-83- 



with fine fruiting specimens collected at Mandeville, La., in May, 

 It apparently does not fruit until about the middle of that month. 

 Unlike S. apus, the stems, which are occasionally decumbent, 

 produce roots only at the base and lower parts. S. apus grows 

 in the same general region but has the same creeping habit as it 

 does further north. I have also fine specimens of it collected in 

 Mississippi that are as closely creeping as any I have found in 

 New York, which shows that the difference in the two forms is 

 not chargable to climate as Prof. Underwood suggests in the 

 6th edition of "Our Native Ferns." Sclaginclla Ludoviciana is a 

 much larger plant that S. a pus, and so rigid that when the 

 branches wilt after the plant is pulled up, their weight is not 

 sufficient to bend the principal stems. 



Use of the Common Wood Fern. — The dealers in bouquets 

 do a lively business in New Orleans in winter, for flowers are 

 cheap and easily grown. The greenery that is mixed with the 

 flowers, however, is not so readily produced it would seem, for 

 a northern fern, no other than our common wood fern 

 (Ncphrodium spiuulosum intermedium) . is the principal thing 

 used. Since this fern is not known to grow south of Tennessee, 

 1 had the curiosity to visit a florist and make inquiry regarding 

 it, and was informed that the fronds are all from the New Eng- 

 land States, being sent down by the millions in Autumn and kept 

 in cold storage until wanted. Thus does bleak New England 

 contribute to the enjoyment of a Southern winter. 



Woodsia obstusa in Alabama. — The impression that 

 IVoodsia obtusa does not occur south of Kentucky seems to be 

 very common. In 1899 Mr. R. M. Harper recorded its occurrence 

 in Georgia in this journal but subsequent lists, and even Prof. 

 Underwood's "Our Native Ferns." continue to give Kentucky 

 as the most southern locality for it. From its presence in 

 Georgia, its occurrence in Alabama was to be inferred, and it is 

 noted in Dr. Mohr's recently published volume on the Alabama 

 flora, as growing in the northern and mountainous parts of the 

 State. The range, however, may be extended some distance 

 further South, as I have seen in the herbarium of Prof. R. S. 

 Cocks, specimens of this collected near Selma. Ala. This seems 

 to be the farthest southern station known for the plant at present. 



