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Title: The Fern Bulletin, April 1912 - A Quarterly Devoted to Ferns
Author: Various
Language: English
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_Vol. XX_ _No. 2_
_The
Fern Bulletin_
_A Quarterly Devoted to Ferns_
_April_
_Joliet, Ill.
Willard N. Clute & Company_
1912
[Illustration: The Fern Bulletin: A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO FERNS]
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[Illustration: GYMNOGRAMMA LANCEOLATA]
CONTENTS
The Fern Flora of Illinois 32
Ophioglossaceae 35
Osmundaceae 35
Polypodiaceae 36
Salviniaceae 40
Equisetaceae 40
Lycopodiaceae 41
Salaginellaceae 41
Isoetaceae 42
A Problematical Fern (Gymnogramma lanceolata) 42
The Tall Spleenworts 45
Further Notes on Variation in Botrychium Ramosum 47
Rare Forms of Fernworts—XXII 48
Still Another Christmas Fern 48
Polystichum acrostichoides f. Gravesii 49
Notes on Various Ferns 51
Schizaea Pusilla at Home 53
Pteridographia 55
Index to Recent Literature 60
Editorial 61
Book Notes 62
THE FERN BULLETIN
Vol. XX APRIL, 1912 No. 2
THE FERN FLORA OF ILLINOIS.
By E. J. Hill.
The state of Illinois has an area of about 55,000 square miles. It lies
between the parallels 37° and 42° 30′, thus giving a length of 5½° or
about 380 miles. This north and south extension produces a milder
climate in the southern part, but no fern of essentially southern
distribution comes in except _Polypodium polypodioides_, though the two
quill-worts of the state are perhaps better placed under this head also.
It is the lowest of the north-central states in average altitude, the
mean above sea level being about 600 feet, varying from 300 feet at the
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to 1250 feet at the
Wisconsin line in the extreme northwest part. As there is nothing in
these extremes of elevation to effect material changes of temperature
due to altitude, its floristic features are not much modified in respect
of this. Anything of this character must be ascribed to local
conditions, not general causes. Another factor that affects its
floristic features is the dominance of prairie within its boundary, the
forests and woodlands, sometimes very narrow strips, chiefly bordering
its streams and lakes. Since lands covered with grass are not adapted to
the growth of ferns, and consequently are limited in species, their
number and variety must be much restricted for this reason. This must
have been the case in the primitive condition of the prairies before
they were so generally taken up for cultivation. The loss in the
original fern-flora is slight in this regard when compared with that of
flowering plants. As nearly all of the state is in the region of the
glacial drift, the soil is influenced by this condition also. The
ravines cut in the drift and in the underlying rock where it is reached,
with their varying degrees of moisture and shade, show the greatest
variety in fern-life, though a greater abundance of certain kinds may be
found in woods and swamps. The prevailing rocks are limestone, but
sandstones occur in some localities, especially along the Illinois and
Rock rivers. These in some parts of the state, particularly in the coal
measures, the area of which is large, may be interstratified with shales
and slate. These rocks and the soils resulting from their disintegration
and decomposition, taken in connection with those of the glacial drift,
provide a fair range of edaphic conditions for the growth of ferns. It
is evident that such as prefer a calcareous soil will be best
represented, if any preference of this kind inheres in their nature.
It will be seen from the list that not quite one half (56) of the
Pteridophytes accorded specific rank in “Gray’s New Manual of Botany”
(115) are reported from this state. The genera are represented in larger
proportion, 23 of the 31 given, or if _Athyrium_ be separated, 24 of 32,
or three-fourths of them. All the species of several of the smaller
genera are found, up to three in the case of _Osmunda_, but all of none
with species exceeding this number. The genus most fully represented is
_Equisetum_, eight of the ten, or nine of eleven when _E. robustum_ is
given specific rank. To these must be added _E. Ferrissii_, not in the
Manual.
Reliable data for the distribution of the ferns of the state are not
very full. It is hoped that they may be made more complete by the
co-operation of those into whose hands the list may fall. Many additions
to the number of species can hardly be expected. Doubtless the state has
been quite well explored in this respect. I find only two to add to
those published by Patterson in 1876, _Isoetes Butleri_, described in
1878 from specimens found in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) but since found
in this state, and _Equisetum Ferrissii_, a recent addition. The list is
mainly a compilation made at the request of the editor of the _Fern
Bulletin_. No special fitness for the task is claimed, since my personal
knowledge of the region covered is almost wholly confined to five of the
northeastern counties, Kankakee, Will, Cook, Dupage and Lake. Only
casual trips of slight duration have been made to other places. The
publication most relied on for the state at large is the “Catalogue of
the Phaenogamous and vascular cryptogamous plants of Illinois,” H. N.
Patterson, Oquauka, Ill., 1876. His catalogue of plants growing in the
immediate vicinity of Oquauka has also been used. Friedrich Brendel’s
“Flora Peoriana, Budapest, 1882,” (the German edition, but since given
in English, I believe) has furnished some definite information for a
district around the city of Peoria. The floras of H. H. Babcock and of
Higley and Raddin for Chicago and vicinity have likewise been consulted,
but as they respect territory mainly familiar to the writer, could be
cited but little.
As explanatory of the plan followed I may state that I have first
mentioned the localities or stations with which I am personally
acquainted, and from which examples are in my herbarium unless very
common throughout. Citations from Patterson’s catalogue for the state at
large are entered in quotation marks followed by (P.). Where Peoria is
given the authority is Brendel, where Oquauka, Patterson. A few have
been furnished by V. H. Chase, who collected in Stark county and
vicinity, and by Prof. Atwell of the Northwestern University, from data
in the herbarium of the University.
OPHIOGLOSSACEAE.
Ophioglossum vulgatum (L.) “Wabash county, a single plant.” _Schneck._
(P.) Probably elsewhere, but easily overlooked.
Botrychium obliquum (Muhl.) In open woods, Cook Co., rare. “S. Illinois.
_Vasey_, _Schneck_.” (P.) Peoria Co., _V. H. Chase_. Starved Rock.
_J. H. Ferriss._
Botrychium obliquum dissectum. (Spreng.) Peoria Co., _V. H. Chase_.
Botrychium virginianum. (L.) Common in rich woods in the northeastern
part of the state, and probably throughout. It often occurs in
colonies, sometimes of a dozen or more plants. In woods along Lake
Michigan it readies a height of two feet.
