f I
f
I'l
r J
4 0 F E R N S OF NO R TH AM E R IC A .
I, 2 .— H o o k e r , Sp. Fil., iii., p. 68. — F a to n , in Chapman’s Flora,
p. 5 9 1 .— L awson, in Canad. Naturalist, i., p. 278. — H o o k er
& B a k e r , Syn. Fii., p. 188.
Woodwardia Batiisteriana, M ic h a u x , FI. Am.-Bor., ii., p. 263. — S w a r t z ,
Syn. Fil., p. 117 .
Woodwardia thelypterioides, P u r sh , FI. Am. Sept., ii., p. 670.
Blechnum Virginicum, L in n æ u s , “Mantissa, p. 307.”
Blechnum Carolinianum, W a l t e r , “ FI. Carol, p . 2 5 7 . ”
Doodia Virgiiiica, P r e s l , Tent. Pterid., p. 99. — T o r r e y , F I New York.,
i l , p. 48g.
Anchistea Virgi?iica, P r e s l , Fpim. Bot., p. 7 1 . — J. S m it h , Ferns, Brit,
and Foreign, p. 205.
•lit
E l I*
Y ;l
H a b . — A rather rare fern, though plentiful in certain favorable
localities. It grows in swamps, often where the depth of the water
renders the plant almost inaccessible. The range is from Canada and
New Fngland to Florida, and westward to Arkansas and Louisiana. It
is named in the catalogues of the plants of Michigan and Ohio, but is
apparently not found in the valley of the upper Mississippi. It is found
also in Bermuda.!
D e s c r i p t i o n :— The root-stock of this fern is nearly as
thick as a man’s little finger, and creeps just beneath the surface
of the fine mud at the bottom of the shallow ponds
' There is a fme station for this fern in a swamp on the top o f Mt. Carmel, in New
Haven County, Connecticut. I have also seen it plentiful on the borders o f swamps in
pine woods near Manchester, New Jersey. The most southern station I know o f is ncar
Indian River, Florida, whence it was brought by Dr. E . P a i .m l r . In a swamp full of
shrubs it faces every w.ny, but in sunny places the fronds uniformly face the soutli.
F E R N S OF NORTH AM E R IC A . 47
where it prefers to grow. In seasons when the ponds are
nearly dry the root-stock may be traced a long distance from
the fronds. I have torn up a root-stock ten feet long, and
found over six feet of it undecayed. It is irregularly branched,
soft and fleshy; the rind is moderately tough, black, and
naked, except near the advancing end, where it is thinly covered
with small ovate entire yellowish-brown scales. It consists
mainly of soft white parenchyma, through which there
run several irregular bundles and threads of fibro-vascular
tissue.
The stalks, which are continuous with the root-stock, rise
from it a few inches apart, and those which support living
fronds are found about six inches from the apex. Nearer the
apex are found a few buds, representing undeveloped fronds,
and a few old stalks may be seen back of the living ones;
but they disappear in a year or two, leaving the root-stock
bare, except for the not very abundant rootlets. The stalks
vary in length from a few inches up to over two feet. They
are erect, rigid, nearly black near the base, but of a dull
brownish-green higher up. There are at first a few little
appressed scales borne near the base of the stalk, but these
soon disappear. The fibro-vascular bundles are about seven,
arranged just beneath the outer sclerenchymatous sheath,
the two anterior ones much larger than the others.
The fronds are nearly erect,’ sub-coriaceous in texture,
and of a dark full herbaceous green. The largest ones are
two and a half feet long and about a foot wide, and at a
'|l Î
•iJ ' i T ' I j i
I