8 9 x -l The Flora of the St. Croix Region. iit 



Peninsula was at once recognized. Hand specimens of the 

 two could hardly be distinguished from one another. They 

 are such as bear the general designation of melaphyr, the 

 diabase-porphyry of Irving. l It is evident to those studying 

 the relations of plants and soil, that the materials arising from 

 the decomposition of such rocks will to some extent affect the 

 flora. The shaded cliffs, and crevices by which they are seamed 

 and broken in many ways also afford a congenial home for 

 numerous ferns. They were not only in great abundance, but 

 also of fine development. They maybe called the most char- 

 acteristic features of the flora of the Dalles. 



The most interesting fern I met with was Aspidium fra- 

 grans Swartz. Some fronds were nearly a foot long, exclu 

 sive of the chaffy stipe. Its pale or ashy color, its glandular 

 pinnae, its balsamic fragrance, at once show that a fern quite 

 different from the common kinds is in hand. It grows in the 

 clefts of the rocks, preferring the shaded, vertical fissures, 

 clinging to them where a foothold can be obtained. Dr. Parry 

 first detected it here within the limits of the United States. 

 He remarks of it in his Catalogue : "I am informed by Dr. 

 Torrey that this species has never before been found in the 

 United States, but has been obtained in British America and 

 Kamtschatka. In the locality here specified it is quite abun- 

 dant. "* It is still abundant, at least on the Wisconsin side of 

 the river, where most of the ferns collected were obtained. 

 Since Parry's discovery of it here it has been found in several 

 localities from northern New England westward, keeping well 

 towards the British Provinces. 



Woodsia obtusa Torr., is seen in similar situations, but is 

 not so abundant. Woodsia Ilvcnsis R. Br., is one of the most 

 frequent of the rock ferns, growing on their exposed faces in 

 all localities. Wherever I have found it, and this has been 



in many localities from the Saguenay westward in the region 

 of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, it shows itself a 

 plant capable of enduring the severest drouths. The fronds 

 often look crisp and apparently dead, but quickly revive when 

 moistened. 



The delicate Cystopteris fragilis Bernh. was obtained from 

 the shaded cliffs, and on the Minnesota side a few specimens 

 more like the var. dentata Hooker were taken from similar 



\ 3* he Copper-bearing Rocks of Lake Superior, by R. D. Irving. 

 Owen's Report, p. 631. 



