressed details of cell structure and life history, but contributed nothing to taxonomy. The
treatment by Baker (Journ. Bot. 24: 99-101. 1886) is decidedly inferior.
Most collections of Azolla will be found to be non- fruiting, but careful search under a low-power binocular microscope will frequently disclose megaspores not ap- parent in the first casual observation. The sori, when present, will be found in pairs in the leaf axils of older portions of the frond. Each sorus is completely sur- rounded by an indusium. In some species the inflated globose indusia of the microsporocarps exceed 1 mm. in diameter and can be seen with the naked eye; but the acorn-shaped indusium of the megasporocarp is much smaller and is completely filled by the rigid single mega- Spore and its appendages. Usually there will be a pair of microsporocarps, or of megasporocarps; occasionally the pair will consist of one of each, and this is the con- dition most frequently illustrated. Depending some- what upon the species, the stalked microsporangia (borne within the indusium like a bunch of toy balloons) vary from seven or eight to nearly a hundred. Each micro- sporangium contains 32 or 64 imbedded microspores ag- gregated into four to ten spore-masses (massulae). The massulae are somewhat flattened (when four, they fit to- gether in tetrads, like fern spores in general), and when
TZ AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
they are liberated from the microsporangium they dis- play, in the New World species, the peculiar barb-tipped hairs (glochidia) which probably serve to anchor the floating massulae to the megaspores, and which are so necessary for the determination of the species. A com- pound microscope is necessary for examination of the glochidia. In the megasporocarp only a single mega- spore develops. Wanda Pfeiffer has shown (Bot. Gaz. 44: 449. 1907) that initial microsporangia develop on the stalked base of the megasporangium, and that ‘‘if the megasporangium develops, there will be a megasporo- carp; while if the microsporangia develop, there will be a microsporocarp.’’ The lower bell-shaped portion of the megaspore is important from a taxonomic point of view, since it may be smooth, reticulate, or pitted. The upper portion or lid of the sporocarp comes off at ma- turity in a parachute-like manner, liberating the mega- spore and disclosing the three-lobed ‘‘swimming appa- ratus’’ derived from non-functional megaspore material, formerly thought to give buoyancy to the megaspore. Development of gametes takes about a week. The micro- spores remain imbedded in the massulae during develop- ment; they produce antheridia, and from them anthero- zoids escape through the gelatinous substance of the massulae. The nucleus of the mature megaspore divides repeatedly to form a small embedded prothallus in which one or more archegonia are produced, each with an egg cell. The zygote develops after fertilization, and by con- tinuous division produces the pinnately-branched float- ing sporophyte with which we started. Further details of the life-history are given by G. M. Smith (Crypt. Bot. 2: 353-362. 1938).
This study was brought about by an attempt to identify material which I collected in abundantly fruiting stage in the Galapagos Islands in 1930. The specimens in the herbaria of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and American
ee ee ee ee
NEw Wor.p Species oF AZOLLA 73
Fern Society were greatly augmented by the specimens in the United States National Herbarium, which Dr. Maxon kindly sent me, and selected specimens from the Gray Herbarium. The work was difficult, since it in- volved examination of glochidia and megaspores over the entire range of specimens, before the more abundant sterile material could be allocated to the individual species. Many collections of Azolla are so meager that identification is practically hopeless. When a series of fruiting plants has been recognized, the elongate-frondose character and curled leaves of well-developed A. filicu- loides can be perceived at a glance. The dichotomous branches of A. caroliniana with their unusually small leaves are also characteristic; A. mexicana is of similar texture, but larger and more compact. A. microphylla, chiefly of tropical South America, occurs in general as small isolated somewhat elongate plants; these are fre- quently thickened and deep purple, though thin green plants are occasional, as in Drouet 2659 from Ceara, Brazil. The following treatment is of the American Species only, all of which are characterized by the pres- ence of glochidia on the massulae.
For identification of material the reader is especially directed to the photographs (Pl. 8) which illustrate typ- ical specimens of the four species here discussed. The identity of the West Indian material must remain doubt- ful, for the specimens seen are all sterile; nevertheless, their relationship is with A. caroliniana, and they have been so identified by practically all previous writers. In A. filiculoides only the upper portion of an elongate fr ond is shown in figure 4; the leaves are most frequently of an ashy-gray color with broad, searious, irregularly curled margins. In A. mexicana the under leaf lobes, which serve as floats for the plant, are frequently much enlarged, even more so than in A. caroliniana.
74 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Nothing is known of the boundary between A. caro- liniana and A. mexicana, which probably lies in the Texas-Louisiana region. Finally, the reader must not be too optimistic about the identification of sterile material. Usually, however, if the specimens are well collected and in a mature stage, they can be assigned to one of these four species. It is possible that microscopic studies of leaf margins may provide a key to the species, but thus far I have been unable to make any correlation.
SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES A. Glochidia not septate; plants small (0.5-1 diam.), pyr giennar id branched, the nearly orbicular, divaricate ‘Nea small (0.5 ong), ~— smooth, not closely imbriecate ; microsporangia
$-40 i in an indusium.—Eastern United States and the West Indies. ” gudoieaiaiies a 5 figeds 4 ; AA. Glochidia not se eptate, or erga with 1 or 2 septae at apex; plants elongate aig ola 2-6 ¢ m. long), with bscigeyd ee it imbricate, papillose 2, oblong t 0 ovate leaves (1 mm. long); micro
Andean and southern South America; Nome pyasi introduced in the eastern United States, Hawaii, and E
2. A. filic —_— (PL. 6, figs. 1, 2; pl. 8, fig. 4).
AAA. Glochidia many-septate; plants “alehoromously pranch hed,
1-1.5 em. diam., with upper r leaf lobes 0.7 mm ong, the under ones
itted
ward to French Guiana and Bolivia, northward ~ Utah and British Columbia, and sen ot to Winkonsis. and [lin
ana (Pl. 7 7, fs. 1-8, 5; pl 8, fo. 2)
AAAA. Glo hidia many-septate ; plants small (1-2 em. long), nonce scunien. with nearly hemes ae 1 mm. long; mega- spore smooth.—Chiefly in the lowlands of i zil and British Guiana ; of menttees <a distribution in we a South America = northward to Central America, the West Indies, and "Salto rni
4. A. microphylla (PI. Sfp. de ‘pl. 8, fg. 8). . Azolla caroliniana hides ae eS 5: 541. 1810, not
of a authors except as to some descriptions and illus trations of habit. ?A. is eran Spreng. Syst. Veg. 4: 9. 1827.
Ponds and slow streams, from Massachusetts and New York to Louisiana, and, judging from habit alone, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica (Harris 10349). Jurgensen
New Worwp Species oF AZOLLA 75
229, from Santa Cruz, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, also has the habit of A. caroliniana.
Only in Tryon & Godfrey no. 907, from Clarendon County, South Carolina, and Garber’s collection from Sanford, Florida, in 1876, did I find microsporocarps. The glochidia are non-septate, a condition otherwise char- acteristic of A. filiculoides, but somewhat smaller than in that species and acutely pointed at each end. Not- withstanding diligent search I have otherwise found no trace of fruiting bodies in this species. The sculpture of the megaspores, when they are seen, should be important for identification. Mettenius saw fruiting specimens of “A. caroliniana’’ only from Schiede’s Mexican collection, which he illustrated. This I take to be A. mexicana cannot be considered as published. It was collected in January, 1820, ‘‘inter Serpillo et Estero,’’ a locality close to the Tecoluta River, halfway between Vera Cruz and Tuxpan.® In the synonymy of A. caroliniana, Mettenius cited A. mexicana Presl (Bot. Bem. Prague 150. 1844), which was based on Schiede’s collection and represents the first actual publication of A. mexicana.® Schiede’s Plant certainly has nothing to do with true A. caro- liniana ; nevertheless Mettenius’ illustration was followed by Strasburger (1873) and later by Kuhn in Martius’ Flora Brasiliensis (12: pl. 82. 1884), from which it was copied by Britton & Brown (Ill. Fl. 1: 35. fig. 76. 1896).
Linnaea 20: 278. Pt. 3, figs. 9-15. Schlecht & Cham.,‘ which eceeed no deseription and
* Linnaea 5: 625. 1830, °Linnaea 4: 561. 1829. ; ehis rarely neceetibls pabbeatios S appears iader the title ‘‘ Obs.
Rotuhieas’? in Abh. Bohm. Ges. . 1845, and the description is as follows: “580, hae Jacked os es est: Azolla Mexican ata, foliolis imbricatis laevibus subrotundis
8 videtur A. portoricensi, differt foliolis margine non
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL VOLUME 34, PLATE 6
Puate 6.—Fig. 1. Azolla filiculoides, from living material; fig- 2. A, filiculoides, California, Wheeler in 1941; fig. 3. A. caroliniana, South Carolina, Tryon §& Godfrey 907; fig. 4. A. microphylla,
Galapagos Islands, Svenson 86.
NEw Wor.up Species or AZOLLA V7
A. portoricensis was based on sterile material in the Sprengel herbarium, collected by Bertero.
505-524. pl. 38. 1836 ; Strasburger, ‘Ueber Azolla 78. pl. 6, figs. 87, 91. 1873; Kuhn in Mart. Fl. Bras. 12: 658. pl. 82, figs. 9-11. 1884; Baker, Journ. Bot. 24: 100. 1886; Campbell, Ann. Bot. 7: pl. 8, figs. 27, 35, ete. 1893. A. magellanica Willd. Sp. Pl. 5: 541. 1810 (renaming of A. Pe); Meteiins Linnaea 20: 277. pl. 3, figs. 16-
47. A. squamosa Molina, Saggio Nat. Chile, ed. 2, 125. 1810, see. Christensen. 2A. bonariensis Bertol. Misc. Bot. 21, in Rend. Sci. Bologna 1859-1860: 64. pl. 5, figs. 2a, 2b. 1860.
Azolla filiculoides came from the Magellan region, but the actual locality is uncertain. I have not been able to make out the distinctly annular markings of the mega- Spore shown by Mettenius; such markings are usually angular and are better shown by Strasburger (pl. 6, figs. 91, 92). Azolla bonariensis was described from Buenos Aires, based on a collection by Fox-Strangwais, and is referred to A. caroliniana by Christensen (Ind. Fil. 148. 1906). Schlechtendal (Bot. Zeit 19: 343. 1861) does not seem to value it highly, nor can Bertoloni’s work as a whole be held in very high esteem.
Occasionally specimens are found in which there are one or two septae at the very apex of the glochidia, but these may be residual protoplasmic material rather than actual septae. This form is A. filiculoides var. rubra (R. Br.) Strasburger (Ueber Azolla 78. pl. 6, fig. 86a. 1873), based on A. rubra R. Br. (Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. 167 1810; Baker, Journ. Bot. 24: 100. 1886). It was origi- nally described from Australia, but is of little if any im- portance geographically, since it is found seattered throughout the range of the species in America.
VoLuME 34, PLATE 7
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
fig. 3. A. mexicana,
. >
Cardenas 2760 fi Chile, Looser
£- rubra,
Suksdorf 1216; filiculoides var.
Nelson 4176; fig. 4. A.
Washington,
bf
PLATE 7.—Fig. 1. Azolla mexicana, Bolivia,
2. A. mexicana,
Oregon in 1930; fig. 5. A. mexicana, Mexico, Rose 14647.
Sane
New Wortp Species oF AZOLLA 79
Azolla filiculoides seems to be the only species known from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and from the Andes. In the Andes it seems frequently to grow on a rather dry substratum, the plants being often aggregated in thick masses, with very prominent roots. Such specimens are: Bogota, Colombia, Apollinaire in 1907; Chasqui, Peru, Macbride 3307 ; Quispicanchi, Peru, Herrera 2616, 2618; Bolivia, R. 8. Williams 2648; Valparaiso, Chile, Claude Joseph 1562, 4698; Concén, Prov. Aconagua, Chile, Looser in 1930.
I have seen the following collections of A. filiculoides in fruit: ALASKA: Bischoff in 1868. New Yorx: Brook- lyn Botanic Garden, Benedict in 1924. Riverhead, Long Island, Muenscher & Curtis 6647. CAtirorn1A: Pacheco Pass, Brewer 1288. San Francisco, Rose 42246; Bolan- der in 1865 and 1866. San Mateo County, Blake 9944. Merced County, Howell 4206. Santa Cruz County, Abrams 1833. San Luis Obispo, Summers in 1889. Santa Barbara, Gambel 668. Los Angeles, Wheeler in 1941. La Grange, Tracy. San Bernardino, Parish 5278. San Jacinto, Leiberg 3104. San Diego, Kimball. Mission Dam, San Diego County, Kimball 229. Hot Springs, San Diego County, Vasey 694. ARIZONA: Tucson, Thornber in 1903. Mexico: Chihuahua, Hart-
Painter 6878. GUATEMALA: Dept. Sololé, Muenscher 2179. Coxromsta: Bogotdé, Lehmann 6363. Boxtvia: Cochabamba, Julio 191; Bang 983, 1032, 1033. CHIE: Santiago, Hastings 319. Valdivia, Philippi in 1888. Brazin: Rio Grande do Sul, Malme 290. Uruevay: Florida, Rosengurtt B-781. Montevideo, Gibert 1317, 1318. Argentina: Juj juy, Eyerdam & Beetle 22193, 22335. Corrientes, Palmer 1854. Rioja, Venturi 8230. Rio Negro Valley, Fischer 233. Hawat: Oahu, Degener & Dowson 12913. Honolulu, Fosberg 13833.
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL VOLUME 34, PLATE 8
PLA Godfre 907 microphylla, fi tte Islands, Svenson 86; Bho onion, Argentina, Venturi 8230. All pret 5 times lace siz
NEw Wor.pD SPECIES OF AZOLLA 81
3. Azolla mexicana Presl, Abh. Bohm. Ges. Wiss. V. 3: 150. 1845. A. caroliniana sensu Mettenius, Linnaea 20: 278. pl. 3, figs. 9-15. 1847; Kuhn, in Mart. Fl. Bras. 1?: 659. pl. 82. 1884; Britt. & Brown, Ill. Fl. 1: 35. fig. 76. 1896, not Willd. A. mexicana Schlecht. = Cham. Lin- naca 5: 625. 1830 (name only). ?A. densa Desv. Mém. Soe. Linn. Paris 6: 177. 1827 (cited in ee by Metisning) :
Azolla mexicana resembles A. caroliniana in its flat- tened, dichotomously branched appearance, and it in- cludes in general the specimens from the western United ‘States and Mexico cited by authors under the name A. caroliniana. The leaves are, however, larger than those of A. caroliniana and do not have their slender appear- ance. The megaspores, before they are mature, might sometimes be mistaken for those of A. filiculoides because of the greenish corky-thickened markings, but when the megaspore has become dull gray and relieved of its outer covering the surface will be seen to be minutely pitted. This is undoubtedly the impression Mettenius wished to convey in his illustration of A. caroliniana, which, as I have mentioned previously, was drawn from a Mexican collection.
According to Weatherby (Contr. Gray Herb. 114: 21. 1936), no specimens of Azolla densa Desv. or A. arbus- cula Desy. are to be found in the Desvaux Herbarium. The only two sheets of Azolla are named A. caroliniana and A. filiculoides, and these identifications are confirmed by Kuhn. It seems that the names A. densa and A. arbuscula can well be disregarded.
I have seen the following collections in fruit : Wiscon- stv: Lacrosse, Hale in 1861. Inirnors: Carroll County, Waite in 1887. Oquawka, Patterson. Swan Lake, Cal- houn County, Metcalf 1110. Mussourt: Cooley Lake, Clay County, Metcalf 1045. Uvran: Provo, Garrett in
82 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
1926. Nevapa: Carson Sinks, Sperry & Martin 782.
British CoLuMBIA: Sicamous, Macown 14205. Wasu-
INGTON: Klickitat County, Suksdorf 1216. OrEaon:
Clackamas County, Nelson 2761. Salem, Nelson 4176; l
odoe County, Gilbert. Alturas, Modoc County,
Wheeler 4013. Palo Alto, Ward in 1899. Santa Clara,
Wilkes Exped. San Diego, Cook in 1921. Mexico:
Guadelupe, Sinaloa, Rose 14806. Rosario, Sinaloa, Rose
14647. Morelia, Michoacan, Arséne 1208, 2363; Rosen- Cos
denas 2760. Without mention of any state or collector, there is a specimen in the Gray Herbarium from ‘‘2 miles south of Columbus, overflow of Canal by Morrells, Sept. 18, 1841.”’
Martius, Icon. Pl. Crypt. Bras. 123. pl. 74, 75. 1834"; Mettenius, Linnaea 20: 276. pl. a ded 1-8. 1847. Sal- 82
4. Azolla microphylla Kaulfuss, Enum. Fil. 273. 1824; | vInia Azolla Raddi, Pl. Bras. 1: 1, fig. 3. 1825. J
Azolla microphylla was supposedly collected by | Chamisso in California, but in the numerous collections which I have examined from that state I have seen no, trace of it in the traditional sense of Mettenius. But : there is difficulty, since Mettenius derived his idea of the 8 glochidia of A. microphylla from Martius, whose illus- aq
7 The megaspore as esp by Martius is not smooth but reticulate, as is sometimes seen in young merennytes of A. mexicana. It was possibly drawn fsa the original material collected by
amisso. Martius states (p. al that no wholly mature material of ‘the ealyptra had fallen under his observation. On page 126, he notes that A. microphylla oceurs soistecaontir much of | Brazil, espe
cially in the tropical parts; that Poeppig h
fr Cuba and others have sent him material ‘‘in
aquis camporum (Savanes) australiorem invenientam’’; and that sent material collect:
ion under A. mexicana above.
NEw Wor.tp Species oF AZOLLA 83
trations were supposedly based on Brazilian material. In addition, the megaspores which Mettenius illustrated came from Cuba, a region from which I have seen only the sterile specimens referred to A. caroliniana. If the Chamisso specimen, which was fruiting, is ever examined, I suspect it will turn out to be either A. mezicana or A. filiculoides; Mettenius’ drawing of the smooth mega- spore, on the other hand, may possibly represent the un- known megaspore of A. caroliniana. The description by Kaulfuss was brief: ‘A. frondibus orbiculatis semipin- natis pinnis trilobis, foliolis imbricatis adpressis minutis. Frondes tri-quadrilineares orbiculatae subradiatae, folia papillosa arete adpressa minutissima hyalina. tag globuliferae semine papaveris fere duplo maiores.’ Azolla microphylla was separated with difficulty by Mettenius from A. cristata Kaulfuss (Enum. Fil. 274. 1824), which was based on sterile material from Kunze’s herbarium (without collector’s name) from Demerara, British Guiana. Evidently Mettenius was able to find fruiting material, for he differentiated A. cristata by the crested-ciliate lid of the megaspore, well illustrated in his account (Linnaea 20: 278. pl. 2. 1847). The number of massulae in a microsporangium, which Mettenius gives as 6 in A. microphylla and as 4 in A. cristata, would seem of little value for diagnosis of species, since the number is variable, being 9 or 10 in my Galapagos collection. Chamisso, who made the original collection of A. micro- phylla, was even better known as a writer than as a bota- nist, and is especially remembered for the story of Peter Schlemiel, the man who sold his shadow. He was a member of the French aristocracy driven out during the Revolution, who migrated to Germany and to Switzer- land. In 1815 he embarked from Copenhagen aboard the Rurik on a ’round-the-world expedition under the patronage of Count Romanzoff and under the command
84. AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
of Lieutenant Kotzebue of the Russian Navy. They ex- plored the vicinity of St. Catherine on the Brazilian Coast, where heavy rains made collecting almost impos- sible, but where they obtained a goodly number of new ferns; the coast of Chile, where they arrived to find the vegetation burned up by summer heat; the California coast where, according to Jepson (Madrofio 1: 253. 1929), they explored the San Francisco peninsula during Octo- ber, 1815. From the last locality, therefore, Azolla microphylla is supposed to have come. Then they sailed for the Hawaiian Islands and to the Aleutians, where in futile searching for a Northwest Passage they had their greatest success in botanical collecting. Kaulfuss wrote up the ‘‘Enumeratio Filicum’’ from this voyage; Chamisso’s life, especially as to his botanical activities, is reviewed by Schlechtendal (Linnaea 18: 83-112. 1839). An additional account of Chamisso has recently been SoS (Calif. Acad. Sci., Occasional Papers No. 20, 43).
ee following collections of A. microphylla have been seen, most of them in fruiting condition: DoMINICAN RepusBuic: Haina River, Faris 413.3 Ev Sauvapor: Santa Emilia, Dept. Sonsonate, Standley 22121. BririsH GuIanA: Botanic Garden, Georgetown, Bailey in 1921; Hitchcock 16540. FRENcH GUIANA: ib of Rio
ppruague, Leprieur in 1834. Ganapacos ISLANDS Charles Island, Stewart 3441. pene isn Svenson 86. Peru: Loreto, Killip & Smith . Bourvia: Gran Chaco, Tatarenda, Fries 1397. Brazil: Maranguape, Ceara, Drowet 2659. Minas Geraes, Reg- nell III. 1507. Rio Grongogy Basin, Bahia, Curran 206. Toca de Onea, Bahia, Rose 20128.
8 This is perhaps a casual introduction; it does not i aheaton the ordinary West Indian plant with habit of A. caroliniana
Mass CoLLectTIONs: EQUISETUM SYLVATICUM 85
Mass Collections: Equisetum sylvaticum NORMAN C. FAssetTT
It was pointed out in 1918! that Equisetum sylvaticum as it occurs in Europe has scabrous branches, while the American representative of this species usually has smooth branches. On both continents the degree of branching is variable, and the first varietal designation of the smooth American plant was a slightly branching phase which was named var. pauciramosum Milde. The commoner plant in the eastern United States, with branches smooth but compound, was named E. sylvati- cum var. pauciramosum f, multiramosum Fernald. Pro- fessor Fernald, although treating the two phases of the smooth-branched American plants as forms of one vari- ety, stated that the freely branching phase was commoner in the southern part of the range, while the phase with Subsimple branches, of only occasional occurrence south- ward to New England and Ohio, was the characteristic plant of Greenland and Labrador. Dr. Wherry, empha- Sizing this difference in range, proposed varietal rank for the more freely branching plant, calling it E. sylvati- cum var. multiramosum (Fernald) Wherry.’
The characters of these phases of the species may be most clearly shown in a key: : eranehes wea brous i ec ceo var. typicum. a. Branches smooth or scabrous only locally. F
b. Branches ae ts or slightly forking ........... var. pauctramosum.
b. sponges freely forking. var. pauciramosum f. multiramosum, or var. multiramosum.
Although most American plants have smooth branches, an occasional specimen has them as rough as those of the Eur opean plants. Such individuals, identified by Profes-
1 Fernald, Rhodora 20: eee 1918. oo Fern Journ, 27: 58.
86 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
sor Fernald with typical F#. sylvaticum, were recorded by him from Parry Sound, Ontario, and from near Nome City, Alaska. Brother Marie-Victorin records the typical form from New York and from Quebec.* I have reported it as of not uncommon occurrence in Wisconsin.*
From a study of herbarium specimens, the presence of a plant in a particular region may be demonstrated ; typical E. sylvaticum is thus shown to be present in 11 counties of Wisconsin and var. multiramosum in 16. Herbarium specimens alone cannot answer the following questions regarding these two plants: Is there any sig- nificance in the fact that we find var. typicum in Rich- land County, Wisconsin, and var. multiramosum in ad- jacent Sauk County? Do they grow in different habitats? Does the presence of one exclude the other? Isa signifi- cant connection indicated between Parry Sound, Ontario, and Nome City, Alaska, the two American localities where Professor Fernald reported the typical variety ?
In an attempt to answer some of these questions, mass collections of Equisetum sylvaticum were made in 1940, 1941, and 1942. From each colony a large number of individuals were sampled, each sample consisting of one stem or a segment of a stem with one or two whorls of branches. Since each individual (clone) may consist of many erect stems connected by an underground root- stock, samples were taken at intervals of 25-50 feet to avoid duplication from a clone. A grant from the Wis- consin Alumni Research Foundation made possible col- lecting in the Black Hills of South Dakota. My student, Mr. Forest W. Stearns, made collections in Florence and Vilas Counties, Wisconsin. Especially helpful have been the mass collections made in Alaska by Professor L. J. Cole.
3 Contr. Lab. Bot. 1’Univ. de Montréal, no. 9, 119. 1927.
Tryon, Fassett, Dunlop & Diemer, Ferns & Fern Allies of
Wisconsin, 131. 1940.
Mass Connections: EQUISETUM SYLVATICUM 87 The placing of all individuals in the three categories
matter. Intermediates are of frequent occurrence. These intermediates were mentioned by Professor Fer- nald; indeed, an analysis of his presentation shows five categories: (1) ‘‘quite smooth,’’ (2) ‘‘with the merest suggestion of seabridity on the angles,’’ (3) ‘‘a more definite seabrousness on the young branches,”’ (4) ‘‘suffi- ciently scabrous to ve een bas the bulk of the Kuropean specimens,’’ and (5) ‘‘conspicuously sca- brous.’? Some will argue that such an intergrading Series merits no nomenclatorial recognition, even in the subspecifie categories; but it appears to me, as it did to Professor Fernald and to Dr. Wherry, that if the ex- tremes in the series show some geographic segregation the varietal designation is indicated.
Several sheets of the European plants, lent by the Gray Herbarium through the kindness of Mr. C. Weatherby, show most branches to have the first inter- node scabrous throughout and the successive internodes more or less scabrous to glabrous. In the following table, American plants with this condition have been called var. typicum, Those with the first internode of most branches Scabrous only toward the distal end have been called intermediates, _ These intermediates can probably be con- sidered as belonging to var. multiramosum, especially in View of the intraclonal variation to be discussed in the closing paragraph. I am free to admit that, returning to some collections which I had sorted some months pre- viously, I re-sorted several individuals into different cate- gories. With such a series of intergrades the placing of Many of the individuals is a subjective matter. In spite of this, the following table throws light on some of the questions concerning the geographic relationships of the Varieties of E. sylvaticum.
88 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
OCCURRENCE OF VARIETIES IN MASS COLLECTIONS OF EQUISETUM
SYLVATICUM 2| els LOCALITIES 2| 3 s § = oa as. ae SiS] ere MASSACHUSETTS: Westboro (one Clone) ween | un BO heke MAINE: Long Cove, Tenent’s Harbor ............0.0.... Ci fae a ks STISCOR Fee ea Ge chi ede atin i al iad 5 Be pee WIGERTINE OLN ce ie ic ae ener FA ees Ee mC TS ee IE ELON cee, a ets eR Ye a tls | DBS sf ed REWER asta Cae ieln area ies Tesco ded eee 19 | 2 PRCA CN icici ene monensin 1 he Bel, Sate POE, ee eee Seeker o eens oa eal pclae PL ee ARBOY ey da oe Adin oi, Solu melt ca tuaakinee van: Boll Lee ao Garden SRiver 42 ee a es 6) 21 WISCONSIN: Rocky Arbor, Juneau County ......... | ..... 24°38 Antage (de clone) co cok SRA IES hal et Ho 1 Sowell ob aac oe eae Tace urat Pont Manes erty Pao nied ioe LD] oe Florence County between Tipler and GRO GE i aos ah a ee ae ater Sia | ws Found Lake, Vilas Coumty nn ccccscssssucsnsueoe ae) ee GS at eee Fe Barksdale aha) as MBP ds te gg F RE °c, 5 «enero aba IESE ce oar US TTS Aes RCO LAR Fa op eee onewoe Oe | LO} baron be MINNESOTA: Two Harbors 6| 3] 3 Brighton Beach, Duluth aan (eget eh ie a ae Central Lakes 2] Sf 2] ane 22 males: north: of. V wrpinia: oe eh eae Ges South Dakota: Between Sylvan Lake and Custer 25 | 10 pS tween Sylvan Lake and Harney Peak | ..... 5 es ALASKA: Lowing a i ere 1 Anchorage Bah ce sie bs se 1 a (Ei eae ES 1 . MeKinley National Park .00000000000.... TE 2 Eh Res a Best Mine, 15 miles north of | 1{/ 2] 1 a7 2 Misr pine ‘© miles above Cirele ... te dee
Mass CouLections: EQUISETUM SYLVATICUM 89
It becomes evident that there is a definite difference, in different regions, in the proportions of scabrous and of smooth individuals. Of the 27 individuals from Alaska, 17, a little more than half, are definitely scabrous. Of the 193 plants from Wisconsin and Minnesota, but 16, much less than 10 per cent, are scabrous. Of nearly 200 indi- viduals from southern Ontario, Maine, and Massachu- setts, none are scabrous. On this basis, the recognition of the smooth plant as a geographic variety seems justi-
ed. Of course, to clinch the matter, mass collections should be made in Europe, for comparison. From what information is at present available, they would be ex- pected to be preponderantly scabrous.
The occurrence of typical scabrous E. sylvaticum in eastern North America appears, then, to be only as a minor constituent of a predominantly smooth-branched population. A herbarium specimen taken at random in this region might happen to be the rare var. typicum, but the chances are overwhelmingly in favor of its being the common smooth phase. An individual of the minor- ity happened to be the one taken at Parry Sound, Ontario (as reported by Fernald), and at Saint-Tite, Quebee (as reported by Marie-Victorin). This does not necessarily indicate anything remarkable about Parry Sound or Saint-Tite. This idea may be illustrated by the simile recently quoted by Dr. Anderson: ‘‘There are Democrats and Republicans in both Mississippi and Vermont but their comparative frequency varies significantly between these two regions.’”> Should we tour Mississippi, stop- ping in each town to ask one person (simulating the usual representation of one herbarium specimen from each locality), ‘‘Are you a Democrat or a Republican?,”’ the answer would in nearly every case be ‘‘Democrat.’’ But if, say in Starkville, a sturdy individual should reply “‘Republican,”’ this would not necessarily indicate any-
5 Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 28: 288. 1941.
90 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
thing unusual in the political complexion of Starkville. We just happened to meet a member of the minority party there.
That the glabrous, chiefly North American, phase of the species should be separated varietally from the sca- brous, chiefly European, phase, was agreed upon by both Fernald and Wherry, and is substantiated by a study of mass collections. On the relation of the freely branching glabrous plant to the one with subsimple glabrous branches, however, the two authorities disagreed. Fer- nald stated: ‘‘The form with freely forking branches, the only form of var. pauciramosum which seems to merit a special designation, is less common northward than the form with simpler branches, but in the southern part of the range it is distinctly more abundant, being the com- mon plant of southern New England, southward into Pennsylvania and locally westward to British Colum- bia.’’*® Apparently he did not consider this geographical difference in relative abundance sufficient to merit more than distinction as forms. The present writer tends to agree with Wherry that if multiramosum is greatly in the majority in the northern United States and southern Canada (and that it actually is may be seen from the table) and pauciramosum is in the great majority in Greenland and Labrador (that this is the case is indi- _ eated by herbarium material, according to Fernald, but mass collections have not been made in these areas), they represent geographic trends, or varieties.
In a population containing plants with (1) glabrous and compound branches, (2) glabrous and subsimple branches, and (3) scabrous and compound branches, there might well be expected some plants with (4) s¢ca- brous and subsimple branches. Such plants have not appeared in mass collections. This may be because both scabrous branches and subsimple branches are so much
6 Rhodora 20: 131, 1918,
Mass CoLLections: EQuiIsETUM SYLVATICUM 91
in the minority that a combination of these two charac- ters would be very unlikely. On the other hand, there may be a definite reason, genetic or otherwise, why such a combination does not occur.
There is indication of some intraclonal variation. Two of the collections listed in the table, one from Westboro, Massachusetts, and the other from Antigo, Wisconsin, were each taken from a rather compact isolated patch, and apparently represent single clones. Each contains some individuals which are unquestionably glabrous, and others which have the first internode of some branches scabrous distally and so are to be classified as intermedi- ate. There are two factors here: (1) the difficulty of determining, without careful digging, the exact ae of a clone, and (2) the difficulty of drawing the between some of the intermediates and the ae individuals. But since there is often some variation between branches in the same whorl, it is not unreason- able to expect variation between plants that are actually part of one individual. This variation does not destroy the significance of regional variation in the ratio of clearly scabrous individuals to clearly glabrous or slightly scabrous ones.
SuMMARY
Mass collections, consisting usually of a segment of a stem with a whorl of branches from each clone, were taken from colonies of Equisetum sylvaticum. Material from Maine, Massachusetts and southern Ontario, con- Sisted of a great majority of plants with glabrous, or nearly glabrous, freely forking branches (var. multi- ramosum), and a few with glabrous subsimple branches (var. pauciramosum, a more northern plant). In Wis- consin and Minnesota the same varieties were repre- sented, with the addition of some plants with scabrous freely forking branches, identified with the common
92 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
European var. typicum. In the Black Hills of South Dakota, and in Alaska, var. typicum was found to be about as common as var. multiramosum. Fernald’s con- tention that the mostly North American plants with gla- brous branches represent a variety distinct from the mostly European plants with scabrous branches is thus corroborated. The finding of an occasional herbarium specimen of var. typicum from various places in eastern North America is taken to indicate nothing particularly significant about that place; var. typicwm is present in very small numbers and is occasionally collected by chance. Intermediates are found, often on the same root- stock with var, multiramosum in regions where var. typ?- cum is not yet known; these intermediates are therefore considered as belonging with var. multiramosum. DEPARTMENT OF Borany, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.
Cystopteris Bluff Epe@ar T. WHERRY
Several years ago the late C. L. Gruber guided the writer to a locality across the creek from Moselem Sta- tion, Berks County, Pennsylvania, where he thought interesting ferns might be found. The locality is an east- facing cliff of shale alternating with small limestone lenses, rising to a height of a hundred feet or so, with occasional ledges on which one can climb. Moist and well-wooded, it forms an excellent habitat for rock ferns and, being partly in a State game preserve, it is little disturbed by man.
In the talus at the base of the cliff we found striking colonies of Cystopteris fragilis var. protrusa, which ple. ruber especially, since it is very rare in the county. On the solid rock-ledges for a distance of sev-
CYSTOPTERIS BLUFF 93
eral feet above the base C. fragilis var. Mackayii was
started to climb, and noticed that the Brittle Ferns in some of the cool, moist recesses had a different aspect. Inspection of sori with the hand lens showed the ovate- acuminate indusia characteristic of C. fragilis var. genu- ina, extending its known range considerably ; for it is mostly a plant of the Appalachian uplands, and had not previously been collected southeast of Lycoming and Luzerne counties.
But this was not all. While examining the indusia I was puzzled by a seeming granularity of their surfaces in some plants, so I gathered two or three specimens for examination in the laboratory. When studied under the binocular microscope later, the indusia proved to be beset with definite stalked glands. This is a character of C. fragilis var. lawrentiana,: an entity not known south of Nova Scotia. There is, however, considerable difference in size. In describing var. lawrentiana, Weatherby gives the dimensions as: ‘‘ Fronds 3.5—4.8 dm. high, their blades 19-34 em. long, 7-13 em. broad, only occasionally smaller.”’ The largest frond noted in the Pennsylvania material is 3.2 dm. high, with blade 20 em. long and 7 em. broad, and most of them are decidedly smaller. There is, accord- ingly, some question as to whether the plant under dis- cussion should be assigned to that variety, although the differences are surely not sufficient to justify the creation of a new varietal epithet for it.
On Memorial Day of the following year a group from the Department of Botany of the University of Pennsyl- vania decided to revisit the locality. Gasoline rationing having meanwhile gone into effect, we planned to go by train and bus, this involving several miles of hiking but
: Rhodora 28: 129. 1926 (mistakenly cited as p. 130 in Broun’s ndex),
94 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
still giving us reasonable time for exploration. Glandu- lar and eglandular plants of the curious form just men- tioned were found to be about equally abundant and to occur intermingled, making unlikely the presence of two independent varieties. Then, just as we were about to leave, one of the party, Carroll E. Wood, Jr., found a plant with small but distinct bulblets on the rachises of the fronds. Though definitely not C. bulbifera, it never- theless had two of the characters that go with that spe- cies—glandularity and the presence of bulblets.
As Mr. Weatherby was sponsor of two of the named varieties of Cystopteris fragilis, specimens were sub- mitted to him for an opinion. He suggested hybridiza- tion between the two species, C. bulbifera and C. fragilis. Although the cliff under study seems like a favorable habitat for C. bulbifera, no plants of this species could be found there. It does grow elsewhere in the county, the nearest known station being some 15 miles away; and it may formerly have grown on the Moselem cliff, but have been exterminated there by landslide, competition, or disease. Or this may be just another case to be added to those mentioned by Mr. Wagner,’ in which the spores from a remote source seemingly started prothallia which gave sperms enough to produce a hybrid, but were unable to devop adults of the incoming species.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Shorter Notes
OSMUNDA CINNAMOMEA PF, CORNUCOPIAEFOLIA.—In 1908 Mr. W. N. Clute? described and illustrated under this name a peculiar form of the Cinnamon Fern with the subterminal leaf-tissue lacking and the long protruding midveins tipped by tiny funnel-shaped appendages or
1 This JOURNAL 33: 71. a. 2 Fern Bull. 16: 107. toon
SHortTeR Notes 95
ascidia. The type locality—apparently the only one thus far known—was near Burton, Geauga Co., Ohio.
A new find of this curious form may now be placed on record. In a swamp one-half mile northeast of Chalk Hill, Fayette Co., Pennsylvania, Mr. Frank H. Bell? found a single iia of it in June, 1936. He collected a frond and some time later sent it to me for identifica- tion ; it is now preserved in the herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. In the hope of rediscovering the plant, Mr. Bell took me to the locality in the summer of 1940. However, in spite of examination of hundreds of clumps of Cinnamon Fern in the swamp, not one showing this or any other abnormality could be found.—Ebear T. WueErry, University of Pennsylvania.
Two Frrns New to Trrnmap.—In October and Novem- ber of 1943, I was somewhat surprised to find a few small yellowed sterile fronds of Adder’s- tongue in the very dry, clayey soil of a mowed grassy field near Xeres Field, a small Army airfield 27 miles SSW. of Port of Spain, Trinidad, B.W.I. For several days of looking in off- hours, however, I could find nothing but these depau- perate plants, none of them fertile. When I dug them up I found the remnants of many little fronds that had been Stepped on or killed by the drouth. The sterility of the plants was hardly surprising, considering their ex- posure to the sun and the aridity of the location. Never- theless, having resolved to discover fertile specimens, I made a very thorough. search of this field and nearby fields whenever I got a chance, and finally, where the _ Srass had not been cut by the Hindu workers, I found a number of fertile plants.
The large number of specimens I collected represented two species, which Dr. W. R. Maxon kindly separated for me—Ophioglossum reticulatum L. and OQ. ellipticum =
* At present with the U. 8. Armed Forces.
96 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Hook. & Grev. The latter was by far the more generally distributed in the grassy fields, and in the shadier, moister spots where the grass had not recently been cut it was accompanied by QO. reticulatum. Plants of O. reticu- latum were often double, while those of O. ellipticum were sometimes triple, the fronds of different ages. Most of the fully developed specimens were found after several days of sporadic light precipitation.
In the ‘‘Monograph of the Ophioglossaceae’’ by Robert T. Clausen (1938) Ophioglossum reticulatum is cited from British Guiana, Venezuela, and Grenada, so this species might well be expected in Trinidad. This is prob- ably, however, the first valid notice of it from that island. For O. ellipticum, Dr. Clausen gives localities in British Guiana, Dutch Guiana, French Guiana, Brazil, and, with a question mark, Bolivia and Panama. This record, then, of O. ellipticum is likely the first one from Trinidad, and the first one off the continent of South America.—Wa4k- REN HerBert WAGNER, JR., Washington, D. C.
Recent Fern Literature
A new fossil fern which will be of more than passing interest to students of our present flora has been de- seribed' from material collected in the vicinity of Casper, Wyoming, by members of a U. 8. Geological Survey party in 1913. It is Lygodium pumilum R. W. Brown, belong- ing to the group of species having palmately lobed pin- nules. Thus the relationship, though not very close, is with living L. palmatum of the eastern United States. From this L. pumilum differs greatly in its much smaller pinnules (2 em. broad, or less), which mostly have only four lobes. No other undoubted species of Lygodium, it appears, is known from the Cretaceous period in America.— W. R. M.
1 Brown, Roland W. A Climbing Fern from the Upper Cre-
taceous of Wyoming. Journ. —— Acad. Sei. 33: 141-142, fig. 1-5. 1 1943.
REcENT FERN LITERATURE 97
Dr. Werner Rothmaler has recently published’ an extended account of Dryopteris paleacea, the common pan-tropic analogue of the Male-fern, D. Filiz-mas, in- cluding description and a detailed discussion of its nomenclature and geographic distribution. The combi- nation D. paleacea is usually attributed to C. Christensen (Amer. Fern Journ. 1: 94. 1911), but the proper author- ity is Handel-Mazzetti (Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien 58: 100. 1908). Because of its wide range this species has been redescribed many times, over two pages of synonyms being listed by Rothmaler. The type came from Peru.
he Mexican plants were described as Aspidiwm paral- lelogrammum and A. crinitum, those from Hawaii as Lastrea truncata and Dryopteris fusco-atra, from the Himalaya as Aspidium Wallichianum and A. patentissi- mum, from Europe as A. distans, A. Blackwellianum, Lastrea pseudo-mas, and Dryopteris Borreri, from Ma- deira as Nephrodium affine, and from the Caucasus as Dryopteris mediterranea. Rothmaler states that in spite of this abundant synonymy the species is relatively uni- form morphologically throughout its range, and that plants from these various widely separated regions are not separable, even varietally. He gives the principal distinctions from related species, all of which, with the exception of D. Filix-mas, are Asiatic. In the Western Hemisphere hybridization between these two species does not take place, because of their distinct ranges, but in Europe numerous hybrids have been found.—C. V. M.
