Notes . 
76S 
ON AN ANOMALOUS LEAF OF ANEMIA HXRSUTA, SW. 
— Abnormal leaves in the genus Anemia have been described by 
Prantl k One of the cases he mentions is that of a plant of A. Phylli- 
tidis , Sw., in which the lowest primary segments of the leaf were quite 
or partly sterile, but were branched in the manner characteristic of the 
fertile pinnae. 
A somewhat similar anomaly occurring in a leaf of A. hirsuta , Sw., 
seems worth mentioning on account of the conditions under which it 
was produced. In this case the lowest pair of pinnae, which would be 
the fertile ones in a fertile leaf, are quite sterile, but resemble fertile 
pinnae in that they are stalked and stand up vertically on the ventral 
side of the rachis. The laminae of these two pinnae are just as in 
the sterile ones, but are seated on stalks half an inch long, while sterile 
pinnae are typically sessile in this species, and the fertile pinnae of 
a normal fertile leaf produced by the same plant have stalks three 
inches in length. The plant in question was grown from one of 
several rhizomes kindly sent to me last summer by Mr. W. Faw- 
cett, F.L.S., Director of Public Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica. 
The expanded leaves had been cut off leaving an inch or so of petiole, 
and the rhizomes were packed so as to keep damp for some time. By 
the time they arrived in England, however, the rhizomes and roots 
were quite dry externally. As the plants were intended for microscopic 
examination, only two of them were set apart for the purpose of trying 
to induce them to grow. This was successfully done in the Royal 
Botanic Gardens, Kew. One of the plants has produced several 
rather small sterile leaves, while the other plant put up first the 
abnormal leaf described above, and then a normal fertile leaf. 
Considering the facts of the case, it seems probable that the rudiment 
of a fertile leaf had been formed under normal conditions, but that the 
unfavourable conditions of transit, &c. caused it to complete its 
development in the manner characteristic of a purely vegetative leaf, 
as far as was still open to it. Expressed generally this may perhaps 
be said to be due to a check to the vitality of the plant, but the 
determining cause may well have been the lack of sufficient food- 
material of the kind required for the development of sori. It is 
probable that in a case like this, where the fertile pinnae are destitute 
1 Prantl, Unters. z. Morph, d. Gefasskryptogamen ; II. Schizaeaceen. 1881, 
p. 20. 
