

Refugium Botanicum.] [June, 1873, 
TAB. 359, 
Natural Order Finices. 
Sub-order Ponypoprace®. 
Genus Petuma, Link. 
P. Sreterr (Baker, Syn. Fil. 458). Rhizomate gracili repente 
emerso paleis paucis minutissimis instructo, stipitibus segre- 
gatis nudis nitidis castaneis gracillimis fragilibus, frondibus 
parvis teneris oblongo-lanceolatis bipinnatis glabris pallide 
viridibus, pinnis paucis distantibus deltoideis infimis haud 
reductis, pinnulis frondium fertilium ligulato-lanceolatis sub- 
acutis maximis interdum lobatis, frondium sterilium obovatis 
obtusis, venis liberis immersis perspicuis, involucro lato sub- 
continuo membranaceo.— Pteris Stelleri, S. G@. G@mel. Nova Com. 
Act. Petrop. xii. 519, tab. 12, fig. 1. Pellea gracilis, Hook, Sp. 
Fil. 2, p. 188, t. 183 B. 
A native of Siberia, the Himalayas, Canada, Newfoundland, 
and the Northern United States. 
Rhizome slender, wide-creeping, clothed, when it emerges from 
the ground, with a very few minute pale brown scales. Stipes 
castaneous, naked, two to four inches long, slender, fragile. 
Fronds membranous, pale green, glabrous, very tender, three to 
four inches long, oblong-lanceolate, bipinnate, the fertile and 
barren ones usually dissimilar, the former the most numerous. 
Pinne few, distant, the upper ones of the fertile frond simple, 
ligulate, the lower compound, deltoid, the lowest pair at least as 
large as the central ones. Pinnules of the lower pinne one- to 
three-jugate, ascending; of the fertile frond ligulate-lanceolate, 
subacute ; of the barren frond shorter, broader, obovate, blunt. 
Veins free, slender, distinct, pinnate. Involucre broad, subcon- 
tinuous, glabrous, membranous. 
Tas. 859.—1, barren pinnule; 2, fertile pmnule: both magnified. 
—J. G. B. 
This is an interesting fern, figured from a specimen in the 
Royal collection at Kew.—W. W. S. 
