CR VP TO GRA MME. 



69 



polished stalks of the same length and slightly scaly towards the base ; they 

 are oblong in shape, three or four times divided half-way to the midrib 



(Fig. 13), and naked on both surfaces. 

 In the barren fronds, the ultimate seg- 

 ments are somewhat wedge-shaped and 

 deeply pinnatifid, while those of the 

 fertile fronds are pod-shaped. The sori 

 (spore masses) are hidden beneath the 

 reflexed margins of the segments, which 

 nearly join at the midrib, eventually 

 becoming confluent. — Hooker^ Synopsis 

 Filicum^ p. 144. Nicholson, Dictionary 

 of Garcleniii'j, i., p. -403. Loice^ Our 

 Native Ferns ^ i., t. 10. 



Fi^. 13. Cryptogramme crispa 

 (i nat. size). 



C. c. acrostichoides — ac-ros'-tich-o- 

 i'-des (Acrostichum-like), it. Brown. 

 This exceedingly pretty variety (Fig. 14), perfectly hardy in the South 

 and West of England, is a native of ]S[orth America, where it is commonly 

 known under the popular name of " American Rock- Brake." According to 

 Eaton, it was first collected by 

 Menzies at Nutka Sound. It is 

 found growing in dense tufts and 

 patches among rocks and in their 

 crevices from Arctic America south- 

 ward to Lake Superior, Colorado, 

 Alaska, and the Sierra of Cali- 

 fornia, where Professor Brewer re- 

 ports finding it at from 8000ft. to 

 10,000ft. above the level of the 

 sea. It is of larger and stronger 

 habit than our species, the barren 

 fronds ha\ing their rachis (stalk of 

 the leafy portion) narrowly winged, and their segments of thicker texture and 

 not so deeply cut. The fertile fronds are twice as long as the others, and are 



14. Cryptogramme crispa 

 acrostichoides 

 (! nab. size). 



