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judicious systematists, as not resting on a character of sufficient
importance. The learned Dr. Fée, in speaking of the ' colored
powder, says, “ L ’exsudation jaune, blanche on rose qui couvre la
lame inférieure de toutes ces plantes, est de nature céracée, et cette
sorte de cire végétale est soluble dans l’alcool et l’éther. Elle est
produite par des glandes en massue, et présente sous le microscope
l’aspect de petits filaments d’une tenuité extrême."
The genus Notholæna is closely rel.ited to both Cheilanthes
and Gymnogramme. It comprises scaly, woolly, powdery, and
naked-leaved species, just as Cheilanthes does, and is distinguished
from that genus only by the absence of a proper involucre.
Even in this character some of the species are ambiguous ;
and it must be observed that the careful Mettenius rejected the
genus, referring some of the species to Cheilanthes, and some to
Gymnogramme. Keyserling {Adiantum, p. lo) makes Notholæna
a sub-genus of Cheilanthes, with the character “ rhachis teres.”
Hooker and Baker keep the genus distinct, and it is perhaps most
convenient to do so. Very few genera of ferns can be so absolutely
defined as to leave no species of doubtful affinities or
ambiguous position. The name of this genus is variously written
Notholæna, Notochlæna, and Nothochlæna. I have retained
Robert Brown’s original orthography.
Plate IX., Fig. I . — Notholæna Fendleri, drawn from very fine and
unusually large specimens collected in Fremont County, Colorado, by Mr.
T. S . B r a n d e g e e . The details show small portions of the frond considerably
enlarged, the ceraceous mass abundant on the lower surface, and sparingly
present on the upper.
FERNS OF NORTH AMERICA.
P l a t e IX. — F ig . 2,
NO THO LÆ NA D EA L B A T A , K u n z e .
W h ite n ed Noth o læn a .
N o t h o l æ n a d e a l b a t a : — Root-stock very short, chaffy with
narrow scales ; stalks clustered, wiry, very slender, dark-brown or
nearly black and shining, one to three inches long ; fronds rather
shorter than the stalks, triangular-ovate in outline, delicately three
to four times pinnate ; the rachises and branchlets capillary, and
in color like the stalks ; pinnæ and pinnules mostly opposite in
pairs, the ultimate segments oval or obovate and entire, distinct
or united by a narrow wing, scarcely one line long, glaucous-
green above, white-farinose beneath, often with the margins much
rolled under; sporangia seated on the free veinlets.
Notholæna dealbata, K u n z e , in Silliman’s Journal, July, 1858, p. 8 2 ; Die
Farrnkraüter, ii., p. 57, t. 124, fig . i. — H o o k e r , Sp. Fil., v., p. 113.
— H o o ker & B a k e r , Syn. Fil., p. 374. — E aton , Ferns of the
South-West, ined.
Notholæna pulchella, K u n z e , in “ Bot. Zeit., i., 1843, Sp. 63 3 ; ” Linnæa,
xvii., p. 567.
Cheilanthes dealbata, PuRS ii, FI. Am. Sept., ii., p. 6 7 1 . — N u t t a l l , Gen.
N. Am. Plants, ii., p. 253.
Cincinalis dealbata, Fée, Gen. Fil., p. 1,60.
Gymnogramme dealbata, M e t t e n iu s . Cheilanthes, p. 6.
Hab. — “ In the crevices of rocks on the banks of the Missouri River,
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