BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



Vol. IV. JULY, 1879. No. 7. 



Some Florida Ferns. — Acrofifichuin aiireurn. L. Gathered from a 

 jsalt water creek twenty miles south of 8t. Aufiustme, the only local- 

 ity of which I know as being any where near St. A. The fronds grow 

 from a root-stock which is permanently in the water, and were just 

 far enough from the steep slippery wire-grass-covered bank to make 

 them hard to obtain. I could not reach them, so managed in this 

 way: one of my companions seated herself on the ground behind me 

 as I sat on the edge of the bank, and grasped my dress firmly with 

 one hand, wdiile with the other she took good hold upon a well-root- 

 ed Palmetto bush growing a little back of her. My other friend used 

 a ten-foot pole to poke the ferns within my reach, and I grasped 

 frond after frond by its tip, cut it off as low down as I could reach 

 with my big knife and tOssed it over my shoulder, not daring to turn 

 my head to see where it went lest I should lose my balance. Just 

 below me was the deep creek, whose quiet muddy waters were the 

 home of alligators, and I did not wish to get too close to the crea- 

 tures ! The fronds are from three to ten feet high, generally in salt 

 jnarshes or creeks, very seldom growing elsewhei'e. When Mr. J. 

 Warren Merrill was here, he said (if I remember rightly), that this 

 fern would grow well in his greenhouse, but did not fruit. Might 

 not the absence of salt water account for this? Season of fruiting 

 from August to September, perhaps longer. This Acrostichum is 

 easily killed by frost, and the severe weather during the past winter 

 killed the Halifax River fronds, and, I presume, those in my locality, 

 though I have been unable to learn about it yet. The stipes are very 

 succulent, sometimes over n\\ inch in diameter at base. I think my 

 estimate is very moderate, but naturally I could not pay much atten- 

 tion to stipes from aiy elevated situation when collecting! 



I'oli/podiutit iiicainniu Swz. is a hardy little sprite and makes its 

 Jiome on the ground, on trees and on roofs of old houses. This fern 

 is very common on Live Oak and Hickory trees, and I have one from 

 an orange tree. 1 think fruited fronds may be found at any season. 

 Their ordinary length is from two to six inches. While botanizing 

 near Daytona, Fla., some time ago, I collected some specimens from 

 a prostrate log which were so large that my first thought was of /'. 

 vulgare, which 1 have never seen in Florida. AVlieu growing on 



