POLYPODIUM CALIFORNICUM. 
CALIFORNIAN POLYPODY. 
NATURAL ORDER, FILICES. 
POLYPODIUM CALIFORNICUM, Kaulfuss.—Fronds deeply pinnatifid; segments oblong, retuse, 
sharply serrate, the inferior ones narrower towards the base, decurrent; veins oblique 
parallel; veinlets dichotomous, anastomosing; sori ovate, solitary. (Kaulfuss 72 E£nu- 
meratio Lilicum quas in itinere circa terram legit cl. Adelbertus de Chamisso, etc.) 
S none of our popular botanical text-books contain any 
4| description of this pretty fern, we have translated the 
original description of the species as given by Dr. Frederick 
Kaulfuss in the work above referred to. Chamisso accompa- 
nied the navigator Kotzebue in his celebrated voyage ; and Kaul- 
fuss, who was professor of botany in the celebrated German 
University of Halle, described and remarked on the ferns his 
friend collected. According to Kaulfuss, Chamisso simply gives 
“California” as its location, but it is found much farther north, 
as specimens from which our drawing was made were gathered 
for us near the Falls of the Wilhamette by Mrs. Fanny E. 
Briggs, who thus graphically descrites the spot from whence 
they came: “Oregon City, one of the oldest towns in the State, 
is the most picturesque in situation I have yet met with. Here 
are the Falls of the Wilhamette, and a line of high rocky bluffs 
rise abruptly, leaving only a narrow strip of level ground along 
the river. The railroad is built on this. The town is wholly 
on the bluffs, and is reached by long flights of stairs, some of the 
steps set zigzag in upright frames. The town is neat and pretty, 
with gardens, shade and fruit trees in abundance. The rocky 
face of the bluff is covered by mosses, ferns and vines, and two or 
three little silver ribbon-like mountain streams leap sparklingly 
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