THE FERN BULLETIN 



VOL. XI. APRIL, 1903. NO. 2 



THE FERN FLORA OF TEXAS. 



— NEW V( 



By Julian Reverchon. BOTAN 

 The State of Texas covers so vast an area that it has never 

 been completely explored by botanists and, as a consequence, the 

 fern flora is known only in a general way. It is clear, however, 

 that the number of species is fairly large, which is due in great 

 measure to the fact that in this State the western and eastern 

 floras meet, and we have the ferns belonging to both floras. 

 The zone containing the eastern flora comprises less than one- 

 fourth of the State and lies east of the 97th meridian in a stretch 

 of country approximately a hundred miles wide. It was once 

 covered with a dense forest with numerous swamps, and may be 

 termed the moist zone in contrast to the rest of the State. The 

 ferns that grow here are typical eastern species, such as Os- 

 uiunda rcgalis and 0. cinnamomea, Woodn'ardia angustifolia, 

 Onoclca sensibilis, Asplenium ebeneum and Athyrium HUx-foe- 

 mina. 



Westward of this zone the country becomes more arid and 

 topographically may be divided into four regions, each possessing 

 species peculiar to itself, as follows: (1) The Northwest dis- 

 trict, north of the Concho river, mostly an immense prairie 

 with here and there rocky bluffs of low elevation. Here, owing 

 to the nature of the country, ferns are few, the most character- 

 istic species being Pellaea atropurpurea, Chcilanthes lanuginosa, 

 C. tomentosa, Notholaena dcalbata. and N. sinuata. (2) The Gran- 

 ite district in Burnet, Llano and Mason counties, characterized 

 by bold outcrops of rock that often rise into picturesque peaks. 

 The principal ferns found here are Chcilanthes Eatoni, C. Lind- 

 heimeri, Notholaena Hookcri and Pcllaca Wrightiana. (3) 

 The Southwest district, including roughly all the country south 

 of the Concho, east of the Pecos and extending toward the mouth 