OSMUNDACEAE.
Osmunda cinnamomea. (L.) Abundant in swampy areas in the northeastern
counties, especially in peaty ground near Lake Michigan within the
limits of the ancient glacial Lake Chicago. Swampy areas in sand
barrens west of Kankakee, “Menard county. _Hall._” (P.) Starved
Rock. _Clute._
Osmunda Claytoniana (L.) Frequent in swamps and wet woods from Kankakee
county north in the eastern part of the state. Peoria, _Brendel_.
Henderson Co., _Patterson_. “Moist ravines, common.” says
Patterson for the state at large.
Osmunda regalis (L.) Has a range similar to the last and is quite
frequent northeast in swamps and wet woods. Peoria, _Brendel_.
Mason county, _Bebb_. Infrequent says Patterson for the state as a
whole.
POLYPODIACEAE.
Adiantum pedatum (L.) Common throughout the state in rich woods.
Polypodium vulgare (L.) On cliffs of sandstone, La Salle and Ogle
counties. “Common in Jackson and Union, _French_, _Forbes_.” (P.)
Polypodium polypodioides (L.) Common throughout the state in rich woods.
Pteris aquilina (L.) Copses and borders of dry woods. Frequent, or
abundant in localities northeast. Starved Rock, La Salle county,
Peoria, _Brendel_, Henderson, _Patterson_, Shelby, _Mary Evertz_.
“Common.” for the state. (P.) Rare in Will county in the prairie
region. _Clute._
Cheilanthes lanosa (Michx.) “Rocks, St. Clair county, _Brendel_, and
southward.” (P.)
Cheilanthes Feei (Moore.) Limestone cliffs by Mississippi river, Carroll
county, “near Galena, _Brendel_; Pike county, _Mead_; Jackson,
_French_.” (P.)
Pellaea atropurpurea (L.) Frequent on cliffs of limestone along the
Desplaines river and its tributaries from Sag Bridge, Cook county,
to Joliet, Will county, and in Kankakee and Carroll counties.
Scarce on cliffs of sandstone, Oregon, Ogle county. Henderson
county, _Patterson_; Kane county, _W. J. Minium_; Wedron, La Salle
county, _Ferriss_. Reported for the state as general but
“infrequent” in Patterson’s catalogue.
Pellaea gracilis (Michx.) Rare in thin soil in shelves of shaded and
usually moist calcareous rocks. Sag Bridge and Lemont, Cook
county, and Bounbonnais, Kankakee county. On moist sandstone
rocks, Liberty Hill, Oregon, Ogle county; limestone, Aurora, Kane
county; sandstone, Sheridan, La Salle county, _Ferriss_.
Asplenium angustifolium (Michx.) Henderson. _Patterson_, Peoria,
_Brendel_ “Rich woods, scarce for the state.” (P.) Joliet rare,
Starved Rock more common. _Ferriss._
Asplenium pinnatifidum (Nutt.) “On rocks, Jackson and Union counties,
_French_; Pope, _Schneck_.” (P.)
Asplenium platyneuron (L.) “Open rocky woods, scarce.” (P.)
Asplenium ebenoides (R. R. Scott.) Reported from Jackson county, Ill.,
but without further reference in _Fern Bulletin_, vol. V., p. 13.
Asplenium Trichomanes (L.) “On shaded rocks, Jackson and Union counties,
_French_; Wabash, _Schneck_.” (P.) Southern Illinois. _Vasey._
Starved Rock, two plants. _Ferriss._
Athyrium filix-foemina (L.) Frequent in rich, moist woods in Cook and
adjoining counties, as well as throughout the state as given by
_Patterson_, Peoria, _Brendel_; Jackson, _Saml. Bartley_;
Henderson, _Patterson_; Ravinia, Willow Springs, Cook county,
_Prince_.
Athyrium thelypteroides (Michx.) “Near Glencoe, Cook county.” _Higley_
_Raddin_; “Peoria and Fulton counties, _Brendel_ and _Wolff_;
Wabash, _Schneck_.” (P.) Joliet, rare; Starved Rock abundant,
_Ferriss_.
Camptosorus rhyzophyllus (L.) On outcrops of limestone in the Desplaines
valley in Cook and Will counties from Sag Bridge to Joliet.
Abundant at Dellwood Park and in one locality at Sag Bridge,
infrequent elsewhere. “Shaded rocks throughout but scarce.” (P.)
Jo Daviess county, _Pepoon_.
Phegopteris hexagonoptera (Michx.) “Rich open woods and shaded ravines,
chiefly in the northern portion of Cook county; infrequent.”
_Higley_ and _Raddin_ (1891.) Peoria, _Brendel_; Henderson,
_Patterson_; Jackson, _Bartley_; Joliet and Starved Rock,
_Ferriss_. Patterson reports “frequent” throughout.
Phegopteris polypodioides (Fée.) Starved Rock, La Salle county, “Menard
county, _Hall_.” (P.)
Nephrodium noveboracense (L.) “Elgin, Kane county, _Vasey_; Wabash,
_Schneck_, Swamps, scarce.” (P.)
Nephrodium Thelypteris (L.) Frequent or often abundant in swampy, wooded
ground or open marshes, in Cook, Lake, Dupage, Will and Kankakee
counties, Peoria, _Brandel_; Starved Rock, _Clute_. Frequent
throughout the state according to Patterson.
Nephrodium cristatum (Michx.) Starved Rock, rare, _Ferriss_.
Nephrodium Goldieanum (Hook.) “Rich Woods, Peoria and Fulton counties,
_Brendel_, _Wolff_; Makanda, Jackson county, _Forbes_,” (P.) Will
county, La Salle county, _Ferriss_.
Nephrodium marginale (L.) Rocky bluffs, Starved Rock, La Salle county,
Southern Illinois, _Vasey_. “Scarce” for the state. (P.)
Nephrodium spinulosum intermedium (Muhl.) Frequent in rich woods in the
northeastern counties, Starved Rock, _Clute_. Patterson says
“infrequent” for the state.
Polystichum acrostichoides (Michx.) Will county, “north part of Cook
county,” _Higley_ and _Raddin_; Henderson, _Patterson_; Peoria,
_Brendel_; Jackson, _Bartley_. For the state, “infrequent.” (P.)
The variety _incisum_ is occasionally reported.
