ON Aelia eee rl 
Notes on two North American ferns 
MARGARET SLOSSON 
(WITH PLATE 7) 
The smallest species of the ferns found in the United States, 
‘the minute filmy fern Trichomanes Petersii, has been supposed not. 
to occur elsewhere. Originally discovered in Hancock county, 
Alabama, not far from the Sipsey River, its range is cited in 
Christensen’s Index Filicum as Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. 
Specimens from these states are in the Underwood Herbarium at 
the New York Botanical Garden. Chapman, in all three editions 
of his Flora, reports it as having been sent him among mosses from 
Pensacola, Florida, but apparently no specimens can be found to 
substantiate this statement. A letter in the Underwood Herba- 
rium, written in reference to this by Mr. C. D. Beadle in 1902, 
states that on examining the material of T. Petersii in the Biltmore 
collection in North Carolina, which contains the Chapman 
Herbarium, he finds it is all from the counties of Winston and 
Etowah in Alabama, with the exception of a single specimen 
collected by M. A. Curtis, without locality or date cited. Mr. 
Curtis is not living and it is not likely that any information about 
his specimen is to be had. It is possible that young specimens of 
the West Indian Trichomanes punctatum, which does occur in 
Florida,1 may have been mistaken by Chapman for 7. Petersit. 
However that may be, it would be interesting to know the facts 
of the case, for many species known to the West Indies find a 
foothold in Florida, and 7. Petersii must now be credited to Santo 
Domingo! A small specimen is in the Underwood Herbarium, 
consisting of a rhizome with four fertile fronds, found tangled in 
a mat of 7. hymenoides, collected in woods near Constanza, Santo 
‘ Specimens of this species from Florida are in the Underwood Herbarium, col- 
lected in hammocks near the Homestead Road, between Cutler and Longview Camp, 
Small & Carter 1478, and there are also specimens of another West Indian Tricho- 
manes, T. Krausii, collected partly in the same locality, Small & Carter 1479, and 
Partly in hammocks near the Hempstead Trail, near Camp Longview, Small & 
Carter 1500. 
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