Ina recently issued number of the Bulletin of the Ver- mont Botanical and Bird Clubs,? Mr. H. G. Rugg records a bit of observation along the lines suggested in the Presi- dent’s report for last year. On three different oecasions he has transplanted to his garden clumps of Osmunda ee how Rothmaler, Werner. Ueber ‘geist 8 (Sw.) Hand.-
Boissiera (Geneva) in Fe 4 No..17, pp. 35, 37. Jan. :1
98 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
cinnamomea forma incisa; on all three occasions the fronds lost their incised character in a year. Mr. Rugg asks why. The answer is not easy to give and, as in the ease of Mr. Harlow’s Polypodium (this JourNAt 33: 105), it may come from a wholly unexpected quarter. One way to get it might be to observe plants of the incised form growing in the wild for a series of years, see how they behaved and, if they remained constant, try to find out what they had in the wild which they would not have in the garden, which might influence the development of the frond. Anyway, Mr. Rugg has at least shown that this particular form is inconstant when transplanted— though O. cinnamomea, forma auriculata, remained un- changed when moved to the same garden
Mr. Rugg also noted that stations for ‘ai Male-fern in Vermont have suffered greatly from grazing cattle, though Wood-ferns and Hay-scented Ferns nearby were untouched.—C. A. W
American Fern Society The ‘‘high cost of living”’’ is felt by the Fern JOURNAL, as it is by members of the Society. The Treasurer asks, therefore, if those in arrears will forward the amount of unpaid dues as soon as possible.
New MEMBERS
Mr. F, Ballard, Royal Botanic ee Kew, Surrey, oe Miss Gladys A. Beebe, R. D. 3, Coudersport, Pennsylv:
Mrs. John H. Churelrwelt: sah perini Cirele, J scan Fila. Mr. Ira W. Clokey, 1835 Laurel St., Pasadena, Califo:
Cpl. Pi M. Devlin, ek Det. 940th Field Art. Bn., ae Bragg, N: ©. ¢
Mr. Frank H. Mather, 515 Windover Road, Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
Mr. A. W. Roberts, 4541 Lomita St., Los Angeles, Calif.
Sr. José Pent oe Cristobal Colén, Sadi Curisk 38, Mexico City, M
ee ee
AMERICAN FERN Society 99
CHANGES OF ADDRESS
Cpl. William B. Cooke, Box 143, Warrenton, Virginia. Miss E. M. Kittredge, 10 High St., Rutland , Vermont.
r. Ian McCallum, 471 Nelson St., Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Philip A. Munz, Bailey Hortoriuni, Ithaca, New York. Mr. William F. Rapp, 130 Washington Ave., hniglie New Jersey. Mrs. G. W. Strattan, 1004 Twentieth Ave., Altoona, Pennsylvania. Dr. R. M. Tryon, ai Freelandville, Indiana
Hubert Earl Ransier H. E. Ransier, whose death occurred November 28, 1943, joined the Fern Society in 1902, one of the early band of fern enthusiasts who helped-set the pattern of friendly association in fern collecting, exchange of ‘speci- mens, field trips, and correspondence about these plants. During more than 40 years of membership he continued his lively interest in promoting Fern Society activities. In 1910 he helped launch the Fern JOURNAL. Photographer and pharmacist in the village of Manlius, eight miles east of Syracuse, N. Y., Mr. Ransier was situ- ated in a region having many fern species of special interest. Hart’ s-tongue localities were only a few miles distant, and Botrychium Lunaria—if B. onondagense is not counted a separate species—was found in one of its very few United States stations close to the Hart’s- tongue. This is the region of limestone cliffs and gullies east of Jamesville, which comprises such a rich series of botancial and geological manifestations n assiduous field worker and solieetier of variant types in ferns, especially Hart’s-tongue and Walking Fern, Ransier extended his fern interest in later years to many parts of the country. He owned one of the early, well-equipped trailers and in this he toured the country with Mrs. Ransier, especially winters, collecting and photographing ferns from the Owen Sound region in Canada, where he went to see the Hart’s-tongue stations,
100 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
to Florida, Cuba, and the Southwest. Postcard photo- graphs would come in from time to time, showing a variety of scenes—a cascade of Maidenhair (Adiantum Capillus-Veneris) on an old wall near St. Augustine or a Sahuaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) in Arizona.
Ransier was President of the Fern Society in the first decade of the century. Afterward he served the interests of ferns and fern-study in many unofficial ways. When the soda interests, in the early 1920’s had to reach out for more limestone, they found in the Jamesville region plenty of limestone, and also a most convenient natural dumping-receptacle for waste material in the form of one of the natural wonders of New York State—the plunge basin of a glacial-period Niagara, about one mile east of Jamesville. A deep horseshoe-shaped recess in the lime- stone cliffs, with a small deep lake 300 feet below the top, made an ideal depository into which carloads of waste rock could be dumped. For botanists this meant the destruction of hundreds of Hart’s-tongue plants, as well as the general devastation of classically interesting col- lecting ground for flowering plants as well as ferns.
Ransier and Dr. J. B. Todd, a Syracuse member, joined forces with others to save as much of the Hart’s-tongue as possible. Many plants were removed and established in other sites outside the range of industrial progress, and a considerable number also were distributed to members of the Fern Society for naturalization in other sections. The only consolation for naturalists lay otherwise in the fact that the Jamesville region possessed not one glacial plunge basin, but two. The other, a little west of James- ville, had already been saved as a State preserve, the Clark Reservation. Fortunately, it has its own Hart’s- tongue station.—R. C. B.
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IRA L. WIGGINS Bd CONTENTS Some Conspicuous Ferns of Northern nou America
can eager 101 Annotations on West Acmerhoin Ferns—HL oA OSEPH Ewan 107 A New Isoetes from Ecuador... _.. .KLENRY K, Svenson 121 Another Occurrence of the PRE Hybrid pees. eng Warren H. W. Jk. 125 Recent Fern Literature 127
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Amprircan Bern Journal
Vor. 34 OcTOBER—DECEMBER, 1944 No. 4
Some Conspicuous Ferns of Northern South America Oscar Haugut
The writer has only an amateur’s knowledge of botany, but he is blessed with good eyes and has been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spend several years in Colombia and Ecuador, where pteridophytes are so plentiful and conspicuous that they necessarily attract the attention of any one who is even slightly interested in botany. Such forms as Dicranopteris, Danaea, Psilo- tum, and certain species of Lycopodium found here are especially interesting from the viewpoint of paleobotany.
The tropical forest of northern South America or, more especially, of the Magdalena Valley, Colombia, varies greatly in aspect and composition, in accordance with differing conditions of soil and moisture. This statement is, of course, trite; still it may be worth while to empha- size the fact that even with a well-distributed annual rainfall of considerably over 100 inches, by no means all the terrain is necessarily covered with swamp and dense rain-forest. Forests on steep hillsides and the crests of sharp ridges, especially where the soil is residual from friable sandstones, show, even with such rainfall, distinct Xerophytic features, such as the presence of many thorny small-leaved shrubs, bulbous plants (amaryllids), Zamia, and trees of the silk-cotton family (Bombacaceae). But nearly level areas of any considerable size, however well- drained the soil may be, carry dense humid forests, the earn
[Volume 34, No. 3, of the JouRNAL, pages 69-100, was issued October 10, 1944. ]
101
102 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
composition and luxuriance of which depend upon the type and fertility of the soil. A characteristic feature of these forests—one apparently not frequently mentioned in literature—is the superficial position of large roots. These may run along upon the surface of the soil for several meters, disappearing only after they have com- pletely broken up into much smaller roots. It may also be worth mentioning that forest fires are simply impossi- ble in such forests. In fact, it is often difficult to start a fire for cooking without a liberal use of kerosene or of paraffine candles.
Here, as in the Temperate Zone, ferns and their rela- tives increase in abundance and variety with humidity, though, as will be seen, some occur under pretty arid conditions.
My first view of a tropical lowland forest was in the vicinity of Barranca Bermeja, a river port on the Magda- lena, about 400 miles above the mouth of this river and only a few degrees north of the Equator. So far as the pteridophytes are concerned, the most striking feature at the outset was the fact that the Polypodiaceae were by no means so overwhelmingly predominant as they are among this group in our Atlantic States. Filmy-ferns (Hymenophyllaceae) and Danaea were very conspicu- ous everywhere, as were tree-ferns (Cyatheaceae) and Anemia on well-drained slopes. The hydropterids Azolla and Marsilea grow luxuriantly on small lakes (cut-off meanders and ponded water behind natural levees) near the Magdalena. Together with Ceratopteris, they some- times fill these ponds nearly to the exclusion of angi0- spermous hydrophytes. The only fern family conspicu- ous in our Eastern States but totally missing here is the Osmundaceae.
The most attractive ferns of these forests are probably the Hymenophyllaceae, of which the larger forms are the
Ferns or NortHerN South AMERICA 103
most graceful of terrestrial ferns, while the many smaller species cover trunks and branches with thick mats of lacy green leaves. Of course they all dry quickly, but the largest of the local species, Trichomanes elegans, a very beautiful terrestrial fern, always turns black in the press. This has the habit of a polypodiaceous fern. The finely dissected fronds, growing in a suberect crown, sometimes reach a height of 80 em.
Lygodium, such a rarity in the United States, is one of the most common ferns of the Magdalena Valley, where it fills abandoned pastures, besides growing every- where along the larger streams. Its twining fronds are much larger than those of our Temperate Zone species (L. palmatum), for they reach a length of at least 20 feet. Even so, they are small compared to those of a poly- podiaceous fern (Blechnum volubile), of the same region, which climb to a length of well over 40 feet and must be very nearly the largest of all leaves. Unlike the Ly- godium, this Blechnum (often known also as Salpichlaena volubilis) seems to be strictly a forest plant. At least I have never seen it growing in pastures, where the Ly- godium tends to be a troublesome weed.
High clay banks along streams and landslide scars on hillsides are covered with thick masses of Dicranopteris and of a coarse Lycopodium, L. cernuum. The Dicra- nopteris also colonizes hillside pastures, where it comes into competition with a variety of our familiar Pteridium aquilinum,
Tropical pteridophytes in general seem able to thrive on the poorest of soils. Lycopodium, Dicranopteris, and Pteridium grow well on red clays, hardly superior to laterite, and tree-ferns form strong colonies—sometimes almost pure stands—on ‘‘soil’’ that is nearly pure quartz sand. In fact, terrestrial ferns and lycopods are not generally conspicuous in areas of rich soil, though a
104 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
delicate Selaginella here carpets moist humus-rich soil and covers decaying logs, much as do mosses in our Tem- perate Zone forests.
Epiphytie pteridophytes—Polypodiaceae, Hymeno- phyllaceae, and Lycopodium—are common in any wet tropical forest I have seen. The Hymenophyllaceae and Lycopodium seem to occur only under such conditions of abundant and nearly permanent moisture, but the poly- pods, having much better xerophytic adaptations, range through mesophytic forests into decidedly arid ‘‘bush.”’
It is interesting to note the gradually increasing adapta-_
tions shown by the Polypodiaceae as one passes from rain-forest through intermediate conditions into xero- phytic bush. Even in rain-forest the Polypodiaceae tend to grow under less humid conditions than the Hymeno- phyllaceae—generally well up in the crown of the forest, where light is stronger and evaporation greater—and hence show such adaptive features as coriaceous, fleshy, or densely pubescent leaves, and often a rosette habit resembling that of the bromeliads. Species with elon- gated climbing stems, which grow near the soil and often become completely epiphytic through the death of the lower part of their stems, do not as a rule possess such adaptations. As we pass into less humid conditions the variety of epiphytes decreases, but the xerophytic adap- tations of those remaining become accentuated. Leaves tend to become very tomentose, and the pinnae curl up tightly when dry. Or the plants become decided trop0- phytes and pass the dry season in a leafless condition. The roots come to resemble those of certain orchids that grow in the same environment—large, open, spongy masses, with numerous negatively geotropic branches.
The few terrestrial ferns of such forests include species — of Adiantum and Ophioglossum which remain leafless -
throughout the dry season.
& Nahe easter : . "a cscalacigal Dk pinteaaaatnlia: rpaeat inated initial hchinmameahtinmniaayithitatin ataiestaintilinsenaandedines eamhbbintinbeiiiiabtamnemesntiinies gullaiiaigiineitimninbettinie poummmmmemipnmiundmaiidin pinmciemnainnimtitam, guemmmumnaianemcmnainitti,
FEerRNs oF NorTHERN SoutH AMERICA 105
Even the epiphytic polypods have not been able to adapt themselves to extreme aridity quite so well as have certain bromeliads which grow very well on cacti and rocks in areas of genuine desert. The epiphytic ferns find their limit in savannah country and open thorny bush, where there is a dependable, though perhaps short, rainy season each year.
One of the most interesting of the epiphytes of coastal Ecuador (I have not seen it in Colombia) is Psilotum nudum. Here this strange and anachronistic pterido- phyte—a ‘‘living fossil,’’ if such exists !—grows on the trunks of tagua palms (Phytelephas, the producer of ‘“‘vegetable ivory’’). The rhizomes grow in the humus that accumulates in the armor of leaf-bases covering the trunks of these palms, while the assimilating shoots pro- ject from this armor and sometimes reach a length of
5 em. May not the unknown Mesozoic ancestors of Psilotum have had a similar habitat upon the trunks of the Bennettitales?
In both Colombia and Ecuador, ferns and their rela- tives reach their greatest beauty and variety not in the lowlands but in moist forests at moderate altitudes—say, between 3,000 and 8,000 feet. Here the Polypodiaceae seem better represented than at lower altitudes, while the true tree-ferns (Cyatheaceae) form splendid stands on Steep slopes and, individually, grow much larger than in the lowlands. On account of the usefulness of their trunks for construction purposes, good specimens of many of the tree-ferns are hardly ever seen close to roads. This mid-altitude region is also the favorite home of Equisetum gigantewm, which grows in thickets 10 to 20 feet high along streams. This plant, occasionally at least, grows at much lower altitudes, even practically at Sea-level along some of the streams southeast of Guaya- quil.
106 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
In southern Ecuador the western front of the Andes is very abrupt, rising from the lowland to elevations of over 10,000 feet in only a few miles. The prevailing winds are from the west; hence this steep mountain face is nearly always covered with fog and mist produced through the expansion and cooling of the rising air. The cool moist climate resulting is almost ideal for tree-ferns, which here grow luxuriantly in open pastures—better, in fact, than they do in the forests of this area. The roa from Balzapamba up the mountain front toward Gua- randa, which is alleged to be passable for cars, gives a splendid view of this peculiar climatic zone as it climbs from 2,000 feet to past 10,000 in a straight-line distance of probably less than 5 miles.
At higher altitudes pteridophytes of course remain a fairly conspicuous part of the flora up to and in the paramos which lie at elevations of, roughly, 11,000 to 14,000 feet. Ferns are especially abundant and varied on the low pdéramo crossed by the car road between the end of the railroad and Cuenca, in southern Ecuador. They are less so on the pdramos around Quito, presuma- bly on account of the drier climate here. At these alti- tudes Equisetum is represented by one of its smallest species, EZ. bogotense, often only an inch or two high, and sometimes growing in nearly unaltered voleanic cinders. The contrast is sharp indeed between this dwarf and the tall E. giganteum, growing in the same region at only slightly lower altitudes.
In somewhat sheltered valleys, a scrubby dwarfed for- est of low gnarled trees and shrubs straggles up into the pdramo zone, as may be seen along the main highway between Quito and Latacunga where it crosses the param? nearly due west to Cotopaxi. Epiphytie polypods abound in this forest everywhere, as do bromeliads and Pepe- romia. In this part of the world, at least some few epi- phytes grow wherever there are trees to hold them!
West AMERICAN F'ERNS 107
Annotations on West American Ferns—III JosEPH EWAN
The present paper consists of nomenclatural and dis- tributional notes on various species of Athyrium, Cheil- anthes, Dryopteris, Polystichum, and Equisetum. In this and subsequent papers the herbaria consulted will be indicated by the standardized abbreviations of the Index Herbariorum as listed in Chronica Botanica (5: 142-150. 1939).1_ For the courtesy of lending material
rom herbaria under their care I am grateful to Dr. Carl Epling, Dr. Norman H. Giles, Jr., Dr. George Goodman, G. A. Hardy, Dr. William R. Maxon, and Miss Hester usk,. ATHYRIUM
Athyrium Filix-femina (L.) Roth. Typical A. Filiz- femina is of widespread occurrence in the western States, though apparently infrequent. A specimen (J. W. East- ham 7789, V), collected among rocks at the edge of Sum- mit Lake, Nakusp, British Columbia, at an altitude of 4,000 feet, agrees very well with a Swedish collection made in August 1883 by Hyltin-Cavallius (COLO), labeled ‘‘var. complicatum,’’ a name I have not placed. J. K. Henry’s record? of Aspidium oreopteris from “‘Shawnigan’’ was based on J. R. Anderson 667 (V), from ‘‘near water’’ on Shawnigan Island, B. C., August 18, 1897, which represents an immature specimen of
Iowa State Agricultural ip ai ae Parry Herbarium (Isc) United States National Herbariu t m (US); University of
the author’s herbarium (COLO) ; Victoria arial Be vd; Yale os tetas —- the D. C. Ea or Herbarium (YU). addition the herbarium of the American Fern Society, on
a at the Srockion Botanie Gate | is aehokel by the abbre- n AFS, 2 Henry, J.K. Fl. So. Brit. Col. 6, 1915.
108 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Athyrium Filiz-femina. This erroneous report is sub- sequently repeated by F. Kermode.*
CHEILANTHES
Cheilanthes viscida Davenp. Coville (1893) reported _ this species from the Panamint Mountains, Inyo County, California. It is now to be reported from the Argus Mountains of the same county, where it was collected in “‘erevices in granite cliffs’? in Great Falls Canyon on April 6, 1937, by Perey Train (COLO). This collection agrees very well with an authentic sheet from ‘‘ White Water,’’ 1876, Parry & Lemmon 427 (ISC), actually Whitewater Canyon, Riverside County, the type locality. Lemmon in a later distribution of specimens records on an undated printed label its habitat as ‘‘bluffs of the White Water River on the Colorado Desert.’’ On March 23, 1929, the author found C. viscida growing in deep rock crevices on the shaded side of cliff faces along the floor of the Whitewater Canyon about one mile from its exit from the hills (Ewan 658), but the fern was not common at this station.
DRYOPTERIS
Dryopteris arguta (Kaulf.) Watt, Can. Nat. II. 3: 159. 1868. This is based on Aspidium argutum Kaulf. Enum. Fil. 242. 1824, founded on a Chamisso collection in 1816 from the vicinity of San Francisco, most likely taken at — the same time as the type of A. munitum Kaulf.* Type (B) not seen, but several specimens essentially tara studied. For synonymy see Broun, Index N. Ferns 62. 1938.
The specific distinctness of the Coastal Wood-fern from the European Dryopteris rigida has been questioned evel
3 Kermode, F. Prelim. Cat. Fl. Vancouv. & Queen Charlotte Isl. 7. 1921, 4Cf. Ewan, Amer. Fern Journ. 32: 96, 98. 1942.
West AMERICAN FERNS 109
as late as 1931.5 J. D. Hooker and D. C. Eaton, among the earlier pteridologists, placed the Pacifie Coast plants with D. rigida outright, reducing Aspidium argutum Kaulf. to synonymy. Eaton subsequently (1879) con- sidered it a variety, as Aspidium rigidum var. argutum (Kaulf.) D. C. Eaton, writing still later® ‘‘it has a larger and broader frond than the European A. rigidum, but certainly presents no points of specifie distinction; and some of the Oregon specimens collected by Mrs. Summers near the Willamette [sic] River are so nearly typical rigidum that they would not be challenged if mixed with European specimens.’? The collector referred to was Mrs. R. W. [Lucia A.] Summers, wife of an Episcopal clergyman, who, subsequent to an Oregon residence, made notable collections in San Luis Obispo County, California.? The collection mentioned is Summers 2184 (YU) from ‘‘a somewhat open copse beside the Wilhel- mina [sic] River, Oregon, 20 miles south of McMinnville, 1878.’’ The locality referred to represents, not the Wil- lamette River, as interpreted by Eaton, which lies in the Willamette Valley, but apparently what is now known as the Yamhill River, on the Polk-Yamhill County line, in the ‘‘Northern Coast Mountain Area’’ of M. E. Peck There is now a town of Willamina in present southern Yamhill County. This is where D. arguta would be ex- pected—not in the Willamette Valley. Apparently a Similar collection exists in the Parke, Davis & Co. Her- barium.’ This Summers collection represents a sun-form of D. arguta, and though in general outline of the fronds and in their ‘‘pinnae standing obliquely forward’’ the
5 Filiz-mas rigida var. americana (Hook.) Farwell, Amer. Midl. Nat. 12: 256. 1931. Incidentally, this synonym is “not listed in Broun’s Index.
6 Katon, D.C. Ferns No. Amer. e 4. 1880.
7 Jepson, W.L. Madrojio 2: 28. § Cf, Farwell, Amer. Midl. Nat. Fy 256, 1931.
110 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
collection does suggest strongly the European D. rigida, it is rather an eead of D. arguta. Dryopteris rigida does not occur in North America, so far as I have determined. Observations at Wildcat Canyon, Contra Costa County, California, made by me in 1934 show such narrow fronds of stiff erect habit to be the result of exposure and the influence of poor thin soils (Hwan 8644). On the same day, typical D. arguta was found in the same general locality in more favorable sites (Ewan 8639).
From study of a good series of European specimens the distinctions between the two species may be drawn as
ollows:
piece igi wide (except in rare sun ecads), 10-28 em. wide,
e-ovate; indusium glabrous or nearly so, sometimes glintentig smoot but not granulose, not inflated over the spo-
ish umbi xe Stevens County, ” Washin ngton, and Pinal and Gila counties, D. arguta
— generally narrow, 5-12 em. wide, lanceolate; indusium ap- aring granulose with fine glandular puberulence, distended or often - ep about the sporangia, tending to per rit after ores. Europe; Mediterranean Region, east to
yi sein ad (fide C. Chr.) “rigida The distribution of D. arguta in the Pacific Northwest is interesting for its discontinuity. It will be noted that the fern has a large break in its range, so far as reported, passing from Cowlitz County, on the Columbia River, to Vancouver Island without any known in-between Wash- ington stations in what Piper® calls the ‘‘ Vancouver strip.’? Piper has commented on this distributional phe- j nomenon, citing Lilaea subulata, Festuca reflexa, and ; Microseris Bigelovii as a few species having this inter- rupted range. He suggests that these species may once have occupied the Vancouver strip and have persisted northward only in the relatively drier sites of Puget Sound (Whidby, San Juan, and Vancouver Islands). It
9Piper, C. V. Flora of Washington, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 11: 44. 1906.
West AMERICAN FERNS 111
remains only to comment that these species are of more southern affinities, occupying more southern xeric habi- ae and may have reached these stations following the ‘retreat’? of the coastal Humid Transition forest of this Northwest Coast. The following forms of Dryopteris arguta may be characterized :
Stipes tran rachises non-chaffy or with sie! a few os small se arg
gu e
Lower pinnae § shorter (mostly 8-12 em. tong) 5 a proximal pinnules shorter, mostly than 18 mm
— cobwebby, ‘as well as chaff y, with ra cuenta whitish
airs. Northern Santa Tivtars Co., poppin
C guta f. flocculosa
emer pinnae long as-i8e ony: lower proximal pinnules 18-25 ta f. bella
oe is She it not cobwebby. Pinna usly and irregularly crested, the pinnules forked D. ar aig pron erested nor forked, plane and regularly lobed. Fronds rather stiffly erect, short (25 em. long or less), narrowly “thie olate. In open apenas oy and poor 1
ta (sun-forms)
Fronds ascending or erect, long pone than 25 em.),
broadly lance-ovate. In dappled Se wiadieie.
D. a (typical)
(a) Dryopteris arguta forma nudata was an, f. nov.
Filix nana, stipitibus pallidioribus, nudatis, subpaleaceis
Vel paleis paucissimis atque lineari-subulatis; laminis
brevioribus, 25-30 em. longis, rhachibus subepaleaceis a stramineis,
July 1908. H. H. Tracy
Noteworthy is the fact that this replaces the typical form of the species in the central Sierra Nevada of Cali- fornia at the same point that Polystichum munitum
112 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
subsp. nudatum replaces typical P. munttum.?° So far, collections from this region are too few to show the true limits of this weakly paleaceous form.
b) Dryopteris arguta forma bella Ewan
em. longis ; segmentis pinnatifidis, inferioribus 18-25 mm. longis.
Type in the University of Colorado, collected at Big Wash Canyon, Avalon, Santa Catalina Is land, Los An- geles County, California, in ners canyon bottom, May 6, 1932, by F. R. Fosberg (No. 8127).
y eoetsdnG COLLECTIONS : CALIFO Los Angeles County : Upper Brush Can-
n, = Canyon, alt. 2,800 ft., Ewan 3530. Little Santa Anita Canyon, alt. 2,700 ft., Ewan 1280. Millards Canyon, alt.
alt. 6,000 ft., Z. Flint 5485 (COLO).
The last specimen comes from a high elevation for this species in any part of its range, especially for the north- ern Sierra Nevada, where it is rare.
(ce) Dryopteris arguta forma flocculosa Ewan A D. arguta arguta rhachibus dense crachnoidls va albo-pilosis) et brunneo-paleaceis differ ype in the University of Colorado, Said on San Miguelito Creek, 3 miles above Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California, May 30, 1933, by A. L. Grant, Ruth Ballou, and J. Ewan (No. 7908).
(d) Dryopteris arguta forma cristata Ewan, f. nov. A D. arguta arguta laminis profunde bifureatis, pinnis
10 Cf. Ewan, Amer. Fern Journ. 32: 100. 1942.
West AMERICAN FERNS 113
toh mnie cristatis, sparse ink ae segmentis in- aequalibus atque brevioribus differ
Type in the University of Colaswad collected on Hermit Trail, Santa Anita Canyon, San Gabriel Moun- tains, Los Ang eles, California, at an elevation of 2,800 feet, by J. Ewan (No. 3530a
(e) Dryopteris oe (Kant. ) Watt. (typical). REPRESENTATIVE COLLECTION
RITISH COLUMBIA. Naas Point, Hornby Islan d, Connell 13644, sparingly soriferous (V). ‘*Victoria,’’ Anderson.™ Mt. son, V1."
WasHINeToN. Cowlitz County: On wooded banks near Kelso, G. N. Jones 6318 (COLO). Wahkiakum County : Bluffs of the Columbia River, above Cathlamet,
S. Foster 814 (US). Stevens County : Chamokane River"
OREGON. Sauvie’s fers. T. J. Howell.4 Washing- ton County: Scoggins Valley, F. E. Lloyd 47 (AFS). Douglas County : Roseburg, Cusick 3870 (COLO). Yam- hill County: ‘‘Coast mountains.’® Coos County: Marshfield.** Josephine County ; Wolf Creek.1’ ‘‘Rocky shady banks of upper Willamette, ’? Tane or Douglas ee — 1508 in 1887 (YU).
NIA. Contra Costa County: Wildcat Canyon, Bion 5 8161, 8639. Las Trampas Ridge, Mason 1166. Alameda County : Berkeley [Hills], August 1898, L. F’.
a Pear & baa B Fl. NW. Coast 7. 1915.
12 Henry, J. K. FI. So. Brit. Col. 7. 1915; also F. Kermode, Prelim. Cat. Fl. Vancouv. & Queen Charlotte "Isl. ie 1921. This ou
0 je
Probable. Hardy, wrote (in litt. May 14, igi ieee no collection 80 labelled exists in the Provincial Museum, V-
oss Frye, T.C. Ferns of the Northwest 130. 1934. A transeasca- dean stati tion.
14 Piper & pigah, Ais cit. 7.
15 Farwell, op. ¢
16 Frye, o Op. el ca Frye, op. cit.
114 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL ville Lake, alt. 1,000 ft. , Keck 1361. Santa Cruz County :
u Beet RS
AFS). Monterey County: Carmel Road, Heller 6821. Upper Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Mountains, alt. 3,000 ft., Ewan 9348. One mile south of Salmon Creek, Wiggins 5744 (AFS). Santa Barbara County: Santa Cruz Is- land, Fosberg 7571.15 Santa Rosa Island.?® Los Angeles County: Lookout Mountain, alt. 1,000 ft., Ewan 2315. Tuna Canyon, Verdugo Range, alt. 1,300 ft., F. A. Mac- Fadden 19E. Pasadena, 1896, J. E. Campbell (AFS). Las Flores Canyon, alt. 1 ,700 ft., Ewan 1285. Temescal oe Ewan 10824. Higgins Canyon, alt. 1,600 ft., May 22, 1926, Ewan sn. Mandeville Canyon, Clokey & ppd 4539. San Bernardino County : San Bernar- dino Mountains, alt. 3,000-4,000 ft., January and July,
, A
Ranch, L. F. Kimball (AFS). Escondido, 1929, nee Ransier (AFS). Mussey Grade, Wiggins 2522 (AFS). Warners Hot Springs.”°
Arizona. Pinal and Gila counties.?*
Basa CauirorniaA. Seaward slopes 2 miles south of ‘‘Halfway House,’’ 37 miles south of Tia Juana, Wiggims & Gillespie 3908 (US).
Dryopteris Filix-mas (L.) Schott. This species is
more widely distributed in British Columbia than the single station reported by J. K. Henry would suggest.” It ranges from near the Alaska-British Columbia boun- dary, at Nass River (on lava beds, W. B. Anderson 7580, V), south to Lake Garibaldi (alt. 4,600 ft., G. A. Hardy 8176, V), Yale (W. B. Anderson 8559, V), and Chilli- wack (W. B. Anderson 16, V), and southeast along the
18 Erect, robust plants bgt ramp set fronds.
19 Bra: nde egee, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. II. 1: 218. 1888.
20 Munz & tear ae: Amer eee Journ, 12: 76. 1922.
21 A member of the ‘< Pacific ’? floristie group with a discontinuous distribution cauae om . coastal region of California to 4
rerio island principally in the Pinal and Mazatz cig bean Re of zona (Kearney & a Pl. & Ferns Ariz. 8 $0.4 ‘22 FL. So. Brit. Col. 7 1915.
West AMERICAN FERNS 115
Selkirk and Gold ranges, at Revelstoke (Henry, Le. 7), Shuswap (June 15, 1916, J. A. Munro, V), and Sandon (Ff. A. MacFadden 823, COLO). These British Colum- bia collections are fairly uniform, as in general are the many North American specimens studied. Especially striking is this uniformity when Old World collections are reviewed (¢.g., material from Germany, England, China, and Japan).
TA he pls ee (L.) Schott x D. oreopteris (Ehrh.) Maxon, n. hybr. Lamina 34-34-plo longior quam lata, tiaaediees glabra; pinnae inaequaliter acumi-
limi; Prohacgs parvum, pallidum, membranaceum, leviter
elandulos
ype in a herbarium of the Victoria co omg Mu- Seum, collected at Alice Arm, British ia, July 1934, by Lohbrunner and Nichols (No. 9555). adeed at
the University of Colorado.
This putative hybrid has been transferred to the gar- den of Mr. Lohbrunner, where it has maintained its dis- tinctive characters of pinnae form and indusia. AI- though I have seen no material of the parents from Alice Arm, I have examined a sheet of D. Filiz-mas from a nearby locality, Nass River, taken by W. B. Anderson (No. 7580). G. A. Hardy, Botanist at Provincial Mu- Seum, Victoria, writes that the plants were growing in clumps in decidedly boggy ground at or about sea level. Other ferns in the vicinity were Athyrium Filiz-femina, Blechnum Spicant, and Dryopteris dilatata, the two latter abundant in this coastal region; there was no sign of D. Filiz-mas anywhere. Hardy’s description of the country where this hybrid comes from (in litt. Nov. 28, 1941) contains some noteworthy points. Of the Nass River, close to the Alaskan boundary, he writes: ‘‘The greater and more northern portion flows through rolling plains
116 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
broken up by slate ridges, the lower part through deep and narrow valleys. It is well timbered to 65 miles from the coast. It has an average [yearly] temperature [range] of from 19° to 65° [F.], with an average pre- cipitation of 78 to 80 inches per annum.’’ Nass River empties into a part of Alice Arm. The fern was re-col- lected in a meadow west of town, Alice Arm, August 1942, by A. D. York (V, COLO).
As Dr. T. M. C. Taylor, who examined this collection in 1941, comments, this hybrid is near D. Filix-mas but of weaker habit, the pinnae now spreading more at right angles to the rachis, in the manner of sterile plants of the eastern D. Thelypteris var. pubescens, now ascending as is so frequent in the Male-fern. The form of the lobes and the position of the sori approach D. oreopteris. I have not seen a sufficient series of D. oreopteris from the Old World to determine the North American var. hesperia (Slosson) Broun and its distinctness. The variation among North American individuals is certainly very great.
PoLysTICHUM
Polystichum Andersoni Hopkins. This species is credited to southeastern Alaska upon the basis of a speci- men (W. 8S. Cooper 50) from Tracy Arm, Sumdum Bay, southeast of Juneau, as reported by Maxon.?* An inter- esting addition to our knowledge of its coastal distribu- tion is a collection (Lohbrunner & Nichols 9552, V) from Alice Arm, B. C., July 1934. Alice Arm is near the Alaskan boundary. This collection is a single frond, smaller than typical P. Andersoni.
Polystichum Braunii var. Purshii Fern. < P. Lonchi- tis rd ) Roth, n. hybr. Lamina 44-plo longior quam lata, sparse paleacea ; pinnae eis P. Braunii var. Purshit simil-
23 Amer, Fern Journ. 11: 106. 1921.
West AMERICAN FERNS 117
limae sed breviores, apice brevi subaequaliter et abrupte acutae ; lobi apice subtruncato spinulosi ; indusium leviter granulosum glabrumvye, ciliolatum, ca. 2 mm. latum, tarde deciduum.
Type in the Victoria Memorial Museum, collected at “‘Fort Simpson,’’ British Columbia, by W. B. Anderson, without date or number. It is illustrated by one of the two fronds as fig. B of the accompanying plate.
The intended locality must mave been Port Simpson, just north of Prince Rupert, Chatham Sound, near the Alaskan boundary. This sheet is the basis, I believe, of the report of D. oreopteris, under the name Aspidium oreopteris, from Port Simpson by J. K. Henry.** The peltate indusium of the genus Polystichum is clearly evident on the type, however. Though I have seen no collections of the parent species from Port Simpson, both are to be expected in that vicinity upon the basis of re- ports from localities both north and south. The char- acter of the sori being confined to the terminal half of the frond, characteristic of both parents, is well dis- played by this putative hybrid.
Polystichum Dudleyi Maxon. This endemic Cali- fornian Polystichum, which of all our Pacific Coast rela- tives of the Old World P. aculeatum most nearly ap- proaches that species, was reported from San Luis Obispo County, California, by me.2° Fine examples of it were taken February 23, 1935, at Anderson Canyon, Santa Lucia Mountains, Monterey County, where it was asso- ciated with the Canyon Oak (Quercus chrysolepis) and a southern relict colony of the Redwood (Sequoia semper- virens). This southern material (Ewan 9103) is thor- oughly comparable with several topotypes from the Santa Cruz Mountains. It is well deserving of garden use. ces
24 Fl. So. Brit. Col. 6. 1 25 Amer, Fern Journ. Pt _ 1934.
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL VoLUME 34, PLATE 9
West AMERICAN FERNS 119
Polystichum scopulinum (D.C. Eaton) Maxon. Dis- tributional summaries by Maxon?* and Broun?? do not record this species as ranging north to British Columbia. J. K. Henry?* records it from Texada Island. This is an island in Georgia Strait about opposite Comox, between lat. 49° and 50°. Kermode?? refers to the same record as ““Texada Island, W. B. Anderson.’’? I have examined this specimen (Anderson 666, August 1897, V), and find it to be a typical single frond, validating the northern- most locality for this species.
heeler*® reports finding Polystichum scopulinum growing with P. Lemmoni in the Siskiyou Mountains, California. He also comments upon Lemmon’s collect- ing the two Polystichums apparently ‘‘at the same time and at apparently the same station.’’ This surmise is borne out by a Lemmon sheet (COLO) which bears a note ‘“Mt. Eddy, n. Sierras, Cal., near Shasta, 6,000 ft., found with mohrioides,’’ referring to what Underwood later named P. Lemmoni. Similarly the two ferns occur together on Mt. Stuart, Washington, but again remain distinguishable, as indeed they do in the Siskiyou Moun- tains, as pointed out by Wheeler. This fact lends sup- port to the recognition of these ferns as distinct species.
EQUISETUM
Equisetum palustre var. americanum Victorin, Equis. du Québee 51. fig. 7. 121. 1927. Jepson® reports L. palustre from California as follows, ‘‘Wet places, San Mateo Co., only known locality in Cal.’’? I have not determined the basis of this record. In company with
26 In aca Ill. Fl. Pacif. States 11, 1923.
27 Tn es No. Amer. Ferns 149. 1938. .
28 Fl. So. Brit. Col. 6. 1915.
rid Pace Bde Fl. Sabi & = Charlotte Isl. 8, 1921. 30 Amer. Fern Journ. 27; 127. 1
31 Man. Fl. Pl. Calif, 41. 1923
120 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Edward Lee the author collected this Equisetum on March 24, 1934 (Ewan 8698, COLO), at the east end of Lake Merced, San Francisco County, where scattered plants occurred over an entire swale then drying out from extensive drainage operations. Here it was grow- ing in the partial shade of Rubus parviflorus velutinus. This collection, except for its stouter habit, agrees well in technical characters with more northern specimens such as Suksdorf 11535 from Washington, Hulbert &
Spence 517 from Idaho, and J. P. Anderson 7336 from Alaska. Equisetum telmateia forma serotinum (A.Br.) Luerss.
Maurice Broun* reports this form from ‘‘ British Colum- bia; Eurasia.’’ In my collecting along the Pacific Coast I have especially watched for this interesting form and have detected it but once: 14 miles west of Bodega, on Bodega Bay Road, Sonoma County, California, May 12, 1935 (Ewan 9224, COLO), where it was growing in a gulch of an open hillslope of a coastal mesa. UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 9 A, Polystichum Braunii var. Purshii, from Juneau, Alaska, Dek Anderso nm 6159; B, 7m — yar. Purshit x FP te nchitis, from ort Fesestroeal B. C, B. Anderson; C, P. Lonchitis, from Trad- well Ditch, Douglas’ Head. Alsace, J.P. Anderson 6416.
82 Index No. Amer. Ferns 96. 1938.
A New IsoretTes rrom Ecuapor 121
A New Isoetes from Ecuador! Henry K. SvENson
The difficulties and disappointments which beset the voyage of Chamisso, which I discussed briefly in my re- cent paper on Azolla, are likely to fall upon anyone who explores for plants. The chances of arriving in a cer- tain locality just when the vegetation is in full bloom, unless one is prepared beforehand, are not very great— unless the ever-blooming tropical rain-forest is the place to be visited. When I visited the coast of Ecuador in the early months of 1941, with the help of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, I had been fearful lest the annual expected rainfall of some 4 to 6 inches would not be sufficient to bring out the vegetation in this semidesert region. The 7-year cycle of heavy rains had passed in 1939, with a fall of about 40 inches on the southwest coast, and the next heavy fall was not expected therefore until 1946. It was equally as sur- prising to the inhabitants of the area as it was to me to receive torrents of rain in late January of 1941. These extended—together with gales and thunder storms, both of which are unusual in the area—to beyond the middle of March. Fifteen inches of rain fell on the southwest point of the coast, and just a few miles inland the pre- cipitation was greatly increased. Much of the country- side was impassable, and all travel along the coast ceased. But in being so restricted I did see the entire transition of a flowering season, much as Richard Spruce saw it at the little town of Chanduy, some 40 miles down the coast from Salinas, in 1864.
iro has already mentioned the great scarcity of
ferns in the region of Guayaquil, which lies in the fringe URI ierenciaene ee * Brooklyn Botanie Garden Contributions, No. 100.