Cystopteris bulbifera (L.) Frequent on shelves and in crevices of
limestone cliffs and shady ravines in the Desplaines valley in
Cook and Will counties, and in Kankakee county, Henderson,
_Patterson_, Peoria, _Brendel_; Starved Rock, abundant, _Clute_.
Patterson reports for the state, “shaded rocks, frequent.”
Cystopteris fragilis (L.) Rather frequent in rich woods and occasionally
on rocks in Cook, Lake, Dupage, Will and Kankakee counties;
Henderson, _Patterson_; Peoria, _Brendel_; Jackson, _Bartley_.
“Common” for the state. (P.) Very variable in its forms.
Woodsia obtusa (Spreng.) Scarce on limestone rocks at Lemont, Cook
county, abundant on sandstone at Oregon, Ogle county, “Marion
county, _Bebb_; Wabash, _Schneck_; and southward.” (P.) Joliet,
Will county, _Ferriss_.
Woodsia ilvensis (L.) “On sandstone cliffs near Oregon, Ogle county,
_Bebb_.” (P.)
Onoclea sensibilis (L.) Common in wet woods and swamps in the
northeastern counties. Peoria, _Brendel_; Jackson, _Bartley_. For
the state “common.” (P.)
Onoclea struthiopteris (L.) Wet shades, Starved Rock, La Salle county,
Henderson, _Patterson_; Peoria, _Brendel_; Fulton, _Wolff_. For
the state “infrequent.” (P.)
Dicksonia punctilobula (Michx.) “Wabash county, _Schneck_.” (P.)
SALVINIACEAE.
Azolla caroliniana (Willd.) “Ponds from Henderson and Peoria counties
southward. Infrequent.” (P.) “Since 1857 not found again in the
region of our local flora.” _Brendel_ in Flora Peoriana. “In a
pond near South Chicago, 1886. So far as known this is the only
locality where this species has been found within our limits.”
_Higley_ and _Raddin_.
EQUISETACEAE.
Equisetum arvense (L.) Common from Kankakee county north. Reported by
Patterson as common throughout the state. Though usually growing
in moist sand or gravel, it is often found in the Chicago region
in masses along dry railway embankments.
Equisetum palustre (L.) “Wet places. Peoria county, _Wolff_, _Brendel_.”
(P.)
Equisetum fluviatile (L.) In shallow water or very wet ground. Quite
frequent about Chicago. “Cass county, _Mead_; Peoria, _Brendel_;
McHenry. _Vasey_. Scarce.” (P.) Joliet, common, _Ferriss_.
Equisetum laevigatum (A. Br.) Cook and Kankakee counties. “In dry or
moist clay or sand from Henderson and Peoria counties southward.”
(P.) In the Chicago region generally in moist sands; Hancock
county, _Mead_.
Equisetum hyemale (L.) Moist places. Cook, Will and Lake counties.
Frequent, as well as throughout the state according to Patterson.
Equisetum Ferrissii (Clute.) Moist banks, Will county.
Equisetum robustum (A. Br.) On moist or wet banks of streams. Thornton
and La Grange, Cook county. “River banks from Peoria county
southward.” (P.)
Equisetum variegatum (Schleich.) In clayey ravines at Lake Forest and in
wet sands at Waukegan, Lake county, Peoria, _Brendel_. Var.
_Jesupi_, A. A. Eaton, and var. _Nelsoni_, A. A. Eaton, are
credited to Illinois in Gray’s New Manual of Botany. The latter
variety occurs in Lake county, Ind., bordering Illinois, and is
likely to be found in the neighboring parts of this state, but
those from Lake county, Ill., agree better with the typical form.
Equisetum scirpoides (Michx.) Moist shaded ravines, Lake Bluff, Lake
county. Reported by _Cowles_ at Lake Forest. “Ringwood, McHenry
county, _Vasey_.” (P.)
LYCOPODIACEAE.
Lycopodium inundatum (L.) “Moist sands, south Evanston, Cook county.”
_Higley_ and _Raddin_.
Lycopodium lucidulum (Michx.) “Moist woods, Evanston, Cook county,
_Vasey_; Ogle, _Bebb_.” (P.)
Lycopodium selago (L.) “Collected by J. W. Powell near Ottawa, _Vasey_.”
(P.)
SALAGINELLACEAE.
Selaginella rupestris (L.) Dry sands and sandstone rocks, La Salle and
Ogle counties. “Dry rocks and barrens, Henderson county; Ogle.
_Bebb_, Rare, or overlooked.” (P.)
Selaginella apus (L.) Low sandy, peaty, or springy ground, Kankakee,
Cook, Lake and Will counties. Peoria, _Brandel_; Lawns in Joliet,
_Miss L. M. Hird_. “Low sandy places,” says Patterson, as if
throughout the state.
ISOETACEAE.
Isoetes melanopoda (J. Gay.) “Muddy borders of a pond near Hyde Park
water-works, 1885. Wet prairies near Grand Crossing, 1886-87.”
_Higley_ and _Raddin_. These stations in Cook county are doubtless
destroyed now. Stark county, _V. H. Chase_. “Menard, _Hall_;
Fulton, _Wolff_; McHenry, _Vasey_.” (P.)
Isoetes Butleri (Engelm.) “Moist hillsides and shallow depressions,
Illinois and Kansas to Tennessee and Oklahoma.” Gray’s New Manual
of Botany.
A PROBLEMATICAL FERN.
(_Gymnogramma lanceolata._)
By Willard N. Clute.
In the identification of fern species one occasionally comes upon two
forms so nearly alike that it requires very careful study to decide
whether they are two different species or merely two forms of a single
variable species, but it is rare that one finds a fern that can as well
be placed in one genus as another, and still more rare when the species
possesses characters so like those of ferns in other groups that it may
be moved from one tribe to another without violating any of the
botanical properties. The fern chosen for illustration here is one of
this latter character. It has been passed back and forth between various
genera in different tribes, seldom resting long in one place, until it
is a very problematical species indeed.
In outline and manner of growth it possesses no especial peculiarities.
The lanceolate leaves might fit any of a dozen or more species that
might be mistaken for it if the fruit dots or sori were absent.
