THE FERNS OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA . 
137 
A.fontanum , Bernh., A exiguum , Bedd., from fclic Nilgiris, is mentioned as 
being a less divided form, with narrow fronds and ebeneous rhaohis ; and the 
authors go on to say that a similar plant had been gathered in Mexico by 
Mr. Glennie. But in the 2nd Ed. Mr. Baker set up what appears to be Bed- 
dome’s plant as a new species— “ A. Glenniei ’, Baker ; Hab. Mexico, Consul 
Glennie , Bourgeau , 252 — Very like some of the forms of fontamim” When at 
Kew in 1888 I pointed out to Mr. Baker and Col. Beddome that the specimens 
of A Glenniei in the Boyal Herbarium were merely a common N -W. Hima- 
layan fern, which I had been calling A. exiguum , Bedd. Prolongation of the 
rhachis into a naked tail often bearing a young plant, was a character given by 
Beddome in his description of the species, though this was not mentioned in the 
Handbook where he degraded it to the rank of a variety. This is a norma] 
though not an invariable character of the Himalayan plant, as it is said to be 
also of A. micropteron , Baker, Syn. Fil. 488,—“ rhachis much produced beyond 
lamina, rooting at the tip. Hab. San Luis, 7000', Pearce.” A. micropteron , 
however, differs materially in having a flattened and broadly winged rhachis, 
and also in cutting of pinnae. I think that there is here (excluding A, microp- 
teron) only one species, quite distinct, however, from A.fontanum , and that the 
N.-W. Himalaya is its headquarters ; because the plant there grows to a much 
larger size than in either South India or Mexico —judging from the few speci- 
mens sent thence— and is very plentiful in certain parts of the range about 
Mussoorie. Mr. Baker’s type specimen of A. Glenniei has not a prolonged and 
rooting rhachis ; but in the British Museum there is one plant, among A. 
fontanum, ticketed — “ U. S. Pacific Coast Flora, (new to U. S ) var. ‘ Con- 
servatory,’ Huackue (Huachuea ?) Mts., Arizona, August 1882, Lemmon Her- 
barium, Oakland, California,” which is exactly the M ussoorie fern, and it is pro- 
liferous on the pinnae throughout, and at the apex of the frond. And there are, 
in the same herbarium, two specimens from America, named A. Glenniei , Baker 
which are exactly the Mussoorie plant. In the Calcutta Herbarium there are 
three specimens, named A. Glenniei , from America, one or two of which is the 
Mussoorie fern : the third is not. 
The Mexican plant had been named Athyrium gracile by Fournier, in his 
Fil. Mex. 102, published in 1872, and Mr. Baker gives this as a synonym of 
his A. Glenniei. He was obliged to reject gracile as the specific name, because 
there was already Asplenium gracile of Fee, and also another plant so named by 
Pappe and Rawson. Fournier’s plant is in the “ Herbier de la Commission 
Scientifique du Mexico, recueilli par M. Bourgeau 1865-00.” Lemmon’s plant 
collected in Arizona 1882, was identified by Baker as A. Glenniei , and was 
cited as A . Glenniei , Baker, by Baton in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical 