122 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
of the same dry area. It was not until I was able to get into Manglaralto, which lies on the coast in an area moistened by cloud condensation against the adjacent hills, that I came across any true ferns, and these were mostly the types found in all tropical plantations. In the dry country the fern allies were few in number but much more interesting, and included a large new species of Isoetes, quite different from anything previously found in this part of South America. It is described herewith. At Manglaralto were dense plantations of vegetable-ivory palms, Carludovica (the plant from which panama-hat fiber is obtained), bananas, and other tropical fruits; scattered on the ground, or more rarely occurring as epiphytes, were widespread species of ferns, practically all of which I had previously seen in the Galapagos Islands. Here were two species of Maiden- hair: Adiantum concinnum, with delicate elongate droop- ing fronds, and A. tetraphyllum, with stiff upright pubescent leaves. On tree trunks grew Asplenium auritum, one of the most abundant ferns of tropical America, but here obviously under unfavorable condi- tions, since none of the plants were fruiting. On the ground was an Asplenium of the lunulatum group which I have not yet definitely identified. Blechnum occiden- tale was common, as might have been expected. Of Dry- opteris, there were D. patens, D. Poiteana, and D. sub- tetragona—all abundant weedy plantation types. Of the relatively few ferns present, the only one of real interest was the epiphytic Polypodium balaonense, which is a variant of the widespread P. lepidopteris and here was in splendid fruiting condition. Of this species I also found traces on the summit of the Chanduy Hills, and without doubt it is an indigenous species; it is 4 form with appressed silvery scales and lacks the red- dish coloration seen in Galapagos specimens.
A New IsoetTes From Ecuapor 123
The fern allies were also few in number, but of much greater interest than the ferns. In shaded ravines at Man- glaralto were Selaginella Kunzeana and S. erythropus Spring, which Mr. Morton has kindly determined for me. All the seasonal pools in the vicinity of Salinas and Santa Elena were covered by Marsilea ancylopoda, which is known only from this general region. At the western base of the Chanduy Hills small pools in the grassland had Azolla microphylla floating on the surface, with the general appearance of the species as it is found in the Galapagos Islands. But of more interest in these pools was the Isoetes—a plant as large as the familiar I. Engel- manni of eastern United States, with leaves often a foot in length. These pools are probably completely dry throughout most of the year, and the Isoetes is therefore likely to be found only in the rainy season.
Isoetes pacifica sp. nov. Cormus bilobatus (?). Folia numero 20-60, flexilia, longitudine 12-30 em., ca. 1 mm diametro, versus apicem gradatim attenuata, basi mem- branacea 6 mm. lata, 4 em. longa, stomatibus et fibris periphericis 6 instructa. Ligula triangularis, basi lata.
rangia longitudine 6-10 mm., latitudine 46 mm. Megasporae albidae, diam. 480, tuberculis elongatis obtusis vel subspinescentibus ornatae. Microsporae sub- rotundae, 3640 ,, diametro, minute papillosae.
Type (Brooklyn Botanic Garden) from pools east of Chanduy, Eeuador, March 23, 1941, Svenson 11002.
A large amphibious plant with the habit and appear- ance of I. Engelmanni of the eastern United States, occu- Pying small pools which are probably dry except in the rainy season, in the grassy flat lands lying about four miles east of Chanduy at the base of the Cerro do Estancia. Growing with it were Heteranthera limosa, Lemna minima, Echinochloa Crus-Galli and E. colonum —a rather meager assemblage of uninteresting species. It is wholly distinct from any of the South American
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL VOLUME 34, PLATE 10
Hysrip CyYstToPreris 125
species treated by Weber (Hedwigia 63: 219-262. 1922) and the Andean I. ecuadorensis Asplund (Bot. Notiser 1925: 357. 1925); and it does not fit into any of the species treated by Dr. Pfeiffer in her monograph of the Isoetaceae (Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 9: 79-232. 1922). In both monographie accounts cited above, the nearest ap- proach in size of plant and in character of megaspores is I. Gardneriana Kunze from Goyaz Province, Brazil, _and Paraguay ; but in Weber’s illustration of that species (fig. 34) the spinescent tubercles are very few and, be- sides, the microspores are smooth.
I have been unable to find an illustration of the stomata of Isoetes, despite the fact that their presence or absence in the leaves is one of the principal guiding points for the taxonomist. A drawing of the stomata as seen under the compound microscope has accordingly been made. Below it is shown a leaf-base with megasporangium, sur- mounted by a short triangular ligule; and below the leaf- base are megaspores and microspores. One of the latter is greatly enlarged to show the roughened surface.
Another Occurrence of the Apparent Hybrid Cystopteris
Warren Hersert WAGNER, JR.
On Memorial Day, 1942, the writer was one of the _ group which visited Cystopteris Bluff, as recently chron- icled by Dr. Wherry.t Seeing the Cystopteris fragilis with glandular indusia and bulblets led to the recollection of my having found a similar plant at Catoctin Furnace, Frederick County, Maryland, while fern-hunting with David BE. Rawlings in 1938. A later visit in company with Neal W. Gilbert having failed to reveal any addi- tional plants, the matter had been dismissed.
i anitines
1 This Journa 34: 92. 1944.
126 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
During a furlough on June 26, 1944, I took occasion to revisit the spot. The sumac trees growing in the debris of the old furnace had become rather large and the other vegetation very dense, so that the walls where ferns grow in crevices are now mostly well shaded. On one side of the furnace there were found many typical plants of C. fragilis var. Mackayii, in company with a few young ones of C. bulbifera; and out of reach, higher up the wall, there appeared to be more of both.
On another section of the furnace wall the situation was quite different. Here was seen but a single clump of C. fragilis var. Mackayii; but all around it were numerous luxuriant clumps of another entity which even on superficial examination appeared wholly distinct. The blades of the larger fronds show a marked tendency to become long and narrow toward the end, as do those of C. bulbifera; as in the latter, too, the lowest pinnae tend to elongate, and all pinnae to curve up at the tip, while even the largest are pinnatifid rather than pin- nate. On the other hand, a resemblance to C. fragilis is seen in the variable cutting and the dark green coloring. Hybridization between the two species certainly seems plausible.
Proliferation is shown by most of the larger fronds on these peculiar plants, but it is rather unusual in character. Along the rachis at the base of the pinnae occur ‘‘bulblets’’ of varying aspect, but never so regular in formas those of normal C. bulbifera. They range from large irregular green masses 3 to 4 mm. in diameter, made up of several smaller ones, with colorless scales at the end, to smaller masses of vegetative tissue about 0.5 to 1 mm. in diameter, with some sporogenous tissue inter- mixed! And the latter extreme may also pass into an enlarged sorus just above a pinna-base.
RECENT FERN LITERATURE 127
Another deviation from C. bulbifera consists in the rarity of gland-tipped hairs. On examination under the binocular microscope only three of these were seen on one frond by Dr. Maxon and the writer, and subsequent search failed to yield more. Accordingly, it can not be said that the hybrid origin of this material has been con- clusively demonstrated. A mere sport of C. fragilis, caused by the presence of iron oxides or other compounds in the furnace walls may be represented; and in this connection it is noteworthy that ‘‘freak’’ forms of com- mon ferns are (or were before civilization took a hand) especially abundant on the dumps of an iron mine at Lake Grubb, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The Catoctin locality, not difficult to reach by street car or bus from Frederick, deserves further investiga- tion, and may well repay repeated visits twice a year to see how the plants develop. For those who can study only dried material, it may be placed on record that ample specimens have been deposited in the U. S. Na- tional Herbarium, the Gray Herbarium, and the her- barium of the University of Pennsylvania under my number 2000. C. fragilis var. protrusa, found a quarter of a mile from the furnace in humus-rich soil on a rocky slope, is No. 2001; immature plants of C. fragilis var. Mackayii are No. 2002, and of C. bulbifera No. 2003.
Wasuineton, D. C.
Recent Fern Literature
Jesse M. Shaver has published? a paper entitled ‘‘The Filmy and Polypody Ferns in Tennessee,”’ in which four Species are discussed in detail: Trichomanes Petersii, Trichomanes Boschianum, Polypodium virginianum, and Polypodium polypodioides. Descriptions and excellent Rr " are Tennessee Acad. Sci. 18: 215-222. 1943; 19: 167-174.
128 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
line drawings are given for all four, and three are illus- trated also by habit photographs. Trichomanes Petersu is rare in Tennessee and was not discovered there until 1931; it is known only from Blount County. Tricho- manes Boschianum is also rare, being known from two localities only, at one of which it has apparently been exterminated. Both species of Polypodium are abun- dant, but P. virginianum oceurs only in the eastern half of the state-—C. V. M
A notable addition to our state fern floras has recently appeared, covering Virginia.t The bulletin comprises brief discussions of the general distribution of ferns in the state, the structure and biology of ferns, the fern garden, methods of collecting and preserving specimens, and an elaborate check list of species, varieties, and hybrids, with descriptions and full citation of speci- mens in herbaria, arranged by counties in alphabetical sequence. There is finally a 10-page key and a table of pertinent literature. Illustrations of many of the spe- cies are included, some of them previously published elsewhere (such as the splendid line drawings that ap- peared in the ‘‘Pteridophytes of West Virginia,’’ by Brooks and Margolin) but others new, principally half- tone illustrations of Virginia occurrences.
Much care has been taken to have the nomenclature accurate and up-to-date, although not every modern ‘‘splitter’? has been followed; thus, the Beech- and Marsh-fern groups are retained in Dryopteris, the Dwarf Chain-fern in Woodwardia, and the three autumnal Botrychiums under B. dissectum. Carefully selected common names are given for most of the species included.
An interesting addition would have been a list of spe-
Massey, A. B. The Ferns and Fern Allies of Rag (ors Bull. va. Polytechn. Inst. 37, No. 7, pp. 1-110, many figs. 1
AMERICAN FERN Society 129
cies whose type locality is in Virginia, and perhaps an- other list of those reaching a range-limit in the state. These can be added in a future reissue, which is implied in the text as a possibility. And when preparation of a new edition is undertaken, one hopes that the regret- tably numerous misprints will be corrected. One often repeated consists in attributing to R. C. Benedict speci- mens collected in Loudoun and Rappahannock counties J. E. Benedict, Jr.; but there are others in personal, geographical and botanical names.—E. T. WHERRY
American Fern Society Members can aid the Society financially and acquire much interesting literature for themselves by purchasing back numbers of the JouRNAL, an ample supply of which is on hand. They may be bought in almost any quantity or combination desired—for instance, a full set of the JOURNAL can gradually be built up by ordering one or
more back volumes with each year’s dues.
NEW MEMBERS
Mrs. Wm. A. Barnes, 2645 Edgewood Road, Utica 3, New York Mrs. K. T. Broadley, P. O. Box 1260, Honolulu, T. H.
Prof. G. Neville J ones, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois Mrs. Vera MeClure, Dream Hill Ranch, Ethelsville, Ala “hy
Mrs. Mary Siebold, 333 Roosevelt Ave., Pomona, Califo
Mr. George E. Zink, Brooks School, North Andover, Scecichiiette
CHANGES OF ADDRESS Miss Harriet E. Baker, 1927 Buckingham Road, Los Angeles 16, Californi Mr. Geo. R. iia: 140 West Main St., Newark, Delaware Mr. Wm. F. Rapp, 203 East Green St., "Champa ign, Illinois
Index to Volume 34
Acrostichum aureum, 29 Adder’s-tongue, gem ee 49, 104; Capillus-Ve- 46, 100; concinnum, 122; Toemaalt 42, 44; tetraphyllum.
ae Walter Rep f the Auditin ng Comittee’ oe 1943, Ping American Fern Society, 30, 66, 98
':
Flora of Alaska
nthriscifolia, 41, 47
ngio opteris evecta, 10,
Annotations West s—III, 307
Prete Occurrence of the parent ck ge Pi oe aie 135 pa oe Lape alatum, 8
aioe
A arg m, 108, . 109: Blackwellianum, 97; crinitum, 97; distans, 97; munitu * bes parallelogrammum, 97; eop- teris, 107, 117; patentissimum, 99 gidum, 109, argutum,
;“Wallichiana sion. “OT
dees enium Gravesii aig: va 61
aeplentae, a: aurit 122; bi- pinnatifi 8; Br rai eyi, - 61, 62; Gra oat A ” 61; 62; laserpitii-
— nm, 9; Tumult atu um, 122; m
motum chee atti dententrionhic. 44; Trich Athyrium, nor aerostichoides, Her esculentum 7, 29; Filix -femina,
‘los
Eisenmann, 7
Ay The New World Species 0
Azoila, 43, 102, 121; arbuscula, 81;
bonariensis, Te: ‘earoliniana, 70, 73, 74, 77, 80, 81. 83, ut cristata, 83; densa, 8i; iilieu: loides, 70, io 74, B, 76,77, TO, 83, ar. sonia: Cy ag 78; magellanica, at: mexicana, a, 73, 74, 78, 80, 81, 82, eo a eee 70, 71, 4 74, 82, 83, yer 1235 s portobicensts, 4 5, 17; a
Bartley, Floyd. Bradley’s Spleen- wort in Ohio, 62 aren age Cecil. adage of Mich-
ee cap. pense, et donthin. 122° mag
9: Pat. rsonii, 12; Spicant, 50, 5i, 115; — 103 mmeria hispida, 25 Botrychium boreale, 65; » 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, met
ee
var. obliquum, 56, 57, 60, var.
oneidense, 56, 57, 58, 59, ,
subsp. typicum, 60; lanceolatum,
; Lunaria, 65, 99; Itifidum,
56, 57, 58, .59, subsp. robustum, 65, subsp. sila ium, 60,
ifo onondagense, 99; silaifolium, 65: kenge var. oneidense, 55 Brae Bradley? ’s “Spleenwort in Ohio. nd W.
62 Brown, Rol A Clim bing
Fern ha m the Uppe va nid ng (Revie Ceratopteris, 102; ee ae ey 28 Cheilanthes, 3, 25, 27, 49, 107; Brandegei, 4: 43 ; aulfussii, 41; Lindheimeri, 41; peninsu- laris, ; Pringlei, 41, 42; v
id
collect = 5 in Northwestern
culcita a 9 z ne —— lunulata, 4, 6, 7; propin-
Ae Bluff,
Cae pearl bulbitera, 4 ee is Of 126, =
ag Po nu = 93, wee ae v9, var. Mackay, 9 93, 126, 127, var- protrusa, 92, 127
Danaea, 102
Davallia f fejeensis, 8
Jeer-fi
Dicranopteris, 63, 101, 103; flex-
Didy ae hlaena truncatula, 9
Dission louchos hyllum in Lou- isiana, 21 S
Diplazium aontenowe 21; lon
2 ution of Equisetum in New
Nees rib
erse
Doryo Leet. 25, 26; decipiens, 26; dec cs rent 26: nobilis, be ct ; palmiata, 27; sonata, 27, var. 2, ped palmata, oT: ‘"Raddiana,
,8
erent per "128; arguta, Py 108, gent 110, 111, f. : 112; f. stata, 111, 112, f. flec- culosa, Th 112, f. nudata, oe 113. at austriaca, 66; Borreri, 6: dilatata, 66, iis: disjuncta, 5 Feei, 46; Filix-mas, 97, 114, 115, 11 rs Filix- x 115; fragrans, 66; fusco-atra, 97; a naeana, 65; mediterranea, ;
oreopteris, 66, 116, iT, var. —— peria, 116; palea cea, 97; paten:
INDEX TO VOLUME 34
122; Poi pre 122; rigi ag “ee 109, 110; subt “sc Mic 122; lypteris sg pubescens, ie
Dwarf Chain-fern, 128
Equisetum in ie Clam 51
Equisetum, 29, 1, 107; alas- kanum, I es S ; bo- Bontit uk fluviatile, 53, 54;
onii, ; giganteu 105, 106, h ale, 54, var. affi ;
m, oak va riegatum
Joseph. T Amkernthnke on est American Ferns—III, 107
Fagley, Frederick L. Report of the Auditing Committee ye 19438,
Fassett, Norman C. Mass Collec-
i tions : Bquisctum sylvaticum, 85 ern New to Worcester Coun Massachusetts, 2
Fernald, Cc. nsey. edible Wid Plants be perch
meri Fiddleheads, _—
on mas rigida var. americana, Filmy-fern, 102
Gleichenia, 3 {3 Graves’ Siete ort, 61 Gymnopteris, 49; hispida, 41
Hart’s-tongue, 99 sect Haught, Osear. ‘S$ e Conspicu ous Ferns of Rathore South
niatiope
is! jopteris sinu ug ost =
Hutchinson, G. ah & Anne Pe Hack. Lae pg rede
ne ors of ‘Alncotnun | Cherie ), 29 ymenophyllum catdiculatum, 20
Tsoetes, 122, 125; ecuador
> ensis, 125; rg gimanni, ao Gard- Bere: 124
':
gre yeaa 97; truncata,
del Helecho Pol masa- _fuerae Philippi i. 63
131
Lycopodium, 29, 101, 104; adpres-
sum, 24; annotinum cer- nuum, 103 ; gatos 29; flabel- liforme, 39; ndatum var. adp . ae Bi lo
Lygodium, 103 ; palmatum, 96, 103 ; pumilum, 96
par hair, 100
fale-fern 97,
Mavattia Smithii, 10
Marsilea *~ 102; ancylopoda, 123; “hea eri, 38
Mass Conasiions: Equisetum syl-
vaticum, 85 Ma i
€ — Plants and Poisonous Piants of th wil Islands of the Pacific (Re-
Microlepia speluncae, 7 Morton, Me Vv. A New Tricho- manes from Colombia, 19
ena of the Deer-fern, 50
New World Species of Azolla, 69 Note ere the Southeastern Rela- tives of Lycopodium inundatum,
Nees 27, 49; aurea, 41; rnica, 46; Grayi, 41; meer
rs sinuata, 41
pp vont be Gruber, Calvin L., 67; Ran a Earl, 99
oleandra Par ksii, 12
ee he Status of Botrychium dis-
Bal ar. oneidense, 55
Ophioglossum, 104: ellipticum, 95, 96; reticulatum, 95, 96
Orthiop eg ris,
Osm , 12; cinnamomea f. ore cornucopiaetolis 94, f. incisa, 98; Spi ant, 50, 51
Ostrich Fern, 28
Pellaea, 25, 27, 49; 2 andromedae- folia, oS longimucro! . :
— 44.
; Seem rey 41; tern 41 Phanerophlebia, 49; auriculata, 39,
Pityrogramma, 49; triangularis,
Pol dium, 98; accedens, 8; bala- pe a 132; *ealifornicum, 44;
132
lanceolatum, 17, ophorum, 18; ees fe cei
18, var. trich- ; depidopteris, 122° — e, 63: ;
interjec:
Mov pp re ae 44 ey ager been 1 07, 117; seers RVG Ari der. 116; Braun
eg wantin. m, 105
ae aquilinum, 3, 103,
nosum, 65, var. pu- Aan 6; orn 23; palmata, 26; pedata, 26
Rapp, William F., Jr. The Dis- tribution of Equisetum in New Jersey, 51
Recent Fern Literature, 25, 63, 96,
Se of Fern Collecting
iji,
Report of caer age Committee, 66; of Judge of pe gre 36; of
30; of Secretary, 32;
eo Py iors of Alaska ee halecisit Parts of
Canada, Part I, 64; eepeiage Cecil. gol ail of Michigan, 64 : Brown, Rolan A Climbing
Fern of the U) a “Cretaceous of Wyoming, 96; Fernald, M. L., &
Plants of Eastern North Amer-
ica, 28; Hutchinson, G. Evelyn,
& Anne Wollack _ Biological rs
Looser, G@ echos en el Vole4n Osorno (sur de Chile), 63, Los ali-
podium masafuerae Philippi, 63; emcee | A. B. The Ferns and ae :
Mazz., 97; Shaver, Jesse M. The Filmy d Polypody Ferns in Tennessee, 127; Tryon, R. M., dr A Revision of the Genus Doryopteris,
Rothmaler, Wern Ueber Dry-
opteris cacacbe ‘dare Hand.- Mazz. (Review), 97
Salpichlaena oe 103 poottrbs ae 69; A a, 82 ea dich earn ma, 9
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Selaginella, 9, 49, 104; bgt 49; Bigelovii, 415, 46, 49; eremo- phi ila, 48, 45, erythropus, 123 ; Kunzeana, #983; rupincola,
Selliguea a 12 Sh , Jesse M. The Filmy and in Tennessee
heen Rem eT a hee of rn Collecti ing in
Smith, —_ Frank C, ie Fe ern New se Worcester County, Mageathe
8,
ene Conspicuous Fer of Northern South America, mot
Southern Variety of Polypodium Lepiorper
Stenochlaena Dene spt 29
Swamp-fern, Syngramma pinnata, 9
Tectaria latifolia, 7
BM i. Soy 102, h apiifolium, 12;
128 ; ti h
M., Jr. A Revision of the Genus Doryopteris (Re- view), 2
Two Ferns New to Trinidad, 95
Urostachys lucidulus, 29; Selago, 29
Vaginularia paradoxa, 8 Vandenboschia, 20 Vittaria scolopendrina, 8
Wagner, Her age 42 Jr. Another bana ce of the Ap- parent Hy _ “Cystopteris 125;
wo eds o Trinidad, 95
Walkin toghe n,
Ware Bove t A. Report of the
udge ng gh Peres 36
W tneety. Coa Report of the
Veatherby,
President for 1943, 30; A South: ern Variety of Polypodium pe! r T. Cystopteris
92; Note on the acho
ive:
Osm a f. cornuco Leones
Whitney, Rise G Report of the Secretary for
Wiggins, te L. Collecting Ferns in Northwestern Mexico, 37
Woodsia, 49; oregana, 44; Plum- merae, 41
Woodwardia,
128; fimbriata, 44 — 46; radicans, 44
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AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY
EDITORS WILLIAM R. MAXON R. C. BENEDICT Cc. V. MORTON IRA L. WIGGINS
VOLUME 35 i945
LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA
el
CONTENTS
VOLUME 35, NUMBER 1, PaGes 1-32, 1sSUED Apri 11, 1945 = New Fern Genus from Mexico and Guatemala ....... Tip Balla re a Fern Hunt in Puerto Rie W.H. Wagner, Jr. 4 Hybrids of the Eastern ” North American Subspecies of Ly- copodium complanatum and L, tristachyum. Robert T, Clausen 9 New Tropical American Ferns—X\V .............. William R. Maxon 21 Fern Names in Bartram’s ‘‘Travels,’’ 1791. ...... E. D. Merrill 23 Recent Fern Literature 25 American Fern Society 27
VoLuME 35, NuMBER 2, Pacrs 33-64, IssuED JuLy 11, 1945 Elizabeth Billings and Her Fern Garden ..... Elsie M. Kittredge 33 Observed _Characteristies of Botrychium speiaete var.
Le Di
oneidense , Da Schizaea pusilla beens Ontario Ei Huber ie Brow Fern Collecting in Southern Cutts ew ger steele F. Sku i . A New Species of Isoétes from Col mnbin tee C.V.Morton 48
Campyloneurum phyllitidis in Southern Phaids, Alex D. Hawkes 50 Shorter Notes: Abundance of Selaginella in Oklahoma; The Earliest Collection of Onocleopsis; Pteris pried in
as ; ndument of Cystopteris fragilis; T Chilean Pteridophytes of Comme Importance ; Further Suggestions for the Utilization of Brae Great Britain ew Stations for Equisetum laevigatum EN a ne Oa ee Dante Merar nn ene U amas ene Recent Fern Literature Pilate iY j American Fern Society a 64
VoLuME 35, NUMBER 3, PAGES 65-96, ISSUED SEPTEMBER 11, 1945
Problems and Objectives in the Study of Fern Hybrid Ralph C. oe 65
Ferns on Pacific Island Coconut Trees ........... W.H. Wagner, Jr. 74 Some Nomenclatural Changes in the Genus Isoétes.
Clyde F. Reed 77 Valid Names in the GleiGheniace ae ....cccceesecsceeeeen Harold St. John 87 Some Notes on Arizona Ferns . . Walter S. Phillips 90
Shorter Notes: Notes on Tittncisn Piecidophytea: Northwestern Limits of regain fragilis var. laurentiana American Fern Society
VoLUME 35, NuMBER 4, Paces 97-140, IssUED DECEMBER 17, 1945 Ferns and Fungi John A, Stevenson 97 A Crested Form of the Broad Beech-fern ................. Clyde F. Reed 104 Recent Range Extensions of Botrychium matricariaefolium
G. R. Vesey 105
A Unique Habitat for Maidenhair Spleenwort. Alton A, Lindsey 109
Sources of the Fern Flora of Colorado ..............2..... Joseph Ewan 114 Shorter Note: Our Most-renamed Native Fern 128 Recent Fern Literatur 129 American Fern chase Carl Christensen; Constitution of ciety 131
ee Soe Pree 6G: VOlUING oo ice os sini ae ee eee 137
A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO FERNS
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WittiM R. Maxon, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 2
Se cone
OFFICIAL ORGAN
American Fern Journal
EDITO oe WiuiaM R. Maxon... Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D.C. R. C. B eee een 1819 Dechantes Road, Brooklyn 26, N. ¥. C. V. Morron............ Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C. Tra L. Wicerns....... Dudley mee Stanford University, Calif.
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Ampvriran Bern Journal
Vou. 35 JANUARY—MaArcH, 1945 No. 1
A New Fern Genus from Mexico and Guatemala F. BALLARD
Onocleopsis F'. Ballard, gen. nov.
Genus Polypodiacearum, subfam. Onocleoidearum. Rhizoma erassum. rondes dimorphae; frondarum sterilium laminae pinnatae, nervis copiose anastomosanti- bus iis Onocleae sensibilis similibus ; frondarum fertilium laminae redactae, segmentis ultimis subglobosis soros binos includentibus ; sori solitarii, terminales; indusium Squamiforme.
Onocleopsis Hintonii F. Ballard, sp. nov. ~ Rhizoma erectum breviter repens vel sub-
m,
brunneo-straminei, laeves, basi paleacei; laminae ambitu anguste ellipticae, basin apicemque versus sensim an-
basi truncatae vel cordatae marginibus grosse crenatae, crenaturis tenuiter serratis, supra glabrae, subtus secus
hervos pilis brevibus pallidis sparse instructae vel gla-
Straminei vel brunneo-straminei, glabri, laeves, basi Paleis obtecti; laminae 75 cm. longae, 13 em. latae, tri- Nese ee ae ee [Volume 34, No. 4 of the JouRNAL, pages 101-132, was issued Ovember 30, 1944.] 1
“
2 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
pinnatae, valde redactae; segmenta ultima inecurvata subglobosa, soros binos includentia ; sori solitarii termi- nales, apice venulae liberae siti; indusiu m squamiforme,
ugax ; sporae ellipsoideae, virides, exosporio minutissime
verruculoso praeditae. ype in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, collected in a wet barranca at ‘Los Hornos, District
‘ ; also February 2, 1935 (No. 7228) og December 25, 1937 (No. 11211), Als so represented in the U. 8. N ational Her- barium, Nos. 1,807,817-9, collected in barraneas on the northwestern slopes of Vo lea arp sas Dept. San Marcos, Guatemala, at 2,300 to 2,800 meters elevation, February 26, 1940, by Julian fs Steyermark (No. 36733).
The occurrence of a third genus of Onocleoid ferns is of more than usual interest. Its discovery dates from 1933, when a native collector employed by Mr. G. B. Hinton found it in Mexico (Hinton 3297). It was grow- ing in water and sand at 2,550 meters altitude in a bar- ranea, ‘‘or rather little box cafion,’’ about 3 meters wide. Dried specimens were sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; but although the fern was recognized as a novelty, the sterile and fertile fronds were difficult to reconcile, more especially as only the latter were attached to the rhizome. The late C. Christensen, when shown the speci- mens, also expressed doubts as to the relationship of the fronds. The matter was put at rest, however, when the anatomy of the stipes was examined. Both were found to possess the typical Onocleoid stelar structure as exem- plified by Matteuccia Struthiopteris (Bower, The Ferns, 3: 160, f. 685c).
In the spring of 1935, Hinton visited the original loeal- ity himself but found a total of only seven plants (No. 7228), all in bad condition due to unusually heavy raims. In the following spring he sent the original collector to
NEW GENuS FROM MEXICO AND GUATEMALA 3
re-collect the plant, but mining operations had destroyed the habitat and the only two plants remaining were brought away alive. These were eventually sent to Kew, but as they were packed in wet charcoal and were a long time traveling they were quite dead on arrival. All efforts to stimulate the rhizomes to grow were unavailing.
In 1937 Hinton learned that specimens of the fern were still growing in the original habitat and he at once ordered a fresh collection which was made in December of that year (No. 11211).
The discovery that Onocleopsis was not confined to Mexico was made as a result of a communication from Dr. Maxon a short time ago, who forwarded portions of a fern collected by Dr. Julian A. Steyermark in Guate- mala on the Tajumuleo Voleano. These were identical with the Mexican plants and were found growing under similar conditions and at a comparable altitude.
Onocleopsis falls readily into line with its congeners, Onoclea and Matteuccia. Its leaf-fall is evidently sea- sonal, while its moist habitat is shared with Onoclea. Its areolate venation is identical with that of Onoclea sen- sibilis ; its tripinnate fertile frond an advance on Onoclea correlated with its much larger size.
The lamina of the fertile frond completely envelops the sori, producing an efficient ‘‘false indusium.’’ true indusium is present, though apparently only as a vestigial organ. In many sori examined it was difficult to find and in no case was it anything more than a small Seale. As in Onoclea, the spores are not provided with a pPerispore. |
The extension of this small subfamily so far to the South is but another indication of its presumed antiquity.
Roya Botanic GARDENS,
EW, SuRREY, ENGLAND.
4 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Fern Hunt in Puerto Rico WarRREN HERBERT WAGNER, JR.
If you are an ‘‘Oh My! botanist’’ like me, you would get ready to say ‘‘Oh, my!’’ when you saw the ferns grow- ing on El Yunque Mountain. But nothing would come out: You would probably be dumbfounded, as I was. For nine years I have jumped ditches, slipped off rocks, and hopped from hummock to hummock in swamps, hunting for ‘‘rare and locals’? among the ferns of the Northeastern States. But to stand in the dense woods of the Caribbean National Forest on the slopes of El Yunque and see for the first time tree trunks draped with weird tropical ferns, the ground covered with Selaginella, and stream banks lined with tree-ferns is a thrill not soon to be forgotten.
As you fly northward along the eastern edge of the 90 by 35-mile island of Puerto Rico, you can see the ground rising a few miles inland to a series of peaks, some of them over 3,000 feet high. Almost invariably the tops are covered with haze or clouds caused by moist Atlantic air coming in with the prevailing easterlies and con- densing as it is pushed up the slopes. You see from the air the:dark gray-green of heavy woods growing from the tops of the mountains to deep down in the valleys of this range, called the Luquillo Mountains. I had heard of many ferns having been collected on E] Yunque and Mount Britton, and I eagerly awaited a chance to 20 there.
Many men in the Service have carried their interests with them, as I have, to their stations of duty. The pos- session of a hobby that can be pursued in off moments to break the monotony of the war job is a gift to those who have it, and natural history as a diversion is excellent this war that takes men into strange lands all over the globe. In Cuba I met another flier who had made a fine
Fern Hunt In Puerto Rico 5
collection of snails in his spare time. My own study of ferns kept me entertained in places that would offer noth- ing to a Service man not interested in nature. When I learned that the Navy would sponsor an outing to El Yunque, I jumped at the chance to go.
From the bus loaded with sailors and officers, even be- fore we had left the city of San Juan I could see the
Luquillo Mountains. I feared that it might rain on El Yunque, as it very often does. But when we arrived at the top of the steep, tortuous road to the Caribbean Na- tional Forest, I could see that the weather would be clear. To collect specimens I had provided myself with three Paper bags. On the return trip they were bulging with tropical ferns—more than 80 species.
As soon as the bus stopped at the El Yunque parking
A GROUP OF CYATHEA ARBOREA
j rs
FEerN Hunt in Puerto Rico 7
space, without further ado I set out to see the flora. My only disappointment was that there had been introduc- tions along the road of such plants as the varicolored Coleus of the greenhouse, Hibiscus, and pot ferns. Some of the Coleus and ferns had got a good start and spoiled the otherwise perfect appearance of the original rain- forest. Though it had not rained, everything was damp. The humidity was like that of a greenhouse, but it was very cool. The first fern I examined was one I had seen on the way up the mountain, growing along the road in fairly open spots, sometimes alone. This, a common tree- fern, Cyathea arborea, grew 20 feet tall along the stream that I chose for my first jaunt on the mountain. Plate 1 shows this species in another part of the island.
As I went along the ravine I noticed that a good part of the ferns grew on the trunks of palms and other trees, and that in some places, especially in the crotches of large hardwoods, there were regular gardens of bromeliads and ferns. Here might be several species of Elaphoglossum, 4 genus that in this season (March to May) has the mad- dening habit of almost never producing fertile fronds. Numerous species of spleenwort and Polypodium grew in these places, as well as a profusion of Lycopodiums, almost all of which were pendent. One of these, L. funiforme, looked exactly like so much green rope hang- ing from the crotch of a tree. In addition to these epiphytic genera, I found Cheiroglossa, Hymenodium, Rhipidopteris, Anetium, Vittaria, Paltonium, Cochlid- ‘um, Polybotrya, Oleandra, Nephrolepis, Trichomanes, and Hymenophyllum. Most of these I didn’t know or recognize at the time, but I keyed them out in ‘‘The
eridophyta of Porto Rico’? by William R. Maxon and was frankly surprised to find how simple it was to iden- tify so many fern strangers to the genus and species. a When you collect in a tropical rain-forest you have to
_ fearn to keep your line of sight directed up as well as
8 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
down, or you’ll miss a lot of things. If you look on the ground and the banks of the cold, sparkling mountain streams, you get an entirely different set of plants. Here are such genera as Ophioglossum (in exposed gravelly spots), Danaea, Dicranopteris, Cyathea, Hemitelia, Dory- opteris, Anisosorus, Pteridium, Pteris, Hemionitis, Di- plazium, Hemidictyum, more Asplenium, Struthiopteris, Fadyenia, Polystichum, Dryopteris, Tectaria, Lindsaea, more Trichomanes and Hymenophyllum, and Selaginella; some around rocks, some in wetter, some in drier places— each with its own preference. The juvenile plants of Danaea elliptica growing on the wet ground among roots and rocks were beautifully iridescent, different fronds having bluish, purplish, or vivid greenish colors.
Sometimes it was hard to tell whether a plant belonged to the epiphytic or terrestrial class. Anetium citrifolium on E] Yunque can be found either on low wet rocks or on tree trunks, while Struthiopteris polypodioides grows from ground level to 8 or 10 feet high on the trunk of a tree. The strange, large, oval-leafed plants of Hymen- odium crinitum are mostly half-hearted epiphytes that rarely perch more than five feet from the ground, most of those that I saw being in fact right at the ground level at the base of large trees.
Altogether, on this trip and another, I got 115 different species on the slopes of El] Yunque, and these in an area of perhaps six square miles. There were many that I missed, such as Psilogramme portoricensis, which is an endemic at the top of El Yunque, but I considered my series the spoils of a red-letter day. After I keyed the species, I pressed them in ordinary newspapers by put- ting them between the mattress and the springs of my bed. I had tried this before on another island of the Caribbean and found it to be a fine method. That time there was a Lieutenant somewhat heavier than myself
Lycopopium Hysrips 9
who submitted to sleeping on my finds—glad, he said, to make some contribution to science.
I had one specimen which was very tough, so I put it under the rug in the hope that people walking on it might flatten the leaf-tissue out. The next day I was surprised to find it gone. When I asked about it, the native Puerto Rican who cleaned up the room said he had thrown it away. He then solemnly assured me that it couldn’t have grown there anyway. ‘‘This Ameri- cano,’’ he must have been thinking, ‘‘is ready for an asylum.’’
A trip to El Yunque is an experience that a fern stu- dent used to the Northeastern States can hardly forget. This spot, so easily gotten to from San Juan, offers what amounts to an education in tropical ferns to those who can get there for a hike. I’m grateful for my chance to see this rich fern flora.
Wasuineton, D. C.
Hybrids of the Eastern North American Sub- species of Lycopodium complanatum and L. tristachyum Rosert T. CLAUSEN
When Wiegand and Eames prepared their edition of the ‘‘Flora of the Cayuga Lake Basin’’ (Memoir 92 of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, 1926), they had before them a collection of a puzzling Lycopodium from rich woods on the east bank of Duck Lake, Cayuga County, New York. This was the collee- tion of Eames, Griscom, Metealf, and Wright, no. 5444. In the ‘Flora’? it was listed under ‘‘ L. complanatum var. flabelliforme,’’ but said to resemble typical L. com- planatum, though possibly only a shade form. Out- Standing features of the specimens comprising this col- lection are the lax habit, the type of growth by elonga-
10 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
tion of the branchlets, the spreading tips of the lateral leaves, the elongate narrow ventral leaves, and the sub- terranean rhizomes. In all these respects the plants under discussion differ from typical ‘‘var. flabelliforme.”’ The only detail of resemblance with that variety is the fiattened condition of the lateral stems, but even these
Pitas of stems and leaves of Lyco ee. prin ha ag natum subsp. flabelliforme x L. tristac ri
complanatum subsp. flabelliforme (C). Aida aod oy E Abbe.
On March 26, 1944, while walking in woods on the east Slope of the northernmost of the Caroline Pinnacles, in Tompkins County, New York, and in the drainage area of Cayuga Lake, I noticed a few small colonies of a Lyco- podium which seemed at once distinctive because of the spreading habit of the lateral leaves and the subterranean rhizomes. Clearly this could not be typieal ‘‘L. com-
Lycorpopium Hysrips 11
_ planatum var. flabelliforme.’’ Close inspection revealed that the ventral leaves, instead of being deltoid-attenuate as in ‘‘var. flabelliforme,’’ are linear-subulate. Also the lateral branchlets exhibit annual constrictions, showing that growth has proceeded by elongation of these stems. As my walk continued, I saw hundreds of plants of ‘‘var. flabelliforme,’’ often in great patches, also some L. ob- scurum and one plant of DL. lucidulum. The peculiar club-moss was none of these, nor did it seem to be L. tristachyum, which is usually glaucous and with ap- pressed leaves. Trying to account for the strange plant, I must admit that I entertained the thought that it might be a hybrid of ‘LZ. complanatum var. flabelliforme’’ and L. obscurum or perhaps a peculiar variation of L. sabinae- folium.
Study of specimens in the herbarium of Cornell Uni- versity revealed that the collection from Duck Lake and the plants from Caroline Pinnacles are good matches for each other. Also there are similar specimens from other localities in New York, North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The perplexing nature of these is suggested
y the names on their labels. Though essentially similar, they have been identified variously as ‘Lycopodium complanatum,’? ‘‘L. complanatum var. flabelliforme,’’ and “‘L. tristachyum.’’ Yet they are not exactly the Same as any of these. Actually they combine the char- acteristics of <‘L. complanatum var. flabelliforme”’ and L. tristachyum. Here was a puzzle which required solu- tion. Two explanations appeared possible: Either the Plants constituted a distinct variety associated with one or the other of the two species common in eastern North America or they were hybrids.
The strange specimens are not Dr. House’s Lyco- bodium Habereri, described originally from rich soil in the shade of hemlocks on the town line between Hartford and Kirkland, Oneida County, New York, J. V. Haberer
N JOURNAL
FEI
AMERICAN
Ss = s m4 “1 , ~ ~ oe 8 el om . = _- = n hy & an ‘Ss 3 4 3 = *s a os ms
Tp., Tompkins (¢ right—L. cc
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Bt dus
Lycopopium Hysrips 13
no. 3022. An isotype of this, available in the Cornell herbarium, has the aspect of ‘‘LZ. complanatum var. flabelliforme,’’? but some of the lateral branchlets are indeterminate and a few of the lateral leaves have spread- ing tips. Dr. House? originally described the lateral leaves of L. Habereri as with spreading tips. In this respect and in the condition of the lateral branchlets, the Caroline plants and L. Habereri are similar. In other details there is disagreement. L. Habereri has very small, almost obsolete, ventral leaves, whereas those of the Caroline specimens are well developed, 2 mm. long, and subulate as in L. tristachyum. Also, the Caroline plants are more lax, with a higher percentage of the branchlets indeterminate.
Frére Marie-Victorin? reduced L. Habereri to varietal Status under L. tristachyum. He concluded that it has more characteristics in common with L. tristachyum than with ‘‘L. complanatum var. flabelliforme.’’ Yet, speci- mens from the type collection of L. Habereri are nearer to “‘var. flabelliforme.’’ A series of ten specimens in the United States National Herbarium, all representing Haberer’s no. 3022, the type collection of L. Habereri, are very similar to “‘L. complanatum var. flabelliforme’’ with only a few branchlets indeterminate. The lateral leaves are mostly as in ‘‘var. flabelliforme.’’ The type speci- men itself, preserved in the New York State Museum at Albany, likewise resembles ‘‘var. flabelliforme,’’ differing only in the tendeney for a few of the branchlets to be indeterminate, A plant of this type is illustrated in Tryon et al., Ferns and Fern Allies of Wisconsin, p. 143. Since Warie-Vietorin had referred L. Habereri to varietal Status under L. tristachyum, whereas my identification would place it with ‘‘var. flabelliforme,’’ I suspected that he too might have the strange plant which I had found on Wnt
‘Bull. N. Y. State Museum 176: 36. 1915. ? Contr. Lab. Bot. Univ. Mont. 3: 51-55. 1925.
