GYMNOGRAMMA TRIANGULARIS.—CALIFORNTIA GOLD FERN. -179 
vescosa, and this Mr, Eaton, in a note attached to the specimen, 
proposes to retain asa varietal name. Specimens from the woods 
of the Columbia of what Mr. Nuttall seems to have regarded 
as the normal form have small and rather narrow fronds in pro- 
portion to the length of the stipe. Some specimens from Mrs, 
Elwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, have fronds with stipes near 
a foot in length, and very broadly triangular outline, this some- 
what triangular form suggesting its specific name. In speci- 
mens collected by Dr. Edward Palmer from Guadalupe Island, 
off the coast of California, the stipes are not more than two 
inches long, with the frondose portion of about the same length. 
In this, as in many other species of Gymnogramma, the under 
surface is covered by a powdery exudation, and this varies in 
the specimens in the herbarium cited from deep golden yellow in 
Mrs. Cooper’s specimen to silvery in those from much farther 
north. 
Many ferns prefer wet places, while others seem as well fitted 
especially for dry situations. Though this species would be 
included in the latter class, it is not insensible to the advantages 
of moisture. Dr. C. C. Parry, who collected it in California, once 
told the writer of this chapter that it grew in great abundance 
in the shelter of rocks and edges of ravines, where it could 
be well moistened by the early winter rains. In southern Cali- 
fornia he usually found it growing in matted clumps, with fronds 
of various sizes and degrees of development according to the 
season or location, all coming up among the remains of stalks of 
previous seasons. In dry weather they all curled up and exhibited 
little but the yellow powdery under surfaces, and from these it 
takes its common name of ‘Gold fern” in California. Another 
friend, Dr. C. L. Andrews, of Santa Cruz, writing of the ferns of 
that part of California, also refers to its moisture-loving pro- 
pensities as a condition of growth. He says, “Gymnogramma 
triangularis is found in all shady places where there are cliffs, 
some moisture, and a rocky debris with vegetable mold. It 
clings loosely to the soil, and grows where mosses and liver- 