_Vittaria_, _Taemitis_, _Antrophyum_, _Polypodium_, _Asplenium_,
_Acrostichum_ and many other genera have species with leaf outlines that
almost exactly match it, but a glance at the fruiting fronds, at once
excludes many of these genera as possible harbors for the species and at
the same time increases the difficulties of finally placing it. The sori
are apparently linear and _Scolopendrium_ or _Asplenium_ comes to mind,
but there is no indusium and so the relationship is thrown into that
group of ferns clustering about such forms as _Gymnogramma_.
In fact, our fern was for a long time known as _Gymnogramma lanceolata_
and owing to this fact I have selected this to stand as the name of the
plant. A glance at the illustration, however, will disclose a frond not
at all like the conventional _Gymnogramma_ frond, but it is as much like
a _Gymnogramma_ as it is like the family to which the plant is now
assigned. Curious as it may seem this plant with elongated sori oblique
to the midrib is now regarded as a _Polypodium_! Before its settling
down in this genus, it had been placed in _Antrophyum_, _Grammitis_,
_Loxogramme_ and _Selliguea_ as well as _Gymnogramma_. This is by no
means due to the variable nature of the fern. Through all these
vicissitudes it has remained unchanged. The fluctuations from one genus
to another even from one tribe to a different one, have been due to the
varying opinions of mere man and his efforts to fit the fern to a set of
descriptions of his own making. Circumstances such as these are quite
sufficient to justify the refusal to accept off-hand the results of
every “revision” which ambitious systematists see fit to inflict upon
us.
While reposing in the genus _Gymnogramma_, the fern was well-known to be
somewhat unorthodox. In every large assemblage of species there are, in
addition to those which are typical, certain others that diverge
somewhat, but not enough to form a separate genus. Thus our plant was
placed in the section _Selliguea_. Sometimes, indeed, _Selliguea_ was
isolated as a separate genus, but usually accompanied by the statement
that if it were not for the shape of the sorus it would make a good
addition to the section _Phymatodes_ of _Polypodium_. Here, at least, is
where it has landed, the elongated sori being winked at, possibly, or
perhaps the species makers are willing to assume each so-called sorus to
be a series of _Polypodium_ sori. In this age, however, there are those
who deny to the species in the group _Phymatodes_ the right to be
included in _Polypodium_ and in certain books our species appears as
_Phymatodes loxogramma_. Just how this _loxogramme_ came to supplant
_lanceolata_ is another story, not to be detailed here. Suffice to say
that the new name was picked up during one of the fern’s numerous
transfers.
As to _Phymatodes_, it is likely that the species in this group are
distinct enough to form a genus by themselves but it would be a rash
student to encourage such a departure, for once started we should soon
see all the large genera cut up into lesser groups and then what
delightful times the name-tinker would have!
By what ever name called, the species manages to thrive over a wide
stretch of country in the Eastern Hemisphere, being found from Japan and
China to the Himalayas, Ceylon and the Guinea Coast and represented in
many of the islands of the Pacific including Fiji and Samoa. The
specimen from which the illustration was made was collected by K. Miyake
near Kyoto, Japan where it is reported “not so common.”
THE TALL SPLEENWORTS.
By Adella Prescott.
Some years ago when for me there were but two species of ferns, those
that were finely cut and those that were not—and maidenhair—I supposed
of course that the narrow leaved spleenwort (_Asplenium angustifolium_)
was simply a hardy sword fern and that both were varieties of the
Christmas fern! But when I began to read the fascinating pages of Clute
and Parsons and Waters I found, even in the early summer, that there
were differences and by the time the sori appeared I was wise enough to
recognize the characteristic mark of the spleenworts. Even then I
thought it but a common fern for in the woods with which I was most
familiar it grew plentifully and it was not till sometime later that I
learned that it is at least rare enough to insure for itself a welcome
whenever found.
It is an extremely local plant and may be looked for perhaps for years
before being found though it has a wide distribution and is apt to be
plentiful where it grows at all. It prefers rather moist soil and seems
to like Goldie’s fern for a neighbor as I have often found them in close
proximity.
The fronds grow in tufts from a creeping rootstock and are said to reach
a height of four feet but all that I have seen were shorter by at least
a foot. The blades are simply pinnate with many long, narrow pinnules
tapering to slender tips. The fertile fronds are taller with the
pinnules much narrower and the linear sori borne in two rows along the
midrib of each pinnule. The fronds are delicate in texture and are
easily destroyed by summer storms, yet the plant is able to adapt itself
in some degree to its environment for a plant that I have in a border
where it is exposed to cold winds has become much more rugged both in
appearance and in fact. It is a charming addition to the fern garden
making a pleasing foil to _Nephrodium spinulosum_, _Dicksonia_ and other
finely cut varieties.
I think it is a pity that the silvery spleenwort has no common name but
one that is suggestive of a varied assortment of “blues,” and that does
not certainly belong to it at that. But when we consider the discomforts
suggested by the word “spleeny” we may think after all that this plain
unassuming plant would prefer to be classed among the spleenworts with
their fabled powers of healing rather than among the gentle folk of the
_Athyriums_ where perhaps it rightly belongs.
The silvery spleenwort, _Asplenium thelypteroides_, or _Athyrium
thelypteroides_ as some prefer to call it, has few characteristics that
would make it noticeable among other species. It is of an ordinary size,
from two to three feet in height, and the fronds are produced singly
from a stout creeping rootstock but they grow so close together as to
suggest a circular crown. They are once pinnate with deeply lobed
pinnules and have rather a soft velvety texture though quite thin and
delicate. The blade is oblong, tapering both ways from the middle and
there is little difference between the fertile and sterile fronds.
The sori are borne in regular double rows on the pinnules and while in
general they are like those of the spleenwort yet they are frequently
curved after the fashion of the lady fern, making a puzzling question on
which the botanical doctors fail to agree.
This species is fairly common over a wide area and while not possessing
any striking beauty is interesting and attractive to the true lover of
ferns.
_New Hartford, N. Y._
FURTHER NOTES ON VARIATION IN BOTRYCHIUM RAMOSUM.
By Raynal Dodge.
On June 2nd of the present year I again visited the Botrychium stations
at Horse Hill, Kensington, N. H., and at Newfound Hill in Hampton Falls.
A description of these was given in _The Fern Bulletin_ April 1910. I
found that a great change had taken place since my last visit in 1907.
