8 
Chrysler.—The Nature of the Fertile Spike in 
extremity of which arises a strand which supplies one of the two fertile 
spikes. Here we appear to have an actual realization of the theory of 
Roeper, and the facts are readily explained on the assumption that these 
two fertile spikes represent the two basal (fertile) pinnae of the leaf. 
Botrychium has often been compared with Aneimia ; the resemblance of 
the present form to the tropical fern is so striking that there has been 
introduced for comparison a photograph of a specimen of Aneimia tomentosa 
kindly furnished by the Curator of the Gray Herbarium. The resemblance 
extends to the internal structure, for Aneimia has a trough-shaped leaf-trace 
from the edges of which are given off the strands that supply the fertile 
pinnae. Specimens of B. obliquum showing two fertile spikes have been 
collected also at Sandwich, N.H., Conway, N.H., Topsham, Me., Utica, N.Y., 
Friendsville, Pa. Mrs. Britton, speaking before the Torrey Botanical Club, 
refers to the { frequency of the fronds forking ’ in specimens of B. ternatum 
(vars.) found in the Berkshire Hills, Mass. 1 These facts scarcely tally with 
Bower’s statement ( 4 , p. 42) that in the large-leaved forms abnormalities 
‘ are, if existent at all, so rare that they are seldom or never represented in 
herbaria, or recorded in the books’. In some of the specimens (Fig. 28) 
the two spikes are fused for a short distance from the base, or for half-way 
up the stalk. A series of sections through one of these showed the usual 
double vascular supply with partial fusion of the two bundles in the lower 
part of the stalk. 
Other specimens show three fertile spikes (Fig. 26), one in the normal 
position and two smaller ones forming a pair springing from a point 12-15 mm. 
higher on the petiole. The leaf-trace is as usual U-shaped in transverse 
section ; from its adaxial edges arise two strands which soon meet to 
produce a shallow U and run up into the lowest fertile spike. After 
running onward for about a centimetre the leaf-trace gives off a strand 
on each side from a point near but not at the edge ; the appearance 
is much like the figure ( 18 ) of Osmunda , indicating that the gap is too 
narrow to allow the fundamental tissue to be continuous through it. 
Each of these strands is concentric, and supplies one of the paired spikes. 
Certain specimens of this type show internal phloem in the region where 
the branches arise. Apparently these specimens show reversion in several 
particulars. The appearances receive ready interpretation by the theory 
here advocated ; there are here two separate but upright pinnae and two 
fused basal pinnae. 
Still other specimens show two fertile spikes, one arising in the normal 
position and another 8-10 mm. above it (Fig. 27). In a specimen of this 
sort which was sectioned, the lower spike had a double vascular supply, 
and therefore represents two fused basal pinnae, while the higher (smaller) 
spike was supplied by a single strand which arose from near one edge of 
See Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxiv. 1897, p. 5S5. 
1 