14 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
the slope of the Caroline Pinnacles. Study of 32 speci- mens of ‘‘ L. tristachyum var. Habereri’’ in the herbarium of the Institut Botanique in Montreal revealed that six are similar to the Lycopodium from Caroline Pinnacles, 23 are typical L. tristachyum, one is typical L. com- planatum, one is ‘‘L. complanatum var. flabelliforme,”’ and one is a mixture of L. tristachyum and ‘‘L. com- planatum var. flabelliforme.’’ The single specimen of *““L. complanatum var. flabelliforme’’ is the only one which matches Dr. House’s type of L. Habereri, for a few of its branchlets are indeterminate
Further trips in the Cayuga Lake Basin resulted in the discovery of more plants like the ones on Caroline Pinnacles. Between April 1 and July 1, 1944, I found additional specimens at four different localities. In all cases the plants had subterranean rhizomes, spreading lateral leaves, and indeterminate branchlets. No remains of old strobili were evident on any of the plants. The specimens appeared to be mature and well established. They cannot be explained as juvenile forms. Rather they seem intermediate between L. tristachyum and “ L. complanatum var. flabelliforme.’’ The hybrid hypothe- sis was considered by Marie-Victorin, but he inclined to think that his specimens were more like L. tristachyum than ‘‘L. flabelliforme,’? a conclusion understandable after study of the specimens in the herbarium at
ontreal.
On July 1, 1944, while collecting in the hills near the headwaters of Six Mile Creek, in Dryden Township,
Tompkins County, New York, I found ‘‘L. complanatum var. flabelliforme,’’ L. tristachyum, and intermediate plants all growing in close association. None of the intermediate plants had young strobili, though the ‘‘ var. flabelliforme’’ and L. tristachyum both had them. The branchlets were mostly indeterminate, but a few were determinate. The growth of the indeterminate branch-
Lycopopium Hyprips ; 15
lets appeared less than in L. tristachyum. These inter- mediate plants were thriving in an open exposed situa- tion in the cut of a power-line which was constructed several years ago. They had the appearance of being hybrids of ‘‘L. complanatum var. flabelliforme’”’ and L. tristachyum. Such hybrids are nothing new to report. Darling* wrote about plants of this type at Hartland,
shire County, Massachusetts. In Europe, Lindquist*® described as ‘‘Z. complanatum var. intermedium’’ plants which he considered to be hybrids of typical L. com- planatum and L. tristachyum. The specimens which he ose appear more like L. tristachyum than a hy-
, however. Porsild® already has discussed Lind- oom S publication and expressed doubt regarding the hybrid nature of his plants.
The relationships of typical Lycopodium complanatum and Professor Fernald’s ‘‘var. flabelliforme’’ require further discussion. Blanchard’ elevated ‘‘var. flabelli- forme’? to the rank of a full species in 1911. In doing this he indicated the distinctive characteristics of “L. flabelliforme’’—the determinate branchlets, the fanlike . appearance of the branches when pressed, the four or five Strobiles, the long peduncles (about 7 cm. long), and the superficial rhizomes. According to him, L. complanatum is to be distinguished by its indeterminate branchlets, its branches not appearing fanlike when pressed, one to three strobiles, shorter peduncles (3-5 em. long), and underground rootstocks. Several recent botanists have Shared Blanchard’s views, among them Marie-Victorin and Wherry. Certainly, extreme plants of the two kinds te,
AMER. FrEern rab 2: 49-53. 1912. PE soxae el URN. 3: ve 1913. 5 Bot. N. ral tig
39- 6 Medd. dapat or Ae 1935. 7 Mhsdoes 3 13: 168-171.
16 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
are readily distinguishable, but not all are extreme. Be- ore me is a suite of nine specimens from localities m Newfoundland, New Brunswick, northern Maine, north- ern New York, Michigan, and Minnesota. All are inter- mediate in the characteristics just cited for separating the supposed species. If we use the indeterminate branch- lets as the sole criterion, all are typical L. complanatum; but already we have noted that L. Habereri, which in other details is typical ‘‘var. flabelliforme,’’ has some branchlets indeterminate. Of the nine intermediates, five have four or more strobili, two have the peduncles 7 em. long or more, two have superficial rootstocks, five have the branches somewhat fanlike, but all have the branchlets indeterminate. Study of thousands of plants of ‘ZL. flabelliforme’’ on the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau reveals that the branchlets are almost always deter- minate. Less than half of one per cent of the branch- lets are indeterminate. The strobili, however, may be as few as two and the peduncles as short as 3.5 em. The rootstocks are usually on the surface. In the condition of the branchlets and rootstocks, the population of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, in fact of the entire Appa- lachian Highlands south of New England, is reasonably constant. Also the tendencies for the strobili to be four or more on a peduncle and for the peduncles to be 6 or more centimeters long are marked. Yet in the northern part of the New England geographical province, in the Adirondack Mountains, and in the northern part of the Central Lowland, transitional specimens occur. Whereas the hybrids of L. tristachyum and ‘‘L. flabellifor me”? rarely produce strobili, the transitional specimens be- tween L. complanatum and “‘L. flabelliforme’’ produce strobili as commonly as do typical plants of either sup-
posed species. Apparently there is no genetical incom-
peor between L. complanatum and ‘‘L. flabelli- orme,’’ whereas there is some incompatibility betwee?
Lycoropium Hyprips 17
“L. flabelliforme’’? and L. tristachyum. This refutes Blanchard’s idea that ‘‘L. flabelliforme’’ is as ee from L. complanatum as is L. tristachyum. Yet “D. flabelliforme’? and L. complanatum do differ from each other in a tangible way. The differences are greater than those which are usually employed for separating varieties. They are clearly of as great importance as those between Botrychium lanceolatum subsp. typicum and subsp. angustisegmentum. Professor Fernald, in handling these rather similar cases, has treated the east- ern American Botrychium as a species, but the Lyco- podium as a variety. The evidence suggests that both ought to be treated similarly. Accordingly, the following new combinations are necessary :
Lycopodium complanatum IL. subsp. complanatum (Ly een stat. nov. Based on L. complanatum L. Sp. Pl. 2: 1104. 1753.
Lycopodium complanatum L. subsp. flabelliforme
ard, Bicaors 13: pte 1911; L. Haberert House, Bull. N. Y. State Mus. 176: 1915; and L. lgsiten hyum var. sagan oe) Vict. ‘Contr. Lab. Bot. Univ. Montreal
The subspecies complanatum is the only variation of the species present in the western part of North America. n the East it oceurs in the Laurentian Upland, in the northern part of the New England geographical province (including the maritime provinces of Canada and north- ern Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont), and the Tug Hill portion of the Appalachian Plateau (near Parkers, Lewis Co., N. Y.); also in the extreme northern part of the central lowinad in Wisconsin. Intergrading speci- mens between subsp. complanatum and subsp. flabelli-
* Tryon et al., Ferns and Fern Allies of Wisconsin, p. 141.
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
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Lycoropium Hysrips 19
forme are found in the New England Province, the Adirondack Mountains, and the northern portion of the Central Lowland, all areas in the periphery of the ranges of the two subspecies. The subspecies flabelliforme is distributed throughout the Appalachian Highlands, ex- cept in the northern part of the New England Province, and in the northern sections of the Central Lowland and , Interior Low Plateaus. Tryon et al.’ also report it from northern Wisconsin, which is in the extreme southwest- ern part of the Laurentian Upland. Hybrids of Lyco- podium complanatum subsp. flabelliforme and Lyco- podium tristachyum occur oceasionally in places where the two species grow together. These plants usually do not produce strobili. They are darker green than L. tristachyum, the rootstocks are subterranean, the branch- lets are mostly indeterminate, the lateral leaves of the branchlets have spreading tips, and the ventral leaves are linear-subulate, 1.2-3 mm. long, intermediate between the condition in the two supposed parents. Experi- mental evidence supporting this hybridization hypothesis is lacking, but observational data suggest this explana- _tion. Besides the published records of Darling from
Hartland, Vt., and Winslow from Berkshire Co., Mass., Specimens appearing like hybrids of L. complanatum Subsp. flabelliforme and L. tristachyum are available as follows :
Que, Aug. 5, 1932, David (Mont.) ; Bois de Filion, Co. de Terrebonne, Que., Sept. 5, 1928, Marie-Vietorin 28240 (Mont.); Piniare des Sulpiciens, Oka, Co. des Deux- agnes, Que, Aug. 24, 1927, (Mont.) ; Rigaud, Co. de Vaudreuil, Que., July 15, 1934, Robert 1171 (Mont.) ; sandy woods northwest of Tripoli, asic ek ee ne Ne ?
* Ferns and Fern Allies of Wisconsin, p. 141-142.
20 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
southern West Fort Ann, Washington Co., N. Y., May 2, 1915, Burnham (CU) ; pine woods, Moreau, Saratoga Co., N. Y., Aug. 30, 1902, Burnham (CU) ; rich woods on east bank of Duck Lake, Cayuga Co., N. Y., June 10, 1916, Eames, Griscom, Metcalf and Wright 5444 (CU) ; upper slope of Cornell woodlot, Carter Creek, town of Newfield, Tompkins Co., N. Y., Aug. 22, 1942, Muenscher 20485 (CU) ; east slope of North Pinnacle, Caroline Township, Tompkins Co., N. Y., Mar. 26, 1944, Clausen 6256 (CU) ; slope along tributary of Six Mile Creek 5 km. south of Dry- den, Tompkins Co., N. Y., April 2, 1944, Clausen 6258; slope north of Thatcher’s Pinnacles, West Danby, Tomp- kins Co., N. Y., April 16, 1944, Clausen and Schuster 6260
N. Y., July 1, 1944, Clausen 6345 (CU); Black Point, Canandaigua Lake, Ontario Co., N. Y., Sept. 18, pit
1922, Wright, Wright, Harper and Pirnie 18 (CU); Mount Mitchell, Yancy Co., N. C., May 3, 1933, Randolph (CU) ; oak wood northeast of Sugarloaf Lake, Kalamazoo Co., Mich., June 30, 1935, Hanes 3775 (Clausen) ; and Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, July 25, 1890, Mearns 2 (CU).
The differences between the subspecies of Lycopodium complanatum, L. tristachyum, and the hybrids of the two species may finally be summarized as in the accompany- ing table.
For the loan of specimens used in the preparation of this paper I desire to express my appreciation to the curators of the following herbaria: Institut Botanique, Université de Montréal, New York State Museum, and United States National Herbarium.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
New TropicaL AMERICAN FERNS 21
New Tropical American Ferns—XV! Wituram R. Maxon HE foo 4 D4
Herewith are descriptions of two new ferns of the genera Oleandra and Dennstaedtia, from the Andes of Colombia. The latter, whose pinnae somewhat resemble those of Saccoloma elegans Kaulf., is outstanding.
Oleandra dura Maxon, sp. nov. hizoma erectum, lignosum, 1 m. altum et ultra, sub- complanatum, ca. 5 mm. latum, parte inferiore modice ramosum, dense adpresso-paleaceum, paleis imbricatis, lanceolato-subulatis, ca. 5 mm. longis, castaneis, paululo infra medium puncto affixis, laxe et tenuiter albido-cili- atis ; phyllopodia 10-15 mm. inter se remota, obliqua, ca. mm. longa; stipites graciles (1 mm. diam.), 7-20 mm.
Puberula et deorsum parce paleacea, paleis divaricatis, e m.
vel bifurcatae, ramis prope marginem callosam 23-30 per
-; Sori medioeres, indusiis orbicularibus, 1 mm. diam., parce pubescentibus et ciliolatis.
Type in the U. 8S. National Herbarium, no. 1,662,606, collected at summit of Cerro Umir, Department of San- tander, Colombia, altitude about 1000 meters, August 11, 1934, by Oscar Haught (no. 1329). A single additional collection from Colombia is at hand: Near Villavicencio, Intendencia de Meta, June 1916, Dawe 254.
Oleandra dura is related to O. Lehmannii Maxon and 0. pilosa Hook., which also have closely spaced vein- branches, However, O. Lehmannii differs notably in its ena
? Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. oe
23 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
long slender phyllopodia, its narrow, strongly coriaceous, glabrous blades, and its glabrous indusia, and O. pilosa is readily distinguished by its broader blades, which are pilose beneath and densely ciliolate, and it long-pilose indusia.
Dennstaedtia arcuata Maxon, sp. nov.
Rhizoma repens, parte praesente ca. 10 em. longa et 8— 10mm. diam. Folia pauca, fortasse 2 vel 3, inter se haud distantia, suberecta, saltem usque ad 1.4 m, longa ; stipites usque ad 65 cm. longi, 5-7 mm. diam., opace brunnes- centes, primum tenuiter et microscopice puberuli, prope basin radices crassas etiam interdum novellam emittentes ; laminae anguste oblongae, usque ad 75 em. longae et 30 (40) em. latae, apice longe acuminatae, basi paulum an-
pulviniformes, sporangiis numerosissimis receptaculo ca. 1 mm. longo transverse lineari-oblongo nigro nitido sitis; indusia pateriformia, textura membranacea et colore ubique aequabilia, latere utroque vix emarginata, inter se connata, integra.
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, nos. 1,144,228 and 1,144,229, a complete frond collected in forest above
1800 to 2100 meters, May 14-19, 1922, by E. P. Killip iar Pirag The following additional material has been studied :
FERN NAMES IN BARTRAM’S ‘‘ TRAVELS” 23
Cotompra: Alto Mercedes, Dept. El] Valle, alt. 2,000 meters, Dryander 2446. La Resina, Dept. Huila, Juzep- czuk 6570.
Peru: Hacienda Ballisteros, Pozuzo, Dept. Huanuco, Bryan 674.
The present species is at once distinguished from other members of Dennstaedtia by its simply pinnate blades. The sori are terminal upon all the veinlets and are crowded against each other in a continuous marginal line, giving an evenly crenulate appearance to the pinnae. The outer half of the large, oval, saucer-shaped indusium is precisely like the proximal portion and is evenly joined to it at either side, contiguous indusia having in fact a common rim at this point. No other species of Denn- staedtia has the sori crowded together in an unbroken line throughout, the nearest approach being in D. grossa Christ, of Costa Rica and western Panama, a plant with huge bipinnate-pinnatifid fronds and suborbicular sori.
Fern Names in Bartram’s ‘‘Travels,” 1791 E. D. Merrini
Doubtless some botanists will agree with Dr. Rickett* that the binomials published in Bartram’s ‘‘Travels’’ (1791) may be ignored, in that the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature provides that names published in other than the binomial form in any post-Linnaean work serve to invalidate the binomials that are included. It is true that Bartram did publish two descriptions Without binomials, utilizing pre-Linnaean descriptive sen- tences. However, I judge that Bartram’s intent was to follow the binomial system, because he used well in excess of 340 different binomials; and even where he proposed Ita ye noe
1 Rickett, H. Ww. Legitimacy of names in Bartram’s ‘‘ Travels.’” Rhodora 46: 389-391. 1944.
24 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
and described new species with short Latin descriptions, the first name being the generic one and the second the specific name, he sometimes used these as strict binomials elsewhere in his work. For those who may not agree with Dr. Rickett, attention is called to the following hitherto overlooked fern names, which do not occur in our stand- ard indices.
Feurx [Fiurx] scanpens Bartr. Trav. 41. 1791.
“*Felix scandens, perhaps a species of Trichomanes; the leaves are palmated, or radiated; it climbs and roves about, on shrubs, in moist ground.’’ Broad River (Ogle- thorpe Co.), Georgia. In edition 2, p. 41 (1792), Felix was corrected to Filiz.
Prerts SCANDENS Bartr. Trav. 478. 1791.
‘Observed near Cambelton a very curious scandent Fern (Pteris scandens) rambling over low bushes in humid situations, the lower larger fronds were digitated, or rather radiated, but towards the tops or extremities of the branches they became trifid, hastated, and lastly lanciolate; it-is a delicate plant, of a doy dares lively green, saa would be an ornament in a garden.’’ Near Fayetteville, North Carolina.
ese two entries merely add to the synonymy of our eastern North American Lygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw. In spite of the fact that the Bartram descriptions are actually earlier than Bernhardi’s, fortunately for the stability of nomenclature the former’s specific name scandens is invalidated in Lygodium by Lygodium scandens (L.) Sw., the latter a widely distributed Old World species.
nce [Fix] Osmunpa Bartr. Trav. 173. 1791. : and here were great quantities of a very large and
beautiful Filex osmunda, growing in great tufts or clumps.’’ Northeastern Florida.
REcENT FERN LITERATURE 25
This name is scarcely worthy of record, as it is a nomen nudum. One suspects that Bartram intended to speak of the ‘‘large and beautful fern, Osmunda’’; but what- ever his intent, he actually published a binomial.
ARNOLD ARBORETUM.
Recent Fern Literature
An extensive investigation of the alkaloids present in species of Lycopodium is under way in the National Re- search Laboratories, Ottawa, Canada. During the past two years four papers on these have been published. Some taxonomic difficulty developed at the outset. Workers in specialized fields of botany, such as ecology, cytology, and phytochemistry, rather naturally tend to feel that infra-specific entities or species segregated by confirmed ‘‘splitters’’ are of no interest to them. This attitude is, however, a mistake; for the variations in morphology on which the taxonomist bases his segregates are intimately related to the phenomena considered in these marginal lines of research. Much past work in the latter by specialists who were supercilious of taxo- nomic quibbling—and at times have not hesitated to say SO—is accordingly of little value and will some day have to be done over. Fortunately in the present instance little reworking will be necessary. The plant studied in the first paper of the series was designated L. compla- natum; then someone called the authors’ attention to taxonomic segregation in this group, and in the third Paper they note that what they had previously studied has now been reidentified as L. flabelliforme. They also Oe
L., o op. cit, 21: 92-96, 1943; IV. Lycopodium tristachyum aarty Op. sit cit. ries 1~4, 1944; V. Lycopodium obseurum L., op. cit. oot
26 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
took steps to have the other plants chemically investi- gated determined by a recognized authority on modern taxonomy.
Lycopodium flabelliforme yielded 8 alkaloids, 6 of them new to science. One was lycopodine, which had been dis- covered 60 years before in European L. complanatum; another was nicotine, here reported for the first time in a pteridophyte. The latter alkaloid was found to be present also in Equisetum arvense.
The same number of alkaloids were obtained in L. annotinum, but there were certain differences ; the most abundant was a new compound, to which the name an- notinine is given, while lyeopodine was present in lesser amounts, and nicotine was not recognizable.
In L. tristachyum there were but 5 alkaloids, with lyeopodine the principal one, along with some nicotine and minute amounts of three others, apparently new. Chemically, then, this species is not so close to L. flabelli- forme as the morphology might have led one to expect.
The last report covered in the present review concerned what was identified as L. obscurum var. dendroidewm. This yielded lycopodine and one named obscurine, which
ad also been found in minor amounts in the earlier studied species; there was one not as yet named which had also been present in L. tristachyum, and two new compounds different from those in any other species.
Reports on additional species are promised. On read- ing these articles, the thought naturally oceurred, Wouldn’t it be interesting to have similar studies made on some of the intermediates between recognized species which have given taxonomists so much difficulty, and are usually ignored? But a restriction soon came to light: The amounts of material used in these studies ranged from 15 to 103 kilograms of dried plant. Alas, few of the critical infra-specific entities grow by the kilogram !—E.T.Wuerry.
bo ~]
AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY
American Fern Society Report of the President for 1944
Because of continuing war conditions the Society has again had a quiet year. An attempt was made to hold a meeting at Cleveland in September, in connection with the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- ence; but, as none of our officers proved able to attend and no one locally could be found to take charge of ar- rangements, the attempt was abandoned. The Journal, though somewhat reduced in size, has not suffered any decline in quality and has, as usual, supplied good, read- able, and well edited matter, varied enough to serve the different interests of our members.
The Treasurer has been notified of a bequest of $1,000 to the Society by the late Miss Amy E. Lillibridge, long amember. Such expression of confidence is indeed heart- ening ; our one regret is that we cannot thank the donor.
The Society ends the year in much better financial con- dition than at the beginning. This is the result of in- creased sales of back numbers of the JoURNAL, accom- plished largely by Dr. Maxon’s persuasive efforts. So far, purchases have been mostly by institutions; we are now endeavoring to stimulate sales to individuals. As yet, it is too early to estimate results; but in any case, such sales cannot be expected to continue at the present, or any given, level, and are in the nature of a temporary expedient. In order to insure the permanent increase of income required to meet added expenses of printing, more members are needed. An effort is now being made to obtain them, using the entire present membership as 4 committee of the whole for the purpose. So far, results have been encouraging, as noted in the Secretary’s re- Port, but again it is too soon for final appraisement. It 18, however, eminently fitting and hopeful that the work
28 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
will go on under the leadership of Dr. Fagley, who sug- gested the method being used.
There remains for me only the pleasure of acknowl- edging, with deep gratitude, the cordial, kindly, and effective support I have received from officers and mem- bers of the Society during my term of office. I extend to them all, and especially to my successor, confident good wishes for the future.
C. A. Weatuersy, President
Report of the Secretary for 1944
During the year just closed the list of new members has been impressively large—thirty-four; but we have lost the same number, so the membership stands as at the beginning of 1944. This is, I believe, a record to be proud of in war-time.
Eight of our members were lost by death, including two Life Members, Dr. Dow and Mr. Gruber. We shall miss, indeed, such long-time members as Mr. Burnham, who joined the Society in 1897, and Miss Corne and Mr.
idlon, who came in the early nineteen hundreds.
For many of you this will be remembered as the ‘‘year of the late ballots.’’? Shortly after the nominations were received, all ballots were posted at the same time in one- and-one-half cent open mail, according to usual proce- dure. Under normal circumstances they should hav reached their destinations in ample time to have the votes returned by the date indicated. Under the pressure of war-time duties and Christmas mail the postal service doubtless did its best. This experience, however, points the need for sending ballots by first-class mail, even at some additional cost for postage.
Sincere thanks are extended to the many members wh? so generously cooperated in sending in the names of friends. The number who so contributed to the welfare
AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY 29
of the Society is too long to be covered by individual letters, but our appreciation of the help is very sincere. It indeed gives a ‘‘lift’’ to the soul to get such a demon- stration of interest and responsibility. Respectfully submitted, Exsig G. WHITNEY, Secretary
Report of the Treasurer for 1944 The financial condition of the Fern Society is somewhat better than anticipated a few months ago. This is owing largely to the sale of several sets of the JourNAL, which has brought in approximately $300.00 more than was received from this source during the preceding year. The ‘‘Complete Your Set’’ circulars which were sent out in the fall we expect will keep up the financial response. The cash on hand, $310.04, compares very favorably with $129.41 which the Society had a year ago. Two gifts in cash, one for $25 and another for $5.00, were made anonymously during the past year, and a gift of books was received for which we have assigned a value of $11.84. We also have a new Life Membership given
by one of our members to another member. The treasurer wishes to thank all the members for their
cooperation. The financial report follows:
Receipts Amount Sub-Total Total Cash on hand Jan. 1, 1944 2.000 vem $ 129.41
1938-1941 oar Arrears detaes $ 6.00 $ 6.00 1942 Membership Arrears ......c000o- 4.50 4.50 1943 “ppnow Arr ieee Sees 30.00 30.00 1944 ership Bonus 355.40 saan woe Members oon. 31.50 386.90
45 Membershi j Breer 16.54 1945 New Me oar ee 18.00 34.54 1943 Subseription Arrears 00.» 1.25 1.25 1944 Subscription Renewals ............. 72.86 ie New Subscribe 13.75 86.61
5 Subseri tion ever 71.66 1945 New Su tate Wad GoTo ODE ses sk 8.7. 80.41
15 1946 Sabectonton Eenewa Prem 93 93
30
Life Membersh on of back numbers A of Shas
“SB. No.
Sale of A. ey Guinan. Index el Cenghy eo Gift (books), ae F.J. back numbers ......
1944 Adve rtisin
eprints .
Transferred from Bissell Herbarium ‘und
sbeeneesoageees
a Transferred to rhikrwana 4 AD. » Transferred to Reserve Fund. ¢ Transferred to eet Abe, No. 2.
Cash on hand ...... $310.0. In Spee. t
Now 1 510.30 In Spee. A.
Na. S . 80.91 In Reserve Fund 228.26 $1129.51 Notes Receivable .. 1,00 Aecets. Receivable ... _ 37.80
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
25.00 25.00 366.3 366.33 1.00 1.00 50 50 30.00 30.00 11.84 11.84 4.0 4.00 3.98 43.98 0.00 10.00 $1123.79 $1253.20 11.84 112.9 25.00 $ 149.80 $1103.40 $576.32 17.60 43.98 39.72 12.57 26.98 29.00 | 19.19 8.00
10.00 10.00 $ 793.36 |
$ 310.04
Liabil Capital Acct. ws 063.17 emb. oo 36.54
945 1945-1946 Sub-
AMERICAN FERN Society 31
Inventory A.F.J. ... 500.00 Life Memb. A.F.S. Library Wands sles 80.91 Ceeekay oo .. 196.20 CRTC Suspense Dr. 1945- $1872.26 46 Agency Com. 7.75 $1872.26
Respectfully submitted, Henry K. Svenson, Treasurer
Report of the Auditing Committee
The undersigned have checked all the receipts and ex-
penditures of the American Fern Society for 1944 and
nd the Treasurer’s statement correct. We call to the notice of the Society that our recommendation of a year ago, that the valuation of the back numbers of the AMERICAN FERN JouRNAL, listed in the Assets column as Inventory A.F.J. (back numbers) be reduced to $500.00, has been entered in this report.
We wish to again express our high appreciation to Dr. Svenson and his staff, who have given careful attention to the work of the Treasurer’s office.
ArtHuR H. GRAVES Water § Auditing Committee
Report of the Judge of Elections The tabulation of votes in the recent balloting for offi- cers of the American Fern Society for 1945 is as follows:
For President
Dr. Frederick L. Fagley 0-0: 62
Herbert W. Dole 1 For Vice-President
Joseph Ewan 63 For Secretary
Mrs. Elsie G. Whitney 2-000 63
DY. Ti, Ts, Blowiiet 1
For Treasurer Dr. H
32 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
I therefore declare the following nominees elected: President, Dr. Frederick L. Fagley; Vice-President, Joseph Ewan; Secretary, Mrs. Elsie G. Whitney; Trea- surer, Dr. Henry K. Svenson.
Respectfully submitted, H. Know ton, Judge of Elections
New MEMBERS
Mr. Ross W. Baker, 734 High St., Dedham, eo meinen
Mrs. J. Barry Baxter, 300 Lighthouse Road, Wilm ington, Delaware Dr. Lyman Benson, Pomona College, Claremont, Califor
Mr. Cecil Billington, 21060 Thirteen Mile Road, Bien, Mich-
Me Wiliam ar on 1000 epee oe Ave., Brooklyn 25, New York
om ey k, Lincoln M 1 Unive rsity, Harro ogate Tennessee
7M. "Holketer, “1302 Stratford Rd., Schenectady 8, New York
a Florence Koeni niger apes Park Lane South, Woodhaven 21, mi Island, New Yor
Mrs Ger Kovache ff, 4034 Highland Ave., Kansas City 4, Missouri
Mr. ee ussell Mason, 1376 Walnut St., Newton Highlands 61,
Mr. Bernie Thomas Merritt, Corinth St. Rd., Dallas 16, Texas Miss ri E. Nolin, P. O. Box 1, Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania | Mrs. tis i he Box 74, Seiki, Contra Costa Co., California A Shuhaibar, American University of Beirut, Beirut, lekenon: cha gp ie, Syria Miss Eleanor E. Whitcomb, 12 Middle St., Concord, Massachusetts
CHANGES oF ADDRESS
Mr. Bill Bauer, 133 N. Old Orchard, Webster Groves 19, Missouri nate Kathleen S. Boyd, 2 Riverside Drive, Nelsonville, Ohio
ucy Braun, R. R. 13, Box 41C, Cincinnati 30, Ohio Col, “Toba P. Carroll, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Vir-
inia Mr. age mas 8S. Constantine, 72 Terrace, Katonah, New Yor Dr. ee P asec 9202 Old Bladensburg Road, Silver Spring,
me Lt. tlonen s W. omer 2 0534164, Squadron F, Clovis Army Air Mrs. E. M. Foote, To i st 40th Street, any York 16, New York
le
r. C. F. Jehlen, 16 Livingston Ave or
Miss Elsie M. Kittredge, 11 Kendall Ave., Rutland, Ve serene . R. H. McCauley, 6209 Kenwood Road, Little Rock, Arka
Mr. Thomas W. MeCo oy, Hickman High Bchool, Hickman, Kentucky Mrs. E. C. Ogden, 20 Myrtle St., Orono, Mr. George H. Peters, 631 San ett St. anicn: Nastele Ee Mr. J. A. Schuurman, 360 North Michigan Ave., Chica Miss Mary F. Wright, 538 Locust Ave., Germantown, PL iigsenghad
44, lvania
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Vol. 35 April-June, 1945 No. 2
American Fern Journal
A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO FERNS Published by the AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY
ad
EDITORS WILLIAM R. MAXON
R. C. BENEDICT Cc. V. MORTON IRA L. WIGGINS Fd
CONTENTS Elizabeth Billings and Her Fern aries Lstie M. KirrrepGe 33
Observed Characteristics of ae multifidum eidense W.L. Dix 37
Schizaea pusilla from Ontario................ Husert H. Brown 40
Fern Collecting in Southern Costa Rica ALEXANDER F, SxutcH 41
A New Species of Isoetes from Colombia...C. V. Morton 48
Campyloneuram Phyllitidis in sie oape _— x D, HAwxkes 50
Shorter Notes: Abundance of —— fe Oklahoma;
Great Britain; New Stations for Equisetum laevigatum proliferum.
* §2 Recent Fern Literature 57 “American Fern Society 64
(aaa aaieheeet ee
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Ghe American Fern Society
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Amvriran Fern Journal
Vou. 35 APRIL-JUNE, 1945 No. 2
Elizabeth Billings and Her Fern Garden Eustm M. Kirrreper
After a brief illness, Miss Elizabeth Billings, of Wood- stock, Vermont, and New York City, died in her Wood- stock home, September 10, 1944. She was not quite 74 years old. Although never in good health, she had great energy and will power to accomplish what she desired to do, and thus concealed her frailty, so that her sudden collapse was a great shock to her friends.
Miss Billings was interested in all phases of nature and Was an acknowledged authority on the birds of Wood- Stock and vicinity. In her youth she was an ardent ama- teur botanist and made a special study of the grasses found on the Billings estate and elsewhere in Woodstock. Later she started collecting all the ferns, fern allies, and flowering plants of the vicinity, limiting the collecting area to a six-mile radius from the center of Woodstock village. The mounted specimens were arranged in spe- cially constructed cases, and for many years were dis- Played in two rooms in the D. A. R. chapter-house at Woodstock. In September, 1943, Miss Billings presented the herbarium to Dartmouth College, and it is now on exhibition in the College Museum.
_ Miss Billings’ chief botanical interest was in ferns; it was a great pleasure to her that a large proportion of the New England species were to be found on the hill, Known as Mount Tom, which is part of the Billings estate. Not only do the usual ferns grow there abun- dantly , but since 1920 some very interesting varieties and TN
[Volume 35, No. 1, of the JOURNAL, pages 1-32, was issued April 11, 1945.) :
33
34 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
forms of the common species have been located there. Some time prior to 1900 Miss Billings established a fern garden near her house. Here were planted all the com- mon ferns of the region and some of the rare ones found elsewhere in the state. Also she brought fern plants from the foreign countries in which she traveled. This fernery attracted many visitors. For a number of years after 1909 she was unable to superintend its care, and the more delicate ferns were killed by the growth of the sturdy ones and by the weeds which soon became rampant. So in 1928 a new fern garden was started at some distance from the first. As in the old garden, colonies of the common ferns were planted, and each group was provided with a bronze tag bearing the com- mon name of the fern.
In this fernery, brought over from the old one, were two plants of the Ruggles Fern, Osmunda regalis forma orbiculata Clute, a peculiar form of the American Royal Fern found by Byron P. Ruggles on his Hartland farm some time previous to 1900. Mr. Ruggles gave crowns of his fern to Miss Billings and other fern-lovers soon after it was described in the Fern Bulletin; so there are plants in several gardens, and the original clump is still growing in the Hartland pasture. There were also two plants of the striking form of the Interrupted Fern found by Mrs. W. E. Mack at Bridgewater Corners, and named for her Osmunda Claytoniana forma Mackiana Kittredge. Mrs. Mack’s station was totally destroyed by road work following the flood of 1927; so far as is known these two plants are the only ones now in existence. <A plant con- forming in all particulars to Mrs. Mack’s was found South Londonderry some years ago by Mrs. Chisholm and Miss Jenkins and set in the lovely Chisholm fern garden, but for some reason it either reverted or did not live, aS it cannot be located in the garden now.
BILLINGS FERN GARDEN 35
Other rare, or at least uncommon, ferns in the Billings garden included the lovely crested Lady-fern, Athyrium angustum forma cristatum (Hopkins) Broun, each plant producing one or more heavily fruiting fronds each year, and a dwarf crested Lady-fern found on Mount Tom more than 50 years ago but still not identified, though Suspected to be a European form. None of its fronds have exceeded nine inches in length, and there never have been any fertile ones. Also there are several plants of Lady-fern which may be called Athyrium angustum forma elegans (Gilbert) Butters, although they differ Somewhat from each other. It may be said in passing that, although Lady-ferns are the commonest ferns to be found in Woodstock, it would seem that no two plants are alike. The Ragged Lady-fern, Athyrium angustum forma laciniatum Butters, grows in two widely separated places on Mount Tom ; but the plant set in the fernery from the first colony found did not live, and so no others were removed from the woods. Three plants of Poly- stichum acrostichoides forma Gravesii Clute were found m 1927 and two more taken to the fernery, where they Promptly reverted; at least, when they were sought for removal to the new fernery they were as plain as plain, and at first it was thought to cast them out. Fortunately, however, they were transplanted and marked with care, for in 1938 one plant bore two sterile fronds showing Gravesii characteristics and has continued to produce Such fronds ever since. Both plants bore fine fertile fronds when found, as is evidenced by several herbarium Specimens, but none have appeared since. The second Plant has remained ‘‘plain’’; perhaps it will wake up Some day. The plant left in the woods disappeared ; whether it died or was stolen is not known.
: Several plants of Christmas Fern bearing fronds with I the pinnae forked or crested are in the Christmas Fern
36 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
group. Some plants of the Fragile Bladder-fern with crested fronds were brought to the fern garden from a hill some distance from the Billings estate but within the six-mile radius ; they grew well for several years, but then disappeared—we think because of an unusual sheet of ice which remained until very late in the spring. A lovely variety of the Male-fern was found in the old fernery and transferred to the new garden. When ques- tioned, Miss Billings had no idea where it came from or how it got into her garden. Mr. Weatherby determined it as ‘‘Lastrea Filix-mas var. abbreviata Babingt.,”’ a European form; so presumably Miss Billings brought it home from some place in Europe and forgot all about it. In 1939 three plants of an attractive crested form of Dryopteris spinulosa var. intermedia were found on the hill near the house. The colony was left undisturbed ; all three individuals grew well and produced the tasseled fronds, some of them heavily fruited, each year.
During the summer of 1944, Miss Billings had ar- ranged to send to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden plants of Mrs. Mack’s fern and some other rare forms. Soon after her death, since there was no longer anyone especially interested in ferns or the fern garden, the Mack Fern, one plant of the Ruggles Fern, and seven other unusual forms of common species were sent to the Garden. The second Mack Fern, one of the crested Lady-ferns, and one erested Spinulose-fern were given to Mr. Rugg of Han- over, New Hampshire. The second Ruggles Fern and some other good plants were sent to Mrs. H. E. Hoselton, of Taftsville, Vermont; Mrs. Arthur Doubleday, of Woodstock, received one of the crested Lady-ferns. : is is expected that some of the plants most valued by Miss Billings will be well cared for by these friends of hers who are also devoted to ferns.
RUTLAND, VERMONT.
re re ee ee ee pa en
BOTRYCHIUM MULTIFIDUM VAR. ONEIDENSE 37
Observed Characteristics of Botrychium multifidum var. oneidense
W. hb. De
Whether one subscribes to the interspecific hybridity
theory’ of Dr. Robert T. Clausen for Botrychium multi- dum var. oneidense, or prefers to accept the ‘‘ persistent
juvenile state’’ of Dr. E. T. Wherry? as the solution of this variety’s relation to the species of its immediate group, the observation that it appears to exhibit a lesser degree of fertility than the other members of its group deserves further consideration. Not that this statement is not correct, for if one bases his opinion of the degree of fertility of plants on the number of fertile individuals observed, one is likely to conclude that var. oneidense is less fertile than either B. dissectum or B. obliquum. Whether this apparent condition of var. oneidense is the result of hybridity or not, it will be worth while to notice other causes of sterility, and to discover also whether this variety reproduces in sufficient quantity for self-per- petuation.
In the first place, var. oneidense is a plant of the woods, and is seldom found in open fields. Insufficient sunlight is a common cause of sterility among most plants. On the other hand, B. dissectum and B. obliquum grow in Many different habitats; but when they grow in woods and thickets, in my dhncebations, they exhibit even less fer- tility than var. oneidense. In recent counts in southern Bucks County, Pennsylvania—one in a dry situation and another in wet. soil—out of well over a hundred plants only one had a fertile spike. On the average these plants were fully grown and mature. If the lack of sunlight
Produces this effect on plants of the parent generation, (Signer oe
: ? This JourNaL 34: 2. 1944. Wherry, E. T., Guide to Eastern Ferns, 21. 1937.
38 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
what must be its effect on theoretical hybrids and juveniles?
That var. oneidense has ample fertility for self-propa- gation is evidenced by the large number of younger plants .frequently growing around a fertile parent. Often some six to ten such plants of various ages can be seen, which is certainly doing well for hybrids and juve- niles. I have not noticed such a striking condition with either B. dissectum or B. obliquum, but have occasionally found it with B. multifidum.
It is also quite possible that the later ripening of spores, usually advanced as evidence against the classi- fication of var. oneidense with B. multifidum, may be in part the result of its shade-loving habit. In Wayne County, Pennsylvania, raspberries (Rubus strigosus) are frequently ripe in open sunlight the first of July, but in the woods they ripen from three weeks to a month later.
Other supposed characters of var. oneidense are the thinness of the blade and the less coriaceous segments. Again, these are ordinary features of plants growing
e. But when specimens of var. oneidense growing under similar conditions with other plants of its imme- diate group are examined and measurements of thickness are made, considerable doubt is raised about the ‘‘thin- ness of the blade’’ character. Some time ago I began to believe from field observations that this supposed char- acter was somewhat legendary, having been handed down from one taxonomist to another. The thinness and the texture of the blades do vary with the habitat, shade
forms of Botrychium always being relatively thinner —
than those growing in sunlight.
In a recent measurement of the blades of B. multt- fidum, B. dissectum, and var. oneidense from the same locality and similar environment, and having about the
BOTRYCHIUM MULTIFIDUM VAR. ONEIDENSE 39
same degree of development, the results, although not conclusive, do show interesting trends. The plants were collected at approximately the same period and kept in a preserving fluid till examined. Sections were made from corresponding areas away from the veins and edges and near the middle of the blades. Measurements were made both from the basal and the apical region of ulti- mate segments of each specimen. Although the thickness was greater in the basal areas, the same relative results appeared. The averages are as follows, the unit of mea- surement being one division of the ocular micrometer: var. oneidense 21, B. multifidum 18, and B. dissectum 17. Although it is evident that this single test proves little positively, it does show that the old story about the rela- tive thinness of var. oneidense should be omitted from taxonomic discussion of this group till further examina- tion of material from similar environments is made.
Another consideration affecting the taxonomic position of var. oneidense is the difficulty in separating this va- riety not from B. obliquum, but rather from B. multi- fidum var. silaifolium. In a group of plants such as Botrychium, where so many of the taxonomic distinctions are related to differences in the shape and cutting of the sterile blade, it seems a little inept to disregard this fea- ture entirely in the case of the too-much-orphaned var. oneidense.
The purport of these observations is that: (1) The theoretical sterility and the comparative thinness of the
ade of var. oneidense may be due to environment rather than to hybridity or a juvenile condition; (2) in reality the plant under discussion is sufficiently fertile for self-
Propagation ; (3) actual measurements tend to disprove _ the
“thinness of the blade’’ characteristic; and (4) the evidence of its closer relationship to B. dissectum than to
|B. multifidum has become rather feeble.
Morrisvitte, PENNSYLVANIA.
40 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Schizaea pusilla from Ontario, Canada Husert H. Brown
Quite recently I have received from Mr. E. A. Moxley, among a number of other ferns, a folder with three mounted specimens of Curlygrass (Schizaea pusilla Pursh), which were collected by him at Sauble Beach. Bruce County, in July, 1928. These ferns, done up in a package, were inadvertently left in the house in Owen Sound at the time of Mr. Moxley’s removal to Toronto, many years ago now, and only lately were discovered by the present occupant and forwarded to Mr. Moxley, who on March 16th last presented them to me. As there is no possibility of misidentification, I think it desirable that a record of this station should be made.