The young trees had grown wonderfully and shaded the station, the farm
house had been abandoned, the hens had disappeared, and _Botrychium
ramosum_ had again taken its place at the foot of the hill. But instead
of the many thousands which formerly grew there, I only succeeded in
finding about forty plants, some of them however, quite robust and well
grown. On the same day, in company with a friend, I made a thorough
search for _Botrychium simplex_ at Newfound Hill but failed to find a
single plant.
It appears that all the forms in the genus _Botrychium_ increase in
numbers very slowly and that the individual plants require many years to
attain their full development, but if the station for _Botrychium
ramosum_ on Horse Hill escapes damage by fire or marauding hens I think
that within twenty years someone perhaps now younger than I, may find a
large colony of _Botrychium simplex_ at the old station on Newfound
Hill. Several of my young friends have undertaken if possible to make a
search.
Perhaps some of the readers of _The Fern Bulletin_ know of localities
where _Botrychium ramosum_ and _B. simplex_ are to be found growing near
each other. If any such are known it seems that further investigations
relating to this subject might be made. Or perhaps it would be
enlightening if spores of _B. ramosum_ in sufficient quantity were to be
sown on some dry hillside that was easily accessible to the
experimenter. Immediate results however should not be expected as these
_Botrychiums_ move very slowly, according to some experimenters
requiring several years before germination of the spores. Moreover in
the present case the continued growth of the young plants would be very
much dependent on the amount of moisture they might receive as is
evidenced by the total destruction of the plants at Newfound Hill by a
very severe drouth.
Since speaking on this subject before the members of the American Fern
Society I have been informed of two other instances besides those at
that time mentioned where plants of _B. simplex_ once found had
disappeared which seems further evidence that the form _simplex_ in
_Botrychium_ described by Hitchcock as growing in dry hills is not
self-perpetuating.
_Newburyport, Mass._
[To the instances of the disappearance of _B. simplex_, may now be added
the disappearance of the colony found at Glen Park, Indiana in 1910. In
that year there was perhaps a hundred plants found. Every year since,
members of the Joliet Botanical Club and others have searched for them
but not a single specimen has been discovered. Some _Botrychiums_ have
the habit of resting for a year or more, but it hardly seems likely that
they would rest for three summers in succession.—_Ed._]
RARE FORMS OF FERNWORTS—XXII.
Still Another Christmas Fern.
In 1893, the late James A. Graves found a curious form of Christmas fern
(_Polystichum acrostichoides_) in the vicinity of Susquehanna, Pa., and
removed it to his garden where it continued to put forth its abnormal
fronds for many years and may still be alive for anything the writer
knows to the contrary. During the period in which Mr. Graves gave his
principal attention to the study of ferns he was often advised to
describe his abnormal specimen, but he was always so much engrossed in
the study and cultivation of the living ferns that he never found time
to write a formal scientific description of the plant, though he had
settled on a name for it. The form undoubtedly deserves a distinctive
name and since the discoverer is no longer with us, it seems very
fitting that the form be named for him. I therefore offer the following
description of
Polystichum acrostichoides f. Gravesii.
Plant similar to the type but with the pinnae ending in truncate tips
from which the midveins project as spinelike bristles. Type in the
herbarium of Willard N. Clute. Cotype in the herbarium of Alfred
Twining, Scranton, Pa.
Although the description is drawn from a single plant it is likely that
a search in the regions where the Christmas fern is abundant would
reveal other specimens with the same peculiarity. Indeed, H. G. Rugg in
a paper before the Vermont Botanical Club, last winter, described a
plant that, to judge from his remarks must be essentially the same
thing. He says: “For several years I have had a peculiar form of this
fern growing in my garden. It is interesting because of the truncate
form of the pinnae and the multifid form of the tip of the frond. The
sterile fronds are usually like those of the type plant. This fern I
transplanted into my garden several years ago and ever since then it has
continued to bear these peculiar fronds. The late Mr. B. D. Gilbert was
interested in the plant and asked permission to describe it in the _Fern
Bulletin_ but illness and finally death prevented.” Apparently the only
difference between the Vermont and Pennsylvania plants is the cristate
apex, but as forking tips are to be expected in any species this feature
is not extraordinary.
Mr. Graves usually spoke of his specimen as the variety _truncatum_.
This is the name it bears in some herbaria and is the one it undoubtedly
would have borne in literature had he lived to describe it. Those who
were fortunate enough to have known Mr. Graves personally, however, will
be pleased to see his name associated with one of the forms of that
division of the plant world which he studied so long and so assiduously.
It need hardly be said for the readers of this magazine that Mr. Graves
was one of the founders of the Linnaean Fern Chapter the name by which
the American Fern Society was originally known, was elected the first
treasurer and held that office through half the lifetime of the society,
was one time president of the same society and for a long time one of
the most resourceful of its Advisory Council members.
[Illustration: Outline of frond]
The drawing herewith was made from the middle pinnae of a frond kindly
supplied by Mr. Alfred Twining, of Scranton, Pa. It is a fair average of
the form and though without much beauty of outline is still of interest
for the form in which nature has cast it.
NOTES ON VARIOUS FERNS.
By S. Fred Prince.
I was very much interested in Mr. Hill’s article on the cliff brakes in
the January Bulletin. I lived at Madison, Wisconsin, from 1874 to 1878,
and have gathered _Pellaea atropurpurea_ many times from the sandstone
cliffs, not only on Lake Mendota, but also Lake Monona and outcrops in
other parts of the “Four-lake County.”
I found it growing on both the Potsdam and the Madison sandstones. On
the former it was only in small clumps, or isolated plants, much more
sparse in growth than when on the latter, though I never found it
anywhere in such dense, tangled masses as it forms in the clefts of the
limestone rocks of the southwest Ozarks.
I have also found _Pellaea atropurpurea_ growing thinly, on a dark red
sandstone, at Paris Springs, Missouri, not far from Springfield.
I would like to add to the localities of _Polypodium vulgare_ in
Michigan. I found it, in the summer of 1910, growing in dense mats on
sand dunes, south of Macatawa, Michigan. The plants were in a woodland
composed principally of hemlock, with oak and a general mixture of elm,
maple, hickory, etc. When you lifted a mat of the fern, the bare sand
was left exposed. I thought the conditions rather peculiar.
