CANADIAN FILIOINE^. 187 



pinnae long-stalked ; secondary piunre (even the largest) nearly sessile, entire, pinnatifid 

 or pinnate ; ultimate segments oblong or oblong-linear, and obtuse ; veins free and much 

 forked ; indusia delicately ciliatc and nearly always more or less double. 



Sometimes the divisions of the secondary pinnae are entire (var. integerrima of 'Lam- 

 son in Can. Nat., Vol. I, p. 2*71), and sometimes they are hastate, or yet again their lobes 

 may be entirely separate, thus making the frond quadripinnate. A young, barren state, 

 occasionally developing into a large plant w^hile retaining its youthful characters, has at 

 different times been a puzzle to pteridologists, and forms var. decipiens of the same author. 

 Specimens with bifid pinnre or pinnules, or even both, have been found at various times. 

 The var. cmidata, Hook., (P. caudala, L.), is by Eaton confined to the G-ulf States, — the forms 

 found in Canada and the Northern States, and published as such, being wrongly so- 

 called. This form has the fronds glabrous on both sides, and the pinnules and segments 

 very narrow, the terminal ones much elongated. 



Var. lanuginosa, Bong., (P. lanuginosa, Bory), confined to the western coast, has fronds 

 decidedly pubescent or silky-tomentose beneath, but is otherwise about the same as the 

 typical plant. Mr. Fletcher found, near New "Westminster, B. Columbia, specimens of this 

 fern growing in swampy thickets over eight feet high, though on dry ground it was 

 about the usvial size. 



No other fern possesses as much economic value as P. aquilina. The young fronds and 

 rootstocks have been used as food by the inhabitants of diflferent countries, and the dried 

 fronds, chopped up with hay or straw, are in "Wales given as fodder to horses. The ashes, 

 which contain a large amount of alkali, have been used by glass-makers, and in Switzer- 

 land the potash is extracted for commercial purposes. The plant has also been employed 

 for thatching, as a fuel, and as a packing material for fruits, while in medicine the root is 

 by some considered extremely valviable as a vermifuge. 



The Bracken, growing principally on sand or sandy loam, is foiind from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific. Very common in Nova Scotia. — A. H. McKay. Growing everywhere in 

 New Brunswick. — Fowler. Jupiter River, Island of Anticosti, Que. — Macoun. Common 

 everywhere in Quebec. — D. E. McCord. Common in Ontario and in parts of Manitoba. — 

 Macoun, Burgess, etc. Saskatchewan plains, N. "W. Ter. — Drummond and Macoun. Rocky 

 Mountains. — Macoun. Very common, var. lanuginosa, on Vancouver Island and the main 

 land, British Columbia. — Macoun and Fletcher. 



Genus VII.— ADIANTUM, L., Maidenhair. 



1. — A. PEDATUM, L., (American Maidenhair), Swartz, Syn. Fil, 121. Mx., Fl. Bor.-Am., 

 II, 263. Pursh, II., 610. Gray, Man., 658. Hook, and Baker, Syn. Fil., 125. Provancher, 

 Flor. Can., '714. Lawson, Can. Nat., I, 210. Macoun's Cat., No. 2292. Fowler's N. B. 

 Cat., No. *745. Ball, Trans. N. S. Ins. Nat. Sci., IV, 149. Watt, Can. Nat., IV, 363. Eaton, 

 Ferns of N. A., I, 135. Underwood, Our Nat. Ferns, etc., 87. 



A. Americanum, Cornu tus. 



A. boréale, Presl. 



The Maidenhair, probably the most beautiful of all our ferns, is a non-evergreen species, 

 which attains a height of 6 inches to 2 feet, accordingly as grown in dry, somewhat exposed 

 situations, or in low, rich woods (its j)roper home). Rootstock elongated, creeping, scaly, 



