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Pteris subvcrticillata, SwAim, Syn. l'il., p. 103. — W il ld en ow , Sp. Pl.,
V., p- 3 7 5 -
H a b .—Texas, T r é c u l , N o. 1 3 3 4 , according to P'ournier. New Mexico,
W r ig h t , according to Hooker in Filices Exoticce. The only specimens
from Texas which 1 have of this species were collected by Dr. S utton
H.w e s , near the headwaters of the Rio Colorado of Texas. It is a
common Mexican species ; it is found as far South as Peru, and reap
pears in the Hawaiian Islands.
D e s c r i p t i o n : — This belongs to ^he same group of species
as P. PVrightiana, brachyptera and Oriiilhopits. It has
the same nodose and scaly root-stock, dark and polished stalk,
glaucescent frond and mucronulate pinnules. In Mexico,
South America and the Hawaiian Islands it never occurs
with more than trifoliolate pinnules, and this is perhaps the
best reason for considering P. PVrightiana a distinct species.
The pinnæ are tripartite rather than trifoliolate, while in the
other fern just referred to, when trifoliolate the odd pinnule
is more distinct and usually stalked, a distinction indicated
by Hooker, but for which I am more indebted to the accurate
discrimination of Mr. Faxon. In more southern localities
the fronds are considerably larger than Dr. Hayes’ specimens,
and the segments of the pinnæ ampler. In very dry seasons
the pinnæ arc considerably deflexed. The spores are trivittate
as in the related species.
Plate LIV., Fig. 1 - 3 .—Pellcea ternifolia, from Texas, b'ig. 2 is a
tripartite pinna, enlarged, and showing the venation, involucre, etc.
P'ig. 3 is a spore.
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P l a t e L IV . — F ig . 4 - 7 .
P E L LÆ A A T RO PU R PU R E A , L in k .
Clayton’s Cliff-Brake.
P e l l æ a a t r o p u r p ú r e a : — Root-stock short, knotted,
chaffy with very narrow long-pointed soft cinnamon-brown
scales ; stalks four to eight inches high, terete, wiry, dark-
purple or reddish-black, polished or more or less pubescent
with paleaceous hairs ; fronds six to twelve inches long,
ovate or oblong-lanceolate in outline, evergreen, subcoriaceous,
pinnate, usually twice pinnate near the base; rachises smooth
or hairy ; pinnæ four to twelve pairs, the lower ones long-
stalked, and divided into five to nine pinnules ; upper pinnæ
and the pinnules nearly sessile; oval to linear-oblong, at the
base truncate or subcordate or sometimes hastate, obtuse or
obtusely mucronulate, terminal ones longest; veins obscure,
mostly twice forked ; involucre rather broad, formed of the
continuously recurved margin, paler and membranaceous on
the edge, not fully covering the ripened sporangia.
PeUæa atropurpúrea, L in k , Fil. Hort. Berol., p. 59 .— F é e , Gen. Fil.,
p. 129. H o o k e r , Sp. Fil., ii., p. 138. — E a to n , In Chapman’s
Flora, p. 589; Giay’.s Manual, cd. v., p. 660; Ferns of the
South-West, p . 319. — L.TOSON, in Canad. Naturalist, ¡., p.