, I ' 'i
> 7 "
'V*
!
» ) l;i ;
\ * •
I»“ *
k i '
I k .
I t
• T
I -
\>
[ p j
! r i I
L
> ' l ' /
Ma rg ina ria Californica, P r e s l , Tent. Pterid., p. 188.
Two principal forms occur; —
Var. Kaulfitssii. — Frond firm-chartaceous ; segments narrowly oblong
linear; veinlets regularly forming a single series of narrow oblique
areoles.
Var. intermedium. — Frond herbaceous or membranaceous; segments
broadly oblong-linear ; veinlets forming only scattered areoles.
Hai3. — California, apparently confined to the region west of the
Coast Range of mountains, and to the islands lying off the shore.
Var. K a u lfis s ii has been collected at San Diego, at San Luis Obispo,
near San Francisco, on Guadalupe Island, etc., usually on rocks near
the sea. Var. intermedium, on shaded rocks on islands in the Bay of
San Francisco, on Monte Diablo, at San Diego, in Marin and Mendocino
Counties, and in other places in the same general region.
D e s c r i p t io n . — The root-stock is creeping, with the upper
side exposed to the air, as in P. vulgare, and is chaffy with
very similar scales. The stalks are not quite so slender as
in the other species, and contain three or four fibro-vascular
bundles. In the living plant the stalks are probably green
and flexible; but in the dried specimens they are straw-
color.
The largest fronds I have seen are a foot long, and five
and a half inches wide; but more commonly the fronds are
six or eight inches long, and about three inches broad. The
texture of fronds from inland localities is rather thinner than
in P. vulgare, and the veins are more easily seen ; but plants
from the seacoast. which are evidently similar to those dem
.
scribed by Kaulfuss,' have a firmer frond, and less conspicuous
veins. The fronds are commonly ovate in outline, though occasionally
somewhat narrower, and then ovate-oblong. The segments
number from thirteen to sixteen on a side in fronds of
average size. The lower ones are much more frequently opposite
than it) P. vulgare, and are generally somewhat narrowed
at the base, leaving broad open sinuses between them. Towards
the apex of the frond the segments are alternate, and are so
closely placed as to leave only narrow and very acute sinuses.
The segments are oblong-linear, either obtuse or acute, and
have the margin serrated, sometimes obscurely so, and at
other times sharply serrate, or even almost incised. The veins
arc branched much as in the last species, but have rather
more numerous veinlets. In var. intermedium the veinlets
form an areole only here and there ; but in var. Kaulfussii,
which runs by gradations into the inland form, there is a
regular series of areoles each side of the midrib.
The sori are rather nearer the midrib than the margin,
placed on the thickened termination of the superior basal veinlet
of each group, and, when well preserved, are almost invariably
oval in shape. The number of joints in the ring is
• The original character given by Kaulfuss reads thus, when translated :
“ Polypodium with deeply pinnatifid fronds, the segments oblong, retusc, sharply
serrate, the lower ones narrowed at the base, and decurrent ; veins oblique, paral-
lei, veinlets forking and anastomosing ; sori ovate, solitary.
.< H a b . — In California. Chamisso.
“ Similar to Polypodium vulgare, but very distinct; the veinlets anastomos-
ing near the margin of the segment, and enclosing an ovate fruit-dot.”
i ' l
I •
t
f :
i I
1 »
it
F