68 
BEAUTIFUL FERNS. 
Botryclmim anthenioides , Presl, “ in Abh. Bohm. Gesellsch. Wissensch., 
V. (1848), p. 323.” 
Osnnmda Virginiana, Linn^us, Sp. PI., p. 1519. 
Osmunda fro 7 ide pinnatijida caulma, fructijicationibus spicatis, Grono- 
vius, FI. Virg., p. 196. 
The following varieties are described in Milde’s “ Botrychiorum 
Monographia : ” — 
Var. gracile. — “ Smaller and more delicate ; ultimate divisions nar- 
row, sub-lineal, sharply toothed; panicle with few capsules.” — Botrychium 
gracile, PuRSH, FI. Am. Sept., ii., p. 656. 
Var. Mexicanum, Hooker, “ Bot. Misc., iii., p. 223.” — “Delicate, 
primary segments more acuminate ; secondary ones pinnately parted, 
oblong, acute, ultimate divisions deeply incised-toothed ; the teeth sel- 
dom more than six, acute ; panicle usually much shorter than the sterile 
segment.” — Botrychium brachystachys, Kunze, in Linnaea, xviii., p. 305. 
Var. cicutarium. — Tall, sterile segment three or four times pin- 
uately parted ; fruiting-stalk rising far below the base of the sterile seg- 
ment, and the latter, therefore, long-stalked ; panicle mostly shorter than 
the sterile segment. — Botrychium cicutarium, Swartz, Syn. Fil., p. 172. 
— WiLLDENow, Sp. PL, V., p. 65. — Osmunda cicutaria, Lamarck, “ Enc. 
Bot., iv., p. 650.” — Osmunda asphodeli radice, Plumier, Fil. Am , p. 136, 
t. 159. 
Hab. — In rich woods ; from New Brunswick and Canada to 
Washington Territory and Oregon, and southward to Colorado, Texas, 
Alabama, and Florida ; also in Mexico, Hayti, New Granada, Venezuela. 
Ecuador, and Brazil, Northern Europe, Siberia, and Japan. 
Description. — The Virginian grape-fern, or rattlesnake- 
fern as it is as commonly called, is usually our largest species 
