A 
BRIEFER ARTICLES 
IS OPHIOGLOSSUM PALMATUM ANOMALOUS? 
Under the unassuming title ‘‘Notes on the morphology of Ophio- 
glossum (Cheiroglossa) palmatum L.,’’ BowER" has presented a paper con- 
taining generalizations of an unexpectedly far-reaching kind. Inasmuch 
as many of the arguments in this paper are directed against a paragraph 
in a recent paper by the present writer,? it seems desirable to make a 
few statements calculated to clear up the situation. 
BoweEr’s account is based on two fertile specimens obtained during 
a visit to Jamaica, also on a reexamination of herbarium specimens. He 
adheres to his previous view of the morphology of the plant,3, 4 namely, 
that the several to many fertile spikes are derived by duplication or 
branching of the single spike found in O. vulgatum, in contrast to the 
usual view that the spikes represent fertile lobes of the leaf. Probably 
the most serious objection to the latter interpretation is the fact, brought 
out by Bower, that some specimens show one or more of the distal spikes 
inserted on the adaxial face of the leaf in a more or less median position, 
while one might expect to find them inserted marginally. Unfortunately 
neither of the specimens from Jamaica, and in fact no specimen which 
has been available for sectioning, shows this critical feature. BOWER 
recognizes the importance of this method. of study, for in a number of 
his figures he represents the vascular supply of fertile spikes. I wish 
to point out that each of the cases so represented (figs. 17, i-ix; 19, I-v; 
20, i-vii) fits in with my interpretation of the fertile spike as either a 
single segment of the leaf or a fused pair of segments, so I must insist 
that until an opportunity occurs for demonstrating the origin of the 
vascular supply to the upper median spikes, my interpretation stands.. 
t the same time, I cheerfully admit the possibility of BowEr’s view 
as an alternative theory, especially on the basis of the branching of fertile 
spikes, figured in 1896 for O. pendulum as well as O. palmatum. Is it 
t Ann. Botany 25:277-208. pis. 22-24. 1911. 
“? The nature of the fertile spike in the Ophioglossaceae. Ann. Botany 24: 
1-18. pls. 1, 2. 1910 
3 Studies in the morphology of spore-producing members. II. Ophioglossaceae- 
London. 1896. 
4 The origin of a land flora. London. 1908. 
151] [Botanical Gazette, vol. 52 
