﻿530 Underwood : The terxate Species of Botrvchium 



Canby Herbarium (N. Y. Coll. Pharmacy) : A single specimen 

 communicated by Lapham, marked "Lake Superior ? M and pen- 

 ciled by D. C. Eaton as undoubtedly an error, which is surely the 



case. 



Alabam 



Mo 



mate 



public herbaria of this apparently widely distributed but rarely 

 collected species. The habit of this plant growing on open 

 grassy knolls where even botanists would scarcely look closely 

 for plants in early spring, together with the fact that its short stem 

 and sessile leaves causes it to be a very inconspicuous object, 

 would account for its rarity in collections, had we not the added 

 difficulty of the scarcity of competent field botanists in the Southern 

 States. It is hoped that this second calling attention to the plant 

 will result in a more extensive knowledge of its habits from future 

 discoveries. It will be seen that there is not a particle of evidence 

 to show that its period of maturing spores is due to anything in 

 the climate, for B. obliquum its nearest ally is found in the very 

 same regions, and like its northern congener matures late in the 

 autumn. In the light of all the material that we have been able to 

 examine, our friend Davenport's attempts to subdue the species* and 

 to connect its unique period of maturity with straggling specimens 

 from farther north appear more and more like a strained effort. 



The petiole of the sterile segment while usually wanting is 

 occasionally a centimeter long but it normally maintains its sessile 

 character and the cutting of the segments is remarkably constant. 

 When we include its biological characters and its unique period of 

 spore maturity, we find it the most distinct of any of the species of 

 this group, an opinion concurred in by all other botanists who 

 have seen the plant in a living condition. 



4. Botrvchium dissectum Sprengel, Anleitung zur Kenntniss 



der Gewachse, 3: 172. 1804. 



This species is the fourth of the series that was recognized. 

 Sprengel described it in these words : 



»Bot. Gaz. 23 : 282-287. 1S97 ; Fern Bull. 5 : 40-43. 1897. 



