66 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



tie curly grass (Schhaca pusilla) but it is likely to be 

 overlooked by the ordinary observer who would never 

 expect to find a fern in such a disguise. Small as it is, 

 it has not been unsuccessful in the struggle for ex- 

 istence and is found nearly around the world in the 

 tropics — in the West Indies, Peru, Brazil, Madegascar, 

 the Hawiian Islands and the Guinea Coast, to mention 

 only a few of its haunts. 



The fern's grass-like appearance is strengthened by 

 the fact that it often grows in dense colonies. Along 

 some of the mountain paths in Jamaica it is spread so 

 thickly that the hurried collector finds it most conven- 

 ient to tear up a sod of it and sort the individual plants 

 at his leisure. When growing the plant is from three 

 to five inches tall but it is not safe to jump to the con- 

 clusion that the fronds are of that length. As a matter 

 of fact, they are much shorter and the apparent length 

 is due to the fact that the rootstock is nearly erect. The 

 fronds given off at intervals along the rootstock is an- 

 other touch that adds to its grass-like appearance. The 

 fertile fronds usually appear toward the tip of the 

 rootstock and so are borne higher than those devoted 

 to purely vegetative functions. Like the latter, the 

 fruiting leaves consist of a midrib beset with the finest 

 of tooth-like pinnules which have evidently given the 

 specific name to the plant, but at the tips they are some- 

 what broader and have nearly entire recurved margins 

 which half enclose the sporangia. The latter are borne 

 in what seems to be a single linear sorus close to the 

 midrib but which the scientist considers several oblong 

 sori that ultimately become confluent. 



Owing to its various peculiaities this plant is often 

 ruled out of the genus Poly podium and is then placed. 