A friend of mine here, who knows the New Jersey pine barrens, assures me that the habitat there could be dupli- cated at Sauble Beach, which he also knows very well. This Sauble Beach area is a flat stretch of sandy soil along about six miles of the shore of Lake Huron at the southwest end of the peninsula of Bruce County. There are several lines of dunes, between which are strips of shallow water. Back of the first dune Juniperus com-. munis var. depressa and J. horizontalis are quite abun- dant, and then the woods of white cedar and poplar.
The stations in Nova Scotia and Bruce County would be about equal in distance from New Jersey, and the New- foundland station about twice the distance; but Bruce County is inland, while all other stations are coastal. In this disjunct distribution there is the somewhat parallel case of Cheilanthes siliquosa Maxon, a species of the Rocky Mountain region westward, which was eathered by Dr. Ami near Durham, Grey County, in 1883, but has not been reported from Ontario since; incidentally this locality is only about 25 miles from the Schizaea at Sauble
sa jadilhicind cg” eimai sig ileal
FERN COLLECTING IN Costa RICA 41
Beach. In the East, Cheilanthes siliquosa is otherwise well known from the Gaspé region, Quebec. Toronto, ONTARIO.
Fern Collecting in Southern Costa Rica ALEXANDER F. SkuTCH
That large section of Costa Rica which lies to the south of San José, its capital city, is nearly all wild, mountain- ous, sparsely inhabited, forested country. The backbone of the region is the non-voleanic Cordillera de Talamanca, which rises in the craggy summits of Chirrip6 (12,580 feet) to the most elevated point between Guatemala and Colombia. On the highest treeless summits of this range are found the northernmost outposts of the pdramo for- mation of the Andes; corresponding elevations in Guate- mala support a vegetation far more Arctic-alpine than Andean in composition and appearance. The broken foothills of the Cordillera push down nearly or quite to the coasts, leaving at best a narrow coastal plain. Lofty, humid forests sweep up almost unbroken from the sea- shore nearly to the tops of the highest mountains. AlI- though to the north of the Gulf of Nicoya the Pacific coast of Central America is nearly everywhere arid or semi-arid, in southern Costa Rica this side is almost as wet as the opposite Caribbean slope. Seven years’ records from Pedregoso in the basin of El General show an annual rainfall ranging from 88 to 167 inches.’
The Pacifie slopes of the Cordillera de Talamanca
drain into the Rio Grande de Térraba, which flows for a
long way parallel to the Cordillera. The upper portion of the Térraba Valley is the valley, or more properly
basin, of El General. Aside from the pioneer explora- “Be aarnyet ee eT
* For these records I am indebted to Don Isaias Retana, of Pedregoso,
42 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
tions of Henry Pittier and Adolfo Tonduz, made chiefly during the nineties of the last century, very little natural history work has been done in any portion of the Térraba Valley. Despite heroie efforts, these botanical collectors obtained hardly more than a sample of the rich flora of the region.
In 1935, when I decided to combine botanical collect- ing with ornithological studies in Costa Rica, the Térraba Valley was still difficult to reach by the usual modes of travel. The highways leading south from the central plateau went no farther than Santa Maria de Dota and El Copey, and except for a few months during the dry season even these roads were impassable by any vehicle swifter than an ox-cart. From Santa Maria to San Isidro del General, near the head of the Térraba Valley, there was still a two- or three-day journey over a difficult mountain trail crossing El Cerro de la Muerte (11,200 feet)—the Mountain of Death, so called because so many travellers, who came out of the mild valleys with nothing more adequate than a coffee sack to cover them on the high, bleak summit, made here their final bivouac. The highway builders at present struggling to pass the Inter- American Highway over this grim, gray peak have still other reasons for thinking the name appropriate
At the time of which I write, people had lanl begun »
to talk about the highway. A year or so earlier, an avia- tion company had begun service between San José and the Térraba Valley. This offered a quick and, eveTy- thing considered, cheap way of getting there. The aero plane left San José early in the morning, carrying 15 people and a heterogeneous cargo of barbed-wire fencing, tins of kerosene, sacks of bread, bales of merchandise, and a little calf tied up in a sack with only his hea
exposed. Mounting above the low buildings of the eapi- tal, we enjoyed a wonderful panorama of the chain of
FERN COLLECTING IN Costa RIcA 43
voleanoes to the north—huge, sprawling Irazi, extinct Barba, and Pods with two crater lakes in its truncate summit. But our route lay in the opposite direction, and soon we were soaring above the nearest of the steep mountains that rise sharply on the southern edge of the narrow central plateau. At first we flew over a broken terrain completely denuded of forest from narrow valley
to sharp ridge. Coffee plantations occupied the sheltered valleys and open pastures covered the ridges, along which Tan roads of red clay.
The clearings rapidly disappeared, and a dark green Mantle of forest was spread over all the rugged country, meeting the blue plain of the Pacific on our right, and rising on our left to the péramos of the peaks, still high abov eus. Here and there a long, white column of fall- mg water shot out from some more abrupt slope and descended gracefully into the green depths of a mountain
44 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
gorge. Ag we continued for about a half-hour over this impressively wild, unspoiled country, I concluded that it was better to be flying easily over it than toiling by muddy trails across its endless sharp ridges and V-shaped valleys. After a while, the solid ranks of the mountains divided into two columns—the high craggy peaks of the Cordillera to the left, and the rounded, green summits of the coastal range to the right. Between them the broad Térraba Valley stretched far away toward the southeast, covered with a fleecy white blanket of mist.
The landing field, then about two miles from San Isidro, was in the midst of an extensive, open, rather sterile plain. The road to the village led between bushy fields, enclosed pastures, and stretches of unspoiled forest. I saw much of the two most abundant ferns of the region, the first being the ubiquitous—and iniquitous !—bracken, which covers whole fields with an almost impenetrable tangle far more than head-high. It jumps up again with redoubled fury when burned or cut, and is one of the most troublesome weeds with which the Costa Rican farmer has to contend. The bracken is strictly confined to cleared lands and is never seen in primary forest, where its place is taken—in point of abundance, at least—by a climbing fern, Salpichlaena volubilis, whose fronds twine about saplings and small trees in the undergrowth, ascending to a height of about 20 feet and forming dense tangles. The primary divisions of the fronds are pin- nately compound and resemble somewhat the leaves of the ash or sumach. One cannot walk through the forests of El General without being tripped and entangled by the cordlike stipes of Salpichlaena. A more agreeable fern growing in the forests in this vicinity is the rare Lophidium elegans, a relative of Schizaea and Lygodwm, whose little flabelliform blades stand up on clustered stipes in the shade.
peanicicimtill” sitar ene” ea eas a ee
FERN COLLECTING IN Costa RICA 45
I established my headquarters at Rivas, about 6 miles to the north of San Isidro, on the tumultuous Rio Bueno Vista at an altitude of 2,900 feet. Although agricultural operations had begun to encroach upon the lofty forests on the steep slopes that hemmed in the valley, a great deal still remained; and a ten-minute walk brought me to unbroken primeval woodlands so extensive that I never explored them to their end. In a region so heavily forested as this, ferns did not form so prominent a con- Stituent of the whole mass of vegetation as they did, for example, in the far lighter woodland on the upper slopes of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, where I first collected tropical ferns. Yet by careful searching one could find a satisfying variety of them. The massive ‘‘sotacaballo’’ trees (Pithecolobium) on the banks of the river were nearly always laden with epiphytes of the most varied kinds, ranging from mosses, liverworts, and filmy ferns, through orchids, aroids, bromeliads, and larger ferns to epiphytic trees such as figs, Clusia, Coussapoa, and Cosmibuena. On the trunks erew Asplenium fragrans, A, auritum, and Polypodium pectinatum, while hanging limply below the horizontal branches were the cordlike fronds of Vittaria filifolia and V. stipitata, and also the broad, soft, pinnate fronds of Polypodium chnoodes.
ack in the forest grew Hemitelia multiflora, a rather abundant small tree-fern, with a slender, spiny caudex reaching about 10 feet in height, and broad, finely divided fronds. On the tree trunks, especially near the ground, were found Trichomanes polypodioides, T. rigidum, and a new species of Polypodium, as yet undescribed. These forests above Rivas had an average height of about 125 eet, with many trees towering still higher. As in heavy forest almost everywhere, trees that in their blossom-time made a colorful display were a disappointingly small minority ; and in the understory there was even less color
46 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
than at the roof. In general there were few species of terrestrial ferns, although some of these were monoto- nously abundant, such as the Adiantwm-like Lindsaeas (L. horizontalis, L. lancea, and L. quadrangularis). Juvenile plants of Salpichlaena were a principal con- stituent of the ground cover.
Patient examination of a mossy tree trunk yielded the delightful little fern Hecistopteris pumila, whose dichoto- mous fronds were scarcely over half an inch in length when full grown. Even more interesting was a dwarf ‘‘Hart’s-tongue’’ whose pilose fronds, rooting at the tip in the fashion of the Walking-fern of our northern cliffs, gave rise to new plants, and so formed extensive mats over the tree trunks. This proved to be a new species,
which was aptly named Elaphoglossum proliferans Maxon —
& Morton. Another interesting ‘‘ Walking-fern’’ of the region was Leptochilus cladorrhizans, a terrestrial species ‘whose tall, elegantly divided fronds have long, tail-like tips that strike root where they touch the ground and produce new individuals. Much rarer was Leptochilus Bradeorum, with trifoliolate fronds, which seems re- stricted to the deepest and most humid ravines.
Although the forested slopes were rather unproductive collecting ground for ferns, these grew in the greatest pro- fusion in glens and deep ravines. Here were such tall, wide-spreading, terrestrial species as Dryopteris Link- iana, D. exculta var. guatemalensis, D. subincisa, Di- plazium obscurum, D. grandifolium, Asplenium absers- sum, and Tectaria Sodirot.
One of the most interesting excursions I made from Rivas was to the first high summit on the eastern side of the valley, on the divide between the Buena Vista and Chirrip6 Rivers. The forest trail was so wretchedly muddy, now in early December at the end of the long wet season, that I forsook it to continue upward through
—— ee
FERN COLLECTING IN Costa RIcA 47
the trackless forest. Progress was at first difficult through the undergrowth and over fallen logs; but soon we came to a ridge that was narrow and steeply ascending and covered with tall slender Euterpe palms almost to the exclusion of other arborescent vegetation. This broad avenue of palms led us directly to the summit, where
the aneroid barometer registered 5,000 feet. On this flat mountain top many trees of Clusia flava, about 25 feet ugh, grew among the palms. They were just coming into blossom, and their broad white flowers—the staminate ones nearly two inches wide—shed a delightful fragrance over the whole mountain top. Beneath the palms and Clusias the ground was thickly carpeted with sphagnum, in which grew the curious fern Oleandra costaricensis. This is found, at least at lower elevations, chiefly as an epiphyte on the trunks of trees, but here the slender, rod-
48 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
like stems, covered with brown scales, rose obliquely out of the moss. Some were eight feet long, and supported themselves on the bifid leaves of Carludovica and other vegetation. Other ferns abundant near the summit were Polypodium fraxinifolium and Cyathea divergens, a tree- fern with a caudex 18 feet high and drooping fronds 10 feet long.
Although my original intention had been to spend only five or six months amid these forests, I stayed in my cabin at Rivas for a year and a half, and later worked for ten months in two other portions of the basin of El] General. But my collections do not contain a complete representa- tion of the ferns, nor of any other section of the flora. Many years of steady collecting would be necessary to
complete our knowledge of the plants of this rich and
varied region. When finally opened to traffic, the Inter- American Highway will enable botanists to collect with
ease and comfort in this and other parts of tropical America hitherto difficult of access. Rich rewards in new species await those who first take advantage of the unique opportunities for collecting the highway will afford ; but to be most effective the work should be done promptly, for despite a good deal of conservation talk, the original vegetation along the route of the road will doubtless rapidly vanish.
San Istpro pEL GENERAL, Costa Rica
A New Species of Isoetes from Colombia’ C. V. Morton The genus Isvetes is represented in South America by about 22 species, almost all of which are rare and know? from only one or two localities. The five species thus far known from the northern Andes are: J. Karstenii A. Br.
: 1 Bho sa by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian nsti
A NEw ISOETES FROM COLOMBIA 49
(Venezuela), I. triquetra (Eeuador), I. ecuadoriensis Asplund (Ecuador), I. pacifica Svenson (Ecuador), and I. Lechleri Mett. (Venezuela and Colombia to Bolivia). These all belong to the section Tuberculatae Pfeiffer. A species belonging to the small section Reticulatae Pfeiffer has recently been collected in Colombia by Mr. Killip and Mr. Lehmann. It may be described as follows:
Isoetes Killipii Morton, sp. nov. :
_ Planta terrestris; cormus bilobatus (?) ; folia numero-
Sissima, 7—9 em. longa, ca. 1 mm, diam., subrigida, attenu- acea
.) mm. longa, apice subulata; velum incompletum, ad lineam mediam ca. } sporangii longitudine; sporangia 5-6 mm. longa, ca. 3 mm. diam.; macrosporae maximae, albae, 1 mm. diam., carinis prominentibus, areolis per- Spicue reticulatis; microsporae pallidae, bilaterales, ca. 50 u longae et 30 u latae, laeves.
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1,856,468, collected on the western slopes of the Paramo de Puraeé, Central Cordillera, Valley of Rio Cocuy, Department of El Cauca, Colombia, on a steep wet bank at 3,200 to 3,400 meters elevation, May 26, 1944, by E. P. Killip and F. C. Lehmann (No. 38536).
In most characters Isoetes Killipii is evidently related
— to the geographically remote Isoetes foveolata A. A.
Eaton of New Hampshire, but may be distinguished at once by its much larger macrospores (about twice as large), which are much more sharply reticulate. The only South American species of this section is I. Marti A. Br., of southern Brazil, which has similar but much Smaller macrospores and much larger leaves (60 to 75 em. long). In Weber’s treatment of the South American spe- cies J, Killipii will go into the section Amphibiae and will key to I. Martii. SmrrHsonran InstrruTIon.
50 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Campyloneurum phyllitidis in Southern Florida ALEX D. HAWKES
Of the four species of Campyloneurum indigenous to Florida—C. phyllitidis (L.) Presl, C. latum Moore, C. costatum (Kunze) Presl, and C. angustifolium (Sw.) Fée—C. phyllitidis is the most frequent in the hammocks around Miami. Almost every area of forest boasts at least a few specimens of this beautiful fern, and in some of ‘the hammocks it forms one of the most prominent forms of herbaceous vegetation. This species grows in a wide variety of habitats, being found in the thick humus on the ground surface, on the limestone ledges of large sink-holes, on the perpendicular sides of smaller lime- stone pot-holes, on rotting prostrate tree trunks, part way up the trunks of trees, or even high in their branches.
The most beautiful colony of this fern which I have seen was in Lysiloma Hammock, near the hamlet of Silver Palm. This hammock, although rather large and dense, had a surprising paucity of interesting ferns, orchids, and bromeliads, although a few of the pot-holes contained such species as Asplenium dentatum, A. vere- cundum, Dryopteris ampla, Tectaria heracleifolia, and Adiantum tenerum. The great group of Campyloneu- rums, numbering perhaps 30 in an area about 10 feet square, consisted of plants with immense leaves three feet long or more and four or five inches wide. They were growing on several large trees which leaned out pre cariously over a yawning sink-hole many feet across. The great rosettes of fronds sparkled in the sunlight which filtered through the dense growth overhead. Many young plants were thriving at the base of the parent clusters, and some few youngsters had found a congenial location some distance up a nearby tree. Large mats of the lovely epiphytic Peperomia obtusifolia almost
CAMPYLONEURUM PHYLLITIDIS IN FLORIDA 51
obscured other parts of the rotting trees, and a few scat- tered bromeliads were perched on the trunks around the great cavity, their odd silvery-gray leaves adding a some- what sombre note to the scene.
Recently we had a rather severe cold spell here in southern Florida, and a couple of days after one of our frosts I went to several of the hammocks to see what harm had been done. Many of the plants of Campylo- neurum phyllitidis, Asplenium serratum, and A. den- tatum were severely injured. Those growing in sheltered locations were for the most part not hurt by the cold, but in relatively exposed positions the rosettes of the first two Species were of a dull gray color and the leaves were limp and frequently prostrate on the ground. The little Asplenium had tightly shrivelled and darkened in ex- posed places, but here again the protected plants with- Stood the frost without any apparent harm.
Campyloneurum phyllitidis is a large and certainly a very striking plant. At first glance it would probably never be taken for a fern by the layman, with its stiff, ascending, strap-shaped leaves arranged in a spreading rosette. Usually the plants in this region are found well inside the hammocks, growing in dense shade in a fairly moist location. The leaves range in length from about Six inches in stunted specimens to three and a half or four feet in the huge plants occasionally found growing in an ideal situation.
This species is widely distributed in the lower two- thirds of the peninsula of Florida, and is also found on Some of the Florida Keys and throughout the West Indies. On the continent it ranges from Mexico well into South America. It was first described by Linnaeus (in 1753) as Polypodium phyllitidis, which is the name used by those who regard Polypodium in the broad historic Sense,
Coconut Grove, FLORIDA.
a2 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Shorter Notes
ABUNDANCE OF SELAGINELLA IN OKLAHOMA.—While I was stationed at Fort Sill Military Reservation in Co- manche County, Oklahoma, last summer, I noted with surprise that the mountain tops and rocky slopes were covered with a species of Selaginella. This has been identified by Dr. Maxon as S. Sheldonii Maxon, a species occurring also in New Mexico and western Texas. The whole western slope of Mt. Hines (alt. 1,600 feet), ex- tensive areas on Signal Mountain (alt. 1,700 feet), and (inside the Wichita Mountain Park) about 20 acres of the rocky, dry flats at the base of Little Baldie Mountain are covered with the Selaginella. Growing with it are cacti (Opuntia and Echinocereus) and various other flowering plants. In summer the temperature may get as high as 120° F., and during this period the Selaginella is dried up and looks as if dead —Hvueu H. Iuts.
THe Earnest Coutection or OnociEopsis.—Mr. Bal- lard’s recent description of Onocleopsis has settled for me a question which has long awaited solution. Some 25 years ago, while ordering up some of the pteridophytes in the Gray Herbarium, I came across four sheets of @ Mexican fern determined by Davenport as Acrostichum Caenopteris Kunze—that is, Polybotrya serratifolia (Fée) Klotzsch. In view of the very different venation of the leaf, this seemed rather a poor guess, and I re- moved the specimens from the Polybotrya covers. But I could not place them anywhere else; they eventually came to rest among the unnamed siateeial and have re- mained there ever since, occasionally taken out, looked at, and given up by me and various visitors. When Dr- Maxon recently showed me some of the Hinton material of Onocleopsis, I was reminded of these specimens a? now find them to be very good Onocleopsis.
SHORTER NOTES 53
The specimens in question were collected Sept. 26, 1897, at Cerro de San Felipe, Oaxaca, at an altitude of 2000 meters, by Conzatti and Gonzalez and distributed under their number 480. The material is excellent— complete, or nearly complete, sterile and fertile fronds, Stipe-bases, and a rhizome. Conzatti and his assistant evidently realized that they had something unusual; it is not much to my credit that I let their well and intelli- gently collected specimens lie so long without a more vigorous effort to work them out. However, it now ap- pears that, unless a still earlier collection is buried in Some European herbarium, the discovery of Onocleopsis dates from 1897 instead of 1933——C. A. WEATHERBY.
PTERIS MULTIFIDA IN TEXAS.—While in Kountze, Har- din Co., southeast Texas, on October 27, 1944, Dr. B. C. Tharp, of the University of Texas, found Pteris multifida growing abundantly in sandy soil around the margins of Some frame office buildings. Specimens were collected and deposited in the University of Texas Herbarium, No. 44408, from which material was forwarded to Dr. Maxon for verification. So far as known, this is the first record of the westward extension of this species into Texas.
ountze is a small place 24 miles northwest of Beau- mont, where a greenhouse has been selling potted and yard plants of this species. Mr. P. A. Winkler who lives in the northwest outskirts of Beaumont and who is inter- ested in the flora of his part of the State, especially the ferns, advises that several small plants were observed in his fern garden which have since developed enough to be recognized as P. multifida. Where they came from, he does not know. However, their occurrence at this Point makes it very probable that the colony discovered by Dr, Tharp at Kountze has its origin in wind-borne
“Pores from Beaumont or some intermediate point.—G. M.
~OXMAN, Dallas, Texas.
54 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Tue INDUMENT oF CYSTOPTERIS FRAGILIS.—AIthough it is customary to characterize the stipe, rachis, and secon- dary rachises of Cystopteris fragilis as essentially gla- brous, they actually bear some appendages. The stipe often has a scattering of flat chaffy scales, which mostly fall off early in the season but may in part persist. In grooves on the primary rachis and around the axils of the secondary ones, there often occur aggregations of a few long septate hairs, some of which may be tipped by a rather coarse, dark brown gland. Comparison shows that the varieties genuina and laurentiana are likely to possess such axillary hairs in considerable number, var. Mackayii fewer, and var. protrusa fewest of all.
These points are here mentioned in order to prevent misunderstanding as to the glandularity reported for var. laurentiana. This consists of minute pale glands, borne on short stalks rarely consisting of more than 4 single cell, which are limited to the indusium and under surface of the pinnules. In Cystopteris bulbifera there are glands both on the indusia and in the axils, and they are mostly the minute, pale, short-stalked type.
Reeently Mr. Albert Chandler, of St. Louis, submitted for identification a specimen of C. fragilis from Colorado Springs which he thought might represent var. lawrem- tiana; but it proved to lack the minute indusial glands, though having unusually copious coarse axillary ones, and so may be regarded as merely var. genuind.
And now, just as this note is being written for the JOURNAL, another specimen of interest has come to hand. Professor H. A. Wahl of State College, Pennsylvania. submits a plant from that vicinity which proves to be identical with that recently reported? as a possible occur rence of var. lawrentiana in Pennsylvania. Not only are
the maximum frond dimensions the same, but the in
1 This JOURNAL 34: 93. 1944.
SHORTER NOTES 55
dusium is beset with readily visible, minute, short-stalked glands. The finding of such an entity at two stations a hundred miles apart lends support to the view that var. laurentiana, though best developed in the St. Law- rence region, also ranges south, in a modest-size form, to latitude 40° 30’ in Pennsylvania.—Epe@ar T. WHERRY, University of Pennsylvania.
Two Cumean PrermopHyTes or COMMERCIAL ImPor- TANCE.—Large quantities of fronds of Lophosoria quad- ripinnata (Gmel.) C. Chr. (Alsophila quadripinnata or A. pruinata) and branches of Lycopodium paniculatum Desv. are gathered, chiefly in autumn, winter, and spring, for florists doing business in the cities of Chile. The fronds of Lophosoria and the branches of Lycopodium often reach a length of more than a meter and are used to embellish wreaths and sprays of flowers. Fertile fronds of the Lophosoria are often included, but only Sterile branches of the Lycopodium are employed. The material comes from the provinces of Valdivia and Cautin, where both species grow in great abundance. [ can give no definite ficures, but collecting these pterido- phytes is the basis of a business of considerable size and importance, since it meets all demands of a trade which Serves a million people in the city of Santiago alone.
As is well known, Lophosoria has a very wide range on the American continent, extending northward to Mexico. Its Chilean area is isolated, being cut off from the rest of its range by the deserts of northern Chile, the Andean Cordillera, and the Argentine Pampas.
esides these two species, small quantities of Dry- opteris argentina ( Hieron.) C. Chr., Blechnum auricu- atum Cay., and Adiantum glanduliferum Link are some- times collected in the spring for the use of florists. These
€€ species are obtained in the vicinity of Santiago, Where they usually abound in certain localities — GuaLTERio Loosrr, Santiago, Chile.
56 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
FURTHER SUGGESTIONS FOR THE UTILIZATION OF BrRACKEN IN Great Britain.—Bracken, in the Britsh Isles, has become an abundant and damaging weed in pastures and clearings and considerable sums have been spent in efforts to eradicate it. Occasionally, some one has maintained that, instead of merely destroying it, bracken might be treated as a crop and used in paper- making and in various ways as a substitute for straw.’ The latest suggestions along such lines come from a British chemist, Maurice Capisarow, of the Research Laboratory of Manchester.2. He points out that the rhi- zomes have a content of 13 per cent of carbohydrates, useful for food and fermentation, and that their extrac- tion would yield, as a by-product, a considerable amount of strong fiber. Since as much as 50 tons of rhizomes may be produced per acre on heavily infested lands, he believes that extraction would be commercially feasible.
Furthermore, a mulch of bracken is an effective weed- killer. It is peculiarly resistant, and even actively inimi- eal, to parasitic fungi, to such an extent that it may protect other plants. When used to cover stored pota- toes, other root-crops, or stacked cereals and hay, it tends to protect them from infection —C, A. WEATHERBY.
NEw STATIONS FOR EQUISETUM LAEVIGATUM F. PRO- umM.—In Broun’s ‘‘Index to North American Ferns’’ the distribution of Equisetum laevigatum forma proliferum Haberer ex House (N. Y. State Museum Bull., Nos. 243-244, 1923, p. 47) is given as New York. Recently, while collecting along the Illinois Central Rail- road south of Champaign, Illinois, the author found this form growing in fair abundance, together with the typ- wes JOURNAL 30: 134 and 3
tional pia to the ae tee: Gardeners’ Chron- icle, “TL, 117: 58. 1945.
ey
RECENT FERN LITERATURE 57
ical form. A study of specimens in the herbarium at the University of Illinois reveals the following stations: ARKANSAS: Helena, Phillips Co., May 28, 1939, Demaree. Ipano: Falk’s Store, Canyon Co., July 7, 1910, Macbride. Inuivo1s: Urbana, June 23, 1941, Jones ; July 15, 1878, Seymour; Joliet, June 28, 1907, Hill; Concord, July 1904, McDonald; Thornton, June 19, 1865, Hill; Lake Matanzas, July 19, 1910, Gates. Mussourt: Livonia, Sept. 21, 1915, Bush ; Courtney, July 13, 1915, Bush. Wyomine: Poison Spider Creek, July 28, 1894, Nelson.
Forma proliferuwm may be easily recognized, and I quote Dr. House’s description: ‘‘One to six- short branches at each of the upper nodes, sometimes these bearing small or reduced strobili.’? I believe that fur- ther study will show forma proliferum to be as widely distributed as the typical form of E. laevigatum.—W1L- LIAM F, Rapp, Jr., University of Illinois.
Recent Fern Literature
me. C. A: Weatherby has recently published* an ac- count of the North American species of Selaginella related to 8. oregana, of the subgenus Euselaginella. This subgenus, of which the best known species is S. rupestris, has usually been known as subgenus Homoeo- Phyllum Hieron., but the name Euselaginella has prior- ity. The group of species treated is characterized by lax, prostrate habit, usually elongate, slender stems, rela- tively distant branches, and appressed to strongly ascend- mg, non-dimorphic leaves. Both stems and branches re- main horizontal when growing on the ground, only the Strobiles assuming an upright position.
Ten species are keyed and described, four of which (8. oregana, S. Underwoodii, S. mutica, and S. ciner-
‘Weatherby, C. A. The Group of Selaginella oregana in North America. Journ, Arn. Arb. 25: 407-419. 1944.
58 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
ascens) occur in the United States, the remaining species being confined to Mexico. These include three new spe- cies: S. porrecta (Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Ta- maulipas, and Durango), 8S. Arsenei (Queretero) and S.
‘Hintonit (State of Mexico). Three new varieties are described: S. Underwoodii var. dolichotricha (New Mex- ico and Arizona), S. mutica var. texana (western Texas), and S. mutica var. limitanea (western Texas, New Mex- ieo, and Arizona). All the species are illustrated by excellent line drawings of the leaves and spores by Mrs. Una Weatherby. Mr. Weatherby’s treatment adds much to our understanding of'this difficult group of species and it is to be hoped that he will continue his interest in the genus.—C. V. M.
Our South American colleagues give us frequent occa- sion to congratulate them on their progress in dealing with the botanical problems of their part of the world. The latest item of the sort, relating to ferns, which has come to our attention is Juana S. Lichtenstein’s ‘‘Ofio- glosaceas de la Argentina,’’ a detailed and well-illus- trated taxonomic study, accompanied by much collateral information and interesting discussion.1 The author modestly calls it a supplement to Clausen’s general mono- graph of the family; actually, with the resources of the botanical institutions of Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile at her disposal—far more than Clausen had—she has modified considerably the taxonomic and floristic picture of the group in temperate South America.
Eight species of Ophioglossum are recognized, four of Botrychium. O. opacum is reduced to varietal rank under O. crotalophoroides and is recorded from Uruguay- The range of 0. ellipticum is extended to include Para- guay and northeastern Argentina. 0. valdivianum Phil.,
1 Darwiniana 6: 380-441, 14 figs. 1944.
RECENT FERN LITERATURE 59
of south-central Chile and adjacent Argentina, listed as a doubtful species by Clausen, is made a variety of 0. vulgatum, thus extending the range of that species into the southern hemisphere. Considerable material from northern and central Argentina is referred to typical Botrychium australe, which Clausen did not record from South America. This is a geographic surprise; one would expect an Australian species to turn up in Chile rather than east of the Andes. The author doubts if the posture of parts in the bud ean be successfully used to separate the South American varieties of B. Lunaria and B. matricariaefolium—a statement which itself raises doubts as to whether these varieties are correctly referred to their respective species.
New varieties are proposed in Ophioglosswm crotalo- Phoroides and O. nudicaule, both based principally on size and therefore not wholly convineing. Their ulti- mate fate, however, is a small detail; the paper as a whole adds largely and most usefully to our oe of South American Ophioglossaceae.—C. A.
Jesse M. Shaver, continuing his studies of Tennessee ferns, has published a paper? on the Bracken and Maiden- hair. Of the Bracken both var. pseudocaudatum and var. latiusculum occur in Tennessee, the latter being Somewhat more common; some specimens intermediate
tween them are discussed Adiantum pedatum is com- mon almost throughout the state, but A. Capillus-Veneris is less abundant, due to its habit of usually growing near waterfalls. Two forms of the latter are differentiated but not named except as forms A and B. The paper is illustrated ed by oe excellent drawings, and dis- ‘ribution maps —C. V. M Folate spin Io ae Notes on the Bracken and Maidenhair Ferns of emcaner
emn. Acad. Sei. 19: 203-227. 1944,
60 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
A check list of the ferns of another Middle Atlantic region appeared not long ago.t. The arrangement 0 the groups is a standard one, with Ophioglossaceae com- ing first. Im some cases the author follows conservative lumpers, in others modern splitters. Thus, while Ophio- glossum vulgatum is recognized to fall into two varieties (which are so similar that even specialists can scarcely distinguish them), the Coarse-lobe Grape-fern, readily recognized by any amateur, is classed as a mere form of Botrychium dissectum. Again, the Wood-ferns, Marsh- ferns, Beech-ferns, and Oak-ferns are all kept under Dryopteris, yet D. cristata is kept apart from D. Clin- toniana, and D. spinulosa from D. intermedia.
A number of records which, though not designated as new, are not known to the reviewer to have been pub- lished or generally recognized previously, deserve notice here. Botrychium simplex var. tenebrosum is recorded from two counties, and B. dissectum var. oneidense and B. multifidum var. intermedium from one each; the last represents a surprising range extension southward and
may need confirmation. Dryopteris Clintoniana is sepa- —
rated into three varieties, the typical one (not awarded an infraspecific epithet), var. australis, and var. atro- palustris, the last (based on Dryopteris atropalustris Small) representing a new combination. D. Thelypter's var. Haleana, a southern entity, extends into two south- eastern Maryland counties.
Under Equisetum arvense there are recognized four forms and one variety, var. boreale. E. laevigatum is recorded from Baltimore County, a considerable range extension from the west. The nowadays much-used epithet prealtum is not accepted, but the entity appeat* ane ylang, Dagens at he ace of Clombie Bal
tin Natural History Society of Maryland 13: 47-54. 1943. ‘(Mimeo- graphed)
RECENT FERN LITERATURE 61
in two varieties: Equisetum hyemale var. affine and var. robustum. In the Lycopodium inundatum complex three varieties are distinguished, viz., the typical (not named), Bigelovii, and adpressum; in the Ground-pines, two: L. obscurum (typical) and var. dendroidewm. The epithet Isoetes riparia is expanded to cover six entities, some pro- posed under that species, others under I. saccharata. And in this genus there is a surprising range-extension re- ported—I. macrospora, a northern and mountain type, from low-lying New Castle County, Delaware; this Should not be accepted without further study of the material—_kE. T. Wuerry.
Another state fern flora— ‘Ferns of Utah,’’ by Seville Flowers'—has recently appeared. The principal treat- ment consists of keys, descriptions, and drawings of all the species known to occur in Utah, following a discussion of their ecology, distribution, and relative abundance, and a section on the general morphology of ferns. The number treated is 53, as compared with 38 reported from Utah by Maxon.2 The additions are mostly due to recent exploration. Of the 53 species 19 are known from only one or two localities, and some others are rare also. That Utah has a relatively poor fern flora is attested by a com- Parison with other western states (Washington 72 species, Arizona 78). Noteworthy are the presence of but a Single species of Dryopteris and the complete absence of Lycopodium. The largest genera are Equisetum (6 spe- cles) and Cheilanthes (5 species). Asplenium, Notho- laena, Selaginella, and Isoetes follow, with 4 species each. _ He table giving a comparison of the number of species 'n Utah and the United States as a whole is misleading to 15, pose Univ. Utah, Vol. 35, no. 7, pp. 1-87, figs. 1-164. Nov.
Pid Tidestrom, Flora of Utah and Nevada, Contr. U. S. Nat. erb. 25: 43-59.’ 1995,
62 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
some extent, since introduced species are counted the same as native ones. The total of 234 species of Poly- podiaceae, taken from Broun’s Index, includes 17 intro- duced ones. The counting seems to be erroneous in some other respects also, the total of 18 species of Hquisetum being arrived at by counting three species specifically ex- cluded by Broun. In Isoetaceae there are 20 species, not 19 as given, and there are only 18 of Ophioglossaceae, not 19 as given.®
Some of the statements in the section on general mor- phology leave a good deal to be desired, such as ‘‘A leaf is simply pinnate when it is not cut up into leaflets, and compound pinnate when portions surrounding the side veins are cut out as distinct leaflets.’’ The illustration (fig. 1A) of a ‘‘pinnate’’ leaf is in reality of a deeply pinnatifid leaf, such as is common in Polypodium, and that of a ‘‘bipinnately compound leaf’’ (fig. 1B) is really pinnate-pinnatifid. Or again, ‘‘Tripinnate or ternate means three times compounded.’’ Ternate is, of course, not synonymous with tripinnate. The statement that “‘A leaf consists of a stipe or stalk, blade and veins’’ implies that a leaf has three parts, whereas actually the veins are only a part of the blade. Some of the definitions in the glossary are, to say the least, unconventional, e.g., ‘‘Pin- nate: a leaf with a midvein like a feather’’ or ‘‘Fertile: a fern bearing spores when collected or observed.’’ Some
3 Incidentally, it may be mentioned that Broun’s tabular ummary on pages 168 and 169 of his Index is even more mislead-
also tha duced species of 1 Isoetes, an obvious erro: totals given nevertheless.
REcENT FERN LITERATURE 63
statements in the text are open to question also, such as in the key (p. 22), where the indusium of Asplenium is said to be ‘‘hoodlike,”’ or on p. 15, where the Ophio- glossaceae are said to be ‘“‘mostly tropical.’’ The genus Botrychium, at least, is best developed in temperate regions.
There can be nothing but praise for the fine drawings, which make the book a valuable addition to any fern library. These, drawn on an unusually large scale, are very lifelike. Habit drawings and details are furnished for each species, and both are accurately and tastefully executed.—C.V.M.
Dr. George Neville Jones has recently published? a Flora of Illinois, which includes a treatment. of the ferns and fern allies. The keys seem to be accurate and usable, but the absence of any comments or discussions is regret- able, especially so in the case of the common Adder’s- tongue, for which the name Ophioglossum pusillum Raf. is adopted, rather than the universally accepted O. vul- gatum Li. This early species of Rafinesque was rather inadequately characterized, and was completely over- looked until Clausen noted it as a doubtful synonym of 0. crotalophoroides Walt.; Merrill? placed it as a syno- nym of O. vulgatum. It seems from Jones’ synonym “0. vulgatum of Am. auth., not L,’’ that he is regarding the United States plants as distinct from those of the Old World, but surely some discussion of this point is desira- ble. It would be especially unfortunate to be obliged to
opt the name O. pusillum Raf., since 0. pusillum Nutt., though published four years later than Rafinesque’s name, has been fairly well known for the plant of the Southern States now known as QO. tenerum or O. nudi- Caule var. tenerum. It was so used by Christensen in the Index Filieun. | 2 Aimer, Midi. Nat: Manage. @ L-a1t. 108,
? Amer. Fern Journ. 33: 52, 1943.
64 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
The treatment in general would be more useful by dis-
cussion of several other divergences from currently accepted usage. In some groups a conservative view- point may be observed, as for instance in Equisetum, which differs from Schaffner’s treatment in not recog- nizing E. kansanum, E. trachyodon, or E. Nelsonii. On the other hand, Polypodium polypodioides var. Mich- ‘ auxianum Weatherby and Lycopodium Selago var. : patens (Beauv.) Desv. are recognized as distinct species, as P. ceteraccinum Michx. and L. porophilum Underw. & Lloyd respectively, the conservative treatments of Clausen in Botrychium and Tryon in Pteridium are not followed, and Phegopteris is recognized on the wholly inadequate and artificial basis of lack of indusium.
In all, 63 species are reported from the state. No varieties or forms are mentioned. A good many species are rare, some of those known from one or two locali- — ties only being Lycopodium inundatum, Ophioglossum Engelmannii, Trichomanes Boschianum, Phegopteris a connectilis |Dryopteris Phegopteris|, Asplenium crypto- lepis, Asplenium ebenoides, and Woodwardia virginica.
V.M
American Fern Society NEW MEMBERS Prof. HH; Bartlett, aes of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mic Mrs. Joseph B. Drummond, 10 Ship Channel Road, aes eos Main
e Mrs. H. A. Egan, Cobb, Lake Co., California Mr. George L. Fisher, 611 West Pierce Ave., Houston 6, Texas
Mr. Bawin T. Moul, — Hall, University of poaae phia 4, Pennsylva:
Mr. John S. Patnode, 24 Clinton | Ave., Fittefield, semen creer
Mr. Walter S. Phillips, University of Arizona, Tucson,
Mrs. Fay O. Snader, R.D. 2, Box 301, Post Orchard, Washington
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A : Vol. 35 July-September, 1945 No. 3
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A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO FERNS Published by the AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY
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EDITORS WILLIAM R. MAXON
R. C. BENEDICT Cc. V. MORTON IRA L. WIGGINS
ad CONTENTS Problems and Objectives in the Study of Fern Hybrids Rater C. BENEDICT 6
Ferns on Pacific Island Coconut Trees W. H. Wacner, Jz. 74
Some Nomenclatural Changes in the gis ES
Reep 77 Valid Names in the a eos Haxzotp St. Joun 87 Some Notes on Arizona Fern _.Waures 8. Puinurs 90
Shorter Notes: Notes on iicla ‘Pteridophytes; North- Western Limits of aoa fragilis var. laurentiana 92 can Fern Socie Rae ee.
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Vou. 35 JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1945 No. 3
Problems and Objectives in the Study of Fern Hybrids
RaupH C. BENEDICT
The study of fern hybrids in the United States has had a history of just about 50 years, since Raynal Dodge first suggested that a puzzling intermediate New England form of Dryopteris might be explained as a hybrid be- tween two known species, D. cristata and D. marginalis. This suggestion was accepted by George E. Davenport,* who formally described the plant as Aspidium crista- tum x marginale, proposing Dryopteris cristata x mar- ginalis as an alternative name. He discussed the matter at some length before a meeting of the American Fern Society at Boston in 1898, and his paper appeared in a Fern Society publication.?
Dodge’s suggestion and Davenport’s paper served as a stimulus to further study, to the reexamination of her- barium Specimens that had been doubtfully identified, to increasing watchfulness in the field, to experimental work, and to published descriptions and discussions of the problems. Gradually, as additional data accumu- lated, and as the difficulties of any alternative explana-
4 tion for an increasing number of plants and specimens Were recognized, the validity of the theory of natural oo.
65
66 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
fern hybrids came widely to be accepted. It is a matter of interest that active study of fern hybrids in this coun- try has been closely associated with the half-century of the existence of the American Fern Society, that a great majority of the studies of this problem have been made by members of the Society, and that many of the pub- lished studies have appeared in its journals.
