Synopsis of Canadian Ferns and Filicoid Plants. Ill 



[Yar. 3. caudata appears occasionally in lists. I have as yet no 

 satisfactory evidence of its occurrence in Canada proper. The nearest 

 approach to it is a specimen from the Hudson's Bay territories, probably 

 from the Red River District (Governor M'Tavish). In the South it is a 

 very distinct form, of which there are beautiful specimens in Wright's 

 Cuban Plants (No. 872), and is very close to the Pteris esculenta of 

 Australia.] 



Pell^a. 



P. atropurpitrea, Link. — Stipe and rachis almost black, shining, 

 6 to 12 inches high, frond coriaceous, pinnate, divisions opposite, linear- 

 oblong or somewhat oval. Pteris atropurpurea, Linn. Platyloma 

 atrop., J. Sm., Torr Fl. N. Y., ii. p. 488. Allosorus atropurpureus, 

 A. Gray. Pellcea atropurpurea, Link., Fee, J. Sm. in Cat., Eaton, — 

 Niagara River, at the Whirlpool, three miles below the Falls. This 

 fern seems to retain its fronds all winter, for I have fertile specimens, in 

 a fine state, collected at the Whirlpool at the end of February 1859 by 

 A. 0. Brodie. Dr P. W. Maclagan has also collected it there. It is 

 not common anywhere on the American Continent so far as I can learn. 

 Mr Lowe speaks of it as in cultivation in Britain, " an evergreen frame 

 or greenhouse species, not sufficiently hardy to stand over winter's cold." 

 There must be some other reason for want of success in its cultivation 

 in Britain. 



Allosorus. 



A. Stelleri, Ruprecht. — Fronds pale-green, thin and papery, 3 to 9 

 inches long, bipinnate or tripinnate, some of the smaller barren fronds 

 scarcely more than pinnate ; pinnas five or six pairs; lobes of the barren 

 frond, rounded, oval, veiny ; of the fertile frond, much narrower, linear- 

 lanceolate, firmer ; sori at the tips of the forked veins along the margins, 

 stipe red, whole plant glabrous. A beautiful and delicate fern, growing 

 in the crevices of rocks, rare. Allosorus Stelleri^ Ledeb. Fl. Rossica. 

 Allosorus gracilis, Presl., A. Gray, Torrey Fl. N. Y. ii. p. 487. In 

 a letter from Mr T. Moore (1857), he mentioned to me that he had 

 learned from specimens from Dr Regel, St Petersburg, that " the North 

 American Allosorus gracilis was the old Pteris Stelleri of Amman, so 

 that it spreads from North America through Siberia to India, whence Dr 

 Hooker has it." Allosorus minutus, Turcz. PI. Exs. Cheilanthes 

 gracilis, Klf. Cryptogramma gracilis, Torrey. Pteris Stelleri, Gmelin. 

 Pteris minuta, Turcz. Cat. PI. Baik. Dah. Pt. gracilis, Michaux. — 

 Near Lakefield, North Douro, C.W., on rocks, Mrs Traill ; abundant in 

 crevices of limestone rocks, on the rocky banks of the Moira, Belleville, 

 Co. Hastings, J. Macoun ; Lake of Three Mountains, W. S. M. D'Urban ; 

 Canada to the Saskatchewan, Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. ; Dartmouth, Gaspe, 

 John Bell, B.A. This is a northern species, and rare in the United 

 States. 



Cryptogramma. 



C. acrostichoides, R. Br.-—" Remarkable for its sporangia extending 

 far down on the oblique veins, so as to form linear lines of fruit." I 



