The Ferns of Brazos Canyon, New Mexico 111 



Polypodium hesperium Maxon. It is not certain that 

 any representative of this genus has been collected before 

 in New Mexico. There is a report of the occurrence of 

 this species in the Sandia Mountains, east of Albuquerque; 

 but the specimens upon which the record is based are 

 lost, and there is a possibility that they really did not 

 come from the State. The species is the most local of 

 any found in the Brazos region, for it was seen in only 

 two restricted localities. In both instances it grew in 

 crevices on the under side of large granitic rocks, on a 

 northward slope among firs and aspens. But two small 

 cliffs were inhabited by the plants, which were sufficient 

 for only a few sheets of specimens. The species is 

 local in Arizona, and in Rydberg's Flora of Colorado 

 only a single locality is reported for that State, a station 

 near Ouray, approximately one hundred and twenty-five 

 miles northwest of the one in New Mexico. In the 

 United States National Herbarium, however, there is 

 another sheet of somewhat depauperate specimens, 

 apparently referable here, collected at Twin Lakes, in 

 central Colorado, by John Wolf. 



The New Mexican specimens are quite uniform in the 

 size and form of the fronds, which are very narrow, with 

 narrow segments. They are not exactly matched by 

 any others in the National Herbarium and may represent 

 an undescribed species. In some respects they resemble 

 the form of Polypodium hesperium described from Arizona 

 by Mr. Clute as P. vulgare perpitsiUum, but their fronds 

 and segments are still narrower. 



Dryopteris filix-mas (L.) Schott. This species is 

 not common in the State, although it extends as far 

 south as the Organ Mountains, near the Texan border. 

 In Brazos ( anyon it is rather abundant, less so, however, 



than A thy num. Most frequently it grows in crevices 



of rocks, in damp shady spots along small brooks. It 