I found many ferns growing on these wooded sand hills where, at the
most, there was but half an inch of soil on top of the white sand. The
list includes:
_Adiantum pedatum_; _Pteris aquilina_; _Asplenium filix-foemina_, in
marshy places between the dunes; _Polystichum acrostichoides_, very
sparingly; _Nephrodium thelypteris_, very luxuriant, like the lady fern,
in marshy ground; _Nephrodium marginale_, the most common fern;
_Nephrodium cristatum_; _Nephrodium spinulosum_, wherever there was a
rotting chunk of wood; _Onoclea sensibilis_, and _Onoclea
struthiopteris_, both very rank; _Osmunda regalis_ and _Osmunda
cinnamomea_, these last four in marshy spots; and _Botrychium
virginianum_, on the sides of the dunes.
I have been observing the habits of _Onoclea sensibilis_ for many years,
even raising plants from the spores to five years old; caring for other
plants for years, changing conditions, and varying my experiments, until
I have come to the following conclusions:
When the soil is constantly and evenly moist and unusually rich, and the
plant is constantly shaded, it tends to produce its fertile fronds
flattened out like the sterile, with all stages to those only partly
rolled up. These _unrolled_ fertile fronds do not differ from the
_rolled up_ ones, on the same plant, except in this one particular.
When a heavy screen was changed so that the plants would be in the full
light and sun, the fertile fronds produced the rest of the season were
as tightly rolled as usual, and it took two years of shading before
these plants produced open or unrolled fertile fronds again. Varying the
other conditions—moisture and nutriment, had similar results, but less
marked.
_Champaign, Ill._
SCHIZAEA PUSILLA AT HOME.
Anyone who has seen this odd fern growing in its native haunts will
probably concur in the opinion held by some, that while it is looked
upon as one of the rarest of ferns its small size and its habit of
growing in the midst of other low plants have no doubt caused it to be
passed over by collectors in many regions where it really exists. This
should be an encouragement to collectors to keep the fern in mind in
their field excursions with a view to adding new stations for it to
those now known. The finding of a rare plant in a new locality is always
a source of especial pleasure to the discoverer, aside from being an
item of value to the botanist in general.
_Schizaea pusilla_ was first collected early in this century at Quaker
Bridge, N. J. about thirty-five miles east of Philadelphia. The spot is
a desolate looking place in the wildest of the “pine barrens” where a
branch of the Atsion river flows through marshy lowlands and cedar
swamps. Here amid sedge grasses, mosses, _Lycopodiums_, _Droseras_ and
wild cranberry vines the little treasure has been collected. But though
I have hunted for it more than once my eyes have never been sharp enough
to detect its fronds in this locality.
In October of last year, however, a good friend guided me to another
place in New Jersey where he knew it to be growing and there we found
it. It was a small open spot in the pine barrens, low and damp. In the
white sand grew patches of low grasses, mosses, _Lycopodium
Carolinianum_, _L. inundatum_ and _Pyxidanthera barbata_, besides
several small ericaceous plants and some larger shrubs, such as scrub
oaks, sumacs etc. Close by was a little stream and just beyond that a
bog. Although we knew that _Schizaea_ grew within a few feet of the path
in which we stood, it required the closest kind of a search, with eyes
at the level of our knees before a specimen was detected. The sterile
fronds, curled like corkscrews, grew in little tufts and were more
readily visible than the fertile spikes which were less numerous and
together with the slender stipes were of a brown color hardly
distinguishable from the capsules of the mosses and the maturing stems
of the grasses which grew all about. Lying flat upon the earth with face
within a few inches of the ground was found the most satisfactory plan
of search. Down there all the individual plants looked bigger and a
sidelong glance brought the fertile clusters more prominently into view.
When the sight got accustomed to the miniature jungle, quite a number of
specimens were found but the fern could hardly be said to be plentiful
and all that we gathered were within a radius of a couple of yards.
This seems, indeed to be one of the plants whose whereabouts are
oftenest revealed by what we are wont to term a “happy accident” as for
instance, when we are lying stretched on the ground, resting, or as we
stoop, at lunch, to crack an egg on the toe of our shoe. I know of one
excellent collector who spent a whole day looking for it diligently in
what he thought to be a likely spot but without success when finally,
just before the time for return came, as he was half crouching on the
ground, scarcely thinking now of _Schizaea_, its fronds suddenly flashed
upon his sight, right at his feet.
The sterile fronds of _Schizaea pusilla_ are evergreen so the collector
may perhaps best detect it in winter selecting days for his search when
the ground is pretty clear of snow. The surrounding vegetation being at
that time dead the little corkscrew-like fronds stand out more
prominently. The fertile fronds die before winter sets in but their
brown stalks frequently nevertheless remain standing long after.—_C. F.
Saunders in Linnaean Fern Bulletin, Vol. 4._
PTERIDOGRAPHIA.
A New Fern Pest.—According to the _British Fern Gazette_ a new pest
threatens the specimens of those who collect living plants. This is the
larva of a small weevil which gets into the stipes of the ferns and
burrowing downward into the heart of the rhizomes soon cause the death
of the plant. The weevil is of Australian origin, probably introduced
into Britain with imported plants. Its scientific cognomen is _Syagrius
intrudens_. At first its depredations were confined to ferns under
glass, but more recently it has taken to the ferns in the wild state.
This, however, is not the only enemy of the ferns that British growers
have to contend with. Another small beetle known as the vine weevil
(_Otiorhyncus sulcatus_) is fond of the plants both in the adult and
larval stages, but the newcomer has already developed a reputation for
destructiveness that places it first as a fern pest.
Walking Fern and Lime.—Nearly everybody who cultivates the walking fern
(_Camptosorus rhizophyllus_), thinks it necessary to supply it with a
quantity of old mortar, quick-lime or pieces of limestone under the
impression that the fern cannot live, or at least cannot thrive without
a considerable amount of calcium in the soil. As a matter of fact it has
been reported on sandstone, shale, gneiss and granite and may possibly
grow on others. Its noticed preference for limestone is apparently not
due to its dependence on calcium but rather to the fact that it is more
nearly adjusted to the plant covering of limestone rocks than it is to
others. It will grow in any good garden soil, but in such situations it
must be protected from its enemies, the ordinary weeds of cultivation,
which otherwise would soon run it out. The same thing is true of many
plants besides ferns. The cactus plant that cheerfully endures the
intense insolation and frequent drouth of the sand barrens, succumbs
very soon to the grass and weeds when planted in rich soil.
