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i6o F E R N S OF NORTH AM E R IC A .
Aspidium Floridanum, E a t o n , in Chapman’s Flora, p. 595.
Nephrodium Floridanuzn, H o o k e r , Fil. Exot., t. xcix.— H o o k e r & B a k e r ,
Syn. Fil., p. 273.
Aspidmm cristatum, var. Ftoridamim, E . \ t o n , in Mann’s Catal. PI. of
U. S. East of the Mississippi, pi 55 ; and in Robinson's Check-
List.—D a v e n p o r t , Catal., p. 3 1.
Aspidium Filix-mas, var. elongatum. H o o k e r , Sp. Fil., iv., p. 1 1 7 (as
to our plant only).
H a b .—Wet woods, Florida to Louisiana- It was collected many
years ago in Florida by Mr. S. B . B u c k l e y , and was described by
H o o k e r from his specimens. I saw it on Amelia Island in 1857, and
Mr. C. F. F a x o n collected it on the same island a few years later.
Miss R e y n o l d s reports it near St. Augustine, and Mr. C u r t i s s found
it at Jacksonville. Dr. G a r b e r collected it in Levy and Hillsborough
Counties, and considers the latter its southern limit. Mr. C. M o h r
has favored me with a large frond from Louisiana.
D e s c r i p t i o n :— The root-stock is creeping, fleshy, rather
stout, very chaffy with large thin brown scales, and covered
with the persistent fleshy bases of upcurved stalks. The
stalks of the largest fertile fronds are rather more than a
foot long, and those of the sterile fronds somewhat shorter.
As with most ferns growing in wet places the lower part of
the stalk is most frequently somewhat blackened. The base
of the stalk is very chaffy, the chaff consisting of large but
thinnish scales, while the upper part of the stalk and the
rachis has but a few much smaller scales. The stalk of the
living frond is rounded at the back, and more or less fur
' J :
F E R N S OF NORTH AM ER IC A . 161
rowed in front: when dried the furrow becomes much deeper.
The cross-section shows a firm exterior sheath and about
seven interior fibro-vascular bundles, a large rounded one each
side of the furrow, and four or five much smaller ones
arranged in a semicircle near the back of the stalk.
The fertile and the sterile fronds are unlike, the sterile
ones being much shorter than the others, and of a comparatively
broader outline. One collected by Dr. Garber has
a rather slender stalk seven inches long:— the frond itself
is nine inches long, and four inches and a half wide in the
middle, decreasing to three inches wide at the base. There
are about twelve distinct pinnæ on each side, besides the
apical segments. The lowest pinnæ are three-fourths of an
inch wide at the base, triangular-ovate in shape, and pinnatifid
almost to the midrib into a few closely-placed oblong
segments. The rest of the pinnæ are successively narrower
and less deeply lobed, the uppermost mostly crenate-toothed.
The upper surface is deep-green and smooth ; the lower surface
a little paler.
The fertile fronds are more than twice as long as the
others, and are lanceolate in outline. There are nearly thirty
distinct pinnæ on each side, those in the middle of the frond
three to five inches long and half an inch to an inch broad
at the base. The lower pinnæ are sterile and successively
shorter and broader at the base, the lowest ones being about
two inches long and an inch and a quarter broad. The upper
pinnæ are fertile, and decrease gradually in length and breadth
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