S(i 



limit as we found it is in Lake county. Poh/podium aureum usually grow s 

 just under the clustered leaves of the cabbage palmetto, often at a height of 

 twenty-five or thirty feet. OpMoglossum palmatum comes as far north as 

 Manatee where we found the sterile fronds in February after a wearj' 

 search, for it grows well up on the palmetto trunks, burying its roots deeply 

 between the old decaying bases of the palmetto leaves. He who attempts 

 to climb the palmetto trunk is not usually anxious for the second trip. 



The Ophioglossum fruits in April or perhaps the last of March and is the 

 most peculiar member of its order, since most of its congeners are terres- 

 trial in habit. The remaining epiphytes have not been found north of the 

 tropical portions of Florida, which include the Keys and the region of Bis- 

 cayne Bay. 



The rock-loving species have a more extensive distribution as they grow 

 in places beyond the reach of ordinary frosts ; in the high hamak region to 

 which allusion has been made, several of the tropical species linger in por- 

 tions of Florida, too cold even for the successful culture of the Orange. In 

 the various limestone sinks about Ocala may be found Pteris cretica, As- 

 plenium rhizophyUum, Asplenium firnmm, Poli/podium. pecctinaium, Aspidium 

 patens and Adiantum teneritm. From this same region the rare Phegopteris 

 tetragona was collected, but its discoverer holds the exact locality in secret, 

 and furnishes herbarium specimens at 50 cents apiece. While this method 

 of procedure is not what is expected among botanists, one who knows the 

 diflBculty and expense of securing some of the rare Florida ferns can 

 scarcely have the heart to criticise too harshly. 



A still more interesting locality for the rock ferns is on the Withla- 

 coochee river, two and a half miles below Istachatta. This town which 

 makes considerable display on the maps, consists of two houses and a store 

 and must be reached from Pemberton the nearest railroad station by boat 

 I r private conveyance. As the exact locality has never been defined it 

 was by merest chance that we met ]\Ir. F. M. Townsend, the proprietor of 

 the store at Istachatta, who conducted Donnell Smith to the same location 

 in 188:'). The locality, which is on the premises of Mr, George K. Allen, 

 was reached just at nightfall. Here, besides a much greater profusion of 

 the species found at Ocala, are found the rare and variable Phegopteris rep^ 

 tans and a great profusion of Aspidium trifoHatwu. Other stations are found 

 near Brooksville and farther down the river on either side. In these shel- 

 tered sink holes, protected from frost and so far removed from sunshine as 

 to retain moisture in the driest season, these relics of a tropical flora still 



