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264 F E R N S O F NORTH AM ER IC A .
urensis, p. 34 1. — H o o k e r , Brit. Ferns, t. 38. — B e n t h a m , FI.
Hongkong, p. 449. — L a w s o n , in Canad. Naturalist, i., p. 270.
— H o o k e r & B a k e r , Syn. Fil., p. 162. — M i q u e l , Prolusio FI.
Jap., p. 172. — M i l d e , Fil. Fur. et Atlant., p. 4 5 .— W i l l ia m s
o n , Ferns of Kentucky, p. 43, t. vü, viii.
Allosorus aquilinus, P r e s l , Tent. Pterid., p. 153.
Eupteris aquilina, N e w m a n , History of British Ferns, ed., iii., p. 23.
For much other synonymy see Moore ’s work quoted above
and Hooker’s Species Filicum. •
The following varieties are found in the United States, and have
been considered distinct species, but both of them pass into the type
by insensible gradations.
Var. lanuginosa, B o n g a r d . — Fronds decidedly pubescent or silky-
tomentose beneath ; pinnules rarely caudate ; segments ample. — H o o k e
r , FI. Am.-Bor., ii., p. 26 3 ; Sp. Fil., 1. c. — Pteris lanuginosa, Bory,
in W il l d e n o w , Sp. Pl., v., p. 403. — K a u l f u s s , Fnum. Fil., p. 18 9 .—
A g a r d h , Recens. Pterid., p. 5 1.
Var. caudata, H o o k e r . — Fronds glabrous on both sides, or even
somewhat glaucescent ; pinnules and segments very narrow, the terminal-
ones much elongated.— Sp. Fil., ii., p. 196.— F a t o n , in C h a p m a n ’s Flora,
p. 589.— Pteris caudata, L in n æ u s , Sp. PL, p. 15 3 3 .— S w a r t z , Syn.
Fil., p. lo i .—-W il l d e n o w , Sp. PL, v., p. 4 0 1.— A g a r d h , Recens. Gen.
Pterid., p. 48. — G r i s e b a c h , FL Brit. W. I. p. 670. — Fée., iim e Mem.
p. 23.
H a b .— Very common on sunny hillsides, and in thickets, but found
also in prairies and even in wet woods, the North American range being
from Newfoundland through British America to Sitka, and southward to
the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most widely distributed of ferns, and
occurs, in one form or another, in all continents, and in most regions
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F E R N S OF NORTH AM ER IC A . 265
of the world. Var. lanugiitosa is common in the region west of the
Rocky Mountains, being especially luxuriant in Oregon and Washington
Territory. It has not been found in the Atlantic States, but is known
in Europe, Southern Asia, Africa, etc.. etc. Var. caudata, a West Indian
form, is not rare in Florida, and has been collected in Southern Alabama,
and perhaps in others of the Gulf States. The Australian Var. cscnlcnla,
which occurs abundantly in South America, has not been found within
our limits.
D e s c r i p t i o n . — The bracken has a subterranean creeping
root-stock, often much elongated, from the sides of which the
stalks grow alternately, scattered along at variable distances,
though only one frond is produced each year. The root-stock
is about three or four lines thick (Moore says as thick as one's
little finger), the outside very black and somewhat velvety.
The upper and under sides are rounded, but there is a slightly
prominent rather sharp ridge, running along each side. The
transverse section is very interesting, and may be seen figured,
though on too small a scale, at page 354 of the English edition
of Sach's Text-Book of Botany. Within the dark exterior
sheath of sclerenchyma may be seen the soft whitish parenchymatous
mass, containing two somewhat flattish bands of
very firm sclerenchyma. Between these are two flattish-oval
fibro-vascular bundles, one above the other, while around the
sclerenchyma-bands are about a dozen smaller rounded or oval
fibro-vascular threads arranged in a rude circle. The stalks
very often rise from short lateral branches of the root-stock,
rather than from the root-stock itself. These branches continue
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