Ferns of the Dismal Swamp, Virginia. (>5 



8. Dryopteris goldieana celsa s^uljsp. nov. IjOg Feni. 

 (PI. I, Figs. l-(5, 8-12.) 



Stiuctunilly similar io Dryopleris goldieana goldieana (PI. I, Figs. 13, 14), 

 bat diflfering in its very erect habit, longer and narrower fronds with 

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

 regulaily decreasing instead of crowded and suddenly shortened. Upper 

 l)iisal pinnules of lower piun;e either aljseiit 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 uiiiculor. 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 22j inches (523); longest 

 pinna, the 5th, 5| (136.5) ; stipe 12(305). Fertile pinme less than \\ (31.5) 

 wide; sterile basal pair, greatest widtli IJ (44.5). 



Measurements of twenty paratypes : Fronds 10-24 inches (254-609), aver- 

 age 19 (483). Stipes: 7-14J (l''8-368.5), average lOi (267). Largest frond 

 24 (609.5); stipe 10} (261); longest pinna, the 8th, U (124; the lowest 

 l)inna 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 tyi)ical D. 

 gol lie t.ii!t. Itsuggests D. floridaiia* but differs in outline ; its pinnules are 

 not so widely separated, and the shape of the lower pinnte, 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 tlie cristata group), by the reduced size 

 of the basal pinnules on the lower pinna?, the lower one being absent, 

 by the bioadest portion of the lower pinnte not occurring at the base, 

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

 pecially the basal jiair. Though occurring in a swamp it is prac^tically a 

 plaiitofdry habitat, as compared with the broad herbaceous D. goldieana, 

 which grows on dump ground. The difference is well shown by conq^ar- 

 ing the tall and narrow 1). cridtda, characteristic of dryer ground, with the 

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

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

 grow on the ground of the swamp l)ut in moss on stumps and logs where 

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

 fair, often abundant amount of light. B. goldieana grows in damj), 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 are 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 



* Dryopteris floridana bears the same relation to D. cristata, or rather to 

 B. c. cliatoniana, that B. g. celsa does to B. goldieana. 



