CATALOGUE. ; 313 
rather distant pinnz oblong-ovate; pinnules roundish-ovate, crenate and 
incised; the ends of the lobules reflexed and forming herbaceous involucres; 
segments at length flat—Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, vi, p. 33. 
Cafion 15 miles north of Santa Barbara, California (Mrs. Ellwood Cooper); Sierra Valley (J. G. 
Lemmon), and near San Bernardino, Dr. Parry. This has much the appearance of the eastern C. vestita, 
deep ferruginous brown. 
§3. PHYSAPTERIS. 
Ultimate segments minute, rounded ; involucre usually continuous all round 
the margin ; fronds, in all our species, 2-3-pinnate, with the lower surface 
tomentose or scaly, the tomentum or scales at first white, often becoming tawny 
as the fronds mature. 
*Frond tomentose beneath, but not scaly (except on the rachises in C. 
Eatoni). - 
+ Upper surface naked or nearly so; frond rarely more than twice pinnate. 
Cheilanthes gracillima, D. C. Eaton. 
Rootstocks creeping, branched, and forming a dense entangled mass, 
scaly with narrow rigid dark-ferruginous chaff; stalks slender, dark 
chestnut-brown, glossy, 3-4 inches long; frond 1-4 inches long, linear- 
oblong, bipinnate; primary and secondary rachises bearing delicate nar- 
row bright-brown scales, as do the stalks when young; pinne many pairs, 
crowded, 3-6 lines long, pinnately divided into about 9 closely placed 
oblong-oval ultimate pinnules, which are rounded and at first slightly 
webby above, soon smooth, 3-1 line long, beneath heavily covered with 
pale-ferruginous matted wool ; involucres yellowish-brown, formed of the 
continuously recurved margin.—Botany of Mexican Boundary, p. 234; 
Hooker & Baker, Syn. Fil. p. 139. C. vestita, Brackenridge, Ferns of U. S. 
Exploring Expedition, p. 91 (not of Swartz). 
In rocky places, mostly at high elevations, 6000-8000 ft., from the Yosemite to Oregon. Sacra- 
mento Valley, Brackenridge. Mendocino Co., Kellogg § Harford. Near Pend dOreille River, British 
Columbia, Lyall. Readily distinguished from the other species of this section of the genus by the naked 
upper surface of the pinnules, and by the rarely more than bipinnate fronds. The Mendocino County 
specimens and those from Sacramento Valley exceed the common dimensions a little; and in these there 
is a slight tendency towards a thrice pinnate condition of the frond. Called “ Lace Fern” by visitors to 
the Yosemite. 
