Notes on Marsilea Villosa Kaulf 



Charlks N. Forbks. 



Marsilea I'lllosa, first collected by Chamisso on the island of 

 Oaiui, Hawaii, was described by Kaulfuss' as follows: 



M. foliulis cuneato-obovatis rcituiulatis intcgerrimis strigosis, petiolis 

 strictis coarctatis, capMilis subsessilihus xillosissiniis. Habitat in Owahu 

 LOahuJ. Cliaiuissd. I'oliola subtus strigosa. Petioli 4-6 pollicares sulicapil- 

 lares strigosi. CapMiIac lana ferriiginea involutae. 



Brackenridge- referred specimens of Alarsilea collected in Ore- 

 gon, California, and ( )ahn, Hawaii, to M. z'illosa Kaulf. He consid- 

 ered AI. z'cstita Hk. and (irev. to be a synonym, stating in the text: 



Tile plants from these several localities do not differ from each other in 

 any essential respect. The lea\es and peduncles in specimens from the same 

 locality sometimes vary in being more or less villous. Our Oregon plant is 

 evidently the M. icstita of Hooker and Greville'', although not quite so hairy 



W. j. Robinson"' makes the following statement in regard to 

 M. Z'illosa: 



Tiie specimens examined indicate that the Hawaiian plant is a larger 

 and less hairy species than that figured by Hooker and Greville. 



Through the kindness of Dr. W. A. Setchell 1 have recently had 

 the opportunity to examine the M . z'cstita. chiedy fruiting" specimens, 

 in the University of California Herbarium. Although there was con- 

 siderable variation in this representative series of specimens, from 

 numerous localities in the region extending from Oregon to Lower 

 California, nearly all of the plants were less hairy than old fruiting 

 specimens of M. z'illosa recentl}- collected in Hawaii. The J\I. ves- 

 tita of the west coast of North America grows in places that become 

 completely dry in summer. Having had a large colony of M. villosa 

 under ol)servation since 1916, I can now positively state that the 



' Kaulfuss, G. F., Enumeratio filicum quas in itinere circa terram legit 

 CI. j\dalbertus de Chamisso, p. 2/2, 1824. 



' Brackenridge, Wm. D., U. S. Exp. Wilkes, Botany, Filices, p. 340, 1854. 



'Hooker, W. J., and Greville, R. K., Icones lilicum, vol. 2, tab. 159, 1831. 

 in all its parts as represented by their tigure. 



'Robinson, W. J., A taxonomic study of the Pteridophyta of the Hawaiian 

 Islands: Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, vul. 39, p. 2^2, ^912. 



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