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long and slender, but always acute and more or less oblique 

 or one-sided. The range of size is given above. In this 

 variety occur most of the plants with two and three sporophylls, 

 which are by no means uncommon. In these cases the common 

 stipe is usually very short, y z to % of an inch long, with the sec- 

 ond fertile stipe branching from the leaf stalk about the same dis- 

 tance above the first. But sometimes the common stipe is much 

 longer, from 2 to 3*2 inches, which gives the plant a peculiarly 

 tall and elegant appearance. In a specimen with three sporo- 

 phylls, the first and largest of them branches off just above the 

 root, while the other two branch off an inch higher on the stipe of 

 sterile frond and exactly opposite each other. So far as observed 

 none of the plants bear two sterile fronds. Occasionally two 

 plants spring from the same root side by side, which gives them 

 the appearance of having two fertile and two sterile fronds. 



Botrychium tematum dissectum Muhl. This is much the 

 same as obliquum both in range of size and shape of pinnules, but 

 the latter are cut-edged and dissected, sometimes being only 

 finely toothed and from that extending to deep laciniations of the 

 margin. In its extreme form this is the most beautiful of the 

 varieties. But there can be no question that it is connected by 

 almost infinitesimal gradations with the var. obliquum, and that 

 it is utterly impossible to separate it as a species without ignoring 

 entirely the multitude of intermediate forms. 



Botrychium tematum intermedium D. C. Eaton. Why Prof. 

 Eaton gave this form the name of intermedium I do not know, 

 unless he regarded it as intermediate in size between our eastern 

 var. obliquum and B. silaifolium of the west, which he mis- 

 takenly called var. australe. According to my views, it comes 

 nearer to being an independent species than any of our other 

 forms. It possesses very strong and widely extended roots, from 

 which spring almost equally heavy stipites of both sterile and 

 fertile segments. The leaf is thicker than in other varieties, is 

 more divided than in obliquum, and the segments are not so long 

 or pointed. It seems to be quite uniform in size, the plants aver- 

 aging 12 to 15 inches high, with leaves 5 to 7 inches wide. Occa- 

 sionally somewhat smaller ones are seen, two or three in my own 

 herbarium, from New Hampshire and the North Woods of New 

 York, being only 6 to 9 inches high, with leaves 3 to 5 inches wide. 

 These, however, are cut correspondingly fine, so that the variety 

 is unmistakable wherever seen. The bud is so densely pilose as 



