CANADIAN FILICINE^. 211 



The Christmas-Fern is foïind from Nova Scotia to the Bruce Peninsula of Ontario, 

 which seems to be about the western limit of its range in Canada. Quite common in 

 Nova Scotia. — Rev. E. H. Ball. Common near St. John, N. B., but only a single tuft 

 noticed in the northern counties near Molus Eiver, Kent Co. — Foivler. Woodstock, N. B. 

 — P. Jack. Common in Quebec. — Provanclier, D' Urban, Madagan, Bothwell, Sheppard, etc. 

 Very abundant in Eastern and Central Ontario. — Macoini, Laivson, Flelclier, Logie, Burgess, 

 etc. The var. fncisum is reported from Montreal, Que. — D. R. McCord. Owen Sound, Ont. 

 — Macoun. London, Ont. — Burgess. 



13.— A. MUNITUM, Kaulf, (Chamisso's Shield-Fern), Hook., Fl. Bor.-Am. II, 261. Macoun's 

 Cat. No. 2306. Eaton, Ferns of N. A., I, 18*7. Underwood, Our Nat. Ferns, etc., 103. 



Polyslichum munitum, Presl. 



Nephrodium Pliimula, Presl. 



It is an evergreen species, growing among rocks and in forests, commonly from 1 to 5 

 feet high, and is one of the finest of North American ferns. Eootstock stout, ascending, 

 covered with old stalk-bases ; stalks stout, usually forming about one-fourth or a little less 

 of the height of the plant, very chaffy with brown scales ; fronds standing in a crown, 

 leathery, lanceolate (tapering very slightly toward the base), 1 to 4 feet long by 4 to 8 

 inches wide, acuminate, bright green above but paler beneath, where also they are chaffy 

 especially on the rachis, pinnate ; pinnse numerous, wide-spreading, nearly sessile, linear- 

 acuminate, A^ery sharply and often doubly serrate with incurved, aculeate teeth, auricled 

 on the upper side, obliquely truncate on the lower, all or only the upper ones fertile, none 

 of them contracted ; sori abundant, nearer the margin than the midrib, following the out- 

 lines of the auricles as well as of the pinnae proper. 



A form of this fern, corresponding to var. incisum of A. acrostichoides, is var. indso-ser- 

 ratum, D. C. Eaton. It has large fronds and pinuœ lanceolate-acuminate from a very con- 

 spicuously auricled base, incised a c^uarter or a third of the way down to the midvein, the 

 divisions serrated, veins much branched and sori scattered. This is the only marked varia- 

 tion occurring with us, but two California forms are vars. nudaium and imhricans of D. C. 

 Eaton. A specimen from crevices of rocks, Vancouver Island, is rather noticeable for its 

 extremely narrow fronds, which are over a foot in length but do not exceed two inches in 

 width. 



The rhizomes and uncoiled fronds of A. munitum are said to be sometimes cooked and 

 eaten by the Western Indians. 



In Canada this fern is confined to British Columbia. North-west America. ^ilferaztes. 

 Nootka, Vancouver Island. — Mertens. Very abundant around Victoria, Vancouver Island, 

 both the typical form and var. inciso-serratum ; common in rocky woods up the Fraser River 

 to far above Yale, within the mountains. — Macoun. Damp thickets, New Westminster. — 

 /. Fletcher. 



# * Fronds bipinnate, or nearly so. 



14.— A. ACULEATUM, Swartz, (Prickly Shield-Fern), Syn, Fil., 53. Hook, and Baker, 

 Syn. Fil., 252. Eaton, Ferns of N. A., II, 123. Underwood, Our Nat. Ferns, etc., 103. 



The species in North America is a Californian plant, finding its representatives within 

 Canadian territory in the vars. Braunii and scopuUnum. 



