rc Let TERS. 
SPECIES OF BOTRYCHIUM. 
To the Editors of the Botanical Gazette :-—\n the second edition of Gray's 
Manual of Botany (1856), and continued in the third and fourth editions, 
under the species Botrychium Virginicum occurs this remarkable statement: 
ar.? simplex (B. simplex, Hitch.) appears to be a remarkably depauperate state 
of this, only 2'-5’ high, the sterile frond reduced to a single short-stalked division, 
and simply or doubly pinnatifid,” 
I cite the above to show that the practice of reduction of distinct species 
of Botrychium is one that has long been followed beyond the rivér Charles. | 
There are to my knowledge three general accounts of the genus Botry- | 
chium that have appeared within the past thirty years, and as they differ Fite 
somewhat widely I reproduce the disposition of species in each case. In the 
last column a double star indicates the species accredited to our territory. 
Milde, 1868, 1869, 18701 . Baker, ats ners, Prantl, 18843 a 
oe ecco r. B. Lunaria Sw. _ -. x, B. simplex Hitch, x. B. Lunaria Sw.** mk 
: 2. B. crassinervium Rupr, 
3- B.boreale Milde. 2. B, boreale Milde** 
4. B. matricariaefolium A, ae B. rutaceum Sa 3- B. lanceolatum Angs** 
5. BL m Angs. 4. B. matricariaefolium A. Br. 
5. B. simplex Hitch.’ 
3. B. Lunaria Sw. 
4, B. ternatum Sw. 
a B, daucifolium Wall. 4 
a ole ca Meek i 
ofthe — from America appears t te bare? 
7 (Osmunda 6 iternata), hae a 
