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review of its relationship to other allied species, and its distinctions
from them. From B. Lunaria it is distinguished by
the more decidedly petioled sterile segment, commonly placed low
down on the plant, so that it seems almost to grow separately
from the root-stock. The tendency towards the production of a
ternate sterile segment in well-developed plants also separates it
from B. Limaria. From B . lanceolahtm and B . matricariaifo-
hum, the same basal or nearly basal position of the sterile segment
distinguishes i t ; as does also the flabellately-dichotomo Js ,
rather than sub-piimate, character of its venation. From all of
them the perfectly straight vernation and the character of the
spores also separate it satisfactorily.
Stations for this fern have been reported in Maine, Massachusetts,
Vermont, Northern New York (abundant and fine specimens,
showing all or nearly all the forms, have been collected and
freely distributed by Mrs. Barnes and Rev. J . Herman W ibbe'), and
in the Highlands, on Long Island (Mr. F . S. Miller), near Lake
Superior (Mr. Macoun), in Yellowstone Park (Dr. Parry), and in
several places, at high elevations, in the Sierra of California (Mr.
J . Muir, Miss Pelton, Dr. Gray). The Western specimens have a
stocky, condensed habit, and belong to the more compound forms
of the species.
While I have given Dr. Milde’s “ varieties,” with translations
of hfs characters, I am entirely of the opinion expressed by Mr.
■ D r. W ib b e ’s p la n ts a re from a san d y hill, c a lled L ew is ’s Bluff, on th e sh o re of
L a k e O n ta rio , six miles w e s t of Oswego. Mrs. B a rn e s 's sp e c im e n s w e re m o s tly col-
lectccl in w h a t is called “ T h e J o h n Brown T r a c t.”
Davenport, that the form called "compositum" is the true form
of the perfectly matured plant, and that all the other forms are
merely undeveloped conditions, and do not present those permanent
differences which are characteristic of varieties in the proper
sense of the term.
Plate XVII., Figs. 1-8 . — Botrychium simplex.
Fig. I . — A plant from Rev. J. H. Wibbe, representing var. sub-com-
positum : the sterile segment higher up than usual, and the panicle forked.
Fig. 2 .—-Var. simplicissimum. A plant sent from President Hitchcock’s
herbarium, collected in Conway, Massachusetts.
Vig. sub-compositum, from Dr. Wibbe. A plant of unusual
stature, bearing a second spike rising from near the base of the sterile
segment.
Fig. 4 .— Var. incisum. A specimen in Mr. Davenport's herbarium.
Fig. 5 .— The fully-developed typical form, var. compositum. From
Yellowstone Park, Dr. Parry.
Fig. 6 .— A bud, the old sheathing stalk removed, showing the erect
vernation.
Fig. 7. — A lobe of a sterile segment, showing the forked veinlets.
Fig. 8 .— A spore. Figs. 6 and 7 are moderately enlarged; Fig. 8,
highly magnified. The others are of the natural size.
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