TIDESTROM—BOTRYCHIUM VIRGINIANUM AND ITS FORMS. 301 
“Monsieur Sarrazin tres-habile Medecin, scavant Anatomiste & Botaniste du Rey 
dans le Canada, envoya de ce méme Pais, ces deux mesmes especes & Monsieur Vaillant 
aussi Botaniste du Roy, & tres-expert Anatomiste. II luy manda en méme temps 
que les Sauvages appelloient ces deux mémes plantes I’ Herbe aux Serpens, y ayant 
recours d’abord qu’ils en ont esté mordus, pour remedier & leur morsure par Vappli- 
cation de cette Herbe.”’ 
It should be noted that Clayton! gave as the vernacular name 
in Virginia for this plant “PWern-Rattle-Snake-root,” a translation 
probably of the Indian name for which the French version is ‘‘l’Herbe 
aux Serpens ”’ as given above. 
Professor Underwood and Mr. Benedict? record three species of 
Botrychium from the West Indies: B. virginianum, B. jenmam, and 
B. underwoodianum. No definite locality is given for the first species, 
so we may conclude that it is not a local plant even in the West 
Indies. The second species is known only from Jamaica. The third 
is also known from Jamaica and Haiti (7). In Plumier’s illustration ® 
there is a portion of a frond which appears to represent a second 
species of which he speaks in the text. The latter plant he describes 
as having ‘‘les feuilles plus émoussGes, un peu moins découpées & 
bordées d’une dentelure tres-delicate””—a description which suggests 
B. underwoodianum or some close ally. His Osmunda Asphodelt 
radice received the name Osmunda cicutaria in 1798.4 It is repre- 
sented as having the stalk of the fertile segment inserted nearly 
midway between the root system and the lowermost sterile pinne 
(or branches), a condition which probably led the earlier authors to 
regard the illustration as being representative of a distinct species. 
Swartz * accepted the species upon the authority of Savigny and 
also cites Plumier’s illustration, showing the low insertion of the fer- 
tile segment. That such a condition actually existed in Plumier’s 
plant from Santo Domingo is probable, from the fact that I have 
observed a single instance of this sort in a Jamaican specimen. 
Prantl® in his review of the Ophioglossaceae refers B. cicutarvum Swartz 
to B. virginianum. His statement with respect to the latter species, 
‘‘Pedunculus e basi laminae vel rarius e petiolo oriundus,” might 
lead us to believe that he had also observed instances wherein the 
condition represented in Plumier’s plate existed, but we have no 
direct proof that such was the case. 
BOTRYCHIUM DICHRONUM. 
Professor Underwood described this species’ from material col- 
lected by Mr. W. N. Clute at Morces Gap, J amaica, at an altitude of 
1,500 meters. The description of the species fits also B. virginianum 
in all particulars except two. From the latter B. dichronum is said 
1 Gronov. Fl. Virg. 196. 1739. 5 Syn. Fil. 171. 1806. 
2N. Amer. Fl. 16!: 3-10. 1909. 6 Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell. 1: 350. 1883. 
3 Trait. Foug. 136. pl. 159. 7 Bull. Torrey Club 30: 45. 1903. 
4 Savigny in Lam. Encycl. 4: 650. 
7637°—13——2 
