﻿The fern bulletin 



47 



given. The figure here shown was drawn from a blue 

 print of one of the fronds collected by Mr. Woolson 

 which was made by Mr. Geo. E. Davenport at the time 

 the discovery was announced. It is quite likely that 

 the plant will be found in other regions where both the 

 parents species occur, and other collectors should be on 

 the watch for it. — W. N. C. 



"OSTRICH FERN VAR. PUBESCENS." 



It was certainly through inadvertence that the editor 

 made the above unfortunate mongrel combination in 

 the January Bulletin. It is well known, if iteration can 

 make a thing well known, that he does not care for the 

 honor of new combinations ; but he must bear in mind 

 the fact that all new names must be kept track of, and 

 a cataloger is caused no end of trouble by such loose- 

 ness. What is the editor's name for the ostrich fern? 

 If it had but one it would be a simple matter to decide. 

 Unfortunately it has had nine, as follows : 



Osmunda Struthiopteris L. ( 1753 ) . 

 Struthiopteris filicastrum All. (1785). 

 Onoclea struthiopteris HofTm. (1795). 

 Onoclea nodosum Schkuhr (1809). 

 Struthiopteris Germanica Willd. (1809). 



Pensyhanica Willd. (1810). 

 S. euro pea Homem. (1813). 

 Matteuccia Struthiopteris Todaro (1866). 

 Pterinodes Struthiopteris Kuntze (1891). 



Adherents to the Vienna Code would call this 

 Struthiopteris Germanica var. pubescens; but as the 

 generic name was first used for Blechnum, then for 

 Osmunda, and finally for this plant, adherents to the 

 principle that if a name is once a synonym it is always 