At the present time probably more members are ac- tively interested in the problem than ever before, not only in field and herbarium study but particularly in the observation of these types in outdoor gardens, and in the possibility of raising from spores any that may prove fertile. The present paper has been prepared in the hope of pointing up the problems which still exist, and of suggesting how further descriptive and experi- mental studies may fruitfully be carried out. My owt interest in these plants, which is of 40 years’ duration, has recently been actively renewed by a visit to Richard Harlow’s fern garden in Pennsylvania, and by the op- portunity afforded to see the large series of hybrid ferns which he has growing and to learn about the extensive spore culture work with these and other fern variants which he has been carrying on. Records of these eul- tures and of others like them ought to be put in shape for publication, so that the results obtained may be avail- able for general information and use.
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS IN SPECIES CROSSING
At the Boston meeting in 1898, Davenport discussed the problem in general and suggested the desirability of carrying on experimental work. He proposed that, fol- lowing the lines of procedure reported by Lowe in Eng- land, an effort be made to produce under cultural con- ditions some of the crosses which were reported from field study. The suggestion was promptly accepted by
Stupy or Fern Hysrips 67
Margaret Slosson, and about two years later, at the New York meeting of the Fern Society, she reported her results to that date.* In this first report she recounted partial success with the Dodge hybrid (Dryopteris cris- tata x marginalis), but negative results as yet with Asplenium ebenoides, now recognized as Asplenium platyneuron x Camptosorus rhizophyllus. For the Dodge Dryopteris hybrid, she reported one immature inter- mediate plant in a culture containing a number of plants of D. cristata and D. mar. rginalis.
The experiments with Scott’s Spleenwort were con- tinued, however, and in 1902 Miss Slosson reported the Successful completion of her efforts to produce this hybrid fern under experimental conditions.* By illus- tration and description she showed the developmental Stages of the two parents and of the hybrid offspring, the latter raised to maturity. Herbarium material from her experiments was deposited in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. A little later, in her book “How Ferns Grow,’’ she published similar developmen- tal series in the growth of a considerable number of com- mon hardy ferns. Although this book does not deal directly with hybrids, its descriptions and figures of juvenile stages of various fern species are important for anyone who is interested in cultural and field studies of fern hybrids, because it is highly important in such work to be able to recognize the different parent types in all Stages of development.
Accomplishing cross-fertilization is much more diffi- cult in ferns than in flowering plants. The prothallia, on which the eggs and sperms are formed, are small and usually produce both kinds of sex cells at close quarters.
1909 PeTiments in hybridizing ferns. Fernwort Papers, 19-25.
* Bull. Torrey Club 29: 487-495. 1902.
68 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Moreover, when the prothallia are sectioned so as to separate the male and female organs, regenerative growths may be expected to provide a second crop of the opposite sex. Miss Slosson manipulated prothallia in several ways, the most critical of which consisted in cutting them in such a way as to separate portions with each kind of sex organs and then planting in contact appropriate pairs of parts of the two species which it was desired to cross. When new sporophytes of inter- mediate character were obtained promptly, before there had been time for the regeneration of the excised sex organs, the conclusion was practically inescapable that interspecific cross-fertilization had taken place.
The renewal of efforts to produce cross-fertilization of fern species is much to be desired, both according to the technic already used and by more critical methods. One plant physiologist who attempted in the first decade of this century to bring fern sperms into contact with eggs under direct microscopic observation came to the conclusion that his negative results were strong evidence against the probability of the occurrence of fern hybrids in nature. But, as was pointed out at the time, unfor- tunately he attempted chiefly to cross fern species that had given no evidence of a disposition to hybridize.
In general, Miss Slosson’s results have been accepted as good evidence for the fern hybrid hypothesis, but more experiments of the same type and on a more extensive scale would be valuable. It would be of great interest to have her original crosses repeated, with care to deter- mine whether reciprocal crosses give the same results. Field and herbarium studies have suggested that the Dodge hybrid (cristata x marginalis) , for example, occurs in two types: one more slender, like crisfata in outline; the other broader, like the other parent.
Such a project and careful experiments to reproduce other hybrids now recognized from field studies are POS
Stupy or Fern Hyprips 69
sible of accomplishment by anyone who has achieved suc- cess in the spore culture of fern species. It would be necessary first to raise pure cultures of the prothallia of the prospective parent species, and then to make as many prothallial contacts between them as possible. The most critical step in the process would lie in so eutting the prothallia as to separate the sex organs before planting together. Patience in this part of the operation and persistence in its repetition are the primary qualities needed for the conduct of this experiment. A dissecting microscope would be helpful at this stage, but it is prob- able that a rule-of-thumb technic could be developed in cutting the prothallia which would enable the experi- menter effectively to separate the antheridial and arche- gonial portions. A transverse cut a little back of the notched growing end of a mature prothallium, made with a sharp, fine-pointed pair of scissors (manicure or iri- dectomy), would give a somewhat bean-shaped piece con- taining only archegonia. The remaining older, pointed portion, with most of the rhizoids, contains the sperm- producing antheridia. But instead of using the cut halves of older prothallia as the source of sperms, it is sible to use younger, entire prothallia, which have not yet formed archegonia. After the pieces have been Planted in contact, each pair should be flooded with a drop of sterile water, to supply a medium for the passage of the active sperms. Any sporophyte which develops in the archegoniate (maternal) portion of a prothallinm Within a month after the contact has been made may be *xpected to show hybrid characteristics. Studies in the regeneration of prothallia made by Albaum® indicate that new antheridial outgrowths need not be expected to ap- pear in less time.
* Amer. Journ. Bot. 25: 37-44. 1938.
70 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
SECOND GENERATION CULTURES At the time of the early studies of fern hybrids, the assumption was widespread that species hybrids must perforce be sterile. L. M. Underwood argued against the idea that Scott’s Spleenwort could be a hybrid be- cause of a large colony near Auburn, Alabama, where
many young plants were found. A contrary view was
expressed by Maxon,’ who stated the case at some length. My own conclusions, based on extensive microscopic study of eight or ten different putative fern hybrids, were ex- pressed as follows: ‘‘This sterility manifests itself either in the form of abortive, undersized sporangia, or, if the sporangia attain full size, in abnormal, granulated spores. Only in a few mounts, out of scores examined, have any normal spores been seen, and in these few instances their
presence may have been accidental. But as in hybrids -
generally, it is probable that the sterility is relative rather than absolute, and we may expect occasionally to find fern hybrids capable of reproducing by spores.’””
Without anticipating any informally reported results at this time, I am certain that more than one experi- menter has already obtained second generation or F2 cul- tures of some of our fern hybrids, and that a new and very promising line of study is just waiting for system- atic exploitation and reporting. One or two suggestions as to methods and records may be offered here:
Leaves of hybrid types from which spore material is taken for sowing should be carefully pressed and pre- served, with data as to source and the date of planting spores. Later, in the event of successful germination, pressed specimens of the offspring should be made, to ee 8 hone on the validity of Aspleniuwm ebenoides as a species. Bot.
az.
7 New ayes ie Dryopteris, Bull. Torrey Club 36: 41-49.
Stupy or Frrn Hysprivs 71
show various stages of development. Care will have to be taken that “*foreign’’ spores do not get into the eul- tures, to confuse the results. Records should be kept of unsuccessful cultures, where no germination occurs. It is a foregone conclusion that whereas some hybrid types may be fairly fertile, others will remain obstinately in- fertile. The mule is a good illustration of a completely Self-sterile animal hybrid, although even in this case female mules have twice been successfully bred with Jackasses—the progeny pure jackass.
he fact that the F, generation of a number of fern hybrids has been reported is a matter of great interest. The value of such experimental cultures will be multi- Plied many times if the kind of record suggested in the preceding paragraph is kept, and if the procedures and results are carefully prepared for publication. Earlier numbers of the JourNAL carry descriptions of methods of raising ferns from spores.®
Given a hybrid, even partially fertile, the chance of setting second generation results is much better than for the production of the F, or first generation cross between the parent species. Another intriguing aspect lies in the fact that the progeny to be expected cannot be predicted with any certainty. Four types of results seem to be indicated as possible: (1) Offspring like the F, type and relatively uniform; (2) a wide range of intermediate
€S, approaching both parents in characteristics; (3) Progeny Showing a close resemblance to either one or the Other of the parent forms; (4) complete sterility—no offspring.
There are two other possible procedures by which fern
hybrids—eyven completely sterile ones—may give rise to
* B.C. Benedict, Growing ferns from spores. Amer. Fern Journ. ave os 39.” Also, . osephine Edson and Grace Griffeth, Our "ay with ferns. Amer. Fern Journ. 29: 98-101. 1939.
i AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
offspring other than by spores or by natural branching. The phenomenon of apospory is well known in scientific experience. In this the frond itself bears prothallial outgrowths, with sex organs and fertilization possible. Young plants formed by this method may be expected to have a double chromosome number, and may show somewhat greater size and vigor than the parent.®
Another method by which sterile hybrids in flowering plants have been caused to form seeds has been exten- sively used and reported upon within the last ten years, viz., the use of colchicine. The successful application of this technic to sterile fern hybrids would result in the production of spores and sporophytes with a doubled chromosome number. A few years ago the writer tried this method very hopefully on some of the spore-sterile sports of the Boston Fern. In this experiment the run- ners by which these plants are vegetatively produced were immersed in various concentrations of colchicine solution. The runners swelled to more than twice normal Size and great expectations were entertained, but the swellings turned out apparently to be entirely patholog!- cal; no reproduction was obtained.””
DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES OF FERN HYBRIDS
Basie to any acceptable experimental work with fern hybrids there must be sound and accurate knowledge of the structural characteristics and environmental adapta- tions of these plants. Recognition and discrimination of the features of the presumptive parents are first esse” tials. It was this kind of careful study in the early years which forced conviction as to the hybrid nature of these discontinuously variable intermediate types on cautious,
9 Elva Lawton, Regeneration and induced polyploidy in ferns. 1932.
ewe Journ. Bot. 19: 303-333. ° Brooklyn Bot. Gard. Ree. 29: 68. 1940.
Strupy or Fern Hysrips ae i
thorough workers like Philip Dowell, a former President of the Fern Society and an early editor of the JouRNAL. In a paper entitled ‘‘Observations on the oceurrence of Boott’s fern’’™ he accepted as proved the hybrid nature of the Dodge hybrid (D. cristata x marginalis) on the basis of its experimental production, but he remained doubtful regarding the interspecific origin of D. Boottii. Two years later, however, he had come to accept the hy- brid nature of Boott’s Fern, to which he gave the techni- cal name D. cristata x intermedia.2 At the same time he described and named four other Dryopteris hybrids: D. Goldiana x intermedia, D. Goldiana x marginalis, D. Clin- toniana x Goldiana, and D. Clintoniana x intermedia. Reference to Dowell’s papers is strongly recommended or their accuracy, caution, and thoroughness.
Although the possibilities of experimental work have been put first in this paper, there is still plenty of worth- while observational and descriptive work to be done. Field and garden studies through all stages of growth, especially in comparison with parental types, have much to contribute. Anatomical studies in various degrees of fineness can produce much additional information. Has anyone applied to fern hybrids Dr. Waters’ method of differentiating species by studying their stipe characters?
The value of a hand lens in separating presumptive ‘Tosses involving one of the ‘“‘spinulose’’ species of Dry- opteris is familiar ; at least in lowland types the presence of glistening indusial elands warrants the assumption that intermedia, rather than the non-glandular straight ‘pinulosa, is one of the responsible parental types. That Studies with a compound microscope would add further Valuable information is indicated by the results obtained by Sidney Greenfield.” His reports showed recognizable
1, Forreya 6: 205-209.
2 6. 2 Bull. Torrey Club 35: 135-140, 1908. Amer. Fern Journ. 28: 55-62. pl. 6,7. 1938.
74 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
differences in the cellular structure of the indusia and scales of Dryopteris Goldiana and D. marginalis—fea- tures which could be picked out in the hybrid material.
By way of summation it may be noted that the field of study presented by fern hybrids, not alone in Dryopteris but in Asplenium and other genera, offers many and diverse problems of considerable interest, of greater and lesser difficulty. This field should appeal to Fern So- ciety members, both because of our past contributions and of present and future additions to knowledge which can be made.
BROOKLYN COLLEGE AND BROOKLYN BoTANIC GARDEN.
Ferns on Pacific Island Coconut Trees WarrREN Herpert WAGNER, JR.
On the low, tropical islands of the Pacific the coconut is a dominant tree, a fact especially noticeable when the islands are seen from the air. Not only are there ex- tensive plantations, but individual trees are scattered everywhere—in open fields, along roads, at the edge of forests, and along the shore. Because of their smooth trunks and their usual occurrence in relatively dry, e* posed situations, coconut palms might seem unsuitable hosts for fern epiphytes. There are, however, a small number of species of ferns that are almost sure to be found on them, and those that I have found are here listed
The commonest and most conspicuous fern growing on the bole (the swollen base), where the numerous, stubby, exposed roots make a rough surface, and sometimes climbing some distance up the smooth axis is Polypodvum scolopendria, a species rather commonly seen in cultiva- tion in the United States. In Guam and on Los Negros
ilar ubialaiaddplaida A CS TT —————————— sail: :ace-:-s|ltiiese
Stupy or Fern Hysrips 75
Island (Admiralty Islands) I have seen it thus growing with fronds two and a half feet long. Even on the devastated island of Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands, you can find little plants of this fern on the remaining stumps of bombed trees. In the Bishop Museum in Honolulu there are specimens collected from the bases of coconuts on Nassau Island, near Samoa, and from Fan- ning Island in northern Polynesia. On Los Negros Island I found a large number of healthy plants of a closely related species, P. nigrescens, growing on the bole and extending several feet up the trunk of a roadside coconut tree not far from the beach.
The most conspicuous ferns of coconut groves in the Pacific grow not on the boles but higher up on the trunks. Davallia solida is common in such situations on Saipan, Guam, and Los Negros Island, and another species of Davallia occurs in the same situation in Samar, Philip- pine Islands. Even commoner is Cyclophorus adnascens and, to a lesser extent, (. varius. Nearly everywhere that coconuts grow in the Marianna Islands, the Philip- Pines, and the Admiralty Islands you will find Cyclo- Phorus on the trunks, and Mr. D. F. Grether has shown me a photograph he took in the Admiralty Islands of a
which was ‘‘fuzzy’’ from base to crown with Cyclophorus. In Guam it frequently grows in company with Taeniophyllum, a curious leafless, spiderlike orchid.
Drynaria quercifolia is another fern well suited to epiphytic existence on exposed coconut trunks, and I have found many plants at Tugnug Point, Samar. The tightly clinging, brown, humus-gathering leaves and the very different fertile fronds of this plant may be seen 8Towing as much as 20 feet from the ground. Steno- chlaena palustris clambers at least 15 feet up the trunks 1 the Admiralty Islands, and fertile fronds are difficult
76 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
to obtain because they are produced only on the upper- most part of the rhizome. The boles are a favorite habitat for the smaller sword-ferns of the group of Nepholepis exaltata and N. hispidula, and in fields and other exposed areas these may frequently be found only in such spots. Another pteridophyte growing on the bases and stumps is Psilotum nudum, as I have seen it Oahu and Samar. Mr. J. T. Conover found a very luxuriant plant on a coconut tree near Agana, Guam.
When individual coconut trees occur in wet, shady places many additional species may be found on the trunks. <A tree growing in a shady, brushy location on the wooded side of a limestone hill in Guam had Hymeno- lepis mucronata, Asplenium Nidus, Polypodium scolo- pendria, P. punctatum, and young plants of Vittaria elongata and Humata heterophylla growing within four feet of the base; higher up, near the crown, were Cyclo- phorus adnascens and Davallia solida. On a tree farther down the hill were very large plants of both Asplenium Nidus and Polypodium punctatum, growing on the axis 10 to 15 feet from the ground. On Los Negros Island I found a tree growing in woods the bark of which was completely covered almost to the top with Humata hetero- phylla. Nearby, eight feet high on a tree in an exposed place, I found a fully developed plant of Lycopodium Phlegmaria clinging to the smooth bark. I have heard of Schizaea dichotoma being found on coconut trunks, but I have not found it there yet.
In all I have found 17 species growing on coconut trees. In rainy regions, at higher altitudes, other species May be expected.
Wasurineton, D. C.
NOMENCLATURAL CHANGES IN ISOETES 77
Some Nomenclatural Changes in the Genus soetes
CLYDE F. REED
It has been pointed out several times that the name Isoetes Braunii Dur. is a later homonym of Jsoetes Braunii Unger, a fossil species of central Europe. The problem of finding the correct name for this common Species of the northern United States has resulted in the following paper, which attempts to settle some of the | nomenclatural and taxonomic difficulties involved. That the stress placed on the markings of the gynospores by | Miss Pfeiffer in her monograph of the Isoetaceae? has | resulted in a rather distorted presentation of the rela- | tionships of the species is the conclusion reached by the | author after a study of a wider range of morphological characters, of the ecological habits, and of the geographi- | cal distribution. Three species of this relationship are | here recognized, all of which are distinct from the Euro- | pean I. echinospora Dur., with which they have fre- quently been united. The writer is indebted to C. A. | Weatherby, C. V. Morton, and Joseph Ewan for sugges- | tions.
Durieu’s original descriptions of Isoetes Brauniw and I. muricata? were merely observational notes, as his foot- natin
"4-9. Engelmann (Trans, St. Louis Acad. Sei. 4: 380. 1882), Clute (Fern Allies 223. 1905), and Coekerell (Muhlenbergia 3: 9. 907 g k is, ‘I may
1907). Engelmann’s remar is, y state here that the name of I. Braunii is preoccupied, as it has already been given eC the two species of the Ter iary deposits, the well marked spores of which have been discovered in the German Br C f. B efore proposed for our plant, if it should eventually be Considered distinct, the name of I. ambigua.’? O ly Isoetes r. is a nomen provisorium and therefore invalid. Ann, Mo. Bot. Gard. 9: 7 922,
* These descriptions may be translated as follow:
8: dist: cata. Related to Isoetes riparia Engelm., it is Stinguished by its spores being covered with stout papillae, not
78 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
note indicates : ‘‘Ces notes ne sont point de véritable de- scriptions, mais ont simplement pour objet de signaler pour chaque espéce un ecaractére de fructification de premiére valeur, suffisant d’abord la spécifier.’’ Three years later, Engelmann reduced these species to varieties of I. echinospora (a disposition of them maintained for many years), adding at the same time another variety, Boottii, which came from the same locality (Woburn, Massachusetts) as the type of I. muricata and has proved to be essentially identical with that species. The original material of I. Brawnii came from Lake Winnepesaugee, New Hampshire, and specimens from Mt. Mansfield, Vermont, and Concord, Massachusetts, were also known to Durieu. Later, Engelmann added another variety, E. echinospora var. robusta, based on material from Lake Champlain, which was reduced by A. A. Eaton to J. echinospora var. Braunii, but which was maintained as a form by Clute and Miss Pfeiffer.
In 1907 Cockerell® created the new name I. echinospora [var.] Brittonii, based on I. Braunii Dur., non Unger, again observing that the fossil species invalidates Durieu’s name. However, Brawnii as a varietal epithet is legitimate under Article 69 of the Rules, which permits
with sinuous ni thin - more or i anastomosing. The plants seem to t
ociati I. elmannii A. Br.; there has developed one individ al of this last lant among the stocks col- lect , Mas ae: and sent to Durand by Boott.—
mes echinospora they are compressed, almost lamellar and very fragile, whereas in I, Braunii the spinules are conical and solid. The androspores of I. Braunii are smaller and smooth all over, the edges with close, rounded crenulations, not fine distinet teeth as in gpecemenpscact —Bull. Soe. Bot. France 11: 101. 1864. en
him as I. riparia ioe minor sporis minoribus 5 Muhlenbergia 3: 9. 1907.
NOMENCLATURAL CHANGES IN ISOETES 79
an author, in this case Engelmann, to validate an illegiti- mate epithet by transferring it to a new status, provided that no legitimate epithet is available. The varietal name Brittonii is therefore illegitimate, since it was superfluous when published.
unfortunate nomenclatural situation has been thrust on the taxonomist by Iversen,’ who made three new forms of J. echinospora, and then proceeded to de- Scribe under identical names two subforms of each form. This practice is, of course, contrary to Article 30 of the Rules, which provides that no two subdivisions of a spe- cies may bear the same epithet. Broun transferred all three forms to J. Braun. A somewhat similar treatment is that of Gliick,” who likewise used the same form names Several times within a species. All these forms are based ©n superficial variations in the frequency of stomata or degree of submergence or emergence, and are here placed IM synonymy.
The segregation of the plants of this alliance from western North America was begun in 1888, when Under- wood described I. maritima, and continued by A. A. Eaton with the description of I. echinospora var. Flettu, sé echinospora var. truncata, and I. Macounti, which has Proved to be a synonym of I. maritima. There seems to be an increase in the number of stomata on the leaves as the plants oceur westward, reaching a climax in I. maritima and those western plants referred by Miss Pfeiffer to I, Braunii, but which are here described as a new variety, hesperia. There is a tendency for the Spinules of the gynospores to become more confiuent into columns or ridges in the western plants. The andro- Spores range from having smooth surfaces in the eastern Varieties to spinulose or papillose ones in the western SER ame
° Bot. Tidsskr. 40: 128-129.
: 1928. oe ey Pascher, Die Siisswasser-Flora Mitteleuropas 15: 10-21.
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
80
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osorided “ gg—1Z Ajgoryo “ §g-63 0} yjoous “i gg—cg sourtjoutos ‘i ge-eg | sorodsorpuy puny[q 0} daeys soynurds sourds qun{q SOSPLI poyjoo} oOyur f peyjooy 10 poysoz p27300} SauTTJoULOS 10 suUIN[Od 93R0 qUNPWOD Sout} SOUIT}OIMOS ‘saTn ‘sourds o}¥ounI} -uNnI} YIM paraaod -ouos “guntq ‘yorqy -urds pvoiq qyTM oul YILA 8}BUrTpe 4pyory} “ Qgc-ogF | seurds oy} ‘N Qyc-0g¢E poraaoa “i 9Z9—-0¢z 4jesuap ‘i o¢o-0FF | “™- soaodsoutp wuduei0ds wnidue10ds wnisuvsods oy} JO FF Bursoaog | oyy Jo F-f Bursoaoy | oy} Jo F-F Burs9a0pH mosieu. £104 | unyo A peqjods -yaup Aposnjzorg poqods-oreg pejjods-opeg poyodsug | ------ -ersuesod SNOTOWIN NT sno.oun NY Mog “uasor jnagy oo ByVUIOYS VILVONOML *T VNLLIYVN *T VIVOTUONW *T VuOdSONIHOD *T
NOMENCLATURAL CHANGES IN ISOETES 81
plants. The characters of I. echinospora and the three New World species here recognized may be summarized as in the accompany ing tabulation.
; [At this place some mention may appropriately be made of an Asiatic plant of this alliance, I. asiatica (Makino) FE Makino,* which is described by Miss Pfeiffer as follows:
bE “Differs from the type [J. echinospora] in having a broad velum, covering 3 to 3 of the sporangium, in bear- ing coarser spinules on the megaspores, and in the } smoothness of the microspores.’’ Miss Pfeiffer had seen no material, and her description was drawn from Makino.
However, material collected in Japan and labelled I. | echinospora var. asiatica Makino in the National Her- barium has the gynospores with reticulate or foveolate | surfaces and lacks spinules. Jsoetes asiatica is said to range from Honshu to Saghalin, the Kurile Islands, and I Kamtchatka. The material from these regions needs to
be carefully studied. | Isoetes muricata Dur. Bull. Soc. Bot. France 11: 100.
Isoetes. echinospora var. muricata Engelm. in Gray’s Manual, ed. 5, 676. 1867; Clute, Fern Allies 222 905 ;
1 mm, in xwate. the emersed ones 3 5-8 em. lone. iam der, recurve ed; stomata present; sporangia pale-spotted, globose ; Velum covering $ to % of the cuca ie Se ee ie *Tsoetes asiatica ties (Makino) Makino, Bot, Mag. Tokyo 1914; Takamine, op. : 184. 1921; Dopp, in or smaal
Pteridola 259. 1938, Fenctes ape salioggeeern see Makino, Bot. Mag. ovo lal 1
82 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
spores 400-620 (average 510 y) in diameter, covered with slender, round spines and flat, blunt or retuse lamel- lae; androspores 25-31 long, smooth or slightly granu- lar, wh Seeetirie: Nova Scotia to northern Maine and New Jersey. Isoetes muricata f. robusta (Engelm.) Reed, comb. nov. Isoetes og ear var. robusta Engelm. Trans. St. Louis Acad. Sci. 4: 380. 1882. Isoetes echinospora [var. Braunii f. robusta Clute, Fern Allies 258. 1905. Isoetes Brauni f. robusta Pfeiffer, Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. : 22
Leaves numerous, as many as 75, smaller than in typ!- eal muricata, 12-15 em. long; stomata abundant; gyno- spores 400 p in diameter.
DisTRIBUTION: Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachu-
setts.
Isoetes Gravesii A. A. Eaton should be mentioned at this point, since Miss Pfeiffer treats it as a synonym of f. robusta, from which however, it differs in several strik- ing morphological characters: (1) Bast bundles are pres- ent in the leaves; (2) the gynospores are smaller and are greatly flattened in the upper hemisphere and densely covered with stout, truncate, mostly single columns; and (3) the plants are dioecious. Clute more naturally places I. Gravesii as a variety of I. valida (a synonym
of I. Eatonii), with which it agrees in the characters
pointed out above.? *Isoetes Eatonii Dodge, pha — Fern Allies N. et 39.
7, 60. 1908; Pfeiff r, Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 9: 177. 1922. a Isoetes Engelmannii ioe “valida Engelm. in Gray’s Manua’, ed. 5, 677. 1867.
Isoetes valida Clute, Fern Allies 236. 1905.
Dr on: New —— shire, secre New Jersey-
Eatonii forma esii (A. A. Eato: omb. oath Isoetes Gravesii ow A. rang Fernwort Pag 4, 1900; area _— ed. 7, 61. 1908; Britt. & Brown Th Fi. ed. 2, 4+ 1913. Isoetes valida [var.] on Clute, Fern Allies 243. 1905. ISTRIBUTION: Connectic
NOMENCLATURAL CHANGES IN ISOETES 83
Isoetes muricata var. Braunii (Dur.) Reed, comb. nov.
Isoetes Braunii, Dur. Bull. Soc. Bot. France 11: 101. 1864, non Unger.
Isoetes echinospora var. Braunii Engelm. in Gray’s Manual, ed. 5, 676. 1867.
TIsoetes ambigua A. Br. ex Engelm. Trans. St. Louis Acad. Sei. 4: 380. 1882 (nom. provis
Isoetes echinospora [var.] Brittonii Cockerell, Muhlen- bergia 3: 9. 1907 (nom. abort.).
Isoetes echinospora £. polystoma Ivers. Bot. Tidsskr. 40: 128. 1928 (partim).
Tsoetes echinospora £. polystoma subf. lativelata Ivers. op. cit. 129. :
Isoetes echinospora £. oligostoma Ivers. loc. cit. (par-
Isoetes Agia aie f. oligostoma subf. latwvelata Ivers. loc. cit
Testes echinospora f. astoma Ivers. loe. cit. (partim). Isoetes echinospora f. astoma subf. lativelata Ivers. loc.
Isoetes Braunii f. polystoma Broun, Index N. Amer. Ferns 99. 1938.
Isoetes Braunii f. oligostoma Broun, cit.
Tsoetes Braunii ‘a astoma oe loc
‘0 Isoetes Braunii Unger, in Bruckman, Fl. Oenin ning , Poi Jahresb. Ver. Vaterl. Naturk. aaa 62; 226. Heer, FI]. Tert. Helv. 1: ge pl. 14, fig. 2— ‘ Isoetes lacustris fossilis A. Br. Neues Jahrb. f wees, Ge Ologie 1845: 167. 1345. Isoetites Braunii Unger, Gen. et Sp. Foss. 225. 1850; stones ad. Wiss. Wien, Math. Naturw. Kl. 4: 13. pl. 4, fig 52.
i DistriBuTion : This fossil species has been found o wee sag formations: Tertiary (Germany) ; cca ne (Oenin
Slovaks
So. mrad 0} Upper Seats (Bohemia, Prussia) ; and eDalje?? (Se. akia).
84 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
with broad spinules, these sometimes forked or toothed, sometimes recurved, occasionally confiuent into short
smooth, very numerous, up to 300,000 in a sporangium. DistrisuTION: West Greenland, Iceland, and Gaspé County, Pais to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, and Ontario Isoetes muricata var. hesperia Reed, var. nov. Minor ; folia 10-18, 5-10 (raro 13) em. longa; velum
Plants smaller; leaves 10-18, AG “(rarely 13) em. long ; stomata few; eine narrower, covering about 4 of
meters, September 1, 1897, by John B. Leiberg (No. STL):
DistripuTIon: Idaho, Colorado, Utah, California, Washington, oy Vancouver Island, at elevations of 1,800 to 3,500 mete
This ares includes the specimens from the western United States referred to I. Braunii by Miss Pfeiffer. Other specimens studied in the National Herbarium are: Base of Mount Heyburn, Sawtooth Range, Idaho, sub- merged in small lake, alt. 8,000 feet, Aug. 4, 1936, Thompson 13657 ; Mount Rainier, Washington, in lakes, alt. 4,500 feet, Aug. 23, 1901, Flett 1929; Chiquash Mountains, Washington, in shallow pond, Aug. 16, 1900, Suksdorf 2210; Lake Whatcom, Washington, July 29, 1937, Muenscher 7543; Seven Lakes, Colorado, alt. 3,500 meters, Clements Sept. 1, 1902; Head of Trinity River, California, in lakes, alt. 8,000 feet, Sept. 1, 1882, Pringle; Mount Arrowsmith, Vancouver Island, B. C., alt. 4,000 feet, Aug. 1, 1931, Howell 7646.
11 Further study of the material from the northernmost localities may show that it belongs to the following variety or to I. maritimé.
NOMENCLATURAL CHANGES IN ISOETES 85
Isoetes maritima Underw. Bot. Gaz. 18: 94. 1888. Isoetes Macounii A. A. Raton, Fern Bull. 8: 12. 1900 ; Trelease, in Harriman Alaska Exp. 5: 395. 1904. Isoetes echinospora var. maritima A. A. Eaton, Fern Bull. 18: 52. 1905; Tatew. and Kobay. Contr. FI. ae Isl. 25. 1934; Hultén, Fl. Aleut. Isl. 62-63. 937
Isoetes echinospora [var.] Braunii f. maritima Clute, Fern Bull. 16: 55. 1908.
Isoetes Braunii var. maritima Pfeiffer, Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 9: 174. 1922.
Isoetes lacustris sensu Tatew. Trans. Sapporo Nat. Hist. Soe. 11: 156. 1930, non L.
Isoetes beringensis Komarov, Bull. Jard. Bot. Acad. Sei. U.S. S. R. 80: 196. 1932; Fl. U. 8. S. R. 1: 128. 1934 (Bering Island).
: . Eaton.
Leaves 8-12, rigid, 2.5-5 em. long, green, chiefly slen- der, with fine-pointed tips and rather wide membran- aceous border at base; stomata numerous; sporangia globose to oblong, 3-4 mm. long, pale-spotted; ligule triangular, a little longer than wide; velum usually nar- row, sometimes covering $ of the sporangium; gyn Spores 380-500 1 (rarely 600) in diameter, with rather thick, bluntish spines, these sometimes confluent into toothed ridges, white ; androspores 30-39 1 (rarely up to
1) long, chiefly papillose.
Disrripurion : Washington, Vancouver Island, Aleu-
; Macownii, Amtchitka, Attu), and Commander Islands (Bering Island, type locality of I. beringensis).
Isoetes maritima var. Flettii (A. A. Eaton) Reed, comb.
Isoetes echinospora var. Flettii A. A. Eaton, Fern Bull. 11: 85. 1903 (nom. nud) ; op eit. 18: 51. 1905; Clute, Fern Allies 222. 1905.
Isoetes echinospora [var.] Braunii f. Flettiw Clute, Fern Bull. 16: 55. 1908.
oes Flettii Pfeiffer, Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 9: 186.
22.
86 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Leaves 10-20, 5-8 cm. long, coarse, tapering, spreading or recurved, with a wide basal sheath extending aden: 4+ the ] eneth of the leaf; stomata numerous; sporangia
ong, 4 mm. long, spotted ; ligule blunt-triangular ;
to %; 7, spines, these very short, almost wartlike, and short crests, and rarely more or less EOE: reticulate ; andro- spores 29-33 long, finely spinulos
DIsTRIBUTION : Washington, British Columbia.
Isoetes truncata (A. A. ag Clute, Fern Allies 260. 1905 ; Pfeiffer, Ann. Mo. aoe rd. 9: 175. ve Isoetes echinospora var. fa A. A. Eaton, in Gil- bert, List N. Amer. Pterid. oy a 1901; Clute, Be Allies 222. 1905. Isoetes Braunii sensu Seow Fl. Alaska and Yukon 7 san 7. 1941, non Leaves 20-40, 6-13 em. cae. stout, rather rigid, finely Regie with an almost setaceous apex and a wide mem- ranaceous margin at base; stomata numerous; sporangia oblong, 4-6 mm. long, marked profusely with brown patches of sclerenchyma cells; ligule short- triangular ; velum covering + to } of the sporangium; gynospores 430-520 uy (rarely eu u) in diameter, thickly covered wth truncate columns ips spines, white; androspores 27-33 u long, pasa d DISTRIBUTION : Canon er Island to Alaska and Kodiak Island. BautTrmMorE, MARYLAND.
Paciric GLEICHENIACEAE 87
Valid Names in the Gleicheniaceae: Pacific Plant Studies No. 4'
Haroup St. JOHN
Occasionally two or more systematists have the mis- fortune to revise a group of plants almost at the same time. One has the good fortune to have his paper printed first, while the others have the bad luck of creating later synonyms. The writer was one of several who worked independently but simultaneously upon the senera now segregated from Gleichenia, and proposed new combinations under them. It now appears that the first of these publications to be printed was by R. Ching. Doubtless due to the war, this number was not widely distributed outside of China, none of the five sets of the journal in Honolulu having it even now, and ap- parently the only copy to reach the United States being in the library of the Gray Herbarium. Needless to say, this paper of Ching’s was unknown to the present writer when working on Gleichenia, and at the time of his pub- lieation.*
Recently when returning from South America, it was Possible to visit the Gray Harbarium and to read and collate Ching’s paper. C. A. Weatherby discussed it there and has helped in evaluating certain of the older names. Ching accepted as genera the following : Dicran- opteris, Gleichenella, Hicriopteris, Sticherus, Calymella, Stromatopteris, and Platyzoma. He lists them, but gives no key or discussion of the validating morphologic
characters. ee
* This is the fourth of a series of papers designed to present ara 2 ig Bateson and records of eg Ae island plants. The os © Published as Bishop Mus. Oce. Pap. 17(7), afer 17(13),, 10485 185), 1
: junyatse nia 5: 201-268, 1 gor 1940. : Bish p Mus. Puctsioaas Papers 18: 79-84. 1942.
88 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Because of the earlier Gleichenia Necker (1790) Ching
wholly rejects Gleichenia Smith (1793), the traditional generic name for many of the species in this family. Instead, he adopts Calymella Presl (1836) for the spe- cies remaining in the genus after the removal of various segregate genera. Certainly Gleichenia of Smith is a later homonym, but it is not necessary to reject this long-familiar name at this time, since Becherer has formally proposed it* as a nomen conservandum. This authorizes the continued use of Gleichenia Smith until its conservation is voted upon at the next International Botanical Congress. Ching did not mention this pro- posal. Because of the rarity of this Chinese publication, it is desirable to summarize certain of its contents. Below are listed Ching’s new combinations with the page refer- ences for the ones which antedate those by the present author.
as pedalus Sticherus quadripartitus (Poir.) Ching, p. 284
One Hawaiian species which the writer previously ac- cepted as Dicranopteris sandwicensis Degener should now be known by an older name:
Dicranopteris emarginata (Brack.) W. J. Robinson, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 39: 240. 19
12. Mertensia emarginata Brack. U. S. Expl. Exped. 16: 297-298. 1854, not of Raddi, Pl. Bras. 1: 72. 1825.
4 Candollea 7: 137-139. 1936.
Pacirric GLEICHENIACEAE 89
Gleichenia emarginata (Brack.) T. Moore, Ind. Fil. 377. 1862. Gleichenia dichotoma (Thunb.) Hook. var. emarginata (Brack.) Hillebrand, Fl. Haw. Ids. 545. 1888. Gleichenia dichotoma var. tomentosa Luerss. Flora 58: 9.18
Mertensia hawaiiensis Nakai, Bot. Mag. Tokyo 39: 181. 1925
Gleichenia hawaiensis (Nakai) C. Christensen, Ind. Fil. Suppl. 3, 106. 1934 (misspelled for hawanensis).
Dicranopteris kawaiensis (Nakai) Ching, Sunyatsenia 5: 275. 1940 (misspelled for hawatiensis).
Dicranopteris sandwicensis Degener, Fl. Haw. fam. 5, March 15, 1940.
Brackenridge, when giving the first description of this Species, called it Mertensia emarginata, a later homonym and hence illegitimate. But later, T. Moore validated the specific name when he transferred it to Gleichenia. That made it available for transfer to the appropriate Segregate genus. Degener has rejected it because of @. emarginata Raddi, Pl. Bras. 1: 76, 1825, a binomial Which does not seem to exist on that or any other page of Raddi’s book. Being non-existent, it does not invali- date T. Moore’s combination which thus makes the spe- cific name available for use on transfer to any of the senera concerned except Mertensia, which in any ease IS a nomen re jiciendum. Consequently there is no jus- tification for a new name, either the misspelled names G. hawaiensis (Nakai) C. Chr. or D. kawaiensis (Nakai) Ching or for the new name D. sandwicensis Degener. There are no impediments to the use of the valid name D. emarginata (Brack.) W. J. Robinson.
Bernice P. Bisnor Museum, Honowvuy, T. H.
90 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Some Notes on Arizona Ferns
WALTER S. PHILLIPS
Recently I undertook to put in order the pteridophytes in the herbarium of the University of Arizona. This group had been much neglected here and with the addi- tion of the ferns from Dr. Forrest Shreve’s herbarium, recently acquired by the University, a complete revision of the various genera and families was undertaken and completed.
Of the two recent floras of Arizona published, Kearney & Peebles’ ‘‘Flowering Plants and Ferns of Arizona”’ has the most definite information on the ferns of this state, including many. specific citations. The fern por- tion was contributed by Dr. William R. Maxon from material in the U. S. National Herbarium and from col- lections by the two authors of the flora.
The present notes concern one addition to the fern flora of Arizona and two recently discovered new stations for species already noted within the state.
IANTUM PEDATUM var. ALEUTICUM Rupr. This fern, omitted by Kearney and Peebles, is represented in our herbarium by four sheets from two widely separated localities. Three are from Oak Creek Canyon, Coconino County, collected by Chester Deaver, August 4 and 9, 1928; they are good typical plants of the variety. The fourth is a collection (without date) by Goodding (no. 1456), from the Huachuea Mountains of Cochise County, and consists of a single plant, representing a very de- pauperate form of the variety.
ASPLENIUM SEPTENTRIONALE (L.) Hoffm. This plant has been reported in Arizona only from the northern part of the state, in the region of the San Francisco Moun- tains, Coconino County. Last summer, while collecting
1 AMER. Fern JOURN. 31: 99. 1941.
Notes on Arizona FERNS 91
in the Santa Catalina Mountains of Pima County, I dis- covered two small colonies in a crevice on a granitic rock face on the southern slope of Mt. Lemmon at 8,500 feet. This plant (Phillips 2463), is in our herbarium. There Was not time enough on this trip for further search, but another visit in November turned up several more colo- Mies in the same general locality and proves that this little plant is here well established, hundreds of miles south of its previously reported station in the state. It probably will be found on other high mountains in the region when a more thorough search is made.
Potysticuum Loncuitis (L.) Roth. Reported by Maxon from a collection by Thornber and Shreve (no. 7767) from the Pinaleno Mountains, Graham County. This locality is further defined (by personal conversation with Shreve) as being in Frye Canyon, along ‘‘Colum- bine Trail,’’ above the sawmill that was formerly known as “‘Clarson’s Mill,’’ which has long since gone. On a collecting trip last September with Dr. L. M. Pultz and Dr. R. A. Darrow to these same mountains, we located another station in a canyon east of the original station, viz. Marihilda Canyon, below Shannon Camp, at 8,300 feet, on the shaded canyon sides in rich soil (P. hallips ~ This species was well established at this station and numbered hundreds of individuals.
Universrry or Arizona.
92 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Shorter Notes
Notes on ILLINoIs PrermpopHyTES.—The review of the treatment of the pteridophytes in Jones’ ‘‘ Flora of Ili- nois’’ which appeared in the last number of the JOURNAL brought to mind several trips taken to study these plants there some years ago. In 1904 W. N. Clute had de- seribed an Equisetum Ferrissi (ignored by Jones) from a station near Joliet, Illinois. Although this had been earefully differentiated from E. hyemale [E. prealtum], it is assigned to synonymy under that in Broun’s “In- dex.’’ A visit to the type locality yielded the entity subsequently named by Schaffner E. kansanwm—also ignored by Jones. Such plants, instead of being hidden in synonymy or ignored, should be carefully investi- gated ; there is a possibility that the name Ferrissi, which has priority, must displace kansanum for a widespread midland species.
o discussion of the variants of Cystopteris fragilis is given by Jones; however, the habitat stated, ‘‘moist soil in woods,’’ confirms the experience of the writer that var. protrusa is the common entity in the state.