Stipe or Stipes.—When it comes to the designation of the stalk of a fern
leaf, there is a wide difference in the way British and Americans regard
it. Americans invariably speak of a single stalk as a stipe and they may
be somewhat astonished, upon referring to a dictionary, to find that
while stipe is given as a legitimate word, it comes direct from the
latin _Stipes_ which the Britons, with perhaps a more classical
education, are accustomed to use. In America the plural of stipes is
stipes or, rather, the plural of stipe is stipes; but in England the
plural of both stipe and stipes is _stipites_. In certain uncultivated
parts of our own country the singular form of the word species is given
as specie; but when we smile at some countryman’s description of a
specie of fern, our merriment may be somewhat tempered by the thought
that we still say stipe instead of stipes. If we could only believe that
we use stipe with full knowledge of its derivation, it would not seem so
bad, but it is very evidently a case of plain ignorance.
Apogamy in Pellaea.—Apogamy, or the production of a new sporophyte from
the gametophyte without the union of egg and sperm, used to be
considered a rather rare phenomenon, but as more study is given the
matter, it begins to seem fairly common. Several years ago Woronin
reported apogamy in _Pellaea flavens_, _P. niveus_ and _P. tenera_ and
still more recently W. N. Steil of the University of Wisconsin reported
the same condition in our native _Pellaea atropurpurea_. In Steil’s
specimens the young sporophytes were borne on the prothallus lobes near
the notch. The same investigator is now working on apogamy in other
species. A note in a recent number of this magazine asked for spores of
_Pellaea gracilis_ (_Cryptogramma Stelleri_) for this purpose.
Lycopodium lucidulum porophylum.—In the _Ohio Naturalist_ for April
Prof. J. H. Schaffner devotes several pages to a discussion of the
specific distinctness of forms allied to _Lycopodium lucidulum_ and
comes to the conclusion that _Lycopodium porophylum_ is a good species.
If one is to judge by appearances alone, there can be no question as to
_L. lucidulum_ being different from _L. porophylum_ but if the different
appearances that plants put on under different conditions of warmth,
light and moisture are to be considered then there are a number of fern
species in this country in need of a name. Compare _Woodsia obtusa_
grown on a sunny cliff with the same species grown on a moist one, or
_Equisetum arvense_ in woods and on railway banks. Nobody at present can
say positively whether the form called _porophyllum_ is a species or
not. If it can be grown in moisture and shade while still retaining its
characters, or if its spores will produce plants like the parent when
sown in moist shades, then the case should be considered closed.
Meanwhile, if one were to imagine a dry ground form of _L. lucidulum_
what kind of a plant would he construct? Perhaps prostrate stem shorter;
branches in a denser tuft, shorter; leaves less notched, smaller; whole
plant yellower. Well, that is the description of _L. porophylum_!
Affinities of Taenitis.—The genus _Taenitis_ is one that has always
puzzled botanists. It was once placed in the tribe Grammitideae along
with such genera as _Notholaena_, _Brainera_, _Meniscum_, _Vittaria_,
_Hemionitis_ and _Drymoglossum_, and it has also been considered
sufficiently distinct to stand as the type of a tribe named for it,
while recently it has been considered as a member of the tribe
_Polypodicae_. Now comes E. B. Copeland in the _Philippine Journal of
Science_ and gives the genus another turn and this time places it in the
Davallieae largely upon the relationship shown by the internal structure
of the stem and the character of the scaly covering. It is likely that
the new manipulator of the genus is as near right as anybody. The main
thing is to discover what are the real indications of relationships.
With some students it is venation, with others the shape and position of
the indusium, with others the character of the vestiture and still
others may have other rules by which to judge. When we agree upon the
proper earmarks, anybody ought to be able to put the ferns in their
proper groups.
Sporophyll Zones.—The fact is well known that some of the club-mosses,
notably the shining club moss (_Lycopodium lucidulum_) and the fir
club-moss (_L. Selago_), bear their sporangia in bands or zones that
alternate with regions on the stem in which there are no sporophylls,
but it does not seem to be equally well recognized that the same
phenomena are found pretty generally among the ferns. If one will
examine the crowns of the cinnamon fern, it will be readily seen that
sporophylls and vegetative leaves form alternating circles. Curiously
enough, the fertile fronds, which appear at maturity within the circle
of sterile leaves, really belong to the outer circle, as befits the
group that is to develop first. The sensitive and ostrich ferns are
other species in which the zones of fronds are very distinct. So
pronounced is this, and so far has each kind developed before unfolding,
that each is usually incapable of taking up the functions of the other
in cases where the destruction of one kind makes such exchange necessary
or desirable. From efforts on the part of the plant to supply vegetative
tissue to leaves designed originally for spore-bearing, only, we owe the
various “obtusilobata” forms occasionally reported. The differences in
zonation here mentioned are most pronounced in ferns with dimorphic
fronds, but evidences of the same thing, more or less distinct may be
found even in those ferns that have the fertile and sterile fronds
essentially alike in outline. As a usual thing, the spore-bearing leaves
are produced after the vegetative leaves have unfolded and when we find
a plant in full fruit in late summer, that lacked spores in spring, it
is due to the developing of the fertile leaves later. This is especially
true and most noticeable in ferns that produce their fronds in crowns,
but even in those species with running rootstocks, we commonly find
evidences of zonation. Following out the idea of zonation we find among
many of the fern allies that not only are the sporophylls assembled in
zones but the zones terminate the central axis or branch. Under such
circumstances the shoot begins to take on many of the characteristics of
the flower and if we allow the definition of a flower as a shoot beset
with sporophylls, it really is a flower. In the plants in which the
flower comes to its highest development this structure is essentially a
group of two kinds of sporophylls set round with sterile leaves called
petals and sepals. Did ferns, instead of selaginellas, produce two kinds
of sporophylls, the whole fern plant with its crown of fronds, would be
very like a flower.
INDEX TO RECENT LITERATURE.
Readers are requested to call our attention to any errors in, or
omissions from, this list.
Clute, W. N. _Nephrodium deltoideun._ illust. Fern Bulletin, Ja. 1912.
Clute, W. N. _Rare Forms of Fernworts.—XXI. Another Form of the
Christmas Fern._ illust. Fern Bulletin, Ja. 1912.—_Polystichum
acrostichoides_ f. _lanceolatum_ described and illustrated.
Darling, N. _Observations on some Lycopodiums of Hartland Vt._ illust.
