BULLETIN 



OF THE 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



Vol. VIll.l New York. June, 1881. [No. 6. 



^ 57. A New American Fern. 



By Geo, E. Davenport. 



(Plate viii.) 

 . _ Chetlan^thes Parishii, //. ^/.— Rootstock creeping, short, clothed v 

 with deep-brown linear-lanceolate scales, with darker, nearly black 

 mid-nerves; fronds stalked, 5' to 7' tall; stipes approximate, 2' to 3' 

 L, varying from light to dark-brown, clothed at the base with scales 

 similar to those on the rootstock, passing gradually into broader pale- 

 brown, or nearly white nerveless scales, above with more or less de- 

 ciduous, slender pale scales and chaff; laminae 3' to 4' 1., i' to i^' b., 

 oblong-lanceolate, 3-4- pinnate, both surfaces scantily clothed with a 

 coarse, entangled, woolly pubescence composed of long, jointed,color- 

 less hairs; rachises beneath covered with narrow, jagged or toothed 

 pale-brown, or nearly colorless reticulated scales, intermixed with 

 hairs; pinnae alternate, unequally ovate, or oblong-ovate, obtuse, 

 lowermost somewhat distant ; pinnules oblong-ovate, obtuse, pin- 

 nately divided into deeply pinnatifid, or, in the lowermost pinnae, 

 pinnate divisions; segments roundish, ultimate segments largest and 

 3-lobed; involucres very narrow, only partially enclosing the sori, 

 and formed of the slightly recurved, unchanged herbaceous margins 

 of the segments; sori scanty (in the specimens), consisting of a few 

 light-colored sporangia at the ends of the forked veins. 



Habitat, — Crevices of rocks, desert hill, San Diego County, east 

 of San Bernardino, California, with Notholaena Parryu Discovered 

 by Mr. W. F. Parish, of the well-known firm of Parish Bros., San 

 Bernardino, March, i88t. 



Nothing definite is known of its abundance, but Mr. S. B. Parish, 

 who sends it, writes me that it is probably scarce, as his brother, who 

 discovered it, could find only a few plants (about three) in the neigh- 

 borhood, after a careful search. 



From the My^^iophyHa-Fendleri group it may be readily distin- 

 guished by the character of the distinct woolly toraentum; and,more- 

 over, the slenderer scales on the under surface arfe not imbricated as 

 in that group, and are wholly confined to the rachises. It very much 

 resembles C lamiginosa in the grayish woolly appearance of the face, 

 the shape of the segments, and the narrow involucres; but differs 

 from that species in the character of the rootstock and the scaly 

 rachises beneath. 



My thanks are due to Mr. Faxon for the pains he has taken with 

 the drawing, and more especially for the microscopical analysis, which 

 I was unable to make myself on account of the present condition of 



my eyes. 



Explanation of the Plate. — Fig. i. Plant, natural size._ Fig. 

 2. Lower pinna. Fig. 3. Enlarged pinnule — ordinary form. Fig. 4. 

 Magnified segment, showing veins and sori. Fig. 5. Sporangium. 



