Vol. 3 No. 2 



TORREYA 



February, 1903 



NOTES ON SOUTHERN FERNS 



By Lucien M. Underwood 



OSMUNDA SPECTABILIS Willd. 



A study of the royal fern of Europe with our own royal fern, 

 both of which have been growing together for the past three or 

 four years in the New York Botanical Garden, has led to the 

 necessary conclusion that Willdenow's treatment of nearly a 

 century ago is a correct one and we have adopted his above 

 name for our royal fern. The difference between the two plants 

 is very striking from the time when the leaves are first unrolled 

 in the spring. The European plant has dark green foliage which 

 has a firm texture even when young and is sharply in contrast 

 with the thin reddish flaccid leaves so characteristic of our own 

 species, which acquires its firmness long after the leaf has un- 

 rolled, though the texture is never the same as that of the 

 European plant. The differences extend throughout the stipe of 

 the two species, which presents marked characters not only in ex- 

 ternal form but also in internal structure. Mr. George Nicholson, 

 the curator of Kew Gardens, where the two plants have long 

 been under cultivation and observation, has recently told me that 

 he has long regarded the two species as distinct. In herbarium 

 specimens, especially when only the tips of the leaves have been 

 snipped off, these characters of the living plants are obscured. It 

 is very essential to combine life studies of ferns with what has 

 recently been facetiously called "the lie-flat botany," in order to 

 correct the false impressions arising from such a partial view. 



[Vol. 3, No. 1, of Torreya, comprising pages 1-16, was issued January 26, 

 I903-] 



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