THE FERN BULLETIN 



Vol. XIX APRIL, 1911 No. 2 



THE IDENTITY OF ASPLENIUM FERRISSI library 

 WITH A. ALTERNANS. NEW YOR * 



BOTANIC aL 



By W. A. Poysek. harder. 



When Mr. Ferriss first showed me herbarium speci- 

 mens of Asplenia in Ferrissi Clute, I was puzzled. 

 The fern seemed familiar, but I could not place it. 

 Upon my return home I immediately referred to my 

 foreign species of Asplenium and the first in the cover 

 was the exact counterpart of Asplenium Ferrissi, the 

 Asplenium alteruans of Wallich labelled "Himalayas." 

 A comparison of the descriptions is interesting. Prof. 

 Clute in his description of A. Ferrissi {Fern Bulletin, 

 January, 1908) says, "Rootstock small, erect; fronds 

 oblong-lanceolate, short-stalked, spreading, 8 to 15 

 cm. in length ; 2 to 4 cm. in width, tapering from 

 above the middle to the base, thickish, dull green in 

 color, nearly pinnate below, pinnatifid in the upper 

 portion ; divisions of the blade alternate, spreading or 

 ascending, rounded in small fronds, longer and obtuse 

 in larger ones, the margins entire or wavy ; sori heavy, 

 elongated, 5 to 10 on a segment, the basal ones nearly 

 parallel to the mid-rib ; indusium thin, nearly disap- 

 pearing, in old fronds, veins free, one to three times 

 forked." 



Hooker ("Synopsis Filicum") describes Asplenium 



alternans Wallich as having "Stipes tufted, 1-2 inches 



, long, clothed with linear scales ; frond 6-8 inches long, 



lo 1-1^2 inches broad, lanceolate-oblong, cut down into 



I — numerous bluntly rounded lobes on each side, which 

 O 



