22 BiCKNELL : Ferns and flowering plants of Nantucket 



very near relative of our Almis glaiica, but less closely related to 



the obscurely known shrub here discussed. 



In accordance with this understanding of AInns noveboraceiisis^ 

 it is characterized by leaves of thickish texture, ovate to broadly 

 obovate, mostly rounded but sometimes narrowed to the base and 

 acute at the apex, slightly repand and dentate -serrate, dull green 

 above, paler green beneath and rusty -pubescent on the veins or 

 becoming densely ferruginous-pubescent over the entire lower sur- 

 face as well as on the branchlets. This character is remarkably 

 pronounced on some of the Nantucket material. Alnits glmica 

 differs in more membranous leaves, oftener subcordate at the base 

 and more sharply undulate-lobed, the lower surface pale glaucous- 

 blue and glabrous or nearly so except on the larger veins. The 

 bark of Abuts Jioveboracensis is somewhat intermediate between 

 that of Ahius glauca and Almis rugosa. 



FAGACEAE 



FaGUS GRANDIFOLIA Ehrh, 



Uncommon and often quite hidden from view among the dense 

 thickets where it is usually found. A small strongly established 

 colony in Quaise ; Shawkemo, east of Rattlesnake Bank ; an occa- 

 sional small tree in Pocomo ; Watt's Run bank — a single old tree 

 of clustered second growth trunks perhaps fifteen feet high, the 



+ 



tallest seen; one tree about twelve feet high on Coskaty; sparingly 

 on both sides of Tom Never's Sw^amp, the stoutest tree measuring 

 thirty-four inches in circumference below the nearly basal lower 

 branches. A single tree In Quaise had developed a few^ imperfect 

 fruits. 



The leaves vary widely in shape and degree of dentition as well 

 as in pubescence — from ovate with definitely cordate base to lan- 

 ceolate-oblong with narrowed base and from nearly glabrous with 

 silky-pilose hairs on the veins beneath to thinly silky-pilose on the 



face 



sometimes 



pilose-fringed. These wide variations, almost in their extreme 

 phases, may sometimes be found in leaves from the same tree. 



JSfote. — A single slender sapling of the American chestnut, 

 Castanea deniata (Marsh.) Borkh., grows in an opening among 



\ 



