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7 8 F E R N S O F NORTH AM E R IC A .
Coenopteris cicutaria, T h u m b e r g , “ N o v . Act. Petrop., ix., p. 1 5 8 , t. C,
fig . I , t. F, iîg . 2 .” — S w a r t z , S y n . Fil., p. 88.
Darea cicutaria, Sm i th , Mém. Acad. Turin, v ., p. 4 0 9 .— W i l ld e n o w ,
Sp. Pl., V ., p. 300.
Asplenium dissectum, L in k , “ Hort. Berol., iv ., p. 6 8 .”
F i l ix pinnulis crisiatis, P l u m ie r , Traitté des Fougères de l'Amerique,
p. 14, t. xlviü., A.
H a b . — Calcareous rocks near Lake Panasofkee, Sumter County,
Florida, discovered by Mr. W. H. S h o c k l e y , in 18 7 8 . Common in the
West Indies, Mexico and South America, and reported in Synopsis F i l i cum
as occurring in several parts of Africa.
D e s c r i p t i o n : — Mettenius simply says of the root-stock
that it is “ erect.” Hooker says : — “ caudex stout, erect, scaly
above.” Plumier, who found the fern in almost every place
he visited in the “ American Islands,” says: — “ La racine de
cette Fougère est toute chevelue par quantité de petites fibres
grisastres, et longues de deux à trois pouces, d’où sortent
quatre ou cinq pédicules ou costes menuës, rondes, d’un vert
sale, et longues d’environ un pied.” His “ racine” is undoubtedly
the root-stock or caudex, and the grayish fibres are the
rootlets. The root-stocks on the specimens in my collection
arc not over an inch long, but are broken off at the lower
end, and very incomplete. The apex, and the very base of
the stalks, are chaffy with rigid lanceolate fuscous-black
scales, composed of thick-walled cellules arranged in longitudinal
rows, like the scales of Asplenium ebeneum [See page
22 of this work]. The Florida plants are few and much
F E R N S OF NO R TH AM E R IC A . 79
less in size than those from Cuba and Venezuela, and the
caudex is much less developed. The stalks are of a dark
dull grayish-green ; they are rigid and from a few inches to
a foot in height. From the very base there is on each side
of the stalk a very narrow herbaceous wing, which is continued
along the rachis to the very apex of the frond. The
section of the stalk is roundish, or slightly flattened, and
shows a firm exterior sheath of scierenchyma and a solitary
central oval fibro-vascular bundle.
The fronds of Mr. Shockley’s specimens are only four or
five inches long, but some of those from Venezuela are a
foot long. The shape of the fronds is ovate-lanceolate varying
to lanceolate. The lower pinnæ are usually dwarfed and
defiexed, very much so in some of the Venezuela plants, but
much less so in the Florida specimens.
The pinnae are from twelve to twenty-five on each side
of the rachis, decreasing gradually from the middle of the
frond to the usually acute or acuminate apex, and rather
closely placed. Their general shape is oblong-lanceolate.
They are sessile on the rachis, and taper from near the base
to a pointed apex. The largest ones are tri-pinnatihd, but
more commonly they are only bi-pinnatifid. The secondary
rachises are even more plainly wing-margined than the primary
rachis, which is, however, variable in respect to the
breadth of the wing. The pinnules, or secondary pinnæ, are
rhomboid-oval, being most developed on the superior side.
They arc sometimes but slightly lobed into three or four
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