THE FERN BULLETIN 



55 



pretty generally present and resulted in the production 

 of massive trunks in many species closely allied to 

 modern genera as well as in other more archaic forms 

 that once inhabited the earth. Our present tree ferns 

 may rise to heights of twenty-five feet or more, and 

 live for a long time, but the trunks do not increase in 

 thickness because cambium is lacking. An apparent 

 increase in size, may sometimes be noted, but this is 

 due to innumerable rootlets that make their way down- 

 ward from the bases of the fronds and often com- 

 pletely invest the trunk with a shaggy coat. 



Fragrant Bracken. — In response to our request 

 for further references to fragrant bracken (Ptcris 

 aquilina) Dr. H. Woynar of Graz, Austria sends us a 

 reference to Lowe's ^British Ferns" page 14G in which 

 it is recorded that in parts of Monthshire, England 

 where the-brake or bracken is cut for straw "the scent 

 when freshly cut is even more powerful than that of 

 aemulum" The aemulum here referred to is Ncphro- 

 dium acmiduni, the hay scented fern of England. 

 Here we have additional evidence that the bracken 

 may on occasion be fragrant; it now rests with the 

 American fern students to determine how wide- 

 spread is this fragrant form and how abundant. It 

 may be noted in this connection that the hay-scented 

 fern of England and the species called by the same 

 name in this country, are not the same. Our hay- 

 scented fern is Dicksonia pilosiuscnla. It was prob- 

 ably named for the English species with the same 

 lack of originality that induced the early settlers to 

 call our common migratory thrush, a robin, and our 

 species of Caltha a cowslip. In any case "hay-scented" 

 is a misnomer. If there ever was any hay that smelled 

 like Dicksonia it was because the fronds of this fern 

 were mixed with it. To call the fern hay-scented is 



