THE FERN BULLETIN 



Vol. XV APRIL, 1907. No. 2 



VARIABLE SPORELINGS OF LOMARIA 

 SPICANT 



By Amedee Hans. 



If raising ferns from spores to produce abnormal or 

 hybrid forms is surrounded with much disappointment, 

 sometimes very curious results are obtained which repay 

 for the trouble and persistent labor. While it is not the 

 habit of The Fern Bulletin to care much about abnor- 

 malities, it may be of interest to its readers to hear some- 

 thing about what can be obtained by sporelings from 

 abnormal forms of ferns. 



Lomaria (or Blechnum) Spicant is found in nature 

 growing in cool and damp situations and is very hard 

 to grow out of doors in the Eastern States and especially 

 near the seashore, and in such situations seldom makes 

 fertile fronds. One form which has often been found in 

 England and is known there under the name of L. s. 

 contractum (II.) grew a little fertile frond in our collec- 

 tion. From the spores we raised 65 plants. Among 

 them the type is represented by only a few plants and 

 there are many varied forms. The form contractum 

 dominates with a tendency to gradually decline in the 

 length of the pinnae, shortening to the English form 

 lineare, going through several forms of broad or narrow 

 concinnum of the same origin (IV.). A few are con- 

 tracted at the top as well as the base of the frond (III.) 

 and could nearly be called caudatum (IV.), and some, 

 the most curious of all since there were no spores from 

 any other form of Lomaria present, are bi- to multi- 



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