GYMNOGRAMMA TRIANGULARIS. 

 CALIFORNIA GOLD FERN. 



NATURAL ORDER, FILICES. 



Gymnogramma triangularis, Kaulfuss. — Fronds densely tufted, six to twelve inches long, 

 dark chestnut-brown, glossy, nearly naked; fronds from three to four inches each way, 

 deltoid; lower pinnse very much the largest, deltoid, unequal-sided, the others lanceo- 

 late, deeply pinnatifid, with oblong obtuse lobes; texture sub-coriaceous, powdery varying 

 from deep orange to white. (Eaton's Ferns of North America ; and Botany of Wheeler's 

 Expedition.) 



T the end of the last century there were few large genera 

 of ferns but Acrostichimi, Polypodiuin, Asplenium, Pteris 

 and Adiantiim. But the number of species Increased to such an 

 extent that It became a matter of convenience as well as of a 

 more perfect study to look for systems of classification which 

 should unite only those forms that were structurally allied, and 

 yet break up the overloaded genera as they were constructed at 

 that time. The Introduction of the natural system of Botany 

 helped the study of classification, though Indeed the ferns as they 

 stood In the artificial system of Linnaeus composed one of his 

 most natural classes. Still with the introduction of the natural 

 method, chiefly . through Jussleu, the classification of ferns into 

 genera was made dependent on little more than the form or 

 position of the sorl or fruit dots on the frond. Thus to have 

 round sorl made a Polypodhim, In right lines an Asplcnuini, \\\ 

 marginal lines a Pteris, and In terminal sub-circles an Adianhmi. 

 It was at length found that the manner In which the fruit dots 

 opened was uniform in evidently allied forms, and further that the 

 manner In which the veins forked or were developed also had 

 great similarity In groups that might be divided as separate 



