27G Broadhurst: Struthiopteris in North America 



the larger, more open laminae, 1-5 cm. long, 4-10 mm. wide, often 

 opposite, especially near the base; margins entire, irregularly 

 revolute in some of the smaller, heavier fronds only; leaf tissue 

 membranous to coriaceous as previously described, a few of the 

 thinner ones somewhat punctate as in S. exaltata, without scales, 

 except rarely a few minute fibrillose ones on the rachis; veins* 

 neither raised nor grooved, the apices but slightly or not at all 

 glandular, vein spaces 10-15 to I cm. Sporophyls 38-120 cm. 

 long; stipes 11-60 cm. long, often marked for a short distance 

 by vestigial pinnae, darker than the sterile; lamina 19-60 cm. 

 long, 4-10 cm. wide, very gradually reduced at the base and at 

 the apex; pinnae 40-50-jugate, 2.2-5 cm. long, 2-3 mm. wide, 

 the apex acute, with or without a contracted sterile tip 1-2 mm. 

 long, the base decidedly dilated; indusium membranous, usually 

 entire or subentire, sometimes irregularly broken, never becom- 

 ing lacerate; sporangia dark brown. 



Distribution: Pacific coast from California to Alaska. 



Specimens f included : California: Humboldt County, damp 

 shady woods, Kellogg & Hartford 1175. Oregon : Nehalum, creek 

 banks and dry woods, Kirkwood no. Washington: Near 

 Tacoma, shady ravines and springs, Flett 2030. British Colum- 

 bia : Revelstoke, woods, altitude 1 ,600 ft., Shaw 835. Stevens Pass, 

 altitude 1,150 m., Sandberg & Leiberg 774. Alaska: Windham 

 Bay, Culbertson 4936. Ketchikan, near stream leading from 

 Ketchikan Falls, Broadhurst 101. 



Two fronds collected by Douglas in the interior of northwestern 

 America (exact locality not given) formed the type of Hooker's 

 Blechnum doodioides; the half sterile, half fertile leaves, with their 

 occasionally forked pinnae indicate an abnormal condition, and 

 could not be considered as characterizing a valid species. Sim- 

 ilar abnormal forms are not uncommon in other species of this 

 genus. The veining of the fertile pinnae and the short, often 

 unconnected sori suggest Woodwardia or Doodia. The costal sori 

 are characteristic of Blechnum, but there are no Blechnums in this 

 region. Abnormal fronds in other species often show great vari- 



* The veins are normally once forked; but the crenata variety is often twice 

 forked; if the margin is deeply crenate, one main vein may have two or three veinlets 

 ■on each side. Another variation in the veining is found in Umbach 611 from Skyko- 

 mish, Washington, where an apparently normal 5. Spicant has anastomosing veins in 

 the lower half of many of the pinnae; the veins form one row of areolae along the 

 midrib, and do not branch again before reaching the margin. 



t These specimens are all in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. 



