THE FERN BULLETIN 



09 



slender foot-hold in such clefts in the rock where noth- 

 ing stronger rooted could grow. 

 Ellsworth Station, Ohio. 



[The fronds sent were not much smaller than nor- 

 mal. Apparently the fern finds a rock crevice quite 

 acceptable as a home. — Ed.] 



RARE FORMS OF FERNS.— XII. 



POLYSTICHUM ACROSTICHOIDES MULTIFIDA. 



In this journal for July, 1907, a form of the Christ- 

 mas fern Having bipinnatifid pinnae was described as 

 forma multifida. The description there given, how- 

 ever, appears not to have adequately described the 

 form or, rather, it did not indicate all the vagaries of 

 which the specimen in question is capable. Our frontis- 

 piece gives a clearer idea of the case. Of the four 

 fronds there illustrated, the two nearest the center are 

 from the original plant, while the two on the outside 

 are from new plants raised from divisions of the orig- 

 inal. But this is not all. The owner, Mr. William A. 

 Terry, writes that young fronds now being produced 

 by this plant are still more finely cut, each pinna being 

 divided into numerous stalked pinnules and even the 

 earlike projections of the original pinnae are pinnatifid. 

 The plants are also increasing in luxuriance some 

 specimens already standing nearly three feet high with 

 fronds eight inches wide. The specimens photo- 

 graphed were but 19 inches high exclusive of the 

 stipes. 



In this remarkable specimen we seem to have a 

 form in the making. It is not stationary as a mere bi- 

 pinnate form but responds to a changed and protected 

 environment with still more finely divided fronds. The 

 species is not a distant relative of Ncphrolepis cxaltata. 



