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OPHIOGLOSSACEAE 
2. Ophioglossum Engelmánnii Prantl. Rootstock cylindrie. Stem 8-22 em. high. 
bearing a leaf; blade elliptic or lanceolate-elliptic, 3-9 cm. long, sharply apiculate, flesh y 
but becoming pellucid ; basal veins 13 or more, the transverse veinlets oblique, forming 
broad oblong-hexagonal areolae with numerous veinlets : spike 1.5-2.5 cm. long, apiculate. 
In moist grounds, Virginia to Indiana, Missouri, Texas and Arizona. 
3. Ophioglossum pusíllum Nutt. Rootstock slightly thickened. Stem slender, 
2.5-4 cm. high, bearing a leaf near the base; blade lanceolate or ovate with a cuneate base ; 
basal veins 3, the midvein branching by lateral veinlets which form narrow areolae with no 
free veinlets: spikes 6-12 mm. long, with 6-14 sporanges on either side. [0O. nudicaule 
Chapm., not L. f.] 
In sandy soil, Georgia to Florida and Louisiana. 
4. Ophioglossum crotalophoroides Walt. Rootstock globose. Stem relatively 
stout, bearing one leaf ; blade concave, broadly ovate, 8-30 mm. long, with a cordate base 
and acute apex ; basal veins 5, the midvein rarely branched, the lateral veins freely anas- 
tomosing, forming short hexagonal areolae with rarely a free veinlet: spikes broad, 4-12 
mm. long, with 4-1]esporanges on either side. 
In sandy soil, South Carolina to Florida and Texas, Also in tropical America. 
2. CHEIROGLÓSSA Presl. 
Epiphytic plants, with slender fleshy roots. Leaf-blades:simple, palmately lobed, bear- 
ing several spikes near their bases. Veins reticulated ; the areolae without free veinlets. 
1. Cheiroglossa palmata (L.) Presl. Rootstock tuberous, covered with fine woolly 
chaff. Leaves fleshy ; blades 10-25 cm. long, on a stem nearly as long, palmately divided 
into 2-9 broadly spreading lobes, or rarely entire and lanceolate : spikes 2-16, or rarely 1, 
short-stalked, 2.5 cm. long or more. [Ophioglossum palmatum L. ] 
On palmettos, Florida and tropical America. 
3. BOTRYCHIUM Sw. 
Fleshy plants, with erect rootstocks, and clustered fleshy roots, the bud for the succeed- 
ing year imbedded in the base of the stem. Leaf-blade pinnately or ternately divided, or 
compound. Sporophyll pinnate or 3-pinnate, with sessile distinct sporanges in rows on 
either side of its branches, forming large panicles in some species. Veins free. Spores 
yellow. Moonwort. 
Bud for the following year enclosed in the base of the stem: leaf-blades ternate or biternate, attached 
near the base of the common stem. : 
Leaf-blades sessile or nearly so: spores maturing in early i ] 
Leaf-blades stalked : spores arris a in fall. x re s LOB erT 
Leaf-blade biternate, thin. 2. B. tenuifolium. 
Leaf-blade ternate, with bipinnate or tripinnate divisions, fleshy. 
Bud enclosed in a cavity at one side of the base of the stem: leaf-blades ternate 
decompound, sessile at the middle of the stem. appe Virginianum. 
1. Botrychium biternàtum (Lam.) Underw. Plant 6-10 cm. high, bearing a single 
leaf ; blade sessile or nearly so, ternately compound, 8-10 cm. wide, 5 cm. long, with the 
middle division slightly larger than the lateral ones and like them nearly 3-pinnate ; ulti- 
mate segments somewhat lunate, usually 5-6 mm. wide, the outer margin crenate, the 
lateral margins decurrent on the rachis: sporophyll on a stalk 8 cm. long or longer, 2- 
pinnate : bud smooth or slightly pilose. 
On dry grassy knolls, South Carolina to Louisiana. The spores mature in March or April. 
2. Botrychium tenuifóülium Underw. A slender plant with a biternate leaf-blade. 
Stems very slender, 2-4 cm. long, 1-1.5 mm. thick: leaf-blade 3.5-5 cm. long, 3-6 cm. 
wide, usually consisting of nine segments, the primary divisions nearly equal, or the termi- 
nal one sometimes slightly more divided ; segments ovate, 1.2-1.5 cm. long by 6-8 mm. 
wide, thin, sharply serrate, or nearly 2- or3-incised ; petiole 3-6.5 cm. long, very slender ; 
panicle 3-6 cm. long, bipinnate or basely tripinnate below on a slender stalk, 6-22 em. long. 
In low grounds, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana. The spores mature in fall, 
3. Botrychium obliquum Muhl. Plant robust, 1.5-5 dm. high. Leaf rising from 
near the base of the stem on a stalk 2-10 em. long, or more ; blade ternate, with the three 
divisions nearly equal, 2-pinnate or somewhat 3-pinnatifid in larger forms, the ultimate 
segments obliquely ovate or oblong-lanceolate, the terminal one of each division elongated, 
1-2 em. long, the margins crenate or serrate: sporophyll long-stalked 3-4-pinnate : bud 
densely pilose, both portions bent in vernation. [B. ternatum Chapm., not Sw.] 
In low woods and open places from New Brunswi i i i 
Pesce mde Hom ERRAT. OCDE unswick to Minnesota, south to Florida and Mexico. 
3. B. obliquum. 
