GENERA AND SPECIES. 49 
PLATE XI. 
+ 
CHEILANTHES TOMENTOSA. Link. 
WooLLy LIP-FERN. 
This is the rarest as well as the tallest and handsomest 
of the lip-ferns. I have not been able to find it in this 
State, though Prof. Gray, probably on the authority of Dr. 
Short, attributes it to Kentucky, without mentioning any 
locality. It is doubtless indigenous to the State, since it 
has been found in the mountains not far from the border, 
both in Tennessee and North Carolina. It is probably the 
Nephrodium lanosum, of Michaux, who gives its habitat 
as “rocky mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.” 
I am indebted to Mr. C. E. Faxon, of Boston, for the plant 
I have figured, who informs me that “it came from the 
Holston River, Tennessee, where his brother collected a 
considerable quantity of it several years ago.” Mr. Red- 
field writes me that “the best known locality is on the rocks 
along French Broad River, just on the boundary between 
North Carolina and Tennessee, where it is very abundant. 
Possibly it may recede farther West, and it is to be sought 
for, if any where, not far from Cumberland Gap, and along 
the southeast border of the State.” It is highly desirable 
that local collectors should make an effort to decide the 
vexed question of its existence in Kentucky, and furnish 
us with the exact locality in all cases. 
The best specimens of this plant which I have seen are 
not more than eight or nine inches in height, but I am 
assured that it is often found fifteen or twenty inches. The 
fronds are lanceolate, oblong, tri-pinnate, and densely cov- 
ered with slender, whitish hairs. The upper side of the 
frond is of a dark green color, and much smoother than 
5 
