BOTRYCHIUM VIRGINIANUM AND JTS FORMS. 
By Ivar Tipesrrom. 
BOTRYCHIUM VIRGINIANUM. 
In 1905,! an account was given by me of a peculiar form of our 
Virginia plant. It showed a forking sporophyll, which phenomenon 
does not appear to be so unusual, for I have observed a number 
of similar cases since that time. The unusual, however, about the 
plant was the presence of two fertile pinne on one of the sterile 
segments (branches). The plant was collected in the woods along 
Chesapeake Bay, some 30 miles east of Washington. Along with 
typical specimens grew some very small plants which were referred 
to the small form of the species or B. gracile Pursh. 
In 1907, while botanizing near Chevy Chase, Maryland, I came 
upon a rather large colony of the species and found also a large num- 
ber of smaller plants growing under the shade, so to speak, of plants of 
normal size. The smallest fruiting specimen which I could find meas- 
ured 10 cm. in height. The branches of the sterile frond measured 
about 2 cm. in length while the fertile frond somewhat exceeded this 
measure. The spore-bearing part alone (i. e., exclusive of the stalk) 
measured only 5 mm. The largest specimen of B. virgimanum 
which I have collected in Maryland, measures about 70 cm. in height, 
while the sterile branches are 20 cm. or more and the pinne 6 em. 
more or less in length. Much larger specimens may exist, but I give 
measurements only of those which I have collected and which are pre- 
served in my own herbarium. The size of the plant seems to depend 
largely on its age and the perennial root appears to last many years. 
The variation, therefore, of the species in Maryland and Virginia 
(fruiting specimens alone being considered at this time) appears to 
lie between 10 and 70 cm.,so far as the height of the plant is concerned. 
It is apparent that B. gracile Pursh (B. virginianum var. gracile Presl) 
is only a young fruiting plant of our typical B. virginianum. 
One of the earliest records of our Virginia plant is found in the works 
of Morison ? where it is under the name: 
Lunaria botrytis elatior Virginiana pinnulis tenuissimis, etc. 
1 Torreya 5: 160. f. 1. 2 Pl. Hist. 3: 595, sect, 14. pl. 4. f. 5. 1799. 
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