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p. 5 9 8 . — H o o k e r & B a k e r , Syn. Fil., p . 4 2 6 . — M i l d e , Monogr.
Gcii. Osmundte, p. 10 1, t. iii., f. 77-85, t. iv. — W i l l ia m s o n , Ferns
of Kentucky, p. 135, t. liii.
Osmunda interrupta, M ic i -i a u x , FI. Bor. A m . , ü ., p . 2 7 3 . — S w a r t z , S y n .
Fi!., p. 1Ó0. — S c h k u h r , Krypt. Gew., p. 146, t. 14 4 .—-W i l l d
e n o w , Sp. PI., V ., p. 96. — P u r s h , FI. Am. Sept., ii., p. 6 5 7 .—
H o o k e r , FI. Bor. Am., ii., p. 265. — L i n k , Fil. Hort. Berol.,
p. 2 1.' — P r e s l , Suppl., p. 67.
Osmunda basilaris, S p r e n g e l , Anieit., p. 16 0 ; Engl, version, p. 175.
Osmunda monticola é f 0 . pilosa, W a l l i c h , “ Catal., No. 52.” — P r e s l ,
Suppl., pp. 68, 69.
Struthiopteris Claytoniana, B e r n i i a r d i , “ in Schraders Jour. f. d. Bot.
(1800), ii., p. 126.”
Plenasium Claytonianum, P . interruptum & P . pilosum, P r e s l , “ in
Abhdl. Bohm. Ges. Wiss., v. (1848), pp. 325, 326.”
H a c. — Low grounds and wet thickets, especially in alluvial soil;
common from Newfoundland to Lake Superior, and extending southward
to the mountainous regions of Arkansas, Kentucky, and North
Carolina, and probably somewhat farther. Bourgeau collected it near
Sturgeon Lake, some hundred miles north-west of Lake Superior; and
Milde gives Lake Winnipeg as a station for it. It is found also in the
Himalayan provinces of India; and has been attributed to Brazil, near
Rio Janeiro, though probably by an error of Wallich’s.
D e s c r i p t i o n . — Clayton’s Osmunda has a massive root-
stock very similar to that of the royal fern, and densely covered
^ 0 . glaucescens of Link is referred to 0. Clayiottiana by Hooker & Baker;
but the character given it by Link points plainly to a common American form
of 0 . regalis. But the confusion of synonymy originated with Link himself.
' ■ F
with similar imbricated winged stalk-bases. In cutting across a
heavy rhizome of the plant now under consideration, the section
being made nearly three inches back of the growing end, the
true rhizome was found very much below the centre of the
whole mass, so that it was comparatively close to the exterior
on the lower side. The rhizome itself is about three lines in
diameter, and roundish, but with a fluted exterior. The outer
layer is a very dense stratum of hard black sclerenchyma,
through which the whitish fibro-vascular systems of stalk-bases
pass in a direction but slightly oblique to the central axis of
the rhizome. Some of these systems may be seen scarcely
separated from the roundish central mass of ducts and cellular
tissue of the rhizome; others embedded in its sclerenchyma;
and others again just separated from the sclerenchyma of the
rhizome, and coated with their own similar hard tissue. These
stalk-bases also show the beginning of the whitish stipular
wings. Outside of these may be seen older and older stalk-
bases, some of them cut where the wings are well developed,
but many of the outer layers of them going to decay, and
their wings cxmipletely gone, or reduced to a few disintegrated
fibres.
The plant, when it grows in a favorable situation, forms
a crown of fronds several feet in diameter. The outer fronds,
which are generally sterile, rise nearly erect on their stalks,
but gradually bend away from the common centre, and curve
outwards in all directions. The fertile fronds are usually the
tallest, and stand close together, nearly erect, in the centre of
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