For many years there was no specimen in any public herbarium of Miss Steagall’s interesting addition to the fern flora of Illinois, Trichomanes Boschianum, but Jones records the good news that one is now so preserved.
Anyone who thinks that Lycopodium porophilum is & distinct species should turn to the frontispiece of Bower’s ‘Origin of a Land Flora,” for that illustration, which could well have been drawn from an Illinois instead of a British specimen, is labelled without question Ly¢ podium Selago, and the evolutionary significance of this plant is referred to repeatedly in that classic work of over 700 pages.—Epear T. Wuerry, University of Pent sylvamia.
1 Morton, C. V. This JourNAL 35: 64. 1945.
AMERICAN FERN Society 93
NorTHwestern Limrrs or CYSTOPTERIS FRAGILIS VAR. LAURENTIANA.— When I described this variety in 1926, it was known only from the region about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Broun’s ‘‘Index of North American Ferns’’ (1938) added the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, and in 1935 it had been found, though not publicly recorded, on Manitoulin Island, somewhat to the northwest—Pease & Ogden, no. 24,997. Tryon, in his ‘‘Ferns of Wisconsin’”’ (1940), reported it from four counties in that state— Dane, in the south, Dorr, in the region of Green Bay, and Douglas and Bayfield at the western end of Lake Superior. It has now turned up in a collection of plants Tom the north shore of Lake Superior recently received at the Gray Herbarium from the National Herbarium of Canada, Data of collection are: Canyon walls, Black River, about lat. 48° 45’ North, long. 87° 15’ West, July 20, 1937, R. C. Hosie, 8. T. Losec, & M. W. Bannan,
- 43. This new station gives the variety a range in- cluding all the northern part of the Great Lakes region, with an outpost in southern Wisconsin.—C. A. WEATH- ERBY, Gray Herbarium.
American Fern Society
ERNS To ExcHAnGre.—Recently I acquired at last a Complete set of the Fern Journal. As I eagerly read Tough the early issues, I was impressed by the number . Specimens offered in exchange. In fact, in Vol. 1, 0. 2, there is a list nearly three pages long of species m the Fern Society’s own ‘‘Exchange Department.’’ “nd many individual members offered material from time to time, often in return for postage only. In recent Years it would seem, however, that collecting zeal has Teached a very low ebb, judging from the pages of the Journal. This may make it easier for the survival of
94 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
rare species, which is good; but on the other hand, for persons who, like myself, wish to accumulate a private herbarium for study purposes, such a lack of published exchange offers means a good deal of fruitless correspon- dence. And in these days of necessarily curtailed travel, the obtaining of material by exchange is of special value. Accordingly, I would like to make the following offer: ! will undertake to supply specimens of any. species of Pteridophyta known to grow in the New England states, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, or Maryland, in exchange for species of Asplenium, Pellaea, Cheilanthes, Notholaena, or Woodsia that are not known to grow i the above-mentioned states. I would be interested also in alleged fern hybrids of any genus, with information regarding their occurrence.
The specimens I supply will be well pressed, well de- veloped, and fertile, and will include rhizomes when these are not too bulky or the species too rare. They will be accompanied by typed labels bearing full data. I would like to receive material in a similar condition. I can also send living plants of Delaware and Maryland Species in very small quantities—Grorce R. ProcTOR, 140 West Main St., Newark, Delaware.
Frrn Socrery Services to New AND OLDER MEMBERS.— The accession of many new members, as listed in recent issues, prompts this note as a reminder of the supple mentary services which the Fern Society offers. The second cover page of each Journal carries formal men tion of the existence of a Fern Society Library and a Fern Society Herbarium, both housed at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden under the care of Miss Hester Rusk. From each of these collections members may receive loans for help in the identification and study of ferns from various parts of the country. The procedure in borrow
ee
AMERICAN FERN Society 95
ing is simple. For the Library, lists of books may be obtained from Miss Rusk, from which selections may be made; similarly for the Herbarium. The only charge is the cost of packing, shipment, and insurance. Ar- rahgements may be made also to borrow through Miss Rusk special fern lantern slides for use in talks to local groups.
From time to time, through its more than half century of existence, Fern Society members have been given occasional additional helps—herbarium specimens and living plants of interesting species, and reprints of fern articles contributed by members or provided by the So- ciety. At the present time, there are, in varying num- ber, extra copies of the articles listed below. These may be obtained, as long as they last, by forwarding ten cents for postages, ete., to the Treasurer, American Fern So- ciety, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1000 Washington Ave., Brooklyn 25, N. Y. The articles are:
Waters, ©. E, Analytical key for the ferns of the Northeastern States, based on stipes. (1928.) Wuerry, E. T. Range extensions and other observa- tions, 1931-1932. Fern field notes, 1933. Fern field notes, 1934. ; THurston, Susan H. Forcing a collection of native ferns of New England and the Middle Atlantic States for exhibition. (1939.) ; Buakg, 8. F. State and local fern floras of the United States. (1941.) es
Members of the Fern Society will be interested in ‘s new publication just started by the Brooklyn or Garden entitled ‘‘Plants and Gardens.’’ The new jour- nal, a quarterly, is issued as Volume 1, No. 1, of ee Series of the Botanic Garden Record. Emphasis will be Placed on topics of interest to plant and garden lovers
96 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
in general. An excellent start has been made in the spring issue of 64 pages, including many illustrations, of which four are fine color plants. Two of the contribu- tors, Dr. A. H. Graves and Dr. H. K. Svenson, are Fern Society members. The contents of the first number are as follows:
Layout of the small place... Mary D. Lamson
at’s in a name? Henry K. Svenson The living tree Arthur H. Graves Shrubs for special wses...0.......ccccccccseen- Charles F. Doney Weed-killing chemieals....0...00.000000000: George S. Avery, Jr. Why hoose pinnte fail... Montague Free
NEW MEMBERS Mr. Sten A. pendiny 14649 Sauber St., Van Nuys, California. Miss A. Viola Bissell, Rte. 5 x 39A | Wat tsonville, California. Mrs. Anson 8. Blake Rincon 4 near Arlington Ave., Berkeley 8,
Californ Dr. S. F. Blake, 2817 First Road N, SEigone Virginia. Mrs, F. E. Cheesborough, 1611 Church St., Galveston, Tex Miss Graham Crabtree, 4807 abet Ave, Chattanooga 8 Tenn. Dr. Linda B. Lang, Haines Falls, New York. Miss Jeanne Le Crenier, 36 Robbins ge Wethersfield 9, Conn. Mr. W. A. Murray, 1486 Channing Ave., Palo Alto, California. Miss Helen Ramsay, 1328 Jerome St., Philadelphia 40,
CHANGES oF ADDRESS
Cpl. William B. Cooke, 1219 No. Franklin St., Philadelphia 22, Pa. Mr. pail B. Comstock, Jr., 807 So. Taglewood Ave., Inglewood, Califo:
Cpl. Sadek ns ee 33477266, Medical Detachment, 780th Field Artill , Fort Bragg, N. C.
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Vol. 35 October-December, 1945 No. 4 L~
American #ern Journal Cnegenans
A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO FERNS Published by the AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY
Rd
EDITORS WILLIAM R. MAXON
R. C. BENEDICT Cc. V. MORTON IRA L. WIGGINS a.
CONTENTS Ferns and Fun .. JOHN A, STEVENSON 97
ecent Range Extensions of Botrychium » matricaria folium icine 105
A ‘eg Habitat toe Maideihate FEA aD ALTON
A. Linpsey 109 Sources of the Fern Flora of Colorado... Josura Ewan 114 Shorter Note: Our a Native Fern I Recent Pern hae: ture.
zr a oi hae Society: —_ Christensen; Constitution ae
— Index to Von: 35. 137
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Hengy K. Svenson, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn a5, N. ON. BS
Witi4M R, Maxon, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D.C
Editor-in-Chief OFFICIAL ORGAN American Fern Journal EDITORS Witiam R. Maxon... Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C. R. C. Beyepicr.... matt) Dorchester Road, Brooklyn 26, N. ¥. C. V. Morton _. Smithsonian Institution, Washington n 25, otro &
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Ampriran Fern Journal
Vou. 35 OCTOBER—DECEMBER, 1945 No. 4
Ferns and Fungi Joun A. STEVENSON
It will perhaps come as a surprise to fern lovers to learn that these interesting and often delicate plants are as much subject to attack by parasitic fungi as are the higher plants. The fungi occur not only as parasites, but as symbiotie forms in the roots, as epiphytes on fronds and stems, and in a wide and bewildering variety aS saprophytes or scavengers on all parts of dead and dying plants. Even the prothallia of ferns are attacked and destroyed by a number of the lower fungi.
Seymour in his standard ‘‘Host Index of the Fungi of North America’? lists approximately 200 species of fungi as growing on nearly 100 fern species—an array of enemies to make the stoutest fern quail! Pteridium, the common Bracken, for example, is host to some 30 fungi, a number of them distinetly parasitic. A forth-
coming supplement to the ‘‘Index’’ will increase this
Tecord substantially.
The interrelationship, as alternate rust hosts, which exists between the wheat crop and the barberry and between our white pines and currant bushes to their Mutual disadvantage has been thoroughly publicized. tis not so well known, though unfortunately only too true, that a considerable number of North American ferns and our fir forests are involved in a similar ru fungus complex.
There are three such rust genera concerned, all abun- ‘antly represented in this country : Uredinopsis, Milesia, | Vines 85. wo. e Jounwan, pages 65-96, was issued September 11, 1945] of the JOURNAL, pages ? o7
98 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
and Hyalopsora. The first of these is characterized by masses of white spores produced in pustules on the lower surface of the fronds, in contrast to the yellow or brown spore-masses of most other rusts. A second or resting- spore stage develops within the tissues of the fronds. At least 25 species are known, all marked by their oceur- rence on ferns with various species of fir (Abies) as alternate hosts. Of these, 13 occur in America north of Mexico. They attack Athyrium, Cheilanthes, Cystop- teris, Dryopteris, Pteretis, Onoclea, Pellaea, Pteridium, and Woodwardia, of the Polypodiaceae, and Osmunda, of the Osmundaceae.
It has been found that each species of Uredinopsis is restricted to certain ferns and that other species, though closely related, remain immune. For example, Uredt- nopsis Copelandi is known only on Athyrium cyclosorum in California, whereas U. osmundae attacks Osmunda Claytoniana, O. cinnamomea, and O. regalis from Canada to Florida, wherever these hosts occur. Similarly, U. Atkinsonu restricts itself to Dryopteris Thelypterts var. pubescens, but follows it throughout its range as far as Bermuda. Most ferns have but one rust to support, but Pteridium aquilinum and its varieties have the doubt- ful distinction of serving as host to three species of Uredinopsis. The balsam fir (Abies balsamea) takes the brunt of the burden of playing alternate host to these rusts, although the western firs are known to be attacked
y the several species of the Pacific Coast area. More- over, inoculation studies have shown that all firs are susceptible to these rusts.
A second and very similar white- or colorless-spored group of some 33 species constitutes the genus Milesia, of worldwide distribution. Nine of these have been found and studied in the United States and Canada. All produce white masses of urediospores in pustules 00
Frerns AND Funct 99
the lower surface of infected fronds, and the telial or resting stage follows within the tissues. Some species cause large irregular dark blotches on the fronds, dis- figuring and even killing them at times.
Tn eastern Canada, New England, and New York four
Species of Milesia oceur on Dryopteris spinulosa, D. mar- ginalis, and Polypodium virginianum. Three of these also develop a further stage on the balsam fir. The five Species of the Pacific Coast region have been collected on Cryptogramma, Dryopteris spp., Polypodium spp., and Polystichum munitum. An alternate host for these lat- ter forms is unknown, but there is no doubt that, as in the case of the eastern species, Abies will be found in due time to fill this undesirable role. Milesia rather ‘ommonly overwinters in the fronds of its hosts, since they pass the winter season in a more or less green con- dition. _ The third genus of fern rusts, Hyalopsora, differs from the two already discussed in having abundant masses of golden-yellow powdery urediospores. These ‘pore-masses are produced in round pustules on the lower surface of the fronds, often in discolored areas. The three American species are widely distributed from Alaska and the Pacific Coast states across the northern United States and Canada to New England and Nova Pedtin. The fern hosts are Dryopteris, Cystopteris, Woodsia, Cheilanthes, Cryptogramma, Notholaena, Pel- laea, and Pityrogramma. Abies balsamea is the alter- nate host of H yalopsora aspidiotus, but similar informa- tion is lacking for the other two.
In Sharp contrast to the rusts, the smuts have asi pletely failed to gain a foothold as parasites of American rns, although leaf-inhabiting forms are known in Europe and the Orient. Many years ago, Ustilago esmundae was reported as causing galls on Osmunda
100 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
regalis in New York, but later studies have shown that a true smut fungus was not involved.
Perhaps the most striking of the parasitic fungi at- tacking the ferns are the several species of Taphrina, which form a palisade-like layer of microscopic spore- sacs or asci on yellow to brown diseased areas of infected plants. In the past it has been customary to refer all American collections to 7. filicina and one or two other species, but careful studies by Dr. A. J. Mix have shown that at least ten species of this genus are present in this country. Taphrina filicina, it now appears, attacks only Dryopteris spinulosa, and, so far as known, this only in New York State, causing small, fleshy, cream-colored galls on the fronds. TJ. fusca may be found causing similar galls or tumors on the same fern in several states. T. gracilis produces small yellowish to brown thickened spots on fronds of the Marginal Shield-fern (Dryopteris marginalis) in New York, and the related D. arguta of California has brown fleshy galls due to Taphrina calt- fornica. In New York and Maine the Marsh-fern (Dryopteris Thelypteris) is subject to round to irregu- lar, yellow-brown spots and the pathogene has been named, appropriately enough, 7. lutescens.
The Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), al- though not subject to Taphrina filicina, does not escape entirely and throughout the eastern and central United States will be found with large swollen yellowish spots on the fronds. The parasite is T. polystichi. In Oregon Polystichum munitum, the Sword-fern, exhibits small round or elliptical spots due to 7. Faulliana, again as named by Dr. Mix. TYaphrina cystopteridis causes swollen, greenish to brown lesions on fronds of Cys- topteris fragilis in a number of the Central States. The Sensitive Fern, Onoclea sensibilis, in New York and Pennsylvania is marked with elongate or irregular, rust-
FERNS AND FUNGI 101
yellow spots due to 1. Hiratsukae. Of even more lim- ited occurrence is 7. struthiopteridis in Wisconsin, on the Ostrich Fern, Pteretis nodulosa. This is an un- Pleasantly long list, and we hope that it is not ‘‘only a beginning, ’’
The powdery mildews, so abundantly present on in- numerable other hosts from apples to zinnias, are Strangely lacking on the ferns. The record to date for this country consists of the innocuous, though interest- ing, species Phyllactinia corylea on the Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis),
Not the least noteworthy of all the fern fungi are the Several tar-spot fungi. The Bracken is particularly bur- dened with these forms, the most common and wide- Spread being a species with the intriguing technical name Cryptomycina pteridis, or Cryptomyces pteridis as it has more commonly been known. This fungus covers the lower surface of infected fronds with numerous, linear, dull black, slightly raised patches in which the spores are produced. Infected areas of the Bracken do not Produce sori freely and it is possible that in this way the fungus may play some small part in checking the stowth of this weedy fern.
the upper surface of the same host occurs another tar-spot fungus, Catacauma flabellum, appearing as gray to black, smooth, slightly raised pustules, disfiguring, but not Particularly dangerous to, the plant. Attempts have been made in Europe and New Zealand, where it a8 become a serious weed, to control the Bracken by means of parasitic fungi, but without any particular Success. , Fern growers in Florida have been troubled with a brown leaf-spot disease of the Leather-leaf Fern, Poly- _ Stichum adiantiforme. This is characterized by large _ itregular reddish-brown lesions on the pinnae and rachis, _ Making the fronds unsightly and unfit for market. It
102 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
has been found possible to transfer the guilty fungus, Cylindrocladium pteridis, to other species as well, in- eluding Dryopteris normalis and Nephrolepis exaltata.
Among that vast assemblage of the simpler fungi known as the Fungi Imperfecti are numerous fern para- sites of which only brief mention can be made. Included in the spot-producing group are Cercospora phyllitidis on Polypodium, C. camptosori on Camptosorus rhizo- phyllus, Marssonina necans, Septoria pteridis, and S. aquilina on Pteridium, 8. asplenti on Athyrium pycno- carpon (Asplenium angustifolium), Sclerotium deciduum on Adiantum and Pteris, and Phyllosticta pteridis on Adiantum.
Thus far we have discussed the ee as they occur in the native habitats of their fern hosts, but it is in the greenhouse that they truly come into their own as para- sites, under the favorable conditions of constant high temperatures and abundant moisture prevailing there. In fact, under these conditions species known commonly as saprophytes have at times developed definite parasitic tendencies.
Cephalothecium roseum, an ubiquitous mould on all types of dead vegetable matter, was found damaging the prothallia of Pteris longifolia in Indiana. Several of the common ‘‘damping-off’’ fungi, so destructive to seedlings of higher plants, are known to attack fern prothallia also. Chief among these are Pythium Debaryanum, Comple- toria complens, and Rhizoctonia solani, which cause - fected tissues to blacken and die.
The Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata), widely grow2 for indoor decorative purposes in the North, has suffered from a fungus of the anthracnose group, Glomerella nephrolepis. Affected plants present a blighted, sickly appearance, due to numerous dead fronds. A fungus of similar behavior, Pestalotia cibotii, attacks living fronds of a Mexican tree-fern, Cibotium Schiedei, under green-
aa apse TE IS ae erin Re ee SR a ee eee reneeeeetr!
FERNS AND FunNGI 103
house conditions, bringing about their destruction. Still a third fungus, Alternaria sp., has been found causing lesions on fronds and stems of Polypodium in a Canadian greenhouse. Brown, circular to elliptical lesions which became concentrically zoned appeared on the fronds and ruined affected plants from a decorative point of view.
Several ferns, particularly in the South, harbor fungi that are known also as serious disease-producers of im-
Plants. The Rhizoctonia disease is of first rank with the potato, the beet, and various other crops, and it too has been found at work on the ferns. The related ‘‘Kole- Toga’”’ disease (Pellicularia koleroga) of tropical and Subtropical regions has been noted on ferns. This inter- esting and destructive form sends hyphal strands up along the branches and petioles to spread out on leaves or fronds, which are then rapidly discolored and de- Stroyed,
As might be expected, the fossil ferns are not without their fungi, although few have been definitely found and Studied for North America. Such fossil forms are known for the Carboniferous period and may have occurred much earlier, since the delicate nature of the fern tissues Involved makes diagnosis difficult. Fern fungi were doubtless common enough in those prehistoric times, but the necessary conditions for preserving them in fossil form probably oceurred only rarely. Many such forms (or forms Suspected of being fungi) consist of mycelium- like structures only and so cannot be further identified.
Searcely more than casual mention has been possible here of the myriad fungus forms which have adapted themselves to life with the ferns. In fact, only the more Striking of the parasites have been enumerated and the
104 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
great array of saprophytic species growing on dead stems and fronds, and often the most intriguing so far as the fungi themselves are concerned, have perforce been ignored.
Perhaps enough of the subject has been brought out to prove of interest to collectors and to entice them into looking for these co-dwellers with the ferns. There are many new points to be discovered in this field: new fungi, new hosts, new localities for old species, new facts on occurrence and behavior. When fern collecting in itself proves dull, turn to the fungi!
Puant InpDustry STATION,
BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND.
A Crested Form of the Broad Beech-fern | Ciype F. REeep
In May, 1944, Mr. Andrew Simon, an ardent fern- lover, found a colony of a beautiful crested form of the Broad Beech-fern on one of his numerous trips in search of forms and varieties of ferns along the Gunpowder River, Baltimore County, Maryland. In September, Mr. Simon and the author made another trip to the colony, which consists of about 100 plants. The locality is a north-facing hillside about 250 feet above the river. Due to the long-running rhizome one might suspect that a single mutation had taken place and the plant had then spread vegetatively by means of the rhizome, but a care- ful search over the hillside revealed several other colonies of the same crested and dichotomous form, all fronds on each plant being crested. No normal plants were ob- served in any of the colonies of the crested form, but nearby there were innumerable colonies of vigorous plants of the typical form in the more shaded places. Mr. Simon has been growing this form in his fern garden
RANGE oF BoTRYCHIUM MATRICARIAEFOLIUM 105
since the original discovery and no reversion to normal fronds has occured yet. It may appropriately be named:
Dryopteris hexagonoptera forma Simonii Reed, f. n innae pinnatifidae, apice cristatae vel dichotomae, del
interdum cristatae et dichotomae, aN frondis cristato vel dichotomo, vel cristato et dichotom
Type in the U. S. National atau No. 1,872,563, collected along Gunpowder River, 1 mile below Harford Road, Baltimore County, Maryland, September 17, 1944, by Clyde F. Reed (No. 3618). A cotype is Reed 3619 in the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University.
Bautrmore, MARYLAND.
Recent Range Extensions of Botrychium matricariaefolium G. R. FESSENDEN
In the seventh edition of Gray’s Manual (1908) the range of Matricary Grape-fern (Botrychium matricariae- folium A. Br.), there listed as B. ramosum (Roth) Aschers., is given as from eastern Quebec to Maryland and westward. In the ‘‘Index to North American Ferns’’ (1938) Broun states the range as ‘‘Labrador and New- foundland to Alberta, south to Maryland, Ohio, South Dakota, Nebraska and Idaho; northern Eurasia.’’ In his monograph of the Ophioglossaceae? Dr. R. T. Clausen bases the oceurrence of this species in Maryland on a col- lection made by C. E. Waters at Towson, Baltimore County, Maryland, and extends the range southward to the District of Columbia in consequence of a report by Tidestrom? that Mrs. E. 8. Steele had discovered B. ne- glectum Wood within four miles of Washington, D. C. Dr. Waters’ specimens, in the Gray Herbarium, were col- lected June 8, 1895, and July 12, 1901.° ie. a
m. Torr, Bot. ee 19: 87. 1938.
ly pesatis 5: 160. 3 Weatherby, C. fe to ales to the writer, June 1, 1944.
106 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
New localities for B. matricariaefolium in Maryland were reported in 1941 by Mr. W. H. Wagner, Jr.,* who in July, 1939, discovered a plant growing in bushy woods at the edge of a salt marsh on the northern branch of the West River near Mayo, Anne Arundel County. Mr. Wagner states that he later found a colony of about 70 plants in damp open woods near his original station, and that he collected plants near Sykesville, Carroll County, Maryland, along a small tributary of the Patapsco River. He also found one plant in the vicinity of Marlboro, Prince Georges County, Maryland, and recently (July, 1944) has found the species near Sligo Drive in Sligo Park, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland.
E. T. Wherry® has informed the writer that Mr. Coe, a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, had reported to him the finding of several plants of B. matricariaefolium in association with B. simplex Hitche. var. tenebrosum (A. A. Eaton) Clausen in Edgemoor, (Bethesda), Montgomery County, Maryland. These were later (July, 1944) observed by the writer, accompanied by Mr. Wagner, and it was noted that they were growing in old rich woods where large trees of Acer saccharum, Quercus alba, Q. velutina, Cornus florida, and Lirio- dendron tulipifera predominated.
Dr. Clausen also reports* that he has specimens of this species collected in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D. C.,
Lt. L. J. Kezer, of the U. S. Army Medical Corps.
On May 28, 1941, the writer, in company with Dr. Wherry and Dr. F. R. Fosberg,’ discovered B. matri- cariaefolium growing under large trees of Acer saccha- rum in Swift Run Gap near the Spotswood Wayside Spring in Shenandoah National Park, Rockingham
eee W. H., Jr. Amer. Fern Journ, 31: erry. ;
7 Wherry, E. T. Va. Journ. Sci. 2: 289
RANGE oF BotRYCHIUM MATRICARIAEFOLIUM 107
County, Virginia. Ten plants were found and the speci- mens collected were deposited in the National Herbarium, the Gray Herbarium, and the herbaria of the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University.
An additional Virginia locality was discovered May 14, 1944, in Manassas Gap, about one mile north of Linden, Fauquier County. One plant was found here in a dense growth of grass and sedges in a somewhat boggy spot close to the main Appalachian trail and collected jointly with Dr. E. H. Walker. The specimen is deposited in the National Herbarium.
Recently also (May 7, 1944) the writer came upon a Sizable stand of B. matricariaefolium in Montgomery County, Maryland, in a fairly young wooded growth in the vicinity of the old mica mine near Northwest Branch, approximately 4} miles north by 5° east from Silver Spring, Maryland. This station, in which 107 plants were counted, was revisited later in the month with Dr. Maxon, Dr. Walker, and Dr. E. A. Chapin, all of whom collected a limited number of specimens.
r. P. L. Ricker, who also visited this location with the Writer, took the accompanying photographs, which show the density of the vegetation under which the plants were growing. The colony is confined to a triangular area approximately 30 yards on each side and is almost com- Pletely screened from view by a waist-high growth of Poison Ivy. The principal trees in this area are Lirio- dendron tulipifera and Cornus florida, interspersed with
8 few of Acer rubrum, Quercus alba, Q. velutina, Q. stel- lata, Robinia Pseudo-Acacia, Nyssa sylvatica, and Carya Sp. There were also numerous shrubs and small saplings, mainly of Viburnum dentatum, V. prunifolium, Vac- cinium sp., Benzoin aestivale, Rubus sp., Crataegus sp., and Ilex opaca. This island of young hardwood growth Was surrounded by a somewhat older growth of Pinus
108 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
virgimiana and several small pine seedlings were noted within the area. On one side a mat of Lonicera japonica had blanketed the ground and almost completely stifled the less vigorous vegetation, with the exception of a few
plants of Asplenium platyneuron which appears to be
able to survive the encroachment of this vine. A num-
ber of plants of Ophioglossum vulgatum, many of Bo-
trychium virginianum, and a few of B. dissectum and
B. dissectum var. obliquum, were found in this area also. WASHINGTON, D. C.
Sena
MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT 109
A Unique Habitat for Maidenhair Spleenwort Auton A. LINDSEY
Within thirty yards of heavy transcontinental traffic, yet so well concealed that searcely anyone except a few Acoma herdsmen can have seen it, is a sunken garden of exceptional interest and beauty.
A 350-square-mile lava flow of post-Pleistocene age is saddled across the continental divide in west-central New Mexico. Its vegetation is sparse, consisting largely of a few of the more xeric ‘‘Upper Sonoran” shrubby spe- cies. The black lava is extremely rough and broken; Some of the smoother surface is ropy, like slag from a blast furnace. Tube caves are characteristic of many lava areas, and in this Grants Flow the great hollow tubes permeate the body of the lava. They were formed when the deeper or more rapidly moving portions of the molten rock drained away from beneath the cooled sur- face crust. Visible evidence of the subterranean tubes appears in the numerous sink-holes, ranging from two Square yards to an acre in extent, formed by the col- lapse of the roof at various points along the course.
Many recent extrusions in arid parts of the west are Similar in the above respects. The feature that sets the Grants Flow apart from all other lava beds known to the writer is its possession of a permanent subterranean water reservoir within the caves and fissures. A creek called the Rio San Jose flows eastward through a narrow valley along the south edge of the northeast lobe of the lava area, Ninety-five open sink-hole ponds dot this part of the lava; many of them are perfectly circular, some are elongate, and a few of the longer of these are sinuous. The water is 12 feet below the general lava surface. The Motorist on east-west highway U. 8. 66 drives for two Miles across the lava bed between the villages of Grants
110 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
and MecCarty’s and sees on both sides of the highway many depressions containing cattails, round-stemmed bulrushes, and Phragmites, with considerable to no open water in the center. The traveler on the Santa Fe rail- road 230 yards farther north, skirting the edge of the lava, may see the same ponds from the south windows of the train.
Another type of sink-hole, involving the collapse of much less of the tube cavern roof, cannot be seen from either highway or railroad. The entrance may be just large enough to allow a man to go down in by rope; but beneath the overhanging roof the cave widens out on all radii, so that it would be quite impossible to get out without the rope. In one such cavern is a thriving colony of Maidenhair Spleenwort, Aspleniwm Tricho- manes Li.
LP Li,
SS eet ae ea A Z
. 1—Diagram of a vertical section through the center of the fern cavern and its entrance. Lava rock forms the roof, floor, and ~ central age upon which the ferns grow. A circular pond
rrounds the island.
When fairly high in the sky, the sun shines directly upon at least some of the plants. As one looks down through the five-foot entrance, the rich green fronds 10 feet beneath the lava surface are spotlighted into vivid contrast to the dimness of the rest of the cavern. A photograph taken May 12 (Plate 3) shows the ferns in
MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT 111
the morning before the sun has reached them. They occupy the higher part of a central island of lava 8 feet wide (Fig. 1), which dropped there when the roof fell in to form the opening. The island is surrounded by a permanent, doughnut-shaped pond two feet deep, its water extending outward to or near the cave’s periphery. The cavern is circular and 40 feet in diameter. Often the water surface is covered with a bright greenish-gold bloom composed of a heavy concentration of a very mi- nute unicellular green alga, Chlorella vulgaris Beyerinck.
The Asplenium fronds are so oriented that the light, coming from directly above, strikes them chiefly at right angles. It is the writer’s impression that the central fronds of each plant, in particular, are held much closer to the horizontal plane than is the case in individuals he has seen growing in more normal habitats in the eastern States, and that the lava grotto plants show a decidedly brighter green color. The pinnae retain their intense color and turgidity the year around. Specimens collected July 15, 1944, bore ripe sporangia. Dr. Maxon has veri- fied the identification, and a set of the material is de- posited in the U. 8. National Herbarium.
The altitude of the water table in this pit is 6,263 feet above sea level. The water temperature fluctuates rela- tively little with the seasons, lava rock being a poor con- ductor of heat. January 14 it was 47° F. in the pool’s surface water; July 30 it was 57° F. These readings Were strikingly higher and lower, respectively, than the estimated mean daily temperatures of these days. The Static air within the cavern likewise varies little through- Out the year, in comparison with the outside air. The Cavern air temperature over the ferns at midday Jan- uary 14 was 47.5° F.; May 12, 59° F.; and on July 30, 66° F. All three tempexatiris are preennably quite Suitable for photosynthesis and growth in Maidenhair Spleenwort. Observations during every month of the
112
‘ AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL VOLUME 35, PLATE 3 |
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MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT 113
year show that this colony has no season of dormancy, despite the extreme summer heat on the lava bed outside the pit.
The relative humidity May 12 at noon over the lava bed was only 4 per cent; that in the cavern close above the ferns was 45 per cent. January 14 at 1 P.M. the relative humidity outside was 29 per cent; within, the reading showed 55 per cent humidity. Both these days were cloudless.
The hydrogen ion concentration of the water in the moat-like pool averages pH 7.6, and all the soil on the rock-island is moistened by capillary rise from the pool.
In addition to the fern cavern described, nine other concealed pits, with overhanging roofs capable of main- taining a high relative humidity, were found in a lava area 1300 yards long by 200 yards wide. Four of the nine caverns have central rock islands similar to that Supporting the fern colony, and most of the others have ledges where ferns might find a foothold near the water. Why this species occurs in only one of the ten pits is not easily explained. A species of moss, not yet found fruit- ing, creeps beneath the ferns. It seems a reasonable as- Sumption that this moss constitutes a stage of succession preceding the stage of fern dominance here. For some reason, no substantial moss mat has developed in any of the other pits; and, therefore, soil to support Aspleniwm is still lacking in them.
The fern garden is fortunately located for freedom from human disturbance or destruction. This part of the Grants Flow is just within the western boundary of the Acoma Indian Reservation, and is communal prop- erty of the Pueblo, used only for a limited amount of grazing. These circumstances hold promise for the in- definite preservation of this unusual habitat.
DEPARTMENT oF BIoLoGy,
Universiry or New MFxico.
114 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Sources of the Fern Flora of Colorado
JOSEPH EWAn
The 56 pteridophytes definitely known to occur in Colorado have probably been derived from three chief sources. These are, in the order of their importance, the (1) holaretic, with a few dubious secondary deriva- tives, (2) Sierra Madran (Mexican), with a secondary Appalachian center of origin, and a (3) ‘‘stratospheric”’ source, the last both small and puzzling.
Wherry classified the ferns of Colorado (1938, p. 139) from the geographic standpoint in two main divisions: a cool-climate or northern and a mild-climate or southern group. The cool-climate group, in Wherry’s opinion, in- cludes (a) 23 ‘‘cireumboreal’’ species, growing also in Eurasia, (b) eight northern North American derivatives and (c) two Rocky Mountain endemics. The mild-cli- mate group includes (d) nine southwestern upland spe- cies, (e) four Pacific slope plants, (f) five midland or eastern species, and (g) five widespread species of west- ern North America.
The present analysis of the sources of Colorado’s fern flora stresses the past migrations of its species and recognizes the part Colorado plays in the recognized floristic patterns of western North America. To be sure, the climatic basis for distinguishing two major sources is fundamental in both Wherry’s and the present analyses.
HOLARCTIC SOURCE The species group including those ferns and lyeosphens having origins from an holarctic source is the largest and most important, as might be anticipated. To this grouP belong 28 species, or one-half of the total fern flora. Characteristic species are:
Fern Fiora oF CoLorRADo 115
Asplenium viride Cystopteris montana Atnyrium alpestre var. Dryopteris Filiz-mas americanum Polystichum Lonchitis
Cryptogramma. Stelleri
All these oceur today in northern North America, and in southern latitudes only as relicts along the higher mountain chains. Such relict distributions are to be interpreted as southward migrations stimulated by the refrigeration which took place over vast areas of the more northern portions of this continent and Eurasia at times of the Pleistocene glaciations. The distribu- tion of these holarctic ferns in Colorado lends support to this concept of Pleistocene interglacial migrations; Cystopteris montana and Dryopteris dilatata, for ex- ample, linger as rare colonies in protected pockets below the broad tundra summits along the Continental Divide. This series of Pleistocene migrations was a feature of both the Rocky Mountain and the Pacific Coast cordil- leras. Thus, one of Colorado’s holaretic species, Crypto- gramma crispa subsp. acrostichoides, reached as far south on the Pacific Coast as Mt. San Jacinto, in Riverside County, California (N. Lat. 34°), where a stranded relict colony persists at an elevation of 10,805 feet. This recognition of past plant migrations is further substan- tiated by our knowledge of a group of holarctic flowering plant species likewise persisting on these outpost sum- mits; thus, on Mt. San Jacinto occur also relict colonies of an orchid of northern distribution, the twayblade (Listera convallarioides), and the alpine sorrel (Oxyria digyna)—both species known from Colorado’s tundra as well. Again, a little to the north, in California’s barrier range lying between the coastal plain and the interior
eserts, rises Mt. San Antonio with a small coterie of boreal ah among them the cireumpolar composite Crepis na
116 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
One member of the holarctic group in Colorado de- serves special comment for a pattern of distribution which it corroborates. This is the Grape-fern Botry- chium multifidum subsp. Coulteri, which ranges in the Rocky Mountains from Montana and northern Idaho southward to Colorado. It is notably absent, however, from the adjacent Rocky Mountains of eastern Wash- ington but appears again in the Olympic Peninsula, an outlying station. This northern Idaho—Olympie Penin- sula pattern is shared by other plant species, among them Hedysarum occidentale. Reed Rollins, who has reviewed the genus (1940, p. 229), believes Hedysarum occidentale made preglacial migrations into the present disjunct areas where it persists. The Oregon and Cali- fornia stations of Botrychium multifidum subsp. Coultert are then, conceivably, colonizations from older popula- tions living today in the Olympics; they are distinct in origin from the Colorado colonies, which I believe to have been derived from Idaho populations of this subspecies.
Two Colorado ferns seem to show fundamentally a distant holarectie origin and yet a more immediate one from some secondary source. Polypodiuwm vulgare var. columbianum may be a member of the group designated by Piper (Fl. Wash., p. 52) as the Columbian Basin ele- ment. Athyrium Filix-femina var. californicum ranges widely along the Pacific Coast, occupying a greater variety of sites. It is not always associated either with the North Coast coniferous forest element (cf. Mason, 1942, p. 287), or with the California element (cf. Piper, l.c.), but has invaded both plant communities. It must, too, have had an ancient holaretic source. The presence of these two ferns in Colorado may be due to one of three events, or to combinations among them. There has been either: (1) A floristic movement southward in the west- ern cordilleras along two routes, or (2) a west-to-east
FERN FLoRA OF COLORADO ii
intermontane movement, or (3) a simply fortuitous dis- persal. If the present distribution is the result of a two- way southward movement in the western cordilleras, then one element passed down the Cascade-Sierra axis, an- other down the Rocky Mountains, without west-east movements across the Great Basin, judging from the morphologic distinctness of the two populations. This Seems to have been the floristic history of Senecio tri- angularis, which has a western phase, Senecio trigono- phyllus, in the Caseade-Sierra cordillera reaching into the mountains of southern California. Again, Delphinium Brownii grows in the northern Rocky Mountains and Delphinium glaucum replaces it in the Caseade-Sierra axis. In the species-pairs of both Senecio and Del- phimum the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia har- bor a population of what may prove to be infraspecific races. The second possible interpretation is that more or less extensive west-to-east migrations took place through the Great Basin, the migrants possibly passing from one mesic habitat of an interbasin range to another across dry valleys and playas during more moist inter- vals of Pleistocene time.
SIERRA MADRAN SOURCE
The Sierra Madran element is a prominent component of the flora of the western United States.t Species hav- ing their origin in the Mesa del Norte of northern Mexico and its bounding cordilleras have migrated northward, perhaps in successive migrations at intervals, during the increasing aridity of the Southwest through Tertiary time. This Sierra Madran element is well known among flowering plants, some 40 species having been recognized in the flora of Colorado by Miss Dorothy Hay (Univ.
el 1 Cf. Axelrod, Carnegie Inst. Wash., Publ. no. 476, 1937, and no. 516, 1939.
118 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Colo., M.A. thesis, 1939). Four characteristic species are: Pinus edulis, Datura meteloides, Eupatorium tez- ense, and Pericome caudata. Three fern genera in Colo- rado, i.e., Cheilanthes, Notholaena, and Pellaea, are diag- nostic members of this Sierra Madran element. There are seven species in Colorado, as follows:
Cheilanthes Eaton Notholaena Fendleri Cheilanthes Feet Notholaena Standleyi Cheilanthes Fendleri Pellaea longimucronata Cheilanthes Wootoni
A group of vascular plant species in North America has presumably originated, in part, as a secondary de- velopment of this Sierra Madran source. This is the Appalachian element of the southeastern United States, now somewhat differently interpreted from the date of its first definition by C. C. Adams in 1902. Five Colo- rado pteridophytes may be recognized to have their sources to the eastward. These are: Aspleniuwm platy- neuron, Athyrium angustum var. rubellum, Pellaea atro- purpurea, P. glabella var. occidentalis, and Pteridiwm latiusculum. Among seed-plants there exists collateral evidence of such Appalachian species persisting today in the state. For example, three species, all occurring in
route of migration of these Appalachian species into the Colorado area is not clear. They represent what the ecologist terms ‘‘mesic species,’’ that is, plants requiring a moderate but constant water supply. Today they are separated from their eastern congeners by the broad semi-arid high plains. Gleason has pointed out (1906, p. 150) that ‘‘migration routes from this [Appalachian] © center extend to the north and northwest, mainly along the uplands, and by far the largest part of the flora of the wooded portion of eastern United States, north to
FERN FLoRA oF COLORADO 119
the transition zone, can be referred to it.’’? The Appa- lachian group, having clear floristic relationships with the Mexican Sierra Madran element, represents, his- torically, a secondary source. It is possible to trace the sources of many genera of the eastern United States to this old Mexican center of differentiation. The present distribution of the sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) , which ranges northward from the Vera Cruz coast, demonstrates this relationship.
