ig7 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



C. Lindhcimeri presents a very striking appearance, which is not eas- 

 ily mistaken or forgotten. It is best described by my companion's 

 homely name of "The Flat White Fern." The upper surface is very 

 white, very fiat, and very compact as to the arrangement of the seg- 

 ments. The under surface is at first whitish, changing to a rusty 

 brown, and later, to a silver gray. Its habit of growth is as"peculiar 

 as its appearance. It flourishes in shade or ni sunshine, but best in 

 moderate sunshine, and does not grow at all in constant shade. 

 Wherever a mass of great jagged rocks is observed, there this fern 

 may be looked for with an almost certainty of finding it. It always 

 grows in the dirt which has lodged in the crevices of rocks, and these 

 crevices it completely fills, so that a hook being inserted in the upper 

 end of the crevice, a rope or strip of ferns, sometimes yards in length, 

 may be torn up. As it is very late in fruiting, many fronds being 

 v/ithout fruit as late as December, it has occurred to me that it selects 

 these situations for the sake of the heat afforded during the night by 

 the adjacent rocks. This may be called ''The Sensitive Chcilanth€s'\ 

 as the pinnce curl almost as soon as the plant is removed from the soil. 

 Having removed even as few as ten specimens, it is difficult to press 

 them in time to save them all. 



Three Pelkzas have been found, the first being our old friend, P. 

 atropurpiirea. Link, which grows near the bottoms of canons, in very 

 shady positions, and which reaches its greatest perfecticfe late in the 

 fall, after the cold weather has begun. At this season I have found 

 specimens more than twenty inches in height, and really stately in 

 their beauty. It always selects a deep, rich soil. It fruits moderately 

 early. 



Felicia Wrightiana, Hooker, is very different from the former 

 species, very striking in its appearance, and very beautiful. I have 

 found only a few exceeding ten inches in height. Half of this length 

 is occupied by the dark brown, almost black stalk, which contrasts 

 beautifully with the vivid bluish green, smooth fronds. The thick 

 segments, before becoming recurved in fruit, are roundish, of the size 

 of the head of a large tack, and tipped with a whitish, subulate point. 

 They are arranged with great regularity. As the plant grows in the 

 densest tufts, these segments are always hooked together in so intricate 

 a manner that it is quite a task to separate them, and the fronds being 

 very brittle, this is one of the most difficult ferns to collect in good 

 specimens. It is always found on rocky hillsides, under the edges or 

 in the crevices of rocks where there is but little earth, and where it can 

 enjoy bright sunshine for a part of the day. It fruits during October. 



Pelhta andromeiafolia, Fee, var. pubescens, is the only species 

 except a ISJotholcena, which attains a height of two feet. The Notholccna, 

 being very narrow, leaves this Pelhm the largest fern of this section. 

 It is very scarce, being found in only a few localities, and there spar- 

 ingly, so that I have been unable to secure enough specimens to sup- 

 ply all my sets. Notwithstanding its large size, it is very light and 

 graceful in appearance, the segments being quite widely separated. 

 These are roundish oblong, about one half an inch in length, of a light 



