Ophioglossum] ophioglossacEjE. 99 



Like the last, this species occurs in moist, grassy ground throughout 

 both islands. I have followed the "Synopsis Filicum" in dividing 

 our forms of Ophioglossum into two species ; but most collectors 

 have followed the arrangement in Hooker's " Handbook," where they 

 are included under the one name of A. vulgatwm, and hence it is not 

 always easy to recognize which form is intended in the various 

 ilocalities from which it has been recorded. 



In order to grow these ferns, care must be taken in lifting them 

 to take up the whole sod enclosing them, so as not to disturb 

 the roots. Cultivation, in the ordinary sense of the term, is a course 

 they will not submit to. 



Genus II.— BOTRYOHIUM,* Swartz. (Moonwort.) 

 (PI. IV. fig. 4.) 



Stipes erect, solitary, bearing one pinnate or compound sterile 

 ■frond, and one fertile frond with branched spikes arranged in a 

 compound panicle. Capsules globose, sessile in two rows along the 

 face of the spikes, separate from one another, bursting transversely. 



1. B. ternatum, Swartz. 



Stout, rarely slender, 3-18 in. high ; stipes 1-2 in long, sterile frond 

 .'3-9 in. each way, deltoid, 3- or 4-pinnatifid, on a distinct petiole 2-4 

 in. long ; lower pinnae much the largest, and pinnules of the lower 

 -side larger than the others ; ultimate segments oblong or obovate, 

 obtuse or acute, slightly toothed. Fertile panicle 1-3 in. long, often 

 much branched, very compound and deltoid, on a nearly radical 

 .peduncle, which is 3-9 in. long. 



Synonyms.— "B. Australe, E. Br. ; B. virginianum, Hook. f. ; B. 

 cicutarium, Swartz ; B. lunarioides, Swartz ; Osmunda temata, 

 Thunb. 



Var. dissectiMii. — Frond thin and slender, much divided ; ultimate 

 -divisions acute and sharply incised. 



Distribution. — The typical form is widely spread over extra- 

 "tropical North America, part of Europe, Asia, Australia, and Tas- 

 mania. Var. dissecttmi occurs in North America, as well as in New 

 Zealand and the Chatham Islands. It is not common, however, with 

 us, but has been recorded from various localities between North Cape 

 and Otago. The typical form is common, occurring chiefly in damp, 

 grassy ground, but exhibiting a wide range in its choice of soils and 

 the elevation at which it grows. It also sometimes bears as many as 

 two, or even three, sterile fronds. 



If lifted with some of its accompanying sod, this fern soon estab- 

 lishes itself in the fernery. It is much more readily shifted about 

 d^han Ophioglossum, and is an extremely hardy plant. 



• 6r., Botrys, a bunch or cluster, from the fruitmg panicle. 



