Midland Fern Notes

Abstract

During the summer of 1937 the writer drove from Philadelphia to Salt Lake City and back, visiting en route a number of fern localities; Mr. J. E. Benedict, Jr., of Washington, D. C., took part in the first half of this trip. Notes as to species observed which seem of general interest are here placed on record, except for the state of Colorado, on which a separate article has been prepared. Specimens obtained have been placed in the herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. MICHIGAN.-We barely entered this state late in May, paying a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Boydston, who live at Thorn Acres about four miles south of Niles, in Berrien County. Here in ponds and on sandy slopes at the edge of the floodplain of the St. Joseph river there is an unusual abundance of Equisetums, of which five species were recognized: arvense, fluviatile, laevigatum, palustre, and prealtum. This appears to represent a southern limiting station for E. palustre (var. americanum), for although it is here within a mile of the Indiana line the thorough exploration of the latter state by Mr. Deam has never turned it up there. IOWA.-A visit to Pikes Peak State Park in Clayton County yielded Selaginella rupestris, not heretofore reported from this county, and two varieties of Cystopteris fragilis. Examination of their rootstocks and indusia showed these to be vars. genuina and protrusa, the former growing on steep bluffs, the latter in humus-rich soil on gentler slopes. . . 28