Furthermore, Pennell notices (1935, p. 579) that the Scrophulariaceous genus Seymeria has ‘‘convincingly”’ moved northward. This fact is demonstrated by the existence of structurally primitive species of Seymeria in southern Mexico, more advanced species in northern Mexico, and those showing the greatest transformation living today on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. The same trend has been noticed by Trelease for the American oaks. Gleason, in his survey of the North American Vernonias (1906, p. 150), di- rected attention to the fact that ‘‘it is an easy matter to trace the species of Vernonieae in the United States back to an origin in Mexico.’? Again, he comments that ‘migration . . . has proceeded in two directions, north- ward through the prairie region and eastward along the coastal plain... . In each direction one or more of the primitive structures have been lost, until in Michigan and Massachusetts they have disappeared completely”’ (1923, p. 197)
In so far as the Colorado fern members of this Appa- lachian group are concerned, migration into the state has apparently been along the Arkansas River catchment drainage, judging from their present-day distribution.
ndemism in all plant groups is weak in Colorado, and no pteridophytes are well-marked endemics. All those species which are more or less geographically iso-
120 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
lated in the region have clear affinities with either the holarctic or the Sierra Madran groups. All appear to be forms of relatively recent origin. Three selaginellas (ie., Selaginella densa, 8S. Standleyi, and S. scopulorum), though characteristic Rocky Mountain species, show di- verse origins and affinities and today range beyond Colo- rado’s borders. Botrychium matricariaefolium subsp. hespertum Maxon & Clausen, localized in Colorado, may be seen from an examination of Clausen’s map?” to be a southwestern derivative of the northern plant. The nearest station of typical B. matricariaefolium is in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Botrychium lanceolatum, on the other hand, is an example of an holarectic species, frequent in the Pacifie Northwest, which, though occur- ring today in widely separated stations in the Rocky Mountains, has so far failed to differentiate into an endemic phase at the southern limit of its range (cf. fig. 17). Asa Gray and J. D. Hooker in a consideration of the ‘‘vegetation of the Rocky Mountain region and a comparison with that of other parts of the world’’ recog- nized (1880) that ‘‘the characteristics of the Rocky Mountain flora ... are in no small degree negative. What this flora lacks is perhaps more remarkable than what it possesses.’’
STRATOSPHERIC SOURCE
The anomalous distribution of Asplenium Adiantum- nigrum leads me to consider the possibility of a ‘‘strato- spheric’’ source. The distribution of this Asplenium in North America is its occurrence reputedly in Marion County, Florida,* and in three western states: Arizona, at Flagstaff (Wherry, 1941, p. 97); Utah, at Zion Na- tional Park; and about the mouth of Boulder Canyon*
‘ae aan gy berey Bot. Ch Club 19(2): 8 83. fig. 16. 1938.
4 Type locality of gpl hail Andrewsii rs Nels., a synonym.
FERN FLORA OF COLORADO 121
and at White Rocks near Valmont, Boulder Co., Colo- rado. Beyond this continent Asplenium Adiantum- nigrum ranges from England and France to Africa, Asia Minor, and the Himalayas. More recently it has been
grow at elevations of 500 to 13,500 feet on the highest mountain of Hawaii, the extinct voleano Mauna Kea (Hartt and Neal, 1940, p. 263).2 The North American occurrences, alone, are anomalous when Florida is added to a more familiar Rocky Mountain pattern of holarctic relicts. The possible misidentification of the Florida specimen must be considered.
The anomalous distribution of certain other ferns known from North America would appear to place them in a group having a stratospheric origin. Thus, Ceterach Dalhousiae is known from the New World only from the Huachuca and Mule mountains of Arizona, otherwise from Abyssinia and the Himalayas. Asplenium platy- neuron is a familiar fern of the southeastern United States, otherwise known from South Africa; this instance of disjunct distribution is approximated by the genus Menodora (Oleaceae), discussed by Cain (1944, p. 247) from Steyermark’s data. Asplenium exiguum is a spe- cies of southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico, other- Wise known from China and the Himalaya Mountains.’ Are these several ferns having discontinuous distribu- tions (a) epibioties or ‘‘survivals of a lost flora,’’ (b) polytopic endemiecs, or (c) stratospheric species? Or do they indicate some other event in the past history of the world’s floras?
5 Christensen, Index Fil. (P. 99) lists the Hawaiian Islands and “*¢ Puerto Rico Cf. Chris : der Erde, 202. 1897; Poniar, Amer. Fern Journ. ey 12.
6 Cf. Poyser, — Bull. 19: 36, or Case. ibid. 19: 38-42. 1911.
7 Cf. Maxon, Fern Bull. 19: 69. 1911; Amer. Fern Journ. 28: 140-141. 1938.
122 AMERICAN FERN J OURNAL
If these ferns are ‘‘survivals of a lost flora,’’ using Ridley’s phrase, for which he proposes the name ‘‘epi- biotics,’? we must look to some pattern of distribution of which they are a part. The general subject of ‘‘discon- tinuous distribution’’ has been treated most recently by Cain (1944, p. 242). Epibiotics are well illustrated, for example, by Aesculus. There eight species or species- groups exist as living members of the genus (ef. Cain, fig. 34), along with their Tertiary fossil relatives which occu- pied more or less intervening areas. In short, the dis- junct present-day distribution of the species of Aesculus is readily seen as less disjunct when the fossil species are included in the total world picture. Edward W. Berry has elaborated this topic in detail with convincing maps for several tree species in his ‘‘Tree Ancestors.’’
There is no collateral evidence from this body of data, however, which may illuminate our present problem with several ferns of spotwise around-the-world distribution. Cain’s general thesis is, in the main, valid when he says that plants with light-weight propagules or dispersal units (that is, spores of mosses, ferns, etc.) ‘‘show the same kinds of areas and disjunctions as do the relatively heavy-seeded flowering plants. Phytogeographical con- clusions concerning the flowering plants can be extended to cryptogams, and are supported by eryptogams”’ (1944, p. 284).. To be sure, the fact that replicated distribu- tional patterns are not displayed by Asplenium Adian- tum-nigrum, A, exiguum, A. platyneuron, and Ceterach Dalhousiae does not rule out the possibility of their being epibiotics. New information in plant dispersal mecha- nisms and plant distributions accumulates in ever- mounting volume with every critical generic study re- ported upon, and this may yet demonstrate the alignment of these now anomalous fern distributions with existing or recognized patterns or other patterns not now distin-
i Ae ee i a
FERN FLoRA OF COLORADO i23
guished. Hultén encourages the search, with the opinion that ‘‘the large disjunctions often noticed in the areas of vascular plants are not due to.sudden recent exten- sions of the area but to reductions’’ (1937, p. 140).
The second possibility, that of ‘‘polytopie endemics,”’ may next be considered. A polytopic endemic is a dis- juncet species confined to two or more far separated areas, which may have had either a monophyletic or polyphy- letie origin. Cain musters the evidence for a mono- phyletic and against a polyphyletic origin (1944, p. 274), but our chief concern at present is his observation that in the instance of ‘‘transcontinental discontinuities, which are purported to be explained by long-distance dispersal’’ the ‘‘exceptional activity of winds, bird flight, ete., must be invoked.’? In general, however, Cain Stresses the ‘‘most widely accepted hypothesis,’’ namely, that ‘‘polytopic forms are genetically and immediately related, and that the intervening area has been bridged in the past by a continuous series of populations, al- though not necessarily at any one time.’’
Closely related is the view that Asplenium Adiantum- nigrum, or similarly disjunct species, may be considered “‘vicarious polydemics,’’? paraphrasing Willis, a term Suggesting their ‘‘accidental dispersal.’’ However, the views of the biogeographer P. J. Darlington are cogent here, when he says, ‘‘the first objection to the term ‘accidental’ dispersal . . . is that many factors besides accident are involved’’ (1938, p. 274). It is no accident that some organisms, because of their nature and posi- tion, are able to cross water or be borne through the air more often than others. The dispersal of individual land organisms is of course largely accidental, but in the span of time statistical probability determines what sorts of
organisms will be disperse
There remains the third hypothesis of causal agency to be considered here, that of dispersal as ‘‘stratospheric
124 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
species.’’ Stratospheric species are those whose spores travelled in the upper air currents, possibly enormous intercontinental distances, survived the drying effects of transport, and successfully established themselves in ecologically favorable far distant sites.
We are familiar with the prodigious number of spores produced by ferns. Bower, for example, gives a compu- tation for Polypodium aureum of 57,600 spores per single sorus! For Marattia fraxinea, where the soral areas are well defined, 45,000 spores have been computed for a single synangium. Follow up these facts with a second, that of the lifting power of air, and the basis for a con- sideration of the wind dispersal of spores has been laid. Darlington points out that air currents, which act upon surface, have a proportionately greater effect upon small objects than upon large ones. To illustrate; An adult house mouse, weighing one ounce, has about fourteen times more surface for its weight than has an animal the weight of an average man. Finally, pressure exerted upon an object by wind varies about as the square of the velocity; thus, a wind of 100 miles an hour exerts 16 times more pressure upon a given object than a wind of 25 miles an hour. Or, to return to our mouse, a wind of 100 miles per hour has about 224 times more effect upon a mouse than a wind of 25 miles an hour has upon man.
Once the spores or light seeds are carried above the ground by whirlwinds they belong to a realm where ris- ing air currents are common. Though we think of wind as a horizontal force, meteorologists know that vertical
small whirlwinds in the Hawaiian Islands which some- times carry dust up more than 2,000 feet (cf. Gulick, 1932).
FERN Fora or CoLORADO 125
Do we have exact data on the transport of fern spores through the air for great distances? Our chief knowl- _ edge that fern spores do travel and reach new habitats and establish themselves successfully there is cireum- stantial, and quite necessarily so. After the destruction of the vegetation of the East Indian island Krakatau by voleanic flow and smothering ash, botanists visited the island and noted the recovery of its flora. Gams reports (1938, p. 396) that after an interval of three years Krakatau supported 10 species of ferns; after fourteen years, 12 species; after 36 years, 49 species; and that, after 46 years, 63 species had established themselves upon the island. In this connection of spore and seed trans- port, the data presented by P. A. Glick in the course of his studies upon the floating insect populations of the air are of pertinent interest (1939). Glick and his associates took data upon the distribution of insects in the atmos- phere, with the use of gelatine collecting-plates carried aloft on airplane flights over Tallulah, Louisiana, in 1931. Seeds were recovered, along with the insect mate- rials, and seeds identified as those of Erigeron were taken at altitudes of 3,000 feet, Populus seeds at altitudes of from 200 to 3,000 feet, and, on those days when the upper air was ‘‘slightly rough’’ to ‘‘rough,’’ and when convection currents were strong, the seeds of Paspalum Urvillei were encountered up to 5,000 feet.
R. E. Holttum reviews the topic of spore dispersal among tropical pteridophytes (1938, p. 422) but has few precise data to offer. He says, ‘‘it is well established that spores may be distributed freely by the wind, and the fac- tor which limits the ability of a fern to spread and estab- lish itself on new ground is not the ability to travel over long distances, but the ability to survive during the process of transport. . . . Fern spores carried by winds in the tropics must be able to withstand full exposure
126 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
to sun and relatively dry air during the day for consid- erable periods if they are to travel far.’? Thin-walled spores would surely be sharply limited in their dispersal range. J. J. Christensen, in writing of the spores of fungous pathogens (1942, p. 78), has no supporting evidence for transoceanic dispersal when he writes, ‘there is virtually no information in regard to wind dis- semination of spores of pathogens across the equatorial zone. There is circumstantial evidence that spores are not blown commonly from [the North American] conti- nent to [the South American] continent.’’ Further- more, ‘‘the fact that only a relatively few races of stem rust of wheat occur in Kenya, Africa, and in Australia is indicative that large bodies of water are effective bar- riers to long-distance dissemination of pathogens by air currents.’’ In this regard, ‘‘precipitation in many regions unquestionably plays a very important réle in preventing long-distance spread of spores and perhaps is the most important agent in preventing interconti- nental exchange of wind-borne spores.’’ Of the three objections which Cain says may be marshalled against the theory of long-distance dispersal (1944, p. 284), the third of his trio is critical, namely, that ‘‘it must be demonstrated that the arriving diaspores [or propagules] can be delivered, so to speak, in a viable condition to a suitable habitat where they must also be able to enter and compete in a closed community.’’ The fact that many habitats are not closed, or only temporarily so, is of course to be remembered. Studies of Krakatau give us data for relatively short transport by air, and not for dispersal over great oceanic distances.
To those who cannot admit stratospheric dispersal as effective for the anomalous distribution of such ferns a8 Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum, let it be said that to deny is easier than to affirm. Our present need is for abun-
erent ed + 2
FERN FLORA OF COLORADO 127
dant data from gelatine plate collections made on trans- oceanic flights by aireraft. It is essential to have precise information as to what types of fern spores are most widely distributed, and in what numbers and at what _ altitudes they oceur. For, of the many agencies which operate in seed dispersal among higher plants it is said that ‘‘none . . . are adequate to traverse the thousands of miles necessary to cross the oceans.’’? Yet, ‘‘some mosses and ferns have minute spores which remain viable for long periods and may very well have been widely spread by air currents’? (D. H. Campbell, 1943, p. 5).
LITERATURE CITED Cain, Stanuey A. Foundations of plant geography. 556 pp. 1944. CAMPBELL, D. H. Continental drift and plant distribution. 43 pp. ‘*Privately printed for the author’’ [Stanford Univ. Press] 194
3. CHRISTENSEN, J. J. ong distance eco nape of plant patho- gens. ics (A.A.A.S. Publ. 17: 78- 1942. Daruineron, P. J. Origin of the fauna of the ee Antilles, with Sis nates of dispersal a animals over water and through 74-300. 1938.
the air. t.
Gams, H. Oeckologie der potent iach Pteridophyten. In F. Verdoorn, Man. Pteridology, I, 382-419, 1938.
GLmason, H. A. A revision of the N orth dinatinas Vernonieae. ‘Bull. N. Y. Bot, Gard. 4: 144-243. 1906.
Evolution and geographical distribution of the genus
Vernonia in North America. Amer. Journ. Bot. 10: 187-202.
1923.
Guick, Pik Tie arguing of insects, vee and mites in the U. 8. Dept. Agric. Tech. Bull. 673. 1939. GULIck, Sioneune Biological peswiatitden: - oceanic islands. uart. iol. 7: 405-427. 1932. [Contains an excellent hiblogrphy mu 68 titles. ] Harr, C. E., and M. C. Neat. ger ecology of Mauna Kea,
Hotrrum, R. E. The ecology of cael sprene-tges In F. hiegosins Man. Pteridology, Chap. XIII, 420-450. 1938. Hurén, Err Outline of the history of arctic and bereal biota ee Quaternary Period. pp. 1-168. 43 pls. Stockholm,
1937.
128 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Mason, H. L. pe eas history and fossil record of Ceano- thus. In M. Van Rensselaer, Ceanothus, 281-303. 1942. Rous, REED. Studies in is genus Hedysarum in North Amer-
Rhodora 42: 217-239. 1940. Wuerry, E. T. Colorado ferns. Amer. Fern Journ, 28: 125-140. 1938.
—————. Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum in Arizona. ibid. 31: 97-100. 1941.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
Shorter Note
Our Most-RENAMED Native Fern.—The dubious honor of fitting this characterization can apparently be claimed by the American Ostrich Fern. It has been referred successively to the genera Onoclea, Struthiopteris, Mat- teuccia, and Pteretis; and under these its species epithet has been variously nodulosa, struthiopteris, germanica, pensylvanica (as first spelled), and pennsylvanica. In addition, it has been made a variety: Many years ago Lowe classed it as Struthiopteris germanica var. pen- sylvanica; and the late O. A. Farwell, who revelled in creating complicated new combinations, managed to fin bases for naming it both Pteretis struthiopteris and Struthiopteris struthiopteris var. pensylvanica. In 1916 Nieuwland made it Pteretis nodulosa, which stood up under the scrutiny of all the authorities on fern nomen- clature for some 29 years. But now Prof. M. L. Fernald’ finds that, as well as all other combinations of these mul- tiple epithets heretofore made, to be invalid! He holds that a strict application of the current rules of nomen- clature requires one that no one happened to create be- fore—Pteretis pensylvanica. How long will this stand? —Epesr T. Wuerry, University of Pennsylvania.
1 Rhodora 47: 123. 1945.
RECENT FERN LITERATURE 129
Recent Fern Literature
In a brief article in the Missouri Botanical Garden Bulletin for April, 1945, Henry N. Andrews traces the ancestry of the modern Pine-fern, Anemia adiantifolia, of Florida and the American tropics generally, back through geologic time. In Cretaceous shale-beds in west- ern Wyoming are found fossil Anemias very similar in foliage to this surviving relative and with well-preserved fruiting panicles. If these are coated with celloidin and the mineral matter is dissolved out with hydrofluoric acid, sporangia sticking to the celloidin film can be dis- sected in an oxidizing chemical and any spores they contain made to fall out, much as with living material. Fossil spores thus obtained are very like those of living
_Anemias in their markings; the cell-structure of the
sporangia is similar also in modern and fossil specimens. Fossil fern-stems in the same formations, known under the name Tempskya, are suspected to belong with the Anemia foliage, but this has not been proved.
In much older formations (Carboniferous) are found ferns called Seftenbergia, widely different in foliage, but having sporangia with thickened cells at the apex much as in Schizaeaceae of the present day—thus carry- ing the ancestral line far back in the earth’s history — C. A. Weatnersy, Gray Herbarium.
Gualterio Looser continues his excellent work on the ferns of Chile with a thorough and scholarly treatment of the genus Asplenium in that country,—the first, he tells us, since that in Gay’s ‘‘Historia’’ (1853). Looser recognizes 9 species: A. trilobum, A. Gillies, A. fragile (in an endemic variety only), A. monanthes, A. obliquum (in two varieties), A. macrosorum, A. stellatum, A. triphyllum, and A. dareoides (A. magellanicum). Of these, four—A. macrosorum, A. stellatum, A. obliquum
130 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
var. chondrophyllum, and A. dareoides—are found on the small archipelago of Juan Fernandez,—the first three only there, though Sefor Looser remarks that the variety of A. obliquum differs very little from the plant of the mainland. Aspleniums, like other ferns, are rare in the dry and arid northern half of Chile. Four species—A. dareoides, A. fragile, A. Gilliesti, and A. triphyllum— have been found there, all in comparatively recent years and at single localities. All but the first are Andean species, spreading southward ; it has presumably migrated from the south.
The other species, and in by far the greatest abun- dance, are inhabitants, terrestrial or epiphytic, of the forests of the southern half of Chile. Two of them, A. dareoides and A. trilobum, are known only from Chile and the immediately adjacent parts of Argentina.
Seftor Looser gives a key to the species, and for each a full bibliography, citation of specimens, and an illustra- tion—where possible a reproduction of that accompany- ing the original description. There is also a list of species doubtfully or wrongly attributed to Chile..—C. A: WEATHERBY, Gray Herbarium.
Professor Jesse M. Shaver has continued his studies of Tennessee ferns with an article on the lipferns.* Three species of Cheilanthes are known from the state, C. tomentosa, C. lanosa, and C. alabamensis, the first being rather rare and the others fairly common in suit- able habitats. As in others of this series of papers com- plete descriptions are given, line drawings with details for each species, and maps showing distribution within the state-—C.V.M
1 Looser, G. Sinopsis de los ‘‘Asplenium’’ (Filices) de Chile. —— 10: 233-264, 3 pls., 2 text figs. 1
944, e notes on the Tennessee ph ieeieg Journ. Tenn. Acad- Sei. 19; 306-322, 1944,
AMERICAN FERN Society 131
American Fern Society Carl Christensen
Carl Fredrik Albert Christensen was born J anuary 16, 1872, at Dgllefjelde, on the island of Lolland in southern Denmark, and died November 24, 1942. He entered the University of Copenhagen in 1891, where he studied botany with the famous ecologist Eugenius Warming. He received the degree Master of Science in 1900 and later the same year married Miss Aff Derschen. For a number of years he taught in the secondary schools of Copenhagen until, in 1916, he was appointed Amanuensis at the Botanical Museum of the University. In 1920 he was appointed Curator of the Museum, a position he held until 1933.
Christensen’s interest in ferns dated from his student days. When preparing his first publications on ferns he felt keenly the lack of an Index to the group, notable for its intricate synonymy. He undertook the gigantic task of going critically through all the literature, the result being his ‘‘Index Filicum’’ (1905-1906), a re- markably finished work, considering the relatively few years spent in its preparation, that brought him fame. Collectors and museums in nearly all parts of the world Sent him their ferns for determination. In connection with this work he published numerous descriptions of new species and memoirs on taxonomie and phytogeo- graphical problems in pteridology. Among the more important of these papers are his ‘‘Revision of the Cochlidiinae and Drymoglossinae’’ (1929), the ‘‘ Pterido- Phyta of Madagascar’’ (1932), beautifully illustrated with line drawings of almost all the species, and his chap- ter on Filicinae in the ‘‘Manual of Pteridology’’ (1938).
His most important contribution to fern literature is his ‘‘Monograph of the Genus Dryopteris’’ (1913-1920),
132 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
in which he devised a classification into subgenera based largely on new characters of hairs, scales, and venation. This fundamental work deals only with the species of tropical America. He never found time to extend his monographie work to the species of other parts of the world.
Christensen is well known also for his works on his- torical botany. In 1918 he published a book on the life and journeys of Pehr Forsskal, a contemporary and pupil of Linnaeus. In this book he showed a talent for historical writing, and in the next year was requested by several botanists to write a history of Danish Botany. He acceded to the request and wrote the ‘‘History of Danish Botany with Bibliography’’ (1924-1926), a book written in a manner that makes it not only informatory but also entertaining reading. He was keenly interested also in Danish floristics, and in company with four other botanists formed a society called ‘‘Pentandra,’’ which made botanical excursions each year to different parts of Denmark. His only extensive collecting trip to foreign countries was to Spain and Portugal in 1921, accom- panied by the Danish botanist Axel Lange.
Christensen was a delegate of Denmark to the Inter- national Botanical Congresses in Cambridge (1930) and Amsterdam (1935), and was appointed a member of the International Committee of Nomenclature. He was elected an honorary member of the American Fern Society in 1915. His loss will be regretted by all mem- bers and by a world-wide circle of friends and correspon- dents.—E. Aspuunp, Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stock- holm.
AMERICAN FERN Society 133
CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY, INC:
ARTICLE I. NAME
Section 1. The name of this guts shall be THE AMERICAN FERN Society, INCORPORATED
ARTICLE II. OBJECTS
Section 1. The objects of the Society shall be to affiliate those who are interested in the study of ferns and allied plants, to foster such an interest, to encourage correspondence and ex- change of specimens between members, and the publication of matter pertaining to this group of plants.
ARTICLE JIJ. MEMBERSHIP
Section 1. Any person interested in the objects of the Society Shall be eligible to membership. Section 2. Application for membership accompanied by the re-
peas of the Council, and aqnen dis the applicant shall nsidered a member for the current yea Secon ‘ The admission fee shall be one Ara and fifty cents payable when application for membership is This fee Shall also constitute the dues for the current a Section 4. The annual dues shall be one dollar cud fifty cents,
Section 5. Any eligible person may become a life member on payment, at any one time, of a fee of twenty-five dollars, and Shall thereafter be subject to no dues nor assessments. All such fees shall be held and invested as a permanent fund, the principal of which shall not be expended, but the income from which may be used for the purposes of the Society on vote of the Council. Contributions for the purpose and other avail- able moneys may be added to this fund at the discretion of the
ouncil.
Section 6. Honorary members may be chosen when unanimous nominated by the Council, and their names submitted to the members at the next sueceeding annual election. Three
1 As amended by the ae at the annual elections of 1935, 1936 and 1940.
134 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
fourths of the spas east on the question shall be required for
election, and the total number cast must be at least twenty. rary ion shall be hia to all the privileges of the aa without payment of d — mber of such mem-
bers shall not exceed five at any one
Section 7. Every member in good Siig loos is entitled to all the privileges of the Society including its publications
Section 8. Members one year in arrears for dues shi have been
twice notified of their in nesses shall be considered not in good standing and shall forfeit ne privileges of the Society including its publications. ope such member may be rein- s any time during the succeeding year he payment of arrears to the Treasurer. t the expiration of this second year and without justifying cause his dues shall remain unpaid, he shall cease to b ember of the Society, Lahigpn:
however, that the Council shall have the power to remit any ues for reasons which it considers sufficient.
ARTICLE ITV. OFFICERS
Section 1. The officers of the Society shall be a Hones: Vice- President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Their office shall begin January first and they shall serve Nae one ae or until their successors are duly chos
Section 2. The President shall be in seus ate charge of the gen- eral interests of the Society; he shall appoint all committees
ded fo Society. On or before December 31 of each year, he shall appoint one who is not an office r, and need not be a member of the Society, who shall audit ri accounts of the treasurer for that year and who — oe to him as soon after the close
Treasurer all money received and shall report annually to the
Society.
Section 5. The Treasurer shall receive and hold all moneys be- longing to the Society subject to the direction of the Council, receipt for dues, pay bills when approved in the manner pre seribed by the Council, make an annual report to the Society,
AMERICAN FERN SoOcreTy 135
and at the end of his term of office shall deliver to his succes- sor all money and other property of the Society in his pos- session.
At such times as the Council shall direct, he shall furnish the Council with a statement showing his financial transactions since the date of his previous report, any otataning ndebted-
ess, the cash balance in hand, and such other simple fact as shall enable the Council to know clearly the He ancial con- dition of the Society at the time. He shall close his accounts for the year promptly as of December 31 of each year, and as an h
auditor such records, oe ete., as shall make possible a proper auditing of his unts.
Section 6. The unexpired rae or vacancy in any office shall be filled until the ensuing election by appointment by the Council.
ARTICLE V. COUNCIL
Section 1. The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Editor-in-Chief shall seneerane a standing committee to be known as the ‘‘Council.’
Section 2. The Council chad have general charge of the affairs of the Society; of its publications and property; shall have power to expend the Society’ s money and to act — all ques- tions not requiring a vote of the Society.
ARTICLE VI. ELECTIONS
Section 1. Before the first day of September of each year, the President, with the approval of the Council, shall rt ge a nominating nea ae consisting of a chairma two other members, none of whom shall be an officer of ror Sanh
Section 2. This ssc shall nominate officers for the ensuing year and forward the list of nominees to the Pea before October fifteenth. Any eee nominations, if endorsed by three members in good standing and received by the Secre- tary not later than uke fifteenth, shall be incorporated in the ballot for that yea
Section 3. The President — eS A | Acree appoint
t
e member not a eandidate for office act as Judge of rotor ~ shall shen his name Satie cay the list o the Secret
Section 4. The ra eeretary shall cn November first send to each member of the Society a notice of the election, giving a list
136 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
ons, to whom each member shall send his Section 5 i Balloting shall begin November first and ae Decem first. Immediately after election the Judge of Elections ae send to the Secretary a true statement of the ballots cast and is ess" we ballots to the chairman of the nominating com- candidate receiving the largest number of votes “am be active elected, and shall be notified of his election ase of a tie the nominating committee shall cast the deciding vote and shall notify the Secretary of its action.
of oe nominees and the name and address of the Judge of | allot. |
a q ct =z @ TR oO ° ce & f=]
Section 1. Proposed amendments to this Constitution must be pre- sented to the Secretary in writing before October first, signed by three members. The Secretary shall publish such proposed amendments with the notice of the next annual election and
{ | i | ARTICLE VII. AMENDMENTS | they shall be voted upon at that election. If two-thirds of the |
on the question of its adoption, the amendment shall be de- clared adopted.
OT ere Ts ea ene ep ae mat oe ht PEE ee Py ee eas geet So tut
Index to Volume 35
vy Spee of opie in Okla-
homa, 52
Acrostichum Caenopter 2
Adiantum, = Cap tie Veneris, 59; glanduliferum, 55; pedatum, 59, var. aieutic um, 90; tenerum,
Alsophila pruinata, 55; quadri-
pinnata, oe Mfleraaria. 1 ce ag Fora Society, 27, 64, 93,
Andrews, Henry N The Pine- fern—A Living Link with the Past (Review), 129
Anemia adiantifolia, 129
perpen The, “Fang: 8
‘Asplent ek 63, et abscis- sum, 46; » Maotent nigrum, 120,
; macrosorum, ; a ene pode pons F 129) A
ron, 108, 118, 121, 122, x Cam) mp- tosorus rhizophy llus, 67; sep ; serratu
ot
Sa 3 mag nat 129; Trichomanes, der eget 129, 130; triphyy.
ia ee 129, 130; verecundum
a vitide, tis
ss) see BE. Carl Christensen, Athyrium, 98; estre var. ameri-
canum, 115; Spcpanee hi f. crista- tum, 35, f. elegans, 35, var.
iis: pycnocarpon, ‘
ard, w Fern Genus
ag tS aa Guat temala, 1 Benedict, ‘Ralph Cc. Problems and Objectives in the Study of Fern
Hy “td 8,
Blee Natali ‘auriculatum, 55 Botrychium, 17, 58, 63, 64; aus- trale, 59; dissectum, 37, , 1 ar. obliquum, 108, var. oneidense, 60; lanceolatum, 120, angustisegmentum, 17, subsp. typicum, 17; aria,
Bracken, 56, 97, 101 Brown, "Hubert H. Schizaea pu- silla from Ontario, Canada, 40
Calymella, 87 Campto osorus rhizophyllus, 102 Campyloneurum phyllitidis in cde eas au rida, 50 lon ves rary
u Cephalothecium, 102
Gercoanork, Ceterach oar be“ S 121, 122 Cheilanthes, 61, 94, 98, 99
3; ala
sis, 1 0; Eatonii, Feei, 118; Fendleri, 118; lanosa, osa ee tomentosa,
oot > Chetroglousa, 7 Cibotium Schiedei,, 102 Clausen, i are f the Ea ate i North ‘American
Subspecies of Lycopodium com pera and L. tristachyum, 9 Cochlidiu Completoria, 102 Constitution of the American Fern Society, crested Form of the Broad Beech- ern Cryptogramma, 62, 99; crispa so p. acrostichoides, 115; Stel-
eractemsee 101 Cryptomyeina 101 yathea, 8; arborea, 6.7 + diver- ar s, Cyclophorus adnascens, 75, 76; Cylindrocladiu ; Cystopteris Pe itidera: 54; fragilis, an 100, var. aa 54, var. iaurentiana, 54, 93, var. Mackayii, 54, v Ages Uoaag 54; aunthen. “15
ph
Danaea, 8; elli <8 8 Davallia ns Dennstaedti a $3: arcuata, 22;
n
grossa,
Dicranopteris, 8, o bifida, 5; emargina 2 -’ kawaiensis,
88, 89 Diplazium, 8; we paieoem, 46;
obscurum, 46 Dix, W. Observed Character-
ee of ee multifidum Pa boat — se, 37
oryo 2 s
cae aq ig 15 Drropterts 8, 61, 70, 98, 99; am-
—— ana, atro- , 60, ie “amstrals, 60, oldia cans 73, x intermedia, 73;
138 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
cristata, 60, 65, 68, x inter-
ae ia, 73, Pid ei 65, 67,
e. a dilatata, 115; gr ty var.
guatemalensi 46; Filix-mas,
i Is Goldiana, 14.0% x intermedia, a n
edia, 36; incisa, 46; Thely ptatin: 100, var. Haleana, 60, var. pubescens, 98
Earliest Collection of Onocleopsis,
Elaphoglossum, 7; proliferans, ae wer sing Billings and Her Fer
Equisetuin, 61, 62; arvense, 26, 60, var. boreale, 60; Ferrissii, 92;
60, Ewan, Shecoh. ‘Ronvces of the Fern Flora of Colorado, 114
Fadyenia, 8 Ferns and Fu ngi, Fern Collecting in Mies Costa ica, Fern Hunt in Puerto Rico, 4 eat ae Names in Bartram’s a eng
Ferns Pom. Exchange, 93
Ferns ge Pacific Island Coconut Trees, 74
— nden, G. R. Recent Range
ons of Llama ma-
tricariaefolium, 1
Filix Osmunda, bas eiahe 24
Flowers, s. Ferns of Utah (Re-
Further sh age rem — ps | ciaen zation of Bra eat Britain, 56
Gleichenella, 87
Gleichenia, 87, 88; dichotoma var. emarginata, 89, var. tomentosa, 89; emarginata, 89; hawaiensis,
Glomerella, 102
bag eos Arthur Hi if r 8. Report of ieatiee
Cocinittes 31
Hawkes, Alex D. Telooe: Soap ta dense in uthe
Hemidict Abe
Hemioni
Heuritelie. a Poa ie log 45,
Hicriopteris, ; glauca, 88; pin- a
Humata heterophylla, 76
Hyalopsora, 98. 99
Hybrids of the Eastern North American Subspecies of Lyco-
podium so and L. tristachyum Hymenodium, "ds erinitum, 8 Hymenolepis mucronata, 76 Hymenophyllu
itis, Hugh Sactbarteegg of pelasinella ey Oklahom ument of Cyatopeeri« “fragilis,
Isoktes, 61, 62; ambigua, 83; asia tica, 81; neothceune. 85; Boottii, 81; Braunii, 44,--18, 79, 83, 84,
tom 85, f. oligostoma, 83, 1 ma, 83, f. robust ; EHa- tonii, 82, f. Gravesii, 82; no-
a velata, 83, "var. aecan ii, 83, va Braunii f. Boottii, 81, ae, i 2. Fiettii pn ia
Braunii f. maritima, yer
lativelata, 83, r. robusta, 78, . var. truncata, 86 ua- doriensis, 49; Eng anni valida, 82; let tii, 85; foveolata, ; Gravesii, 82; stenii, 48 c
ssilis, 83; Lechleri, 49; Ma- ecounii, 79, 85; a0 oa P85, va eg
79,
Flettii, 85; Martii, ee uence Le is i 81, var, raunii, 83, hesp: » 64, f. cosy jacifien, ary riparia, 61, 77, eS saccharata, 61; triquetra, 49; truncata, 80, 85, 86; valida, 82, 83
Iscétites Bra unii,
gee Elsie M. Elizabeth Bil- s and Her Fern s ickonarg 33
acto c. =H. Rep of J rig of Elections, 31
Jon Pi ao Flora of Mlimoke'c (Review), 63
Lastrea Filix-mas var. abbreviata, 36
ptochilus Bradeorum, 46; cla- 5 esi 46 ——- stein, Juana 8S. Ofiog de la oo Fe.
vphenta on ew): 13; pein de Chile 2 , 130; ies Chilea si mat phys of Commercia rg Poetics
INDEX TO VOLUME 3)
Lophidium elegans
subsp. flabelliforme x _ tris chyum, 2, var. abelliforme, 9-17, var. intermedium, 15; fia-
var Eon 61, as Bigelovii, el: lucidulum, 11; obscurum, 11, 25,
dendroideum, b6
1 92, var. patens, 64°: tristachyum 10-2 20, 25, 26, var. Habereri, 14, Lygodium palmatum, 24; scan- dens, 24
Manske, Richard H. & Léo Marion. Alkaloids bt Lycopo- dium Species (Review), 25
Marattia fraxin 124
at Murenonine. Matteuccia, 3, 128; Struthiopteris,
Maxon, William R. New Tropical American Ferns— Vv, 2 Mer et E. D. Fern Names in am’s Travels, 1791, 23
Setenaia Pipe geal "88, 89; hawaiiensis, 89
Milesia, 97,
Morton, C. New Species of
Isoétes ca Colombia, 48
Nephrolepis, 7; exaltata, 76, 102;
Sag, Ascher § = w Fe nus from Mexico and
ee polos 1
ead Species of Isoétes from Co- oO
New Stations for Equisetum lae- vigatum f. * proliferum, 56
Ney. gyi American Ferns—
Northwestern Limits of Cysto pteris fragilis var. laurentiana,
Notes on Illinois Pteridophytes, 92
Notholacha, 61, 99; Fendleri, 118; Standleyi, 118
Obituary: Carl istensen, 131
Observed Characteristics: 233 7 a multifidu
Oleandey T:.2r- lowe pete 47; ura, 21; *‘Lehmanni ie 8S pilosa,
L 2 Once 3, 98, 128; sensibilis, 3, noeoe "ig. yen 1 3. 2 &; ae
sokteciusan. . 58; ecrotalopho- roides, 58, 59, 63 : ellipticum, 58;
139
Engelmannii, 64; nudicaule, 59
var. tenerum, 63; opacum, 58;
pusillum, ot reticulatum, Be
— vat arnt _ valdivianum, 58; veal
60, Genenan 2 35° 98: cinn: ea, 98; Claytoniana, 98, J pel ing 34; regalis, 98, 100, f. orbiculata, 34, var. spectabilis, 6 Oras Most-renamed Native Fern,
Paltonium, 7
Pellaea, 94, oe 99; atropurpurea, 118; glabella var. occidentalis, 11 tp owtinnctons , 118
Pellicularia, 103
Pestalotia ace
Phegopter 64; connectilis, 64
bey Go ‘Walter S. Some Notes
n Ari a Ferns, 90 hytinetinia, 101
Dhyltit
Pee hostieta, ag , 99
Plateeomn n8T
Pol Stren: 7; serratifolia, 52
Po ly podium, 7, 45, 62, 99, 102, 103; ureum, 124: ceteraccinum, 64;
nigrescens, 75; ti m, 45; ve dg pe var. hauxia- : netatum, 76; scolo-
pyny Bey 74, 76; virginianum, 99: vulgare var. columbianum, acrostichoides,
11 Polystichum, 8; 100, f. Gravesii, 35; adianti- epee Lonchitis, 91, 115; nitum, 99, 1 Probienia aed Objectives in the Study of Fern Hybrids, 65 gi ent George R. Ferns ange, psilogramme portoricensis, 8 silotum nudum, Pteretis, 98; nodulosa, 101, 128; Sel gea 128 ; Struthiopte- 1
forme,
Pteridium, 97, 98, 102; aquilinum, 858, ea jatiusculum, 59, var. ge seudocaudatum, 59; latiusculum
Pteris multifida in Texas
teris, 102; Hie Sigg 102; multifida, 53; scandens, 24 Pythium, 102
Rapp, William F., Jr. New Sta- tions for Equisetum laevigatum f. proliferu
Recent Fern literatu re, 25, 57, Pha
Recent e Extensions ot B
h-fern, 104; Some Nomenclatural Changes in the Genus Isoétes, 77
140
Report of Auditing Commit i vol Jae 3. ae Genders a;
Flora of Illinois, 63; Lichtenstein, Juana S., fio-
gan ‘Ghipiionterts. 7 Rhizoctonia, 102, 1
St. John, Harold. Valid in the Gleicheniaceae: Plant Studies No. 4, 87
ee volubilis, 44
Schi pusilla from Ontario,
Names Pacific
frie gekigeck” 44; dichotoma, 76; pu- silla, 40
Sclerotium,
Seftenbergia,
Selaginella, 8, 61; Arsenei, 58; erascens, 57; densa, 120; tonii, 58; mutica, 57, var
limitanea, 58, var. texana, 58: orega ; porrecta, 58; ru- estri 57; scopulorum, 120; heldonii, 52; sSlandleyi, 120; boise odii, 57, var. dolicho- tricha, 58
Septo
102 Shaver, "Jesse M. So ome Note:
on the Bracken and Maidenhair thee of Tennessee ieview), 59; S Notes on the Tenn see Lipferns (Review), 130 Skutch, Alexander F. Fern Col- lecting in Southern Costa Rica,
_—e Nomenclatural Changes in e Genus Isoétes, 77 Same Notes on Arizona Ferns, 90
Page 36, line 29: For
TA Hoselton, read Hase Page 69, line 23: For ‘* Sse a Bigs possi age 76 :
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL
Sources of the Fern Flora of Co- lorado, 114
Soxman, G. M. Pteris multifida in Texas, 53
Stenochlaena es 6)
as Peay John A. Ferns and Fu 9
Sticherus, toy fs ech eiog : one 88; owhyhensis 53: 88; quadripartitus, "88
Lotetmart acta 87
Struthiopteris, 8; germanica var. pen
a tight 128; polypodio- ides, 8; Struth iopteris var. pen- sylva ca
gent oa K. Report of Treas co
Teetaria,’8; ig COE 50; So-
Tempskya, 129
Trichomanes, 7, 8; Boschianum, 92; poly podioides, 45; ri-
gidum, 45
Two Chilean Pteridophytes of
Commercial Importance, 55
Unique Habitat for Maidenhair Spleenwort, 109 Vetiinge we" 97, 98
Valid ited in the Gleichenia- st Pacific Plant Studies No.
Vittaria, 7; elongata, 76; filifolia, 45: stip ita ta, 45
Wagner, Warren Her Jr. Fern Hunt in Puerto ithe, 4;
erns on Pacific Island Coconu ut rees, 74 Weatherby, A. Earliest _ lectio: nocleopsis,
(Review), 57; orthwestern limits of Cystopteris. fragilis yar. laurentiana, 93; Report of President, 27 Wherry, Edg 5 peal Boer ment of Cystopteria f 54; Notes rool Illinois Pteridophytes, 92; r Most-renamed Native Fern, Wee ey, Elsie G. Report of
Woodwardia, 2: virginica, 64 Woodsia, 94,
elt gs
” at ‘beginning of line. aad Be
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American Plant Names ‘(3d ed.)
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eh octe BEYOLOGIST UBLISHED BY THE 7ANT MOSS SOCIETY The only magazine in English wholly devoted to Mosses, Hepatics, and Lichens. Bi-monthly; pen ye for the beginner as well as for the prof mal. Yearly s ription in the United States weed including: membership in the sULLt VANT MOSS SOCIETY, with free
of Curators for beginne: hase
: Dr. WINONA H. WELCH
DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana Fl Dr. A. J. SHARP University of ‘Pininane, Knoxville, Tennessee
THE geet GARDEN
HE . - BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN Se oe Oulinary herbs: their culture, traditions, and use. Part a ite Copking with herte, By Elizabeth Remsen Van Brunt and cas ee 42 pages, 2 illustrations and map. Price,
er ECOLOGY Botasteat or: CHARLES E,