

Ferns of New England and Old England 



S. P. ROWLANDS 



It was my fortune this last summer to spend two 

 months in New England. Most of the time was spent 

 in the State of Connecticut, but some excursions were 

 also made into Massachusetts. My trips were mainly 

 confined to the woods around New Britain and Hartford, 

 but it will doubtless be admitted that one could have 

 gone to many a less favorable district. I was partic- 

 ularly fortunate in meeting several keen botanists. The 

 name of H. C. Bigelow is well known to New England 

 fernists. To him I am indebted for enabling me to see 

 man\- of the rarer ferns growing in their carefully guarded 

 haunts. 



It is natural that I should have made many mental 

 comparisons between the ferns of New England and 

 those of Groat Britain, and a few observations may be 

 of some interest to readers of the American Fern 

 Journal. 



The climatic conditions of New England are, I believe, 

 as similar to those of Great Britain as those of any part 

 of the States. This being so, I was rather surprised to 

 find so few British specie among your flora. Out of 

 the fifty or so New England species, some sixteen alone 

 are found in this country. The genera, however, are, 

 on the whole, similar. You have several Aspleniums, 

 Aspidiums and Polypodiums, as we have. The dif- 

 ferences, therefore, seem specific rather than generic, 

 which, when one comes to think of it, is only natural. 



Perhaps at this point, I had better state that I will 

 speak of the ferns by the names to which I am accustomed. 

 A few remarks later on concerning differences of nomen- 

 clature will be added, so that no confusion may arise. 



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