410 BOTANICAL GAZETTE | DECEMBER 
On the leaves of Zostera marina, which abounds throughout the 
sounds Melobesia pustulata and probably other species are very com- 
mon. 
Altogether between twenty-five and thirty species were found, the 
most interesting feature of the flora being perhaps the occurrence 
here, at what must be nearly their northern limit, of the tropical or 
subtropical forms Codium, Dictyota, and Padina.—Duncan S. JoHNSON, 
Johns Hopkins University. 
NOTES ON THE VALIDITY OF ASPLENIUM EBENOIDES 
AS ‘A SPECIES." 
A RECENT visit, in company with Mr. Charles L. Pollard, to the 
somewhat famous locality for this fern at Havana, Hale county, Ala- 
bama, has led me to review what has been written upon the question 
of its hybridity, and to offer here a few comments, both upon its occur- 
rence in Alabama and regarding its status as a species. 
The theory of the hybridity of Asplenium ebenoides originated with 
Berkeley,’ when, in publishing Scott’s manuscript name in 1866, he 
expressed an opinion that the fern might well be a hybrid between 
Asplenium ebeneum and Camptosorus rhizophyllus. No considerable 
amount has since been written, but, considering the scattering refer- 
ences available, I think it may fairly be said that the weight of ‘author- 
ity has been in support of Berkeley’s proposition. Professor Coulter, 
in mentioning the discovery (1882) of new stations for this “sus- 
picious species,” remarked? that the “burden of testimony all seems 
to be in favor of that idea.” Both Mr. Redfield+ and Professor Eaton® 
regarded the fern as a probable hybrid ; while the most concise 
favorable comment is that of Mr. George E. Davenport,’ who cites It 
as “probably the best example of a fern hybrid that we have, the 
infrequency of its occurrence, the presence always of Camptosorus and 
Asplenium ebeneum, and the few plants found in the recorded stations, 
all going to favor the hypothesis of hybridization.” In 1896 Professor 
Underwood, having visited the Havana locality, made the statements,’ 
* Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 
*Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 87. p/. 2, fig. s. 1866. 5 Ferns of N. Am. 1:26. 
3 Bor. Gaz. 7:37. 1882. 6 Bor. Gaz. 19 : 492 et seq. 1894 
4 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila. Dec. 1874. 7 Bor. Gaz. 22: 410. 1896. 2 
