STERILITY OF FERTILE WOODWARDIA FRONDS. 55 



prominent. Scarcely less so were the Huckleberry ( Gaylussacia ) and 

 the early Blue-berry ( Vacciuiuvi), both forming separate thickets, the 

 former tinged with red, the latter purplish. 



Upon a close investigation of the flora, one is impressed by the 

 great number of heathworts it contains. Within a radius of half a 

 mile we counted fifteen species, including Kalmia latifolia and the 

 Indian Pipe {Monotropa). Most abundant, of course, were the vari- 

 ous species of Vacciniui/i; most interesting was the Arbutus ( hpigced), 

 which here almost covered some of the open places, in full sun. The 

 Wintergreen {Gaultheria), was also plentiful with the Arbutus, and 

 both seemed decidedly out of place, since they usually occur in woods 

 or at least in thickets. 



In the course of a week's collecting, ninety-seven species were 

 found in bloom, which appears to be a fairly good showing for a re- 

 gion within which the conditions, at first glance, seem so forbidding. 



New York City. 



PARTIAL STERILITY OF FERTILE WOODWARDIA 



FRONDS. 



By Byron D. Halsted. 



THE Woodivardia areolata is not an uncommon fern in New 

 Jersey. In form and texture the sterile leaves are particu- 

 larly attractive, and the taller and deeper green fertile leaves 

 late in the season are interesting, because of their strong con- 

 trast with their purely vegetative neighbors. It is interesting to note 

 the observation of a leaf, during the last trip to the woods, in which 

 some of the lower pinnae were entirely sterile and approaching in 

 width those of the ordinary form. Other pinna; just above the sterile 

 ones had a few sori scattered at distant intervals along their middle, 

 while those nearer the tip of the leaf approached more nearly the 

 form, color and texture of the pinnae of an ordinary fertile leaf. The 

 leaf as a whole was of the size of the sterile ones with fewer pinnae 

 than an average fertile leaf, but with the light green color of the 

 sterile and a brown color in the leaf-stalk that approached that in the 

 normal fertile leaf. In short, the leaf in question was nearly midway 

 between the two types. 



The point that especially impressed me was the fact that the 

 upper half showed the greater tendency to be fertile, while the lower 

 approached nearer to the sterile form. This is in accordance with the 

 general rule for the disposition of the sori upon fern leaves where 

 there is no differentiation into the sterile and fertile sorts. With this 



