American Fern Journal 
Vol. 6 JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1916 No. 3 
Notes on American Ferns: X' 
WILLIAM R. MAXON 
BLECHNUM OCCIDENTALE, AN ADDITION TO THE UNITED 
States Frora.—Blechnum occidentale L., an extremely 
common fern of tropical America at low altitudes, may 
be reported from the United States for the first time on 
the basis of a specimen recently received at the National 
Herbarium (No. 865605), collected near Brooksville, 
Hernando County, Florida, February 11, 1916, by Mr. 
J. B. Norton of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. 8. 
Department of Agriculture. The specimen (No. 437 of 
Mr. Norton’s series) grew with others at the edge of a 
stream in deciduous woods, in high hammock land. 
Brooksville is situated in western middle Florida, 40 
miles almost due north of Tampa. The region is one 
in which Blechnum occidentale might reasonably be 
expected to occur naturally, and there is no reason to 
suppose that it is not native where discovered, notwith- 
standing that a Plant Introduction Garden of the Bureau 
of Plant Industry is located not many miles distant. 
At the writer’s request Mr. Norton has kindly sub- 
mitted the following notes relating to the discovery of 
this species: 
‘‘When at Brooksville, Florida, in February, 1916, as 
I was being driven out to the Plant Introduction Garden 
1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion. 
[Vol. 6, No. 2 of the Journat (pages 33-64, plate 4) was issued 
June 15, 1916.] 
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