Ferns of the Dismal Swamp, Virginia. <>r> 



8. Dryopteris goldieana celsa subsp. nov. Log Fern. 

 (PL I, Figs. 1-6, 8-12.) 



Structurally similar to Dryopteris goldieana goldieana (PI. I, Figs. 13, 14), 

 but differing in its very erect habit, longer and narrower fronds with 

 smaller and more widely separated pinnules and pinnae, and with the apex 

 regularly decreasing instead of crowded and suddenly shortened. Upper 

 basal pinnules of lower pinme either absent or very much and usually 

 unequally reduced. Fronds lanceolate or lanceolate oblong. Stipes at 

 base densely covered with large and richly alutaceous scales with brown 

 centers and transparent, sharply defined margins; upper scales paler 

 and almost unicolor. Type No. 340,398 National Herbarium, Dismal 

 Swamp, Norfolk County, Virginia, June 8, 1899, William Palmer (collec- 

 or's No. 247). Measurement of type, frond 22 inches (523); longest 

 pinna, the 5th, 5|{136.5) ; stipe 12 (305). Fertile pinnae less than H (31.5) 

 wide; sterile basal pair, greatest width 1| (44.5). 



Measurements of twenty paratypes : Fronds 10-24 inches (254-009), aver 

 age 19 (483). Stipes : 7-14 J (178-368.5), average 10 (267). Largest frond 

 24 (609.5); stipe 101 (2tfl); longest pinna, the 8th, 4 (L24; the lowest 

 pinna 4 (101.5). Sterile fronds few, much smaller and less elongate. 

 Three lower pairs of pinnae of fertile fronds sterile or nearly so. 



In habit, situation, and aspect this fern is quite unlike typical D. 

 gol lie ina. It suggests D: florid :ttia* but differs in outline ; its pinnules are 

 not so widely separated, and the shape of the lower pinnae, especially the 

 two lowest, are quite different, as shown in Figs. 6 and 9-12. 



Its relationship to goldieana is shown by the character of the scales at 

 the base of the stipe (quite unlike the cristata group), by the reduced size 

 of the basal pinnules on the lower pinnae, the lower one being absent, 

 by the broadest portion of the lower pinme not occurring at the base, 

 and by the peculiar stalked character of the rachides of the pinnae, es 

 pecially the basal pair. Though occurring in a swamp it is practically a 

 plant of dry habitat, as compared with the broad herbaceous I), goldieana, 

 which grows on damp ground. The difference is well shown by compar 

 ing the tall and narrow D. cristata, characteristic of dryer ground, with the 

 large, coarse D. cristata clintoniana, which grows in wetter places. This 

 apparent paradox is rendered plain by the statement that celsa does not 

 grow on the ground of the swamp but in moss on stumps and logs where 

 the supply of moisture is limited and where the plants are exposed to a 

 fair, often abundant amount of light. D. goldieana grows in damp, rich 

 and well shaded situations. Both these plants are densely covered about 

 the bases of the stipes with large dark brown centered scales, almost 

 black in goldieana., most of which jare bordered by a narrow, transparent' 

 ribbon, the contrast between the two portions being sharply defined. 



In celsa the rachis is grooved in front even to the apex, but in goldieana 



*D)-yopterisfloridana bears the same relation to D. cristata, or rather to 

 D. c. clintoniana, that D. g. celsa does to D. goldieana. 



