— IO — 



has a long, coarse, hairy, ridged stalk. It has six pairs of pinna;, 

 the lowest pair being twice and the others once pinnate. It 

 forms a heavy panicle of good sized pods and clearly shows its 

 foliate origin. The sterile segment has a short thick petiole the 

 divisions of which are large, hairy and somewhat contorted. The 

 divisions and sub-divisions of this sterile segment follow close 

 upon one another. They are somewhat ovate in form and den- 

 ticulate. It most nearly resembles variety intermedium. On the 

 whole it was a luxuriant plant. In another geyser basin more 

 removed from any active spring and in a spot where a few trees 

 were growing I found another plant of this moonwort. — Frances 

 Zirngiebel, Roxbury, Mass. 



NATURALIZATION OF EXOTIC FERNS. 



RECENTLY three cases of exotic ferns becoming naturalized 

 about New York have been reported. At a meeting of the 

 Torrey Botanical Club, Dr. N. L. Britton reported the nat. 

 uralization on Staten Island of a fern whose native home appears 

 to be Japan. The other cases were reported by Mr. F. S. Curtis, 

 who brought us plants of Pteris tremula, and what is doubtless 

 Dryopteris patens, which he had collected on a stone wall at the 

 entrance to the tunnel under Park Avenue in New York City. 

 This tunnel is used by the New York Central Railway, and trains 

 are passing constantly, yet in all the smoke and dust, exposed to 

 the sun and with scarcely any moisture, these denizens of a 

 warmer climate have persisted for years. One plant of the Pteris 

 had nearly twenty fronds, living anfi dead, the tallest being seven- 

 teen inches high and well fruited. It is supposed that these plants 

 originated from spores blown from some nearby florists. Walls in 

 the city, facing the north, frequently bear young ferns in spring, 

 but these do not exist through the summer. The others, however, 

 have not only lasted through the summer, but what is the greater 

 wonder, endured the rigors of a northern winter.-- Willard N. 

 CI ute. 



Mr. W. H. McDonald inquires where he can find Onoclea 

 Struthiopteris growing near New York City. It seems to be the 

 general opinion that this fern is not common along the seaboard, 

 and we believe it is not known within one hundred miles of New- 

 York. . 



