i t
Lastrea arguta, B r a c k e n r id g e , Filices of U. S. Expl. Exp., p. 196.—
J. S m it h , in Seèmann’s Bot. Voy. H. M. S. Herald, p. 238,
342. — E .\ to n , in Bot. Mex. Boundary, p. 235.
Lastrea rigida, larger a?id more developed, M o o r e , Nat. Pr. Brit. Ferns.
Nephrodmm rigiduin, ? var. Americatium, H o o k e r , Brit. Ferns, t. i6 :
Sp. Fil,, iv., p. 120.
Aspidium rigidum, M il d e , Fil. Eur. e t Atl., p. 12Ó.
Hypodematium Californicum, F e e , MS. fide Milde.
H a b . — Rocky hillsides and canons, often in copses, from Oregon
and California to the Sierra Madre of North-Western Mexico. One
of the commonest ferns of California, but most abundant west of the
Coast Ranges, though occurring as far east as Plumas County. Mr.
J ohn S m it h , in the voyage of the Herald, reports it as found in Pan-
ama and the Hawaiian Islands, but there is reason to suspect some
error either of identification or of locality. It was first discovered in
California by C h am is so , probably near San Francisco. H a r tw eg ’s No.
2039, from the vicinity of Monterey, should be considered this species
rather than A . Filix-mas, to which it is referred in Pla7itx Hartwegi-
ancs. The type is found in Europe, and in the Mediterranean countries.
D e s c r i p t i o n . — The root-stock of this fern is stout, ascending,
and very chaffy with large ovate-acuminate light-
brown scales. The stalks are terminal on the root-stock, and
are similarly chaffy. Their adherent bases remain on the
root-stock several years before they finally decay. In the
section of a large stalk I find five roundish fibro-vascular
bundles, two larger than the rest, and all surrounded by
very narrow circles of scierenchyma.
The fronds are from one to two feet long, ovate-lancco-
late or somewhat triangular-lanceolate in outline, and usually
bipinnate. They are nearly or perhaps quite evergreen, since
good specimens were collected in the San Gabriel Mountains
by Professor Brewer in January. The texture of the fronds
is thickish, much as in the eastern A . marginale, which this
species resembles a good deal also in its chaffy stalk and
massive rhizoma. The color of the fronds is a deep green
on the upper surface, but rather paler beneath, where also
they are very frequently minutely glandular. The lowest
pinnæ are but little shorter than the others, but are rather
broader at the base, so that they are triangular-lanceolate,
while those in the middle of the frond are oblong-lanceolate.
The pinnules or secondary pinnæ are ovate-oblong or oblong,
from half an inch to an inch long, and very variable
in their serration or incising, being now simply serrate with
sharp-pointed teeth, but more frequently doubly serrate, and
not seldom pinnately incised with doubly serrate lobes. The
venation is likewise variable, but is usually much branched,
so that a veinlet extends to the point of every tooth. The
veinlets are very conspicuous on the lower surface of the
frond, and are marked on the upper by faint depressions.
The fruit-dots arc arranged in a single row each side the
midveins of the pinnules, and are much nearer the midvein
than the margin. The indusia are very large, usually convex,
orbicular, and provided with a deep but very narrow sinus.
They bear numerous stalked glands around the margin. The