1141 



convinced me that it is C. teretiuscula ; and for this I have also the 

 authority of Dr. Boott. — Joseph Woods; Lewes, October 19, 1844. 



533. Note on Athyrium Filix-foemina as a Tree-fern. In a small 

 bog very near Ryde, are some plants of Athyrium Filix-fcemina, which 

 must be of very considerable age, the rhizomata being raised to the 

 height, in several instances, of a foot and a half to two feet, thus con- 

 stituting the plant, in some degree, a tree fern. The rhizomata how- 

 ever do not stand free as proper stems, but the old fronds, decayed 

 and overgrown with Sphagnum, form slender conical tumuli, filled 

 with fibres from the rhizomata, by which the plant assimilates to itself 

 again the decayed materials of its former fronds. Many of the rhizo- 

 mata are much branched, the whole length of the branches however 

 being contained in the sphagnous mould. The rhizomata and branch- 

 es, though contained in this mass of decayed vegetable matter, do not 

 themselves decay, but may be traced throughout, some of the leading 

 ramifications being more than a foot in length. Carex paniculata is 

 growing in the same little bog, and the tumuli formed by the fern bear 

 a very strong resemblance to those of this Carex, so well known when, 

 under favourable circumstances, it attains a considerable age. — T. 

 Bell Salter ; Ryde, October, 1844. 



534. Note on Stipa pennata. The long feathery awn by which the 

 persistent palea of this grass is surmounted, is well known ; but one 

 interesting part of its structure appears to have escaped observation. 

 Below the feathery portion, the awn is spirally twisted, and the seed 

 has a sharp point, which is oblique exactly in the axis of the spire of 

 the awn. By means of this contrivance, when the seed falls to the 

 ground it becomes buried to some little depth. This structure is in 

 accordance with the constitution of the seed, for I find those which 

 are thus imbedded seldom fail to vegetate, while those which become 

 dry are apt to lose their vegetative power. — John Lawrence ; St. 

 John's, near Ryde, October, 1844. 



[In the generic description of Stipa, Smith says " Cor. of 2 valves, nearly equal in 

 length ; the outer elliptic-lanceolate, involute, slightly keeled, with a very long, termi- 

 nal, twisting awn, jointed, and finally separable, at the base. * * Seed 

 cylindrical, pointed, loose, closely enveloped in the hardened outer valve of the corolla, 

 which is very sharp, and barbed with bristles, at the base, so as to penetrate and fix 

 itself in the earth." And again : — '^Flowers erect, slender, with long aims, bent just 

 above the twisting part ; then straight; either feathery or naked." — Eng. Flor. i. 161. 

 Hooker also observes : — '■'■Cor. cartilaginous, involute, terminated with a very long 

 twisted awn, jointed at the base, and finally separating at the joint. * * A 

 great ornament to our gardens in the summer, and to our rooms in the winter, for if 

 gathered before the seed is ripe, <hc long feathery awns remain, and a tuft of them is 



