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after describing L. Oreopteris, says, "the fragrant scent of this species 

 is supposed to have induced Hudson to imagine it the P. fragrans of 

 Linnaeus." — M. Beever ; Coiiiston, January 4, 1844. 



444. Note on Poly podium fragrans. In ' The Phytologist ' for the 

 present month (Phytol, 839), Mr. Newman puts the following ques- 

 tion, — " What is the Polypodium fragrans of Linneus ? " stating, at 

 the same time, that Wahlenberg, Roth, DeCandolle, Sadler, Smith, 

 Hooker, Dietrich and Babington appear to take no notice of it. Re- 

 ference to Hooker and Greville's ' Icones Filicum ' will prove that 

 Mr. Newman is in error in supposing Sir Wm. Hooker to have omit- 

 ted mention of this fern, as in vol. i. tab. 70, it is represented under 

 the name of Nephrodium fragrans (Polypodium fragrans, Linn., being 

 given as a synonyme), from specimens collected by Capt. Parry in the 

 Island of Igloolik, during one of his expeditions to the Arctic regions. 

 I have in my herbarium a specimen presented by Miss A. E. Griffiths, 

 gathered by her brother, William Griffiths, Esq. (who accompanied 

 Capt. Parry) in Melville Island, which, though not so large, would yet 

 be immediately detected as the same species. It appears also that 

 Sir W. Hooker has described P. fragrans, L. in the Appendix to Par- 

 ry's Second Voyage, and that Swartz, Willdenow, Sprengel and Rich- 

 ardson have noticed it. The object of Mr. Newman in putting this 

 question, appears to be a wish to identify the Polypodium fragrans, 

 Lin., with either the Aspidium Oreopteris, Sic, or the Aspidium rigi- 

 dum, Schkuhr, and thus to apply the Linnaean name to one of our in- 

 digenous species. It is true that Hudson adopts this name, but not 

 having a copy of his work, I cannot quote his characters, and hazard 

 an opinion of my own as to their application. This however is of lit- 

 tle consequence, as Sir J. E. Smith, in his ' English Flora,' gives 

 Hudson's P. fragrans, with a note of interrogation, as a synonyme of 

 Asp. Oreopteris, Sw., and says that this latter plant " exhales, more 

 or less constantly, a fragrant scent, whence perhaps Mr. Hudson 

 might take it for Polypodium fragrans of Linnaeus, which is a very 

 distinct North-American species." If we refer to the description of 

 P. fragrans, L., as given in the ' Sy sterna Naturae,' we shall find it to 

 be as follows. " P. frondibus subbipinnatis lanceolatis : foliolis con- 

 fertis : lobis obtusis serratis, stipite paleaceo." Aspidium Oreopteris, 

 Sw., will most certainly not answer to these characters, it being, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Newman in his beautiful work on British Ferns, "pin- 

 nate, the pinnae rather distant and pinnatifid, the pinnules rounded 

 and slightly crenate ; " so slightly crenate indeed, that the figures re- 

 present the pinnulae as scarcely undulate. The question then becomes 



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