American Fern Journal, Ap. 1912.
Dodge, C. K. _The Fern-flora of Michigan._ Fern Bulletin, Ja.
1912.—Fifty-eight ferns and thirty-one fern allies listed with
notes.
Cockayne, L. _Some Noteworthy New Zealand Ferns._ illust. Plant World,
Mr. 1912.
Hill, E. J. _Additions to the Fern-flora of Indiana._ Fern Bulletin, Jl.
1912.—New stations for several species.
Hill, E. J. _The Rock Relations of the Cliff Brakes._ Fern Bulletin Ja.
1912.
Hopkins, L. S. _Lycopodium Selago from Ohio._ illust. American Fern
Journal, Ap. 1912.—A form of _L. lucidulum_ mistaken for the rarer
species.
Prescott, A. _The Osmundas._ Fern Bulletin, Ja. 1912.
Safford, W. E. _Notes of a Naturalist Afloat.—III_: illust. American
Fern Journal, Ap. 1912.—Occasional mention of common Ferns.
Schaffner, J. H. _The North American Lycopods without Terminal Cones._
illust. Ohio Naturalist, Ap. 1912.—_Lycopodium porophylum_
regarded as of specific rank.
Winslow, E. J. _Some Hybrid Ferns in Connecticut._ American Fern
Journal, Ap. 1912.
EDITORIAL.
The last number of this magazine—that for October 1912—will be a
comprehensive index of the publication for the past ten years. This,
with the index to the first ten volumes, will form an exceedingly
valuable index to the fern literature of America, covering, as it does,
the whole period of popular fern study. It begins some years before the
appearance of any popular fern book and has either published entire all
important articles issued since or given a summary of them. Mr. S. Fred
Prince, long a member of the Fern Society is already at work on the
index and we hope to issue it not later than the end of the year.
* * * * * * * *
Further information received from the purchaser of the complete set of
this magazine recently sent to Germany, apprises us of the fact that the
set is not to remain in Europe. It was purchased for a customer in South
America (Argentine), therefore the set owned by M. C. Belhatte at Paris
is the only one in Europe. The recent set is also the only complete set
in South America, and there are not, so far as we are aware, complete
sets in other parts of the Old World though the set at the Tokyo
Botanical Garden ought to be nearly complete and the set owned by D.
Leroy Topping at Manila lacks only two numbers.
* * * * * * * *
Next year it will be too late to get odd numbers to complete files that
lack them. When this magazine goes out of business we shall retain only
complete volumes. This is the time for all who need odd numbers to ask
for them. We have recently advertised to send any back volume later than
volume 9 for 50 cents and this offer will hold good until the end of the
year. After that time, single volumes cannot be had unless we happen to
have a surplus. We are willing to replace soiled, torn or missing
numbers free if requested to do so at once, and the fact that odd
volumes will soon be unobtainable should incline all whose sets are
incomplete to add the missing volumes while they can.
BOOK NOTES.
In anticipation of the consolidation of this magazine with _The American
Botanist_ at the end of the year, some very extensive improvements in
the new magazine are to be made. Among the more important are a better
grade of paper, the use of numerous illustrations, and the addition of
enough pages to make it the largest magazine for the price in America.
With the beginning of 1913 a department of ornamental gardening will be
included in which the cultivation of our showy wild-flowers will receive
adequate treatment. This magazine will continue the matter relative to
ferns now appearing in _The Fern Bulletin_ and all manuscripts used will
be paid for. No reader of Fern Bulletin should fail to subscribe for the
new _American Botanist_ if they wish to keep abreast of the times in
botany. Those who subscribe for 1913 before November 20th, will receive
the November issue free.
Messrs. Ginn & Co. have nearly ready for publication a book on Agronomy
by the editor of _The Fern Bulletin_ which should be of interest to all
who have anything to do with cultivating plants. Although the book is
intended as a school book to be used in connection with gardening
courses, the fact that it not only gives directions for planting and
cultivating kitchen vegetables and flowering plants, but explains the
principles upon which such directions hinge, will make it of much value
to the gardener whether amateur or professional. The book, however, is
not a mere gardening manual. It discusses soils and their origin, the
fundamentals of landscape work and plant breeding, and the effects of
heat, light and moisture upon plants in general. There will also be more
than 200 illustrations.
Ferns Weighing a Ton.—In the tropics ferns often attain the height of
small trees, but their trunks are usually so slender that they never are
of any great weight. For the heaviest trunks we must look among lowlier
species, where the circumference of the short trunk in some cases is so
great that immense weights are attained. In Australia and New Zealand
there grows a relative of the common cinnamon fern named _Todaea
barbata_ which quite takes the palm in this respect. The trunks are
great rounded mosses five or six feet high and at least twenty feet in
circumference, most of the upper surface being beset with living fronds.
Specimens have been found with trunks that were estimated to weigh more
than a ton and a half.
All the American Fern Books
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Boston Meeting Paper 12mo. paper .25
Index to Vols. 1-10 Fern Bulletin .25
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Includes complete achromatic microscopes of high power at $4.50,
$12.50 and upwards.
_Excellent Field Glasses_
“BEAST AND BIRD SPECIAL”
with large clearly defining lenses, in black sole leather case with
strap, sent prepaid for $5.50.
Edward Pennock
3603 Woodland Ave
PHILADELPHIA
Important Notice
The price of the current volume (1912) of _The Fern Bulletin_ has been
advanced to $1.00. Only sufficient copies are being printed to supply
subscribers and complete files. When ordered with any back number, this
volume will be sent for 75 cents.
Address all orders to
WILLARD N. CLUTE & CO., Joliet, Illinois
ANOTHER COPY
We have obtained another copy of Williamson’s “Ferns of Kentucky” which
we offer for $4.50 postpaid. This volume, the first American fern book,
compares very favorably with the most recent. It contains fifty-nine
full page plates reproduced from etchings, and is the only fern book so
illustrated. More than 150 pages of text give an account of the species.
Valued highly for its unique position among fern books, and hard to get
at any price, this copy will not remain on hand long. Order at once.
WILLARD N. CLUTE & CO., JOLIET, ILL.
Transcriber’s Notes
—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.
—Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
—Generated a spine image based on elements in the cover.
—Added a Table of Contents.
—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Fern Bulletin, April 1912 - A Quarterly Devoted to Ferns" ***
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