THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. 59 



of intergrading specimens. The plant is quite fleshy 

 and usually has the sterile part stalked and attached to 

 the main stem near the base. It also occurs in Europe. 



The Lance- Leaved Grape Fern. 



In some parts of its range, the lance- 

 leaved grape fern (Botrychium lanceola- 

 tutri) is very abundant but it is not un- 

 common for collectors to search for years 

 without finding it. As yet, compara- 

 tively little is known about its habitats. 

 In Canada it is said to grow on " the 

 shaded mossy banks of streams and in 

 rich moist woods and low pastures." In 

 central New York it is reported to be 

 found " in shade, but generally in shaly 

 soil that is almost barren of undergrowth 

 and has but a slight covering of vegetable 

 mould." In Pennsylvania the author has 

 seen. hundreds of these plants growing in 

 the rich moist hollows of beech and maple 

 woods at an altitude of about 2,100 feet. 



The underground portion of this spe- 

 cies consists of a tangle of stout roots, one 

 of which, descending perpendicularly, 

 gives off irregular whorls of other roots, at 

 intervals. Single roots are frequently sev- 

 eral times longer than the part of the 

 plant above ground. The frond is some-, 

 what fleshy and from three to nine inches 

 high with the sterile division sessile near 

 the top of the stem. It is somewhat LANCE-LEAVED 

 triangular in outline with two or more 



