176 MACOUN AND BURGESS ON 



The sterile segment is variable in shape, and the fertile in the degree of its division, 

 but varieties based on these differences are, as stated by Prof. Eaton, probably only indica- 

 tive of stages of development. The plant above described is the common one in America. 

 The simplest form has the sterile segment very small, obovate-cuneate, and slightly 3-5 

 toothed along the sides, with the fertile a simple spike ; while the most fully developed 

 has the sterile segment broadly triangular in outline, the lower pinnae pinnately divided 

 into obtuse, toothed lobes, and the fertile much branched, its lower branches nearly as long 

 as the central part. In any of the forms the sterile segment is occasionally almost or quite 



sessile. 



With us the western limit of this fern, so far as known, is Lake Superior, but in the 

 United States it has been detected in Unalaska. Pictou, N. S— A. H. McKay. Dry and 

 high grasslands, Cape Blomidon, N. S. — Macoun and Burgess. Truemanville, Cumberland 

 Co., N. S.— A. J. Trueman. Tetitcodiac and Titusville, N. B.— /. Brittain. Gravelly places 

 on sea cliffs, growing with B. Lunaria, Cape Eosier, Gaspe, Que.; woods near Belleville, 

 Out. ; pine woods five miles north of Campbellford, Northumberland Co., Out. ; at the big 

 pool below the railway bridge, Nipigon River, and on islands in Lake Nipigon, Out. — 

 Macoun. King's Mountain, Chelsea, Que., and Casselman, Ont. — J. Fletcher. 



S. — B. lanceolatum, Angs., (Lanceolate Grape-Fern), Gray, Man., 6*71. Macoun's Cat., 

 No. 2338. Fowler's N. B. Cat., No. 111. Goode, Can. Nat., IX, 300. Eaton, Ferns of N. 

 A., I, 33. Underwood, Our Nat. Ferns, etc., *73. 



B. rutaceum, var. lanceolatum, Moore. 



Osmunda lanceolata, Gmelin. 



This species, which grows from 2 to 9 inches high, is non-evergreen and scarcely 

 fleshy, dwelling along the shaded, mossy banks of streams, and in rich woods and low 

 pastures. Sterile segment closely sessile near the top of the plant, triangular in outline, 

 and pinnate with oblique, lanceolate, acute pinna>, which are again pinnatifid into similar 

 but smaller segments ; fertile segment short stalked, slightly overtopping the sterile, bi- 

 tripinnate, with slender branches ; bud smooth with the fertile segment recurved its 

 whole length, the shorter sterile segment reclined upon it. 



Like the Matricary Grape-Fern this plant shows a regular gradation of species from 

 the form above described down to the smallest specimens, which have the pinnoe nearly 

 entire and the fertile segment simple. Rarely the sterile segment is only sub-sessile, and 

 occasionally it overtops the fertile. 



Young plants of this species are not easily distinguished from those of B. matricarice- 

 folium, of which it is by some authorities made only a variety. The points to be most 

 relied upon in the differentiation are, that B. lanceolatum fruits later (end of July or begin- 

 ning of August), is usually smaller and more slender, has the sterile segment sessile and 

 deltoid with lanceolate, acute or sub-acute divisions, and the fertile segment is very short 

 stalked. In addition there are the differences in vernation. 



As yet recorded this plant is rare in Canada, and though found in Nova Scotia, New 

 Brunswick and Quebec, is very local in all these provinces. In a field at Truemanville, 

 Cumberland Co., N. S. — A. J. Trueman. Shady places in rich soil, Fredericton and Bass 

 Biver, N. B. — Fowler. Magog, Que. — Goode. 



* * Sterile division placed low down on the plant. 



