>
f -
%
M*’
1 1
9 4 FERNS OF NORTH AMERICA.
H a b .— Swamps and bogs of Southern Florida, C. E. F a xo n , Dr.
P a lm e r , W. R. T om p k in s , Dr. C h a pm an, & c. Widely distributed throughout
the West Indies, Guiana, Brazil, West Africa, the Cape of Good Hope,
Mauritius, Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, &c.
D e s c r i p t io n . — The root-stock creeps beneath the surface of
the ground, and extends often more than a foot in advance of the
fronds : it is angular or furrowed, almost naked, and nearly black
in color. It is commonly about one-sixth of an inch in thickness.
Scattered along the newer portion are a few short stems, which
represent the fronds of the coming year. The stalks are nearly
naked, blackish in the lower portion, but becoming green towards
the frond : they are erect, and quite rigid. The fronds of the
Florida specimens are from one to two feet long ; but both larger
and smaller specimens occur in foreign collections. The fronds
are elongated-oblong in general outline, scarcely or not at all contracted
at the base, but abruptly narrowed to a more or less developed
slender pinnatifid apex. The pinnæ arc from twenty to
thirty on each side, from four to six inches long, and from five
to eight lines wide. They are usually nearly straight, placed on
the rachis at an angle of from fifty to eighty degrees, the lowest
ones with a stalk a line long, and the upper ones successively
more nearly sessile. Their shape is linear-acuminate, — in the
lower half closely pinnatifid into somewhat roundish lobes about
half way to the midrib ; but the upper half of each one is less
deeply lobcd, and for the last inch or so only toothed. The sides
of the lobes and teeth are often slightly recurved, making the
lobes seem more acute than they really are, and giving the apices
“ - ' " é '
1 1* ?
FERNS OF NORTH AMERICA. 95
of the pinnæ a more serrated appearance than properly belongs to
them. The frond is sometimes perfectly smooth ; but more frequently
a few little scales and a very scanty and minute pubescence
may be detected along the midribs and veins, and especially
along the margin of the lobes. This pubescence is very decidedly
developed in var. hirszda (Mettenius),^ which has not been found
in our territory, but occurs in nearly all other regions where our
form has been observed.
The veins are simple, and very prominent on the under surface;
usually there are about seven or eight pairs of them to each
lobe, but sometimes a larger number. The lowest vein on the
inferior side of the mid-vein does not branch out from that midvein,
but from the costa of the pinna, just below the insertion, or
starting-point, of the mid-vein. The lowest vein on the superior
side of the next lower lobe starts sometimes from the costa also ;
but perhaps as frequently from the mid-vein, very near the costa.
These two veins unite at an angle, and send out a single vein to
the sinus, or end of the incision between the two lobes. The
next pair of veins, and occasionally the third pair also, extend
likewise to the sinus ; but the superior veins are all free, parallel,
and nearly straight.
^ It m a y b e w e ll to g iv e som e o f th e s y n o n ym y o f th is fo rm : —
A spid ium U7iitum, var. h im ib im , Me ttenius , in Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugd.-Batav. 1. c.
N eph rod ium unitum, p ropin qu um , B a k e r , Syn, F il., p. 289.
A spid ium w iitum , S ch k uh r, K ryp t. Gew., p. 34, t, 33, b. — Sw a rtz , Syn. F il., p. 4 7 .— W il ld e now,
Sp. P1-, V., p. 2 4 1.
Nephrod ium p ropin qu um, R. B rown , Prodr., p. 14 8 . — H o o k e r , Sp. F il., iv., p. 79 (excluding
a part o f the syno nymy).
' r
■‘ V
c .
'' i* Ir
’ <1; ^
A !! ■
p .
■ ( ' f i
7 h i
I