No . 1
Ja nu ary -M arc h, 1929
Vo l. 19
•
m rr tr a u A QU AR TE RL Y DE VO TE D TO FERNS Pu l,lieLed by tLc
A M E R IC A N FE R N SOCIETY
ED ITO RS
R . C. BE EDICT C. A. WE AT HE RB Y
E. ]. W I SL OW
CO
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T. &rE IL an d . W ... I --I sin on isc W in s lie Al rn Fe d an s rn Fe A. M. FuL LE R No te on or thw es tet n Fe rn .... .... .... .... .... .... !!. ST. JoHN lso ete s Le ch ler i M ett .... .... .... .... .... .... .... . ......... T. C. PA LM ER IE BB Do B. . H .. .... .... .... .... .... .... s rn Fe of on ati ag op Pr e Th Th e Oc cu rre nc e of Th ree an d Fo ur- an gle d Br an ch es in Eq uis etu m .... .... .... .... .... .. .... .... .... .... ... J. H. &li AF FN ER Re ce nt Fer11 Li ter atu re. .... .. .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Sh or ter ote .-- Th e Ha rtf or d Fe rn .-- ''F ern Fa ce s''. -Ha rt' s To ng ue Co n erv atl on ote .-- Co n e tio n of ati ve Pl an t in En ata nd .-- Sk ele ton ze d La dy Fe rn me ric an Fe rn So cie ty .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .. ···· ···· ··
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IsoE TES LEc ar,E RI
17
Iso ete s Le chl eri Me tt. T.
CHA LKL EY pAL ME R
Du rin g Jul y, 192 8, I rec eiv ed fro m Dr. ,V. R. ~Iaxon , at the l T. S. Natior1al Mu seu m, a larg e num ber of specinle ns rep res ent ing a gat l1e ring of Iso etes ma de in Colombia. The se wer e col lect ed by ~Iessrs. E. P. Kil lip and Alb ert C. Sm ith (No . 17964. ) dur ing the exp lora tion in Col om bia und er the aus pic es of New Yo rk Bot ani cal Gar den , Gra J路 He rba riu m, U. S. Nat ion al 1\Inseum, and Arn old Arb ore tum . The dat e of col lect ion is Jan . 21, 1927, and the Eas ter n Cor dill era loc alit y is ''D ept . San tan der ; Lag una de Cu nta , edg e of Par am o de Santur ban , alt. 3880 me ter s.'' Env iro nm ent : ''Ro oti ng in mu d in sha llow wa ter at ma rgin . Usu ally sub me rge d but ofte n aqu atic and eve n ent irel y ter res tria l.'' All the pla nts are rat her sma ll, but ma ny of the m bea r spo ran gia pac ked wit h ma tur e spo res. A car efu l exa min atio n of the se specim~ns re,reale d fea tur es app rox ima ting tho se of the Per uvi an species I. Lec llle ~ri ~lett. as des crib ed by A. Bra un ( \ rerh. des Bot . V ere in fur Bra nde nbu rg. 4. 1862. ) It is to be not ed in this con nec tion , tha t Bra un' s I. socia. and I. Ka rste nii, the latt er fro m Ven ezu ela (loc. cit. ), " ,. ere, app are ntl y \\Tith Bra un' s con cur ren ce, uni ted wit h I. L ech leri by 1\Io tela y and Ve ndr yes (Ac tes Soc. Lin n. Bor dea ux. 36. 188 3.) The se for ms are alike in sllo"路ing smootl1 me gas por es and com ple te vel um . The oth er Per llvi an spe cies , I. triq1te tra A. Br. is ""it hou t 路v路elum and has tub erc ula te meg asp ore s. It seems alm ost imp oss ible to obt ain any aut hen tic ma teri al of the se Sou th Am eric an forms- 1\lr. E. P. Killip, Associate Cu rat or at the U. S. ational Museum, kin dly loa ned me a she et of spe cim ens collected in Argen tina , Feb . 2nd, 1887, by IDe on ,_ ( o. 774 ) and
18
AMER ICAN FERN JOUR NAL
