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H a b .— Siberia, from the Ural Mountains to Kamtschatka; Japan,
Northern China and India. Said by Pallas to have been found in
•Alaska by S t e l l e r , but not collected in America for many years, and
having at best a very doubtful claim to be counted in our Flora.
D e s c r i p t i o n ; — The various forms of this fern are
beautifully figured in Filices Exoticce, and the plate is accompanied
by a particularly full and careful description.
The general form of the frond is deltoid, or more properly,
pentagonal-ovate. The three primary divisions of the frond
are nearly equal, the middle one being commonly only a
little larger than the others. All the divisions are pinnately
lobed almost to the midrib, the middle division having the
two sides equal, and the lateral divisions having the inferior
lobes very much larger than the superior ones. The waxy
powder has the same variation in color that we have noticed
in the other ferns which have this peculiar coating on the
under-surface of the frond. The well-developed involucre determines
the position of the species to be in Cheilanthes.
P l a t e X L IX ., Fig. 1 2 - 1 4 .— Cheilanthes argentea, drawn from a
specimen collected by Hon. S. W e l l s W il l ia m s near the city of Pekin,
China. Fig. 13 shows a lobe of one of the lower divisions. Fig. 14
is a spore.
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