POLYPODIACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



i. Camptosorus rhizophyllus (L.) Link. 

 Walking-fern. Fig. 57. 



Asplcnium rhlzophylla L. Sp. PI. 1078, in part. 1753. 

 C. rhizophyllus Link, Hort. Berol. 2: 69. 1833. 



Rootstock short, .usually creeping, somewhat 

 chaffy. Stipes light green, i'-6' long, tufted, 

 spreading; blades evergreen, 4'-a' long, rather 

 thin or somewhat chartaceous, simple, lanceolate, 

 the bases usually cordate or auriculate, sometimes 

 hastate, the basal auricles occasionally much elon- 

 gate, the apex of the blade long-attenuate and 

 usually filiform, rooting at the tip and giving rise 

 to a new plant by the ultimate withering of the 

 tissue, but 2-4 plants sometimes thus connected ; 

 sori usually numerous, irregularly placed. 



In shaded situations, usually upon moist mossy 

 rocks, preferring limestone, Quebec to Minnesota, 

 Georgia, Alabama and Kansas. Ascends to 2500 ft. 

 in Virginia. Aug.-Oct. Called also Walking-leaf. 



12. ASPLENIUM L. Sp. PI. 1078. 1753. 



Large or small ferns of various habitat, with simple lobed or i-3-pinnatifid or pinnate 

 mostly uniform leaves, the veins free; scales of the rootstock firm, with thick-walled cells. 

 Sori straight or sometimes slightly curved, oblong to linear, borne on the oblique veins, 

 usually somewhat apart. Indusia invariably present, attached lengthwise along the veins, 

 usually at the inner side. [Ancient. Greek name, being a supposed remedy for the spleen.] 



About 400 or more species of wide distribution. Besides the following, 9 species occur in 

 Florida and 4 in the western United States. Type species : Asplenium Trichomanes L. 

 Blades pinnatifid, or pinnate only below, the apices long-attenuate. 

 Stipe and rachis dark purplish brown throughout. 

 Stipe dark brownish below, green above ; rachis green. 

 Blades i-3-pinnate, the apices not long-attenuate. 

 Blades i -pinnate only. 



Stipe and rachis blackish, reddish or purplish brown throughout. 

 Sori short, nearer the margin than the midvein. 

 Sori longer, medial or nearer the midvein. 



Fertile leaves rigidly erect ; pinnae more or less auriculate. 

 Fertile leaves spreading like the sterile ; pinnae not auriculate. 

 Stipe dark only at the base, green above like the rachis. 

 Blades small, 2'-8' long, linear. 



Blades large, i-2 l /> long, lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate. 

 Blades 2-3-pinnatifid. 



Stipe and rachis green throughout. 



Stipe dark brownish, at least toward the base. 



Stipes dark at the base, greenish above ; rachis green. 

 Blades deltoid-ovate to deltoid-lanceolate. 

 Blades linear-lanceolate. 

 Stipe and lower rachis (at least) dark chestnut-brown. 



1. A. ebenoides. 



2. A. pinnatifidum. 



3. A. resiliens. 



A. platyneuron. 

 A. Trichomanes. 



6. A. virlde. 



7. A. pycnocarpon. 



8. A. Ruta-mnraria. 



9. A. montanum. 



10. A. fontanurn. 



11. A. Bradleyi. 



i. Asplenium ebenoides R. R. Scott. 

 Scott's Spleenwort. Fig. 58. 



Asplenium ebenoides R. R. Scott, Journ. Roy Hort. Soc. 

 87. 1866. 



Rootstock short, chaffy, with dark, shining scales. 

 Stipes tufted, i~7' long, purplish brown; blades trian- 

 gular-lanceolate, rarely almost linear, variable in out- 

 line and size, 3'-i2' long, i'-3' wide at the base, firm, 

 tapering into a long narrow acuminate apex, pinnatifid, 

 or commonly pinnate below, the segments or pinnae lan- 

 ceolate from a broad base, acute or acuminate, variable 

 in length, the lower sometimes shorter than those just 

 above; sori straight or nearly so; indusium narrow, re- 

 flexed at maturity 



Rare. Vermont to Missouri, south to Virginia and Ala- 

 bama, where it is self-perpetuating. Now proved by Miss 

 Margaret Slosson to be a hybrid between Camptosorus 

 rhizophyllus and Asplenium platyneuron. Ascends to 1400 

 ft. in Virginia. 



