A BIOLOGICAL STUDY OP POLYPODIUM POLYPODIOIIiES 

 AS Air AIR PLAUT IN MISSISSIPPI 



I. IITTRODUCTION 



The only vascular epiphyte found in the 

 northeastern part of Mississippi is Poly podium 

 polypodioides (L) A,S,Hitch« (P« xncanum Sw, )«It 

 occurs abundantly in the ndt, ire forests where it 

 inhabits eight or ten different species of trees and 

 is also commonly found growing in large clumps on the 

 trunks of certain planted trees in the city streets. 

 Though widely distributed this polypody seems to be 

 able to grow especially well only on certain species 

 of trees, On these it occurs in very large clumps; 

 on a number of other species it is foujad only in very 

 small clumps; while on some species the polypody does 

 not grow at all. This restriction of the epiphyte to 

 certain trees led the writer to make a study of the 

 climatic and other conditions influencing both the 

 distribution of this fern on certain individual trees 

 and its degree of development, 



II. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 

 In order to determine definitely the causes of the 

 distribution of P. polypodioides actually found, the writer 

 selected seven stations where the epiphyte occurred 

 and kept these under constant observation for one yeaocf 



