THE FERN BULLETIN 



VOL. X. APRIL, 1902 NO. 2. 



NOTES FROM THE SOUTH —II. 



By Willard N. Clute. . v 0^ 



It seems that I shall have to modify, somewhat, the state- 

 ments made in the January number regarding the fern-flora of 

 this part of the world. While further explorations have not 

 shown the ferns to be any more abundant than at first stated, the 

 catalogues of Louisiana plants and the herbaria of local botanists 

 show 7 that the State is by no means lacking in ferns. But if one 

 does not know where to search for them, he may search long in 

 vain. They are not generally distributed and separate expeditions 

 must be made for different species. For instance, one must go 

 miles beyond the city for specimens of that elsewhere common 

 species, the sensitive fern. Before one can get much of a fern col- 

 lection he will be obliged to visit the other side of Lake Pont- 

 chartrain, where, "in the piney woods,"' as the expression goes, I 

 am told the ferns and fern allies are fairly abundant. So little, 

 however, is known about the ferns of Louisiana that a list of 

 species with notes seems a desideratum, and it is probable that 

 one will appear in this journal before long. 



While I have not yet visited "the piney woods'' I have had 

 some very successful collecting trips nearer home and curiously 

 enough have discovered certain species before unknown to grow 

 in the State. Collectors here account for their failure to find these 

 plants by saying that it never occurred to them to go botanizing 

 in a graveyard. 



Pteris longieoeia in Louisiana. — Last January while 

 rambling through the old "Girod Street Cemetery" I was de- 

 lighted to find a large colony of this species growing upon the 

 old tombs. For the benefit of those who are unacquainted with 

 the methods of burial in New Orleans it may be said that earth 

 burial is the exception. The watery nature of the soil requires 

 that burials be above ground. The wealthier class is buried in 



