300 © CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
The plant was sent to England by the pioneer of Virginian botany, 
John Banister. 
Gronovius and Linneus referred it to the genus Osmunda in Flora 
Virginica. 
The range given for the species by Professor Underwood ' is: 
“In woods, Nova Scotia to British Columbia, Florida and Arizona. 
Also in Europe and Asia.”’ 
It is comparatively easy to clear up the history of a species when 
we are in a position to study the living individuals. If, on the other 
hand, we are limited to fragmentary material, as was often the case 
with the old botanists, it is not at all surprising that such simple, 
diminutive forms as the early fruiting fronds of B. virginianum were 
given a distinct name or referred to the species as a variety. 
If we examine material from other parts of America as, for instance, 
the region from Mexico southward into Peru, we are confronted 
with the same difficulty as the earlier botanists, for the material 
from the Latin-American countries, besides being scant, shows a 
much greater range of variation than do the plants from the United 
States. With an insufficiency of material, therefore, and with 
practically no knowledge of the living plants, we can do little except 
to describe the herbarium material at hand and to attempt to refer 
it to forms already known. The record given by Linneus? of his 
Osmunda virginiana (Botrychium virginianum) reads: 
Osmunda scapo caulino solitario, fronde supra decomposito. 
Osmunda fronde pinnata caulina, fructificationibus spicatis. Gron. virg. 196. 
Osmunda asphodeli radice. Plum. fil. 136, t. 159. Pet. fil. 168. t. 9. f. 2. 
Habitat in America. 
From the above it is apparent that the concept of the species as held 
by Linnaeus has not changed. It is doubtful also if he ever saw 
Plumier’s plant. The account of this fern points clearly to B. 
virginianum or some close ally, but the figure is not of our plant in all 
its details. It should be stated also that the botanical artists of 
two centuries ago often disregarded the details and a striking result 
of this license is seen in the earliest representations of our handsome . 
Adiantum pedatum. We cheerfully make allowance for the artist’s 
fancy when we read Cornut’s description of the plant, for in the 
description we find that very element, the treating of plants ,as 
living beings, which is necessarily of the most importance in the 
make up of any book on botany. Plumier® gives an account of the 
plant of which the following is a part: 
“Je trouvay cette Plante dans les forests de l’Isle Saint Domingue, 6u j’en ay veu 
une autre espéce tres semblable, mais dont les feuilles étoient plus émoussées, un 
peu moins découpées & bordées d’une dentelure tres-delicate. 
'Small, Fl. Southeast. U.S. 3. 1903. 
2 Sp. Pl. 1064. 1753. 
§ Trait. Foug. 136. pl. 159.1705. (Parallel columns of French and Latin text.) 
