1917] Butters,— Studies in Ferns — Athyrium 179 
pean plant, but, in some cases, differ from the common European forms 
of A. Filix-femina in certain minor points, and are then best regarded 
as a geographical variety of that species. 
3. That the lady ferns of California, and the southern Rocky 
Mountains differ more markedly from the European plant, but are 
not clearly distinct from the more northern form, and therefore are 
best considered as a second, and much more aberrant geographical 
variety of A. Filix-femina. 
4. That a boreal and high alpine fern found in eastern Quebec and 
in the alpine areas of western North America, is a clearly distinct 
geographical variety of the old world A. alpestre. 
2. ÅTAYRIUM FILIX-FEMINA (L.) Roth.! 
Since the conception of this species among American botanists seems 
to have become considerably confused by the failure to distinguish it 
from the related forms of eastern America, a brief account of its chief 
characteristics seems desirable. The following description has been 
drawn up mainly from the specimens of the European plant in the 
Gray Herbarium (about twenty-five in number), together with a careful 
comparison with the standard works on British and continental ferns. 
The rhizome is generally described as erect, sometimes as erect or 
ascending, rarely as decumbent. Even in cases where it is not 
entirely erect, there appears to be always, a distinct upright crown of 
fronds, with the young growth in their midst.” 
1 Polpodium Filiz femina L. Sp. Pl. ii. 1090 (1753). Athyrium Filix Foemina Roth ex Mertens, 
Archiv fiir die Botanik, ii. pt. 1, 106 (1799). Athyrium Filiz femina Roth, Tent. Flor. Germ. 
iii. 65 (1800). 
2 The character of the rhizome is in general poorly shown in herbarium material. In the Gray 
Herbarium only two European plants of this species show the crown of the rhizome. One of 
these from Holstein, has the rhizome ascending at an angle of about 70°, the other, from Saxony, 
at an angle of about 45°.. An Algerian specimen has the rhizome ascending at an angle of about 
60°, and curving upward. In all these specimens the young growth is surrounded by the bases 
of the older fronds. 
In this connection the testimony of certain European writers is interesting. Thus Newman, 
Hist. of Brit. Ferns, ed. I. 62 (1840), says ‘‘ The Rhizome is vertically elongate, sometimes rising 
several inches above the surface of the ground: in one instance I have seen it more than a foot 
in height, thus evincing a considerable proximity to the Dixoniae, and other tree ferns,” and 
Moore, Popular History of British Ferns, ed. I. 87 (1851), states, “‘The habit of the plant is 
tufted, the caudex of the larger varieties often with age acquiring some length, and elevating 
the circlet of fronds on a low, rude pedestal; this stem, however, never acquires more than a 
few inches in length. In winter, the summit of this stem, whether a tuft seated close to the 
ground, or elevated a few inches above the surface, is occupied by a mass of incipient fronds, 
each rolled up separately, and nestling in a bed of chaffy scales,” while Milde, Die Gafiiss-Crypt. 
Schles. 570 (1858), speaks of the “ganz aufrechten oder wenig aufsteigendem Rhizome.” 