label led bv him I. socia. It bears a notat ion l)V . the late A. A. Eaton readi ng in part as follo, Ys: ''Not I. Lechleri (of \Vhich so cia is a synon )Tnl ) nor cloes it agree in any essen tial with other S. Ame rican speci es • • • · I propo se the name I. Arge ntina • • •. '' Tl1en follows Eato n's diagn osis. I am const raine d to agree with Mr. Eaton. It is to be regre tted th~at Dr. N. E. Pfeiffer ignor ed this note, dated 2. 1. 1900, and took these specimens as a basis for the descr iption of I. LecJtleri in her Mono graph of the Isoeta ceae, (Ann als :Miss ouri Botan ical Gard en, 1922. ) The net resul t is an unne cessa ry addition to the trials in store for those \vho \Yould fain know some thing of the syste mato logy of Isoete s. Now these speci mens of Killip and Smit h (No. 17964 ) agree appro xima tely with previ ous descr iption s of I. Lechleri such as that of A. Brau n (loc. cit.). But there are certa in pecul iariti es tha.t ,VOlil d seem impo rtant enoug h to warr ant tl1e erect ion of a new ' rariet y. In order to clarif y matte rs a little , if that be possi ble, I subm it the follow ing full diagn osis, in place of mere ly ment ionin g differ ences . ~
I~OETEs l_jECI ILERI
:\Iett. ,,.ar. Colo mbia na , ,. ar. nov. Corm bilob ed, small . Leav es 5-7 em. high, firm, narrowe d above to corne ous, often dark- brow n tips abou t 1 mm. long; mem brano us wino-s at base yello w-bro ,vn; perip heral bast- bund les noneb stom ata few or absen t. Ligul e thin, rotun d, lacer ate.' Velu m thick , comple~e. Spora ngium ellips oidal , 3 mm. long, 2 mm. broad , thinwalle d, with faint, dark- red spots . Mega spore s 390484 JJ diam eter, white , smoo th, comm issur al ridge s bo!d, s~ooth, endin g below in overh angin g point s, equat orial ridge nearl y or quite obsolete. Micr ospor es 21-28 ~ lo~g, cream y white , spars ely warte d. Type : Killi p and SIIllth No. 17964 Colom bia, Jan. 21, 1927.
The obsolescence of the equatorial ridge of the megaspore is a pronounced feat1Jre. According to A. Bra~
PROPA GATIO N OF FERN S
19
there is a simil ar cond ition in I. Perralderiana, b11t there is no intim ation of it in I. Lechleri. For the rest, the small micro s pores and tl1e corne ous leaf tips are worth y of note. In addit ion to the norm al mega spore s as descr ibed, se,l'eral spora ngia in this mate rial yield many with faces bet,,e en the comm issure s more or less flatte ned, and witl1 all surfa ces minu tely brolre n into ' rery closely woven, conv olute d wrink les. These spore s, often as large as the smoo th, globu lar ones, seem to prese nt a case of arres ted de,rel opme nt. Puzz ling insta nces of the same sort are not infre quen t in famil iar species. l\1~r tl1ank s are due to Dr. \V. R. Maxo n for speci mens of this gathe ring, and to Dr. E. P. Killi p for the loan of other mate rial in this conne ction . DELA wARE CouN TY INSTI TUTE OF SciEN CE, •
MEDI A, PENN A.
The Prop agat ion of Fern s H. B.
DoBB IE
'l,he grow ing of ferns from their seed I have found an easj~, but very slow proce ss. As I ha,~e met with a good deal of success and my plan is very differ ent from any meth ods I have seen in print , and all m)'" requi sites are home made and inexp ensiv e, I will give a brief outli11e. First of all I gathe r a few fruitf ul frond s, put them in a pape r bag and pin it to the wall of my study . In abou t six week s I shake the bag, rub. the seeds off the frond s and collec t them . There is a layer of hardi sh red stone a foot or so below the surfa ce in my garde n 1
Mr. Dobbi e habitu ally uses ''seed '' in place of the usual ''spor e,'' believ ing that, as their funeti ons are simila r, he is justified in emplo ying the less techni eal term for amateur reader s, even though the struct ure of seed and spore is quite cillferent. Ed. 1