Petersiane. N. O. Filices. 
DCCCCLXXXVI. 
TRICHOMANES PETERSII, A. Gray. 
Pusillum, caudicibus filiformibus tomentosis intricato-cespi- 
tosis, frond. 13-,6 lineas longis oblongo-lanceolatis ovato- 
oblongis y. minoribus late obovatis cuneatisve undulatis 
majoribus subpinnatifido-sinuatis obtusis glaberrimis (junio- 
ribus margine hinc inde pilis nigris 2-3 furcatis ciliatis) 
penninerylis in stipitem gracilem attenuatis, venis furcatis 
v. pinnato-ramosis liberis (intramarginali nulla), soro 
solitario terminali, indusio immerso tubuloso-infundibuli- 
formi, ore dilatato libero leviter bilabiato. A. Gray 
Trichomanes Petersii, Asa Gray, in Sillim. Am. Journ. Sc. 
and Arts, 2d. Ser. May, 1853. p. 326. 
. United States; Hancock County, Alabama, not far 
from Sipsey river, found only on the face of an insulate 
sandstone rock, within the reach of the spray of a water- 
fall, J. M. Peters, Esq. 
“The fronds, as in 7. muscoides, are very diverse in shape: 
the dilated cuneate ones might be taken for the sterile 
form ; but I observe that, more frequently than the narrower 
fronds, they bear a terminal indusium, which is sterile and 
empty. There is a peculiarity about the venation, some 0 
the branches of the primary veins being evanescent towards 
their base, so as apparently to lie free and independent in the 
frond” (as shown in our figures), ‘The slender stipes is as 
long as the frond itself—It belongs to Hooker’s first section 
of true Trichomanes, and of his 2nd sub-division, which con- 
tains T. muscoides, T. pusillum, T. erosum, and T. apodum. 
Our new Fern is most nearly related to the first of them 
(chiefly a West Indian species), having the involucre equally 
immersed in the body of the frond, (which is not the case 
with the other species) and the receptacle very short. But 
the shape of the fronds, their slender stipes and the total 
absence of an intramarginal vein are abundantly distinctive 
characters. In the shape of the broader fronds, and in the 
stellate hairs which sparsely beset the margins, our plant may 
be likened to J. reptans; but that species has a close and 
flabellate venation, and a cylindrical, exserted involucre, with 
a deeply two-lipped orifice.” 
In the above Dr. Asa Gray has left nothing for us to 
notice, save that the cellular structure of the frond is ex- 
ceedingly compact, constituting very minute areole. 
Fig. 1. Fronds magnified; and f. 2, portion of a fertile frond: 
more highly magnified. ——— 
