THE WOODSIAS. 



The Alpine Woodsia. 



The rare little alpine Woodsia 

 ( Woodsia hyperbored] is an inhabitant of 

 the colder parts of both Europe and 

 America. It is usually supposed that 

 it was first discovered in the United 

 States by C. G. Pringle at Willoughby 

 Mountain in Vermont, but it was col- 

 lected in the Adirondack Mountains in 

 New York by Prof. C. H. Peck nearly 

 ten years earlier. At that time the 

 specimens were referred to W. glabella 

 and it remained for B. D. Gilbert to 

 discover their identity. His announce- 

 ment of this, however, was somewhat 

 later than Eaton's announcement of 

 Pringle's discovery. It has since been 

 found at a few other stations along our 

 northern border in Maine, 

 Vermont and New York. In 

 these, it is never found ex- 

 cept at considerable eleva- 

 tions and is always so rare 

 as to be considered a great 



ALPINE WOODSIA. b 



Woodsia hyperborea. priZC by the Collector. 



The largest fronds are scarcely six inches 

 long and half an inch broad and grow in little 

 tufts from a short rootstock. They are linear- 

 lanceolate, pinnate with ovate or ovate-oblong 

 pinnae cut nearly to the midrib into rounded 

 lobes. The blades are smooth or slightly 

 chaffy and the indusium consists of a few hair- 

 like processes that radiate from beneath the 



