GENUS 18. 



FERN FAMILY. 



4. Cheilanthes tomentosa Link. Woolly 



Lip- fern. Fig. 81. 

 Cheilanthes tomentosa Link, Hort. Berol. 2: 42. 1833. 



Rootstock stout, short, densely chaffy with rigid 

 slender striped and concolorous bright brown scales. 

 Stipes tufted, 4'-8' long, rather stout, densely brown- 

 tomentose even when mature; blades oblong-lanceo- 

 late, 3-pinnate, 6'-i8' long, densely tomentose, espe- 

 cially beneath, with brownish-white obscurely artic- 

 ulated hairs ; pinnae and pinnules ovate-oblong or 

 oblong-lanceolate, the ultimate pinnules distinct, 

 usually obovate, about \" long, the terminal ones 

 sometimes twice as large as the others, the reflexed 

 margin forming a narrow continuous indusium. 



On rocks, Virginia to Georgia, Texas, Arizona and 

 Mexico. July-Oct. Webby Lip-fern. 



19. NOTHOLAENA R. Br. Prodr. Fl. 

 Nov. Holl. i : 145. 1810. 



Small rock-loving ferns, mainly of arid or semi-arid regions, the blades of various 

 shape, i-4-pinnate, the under surfaces hairy, densely tomentose or scaly, or in some species 

 covered with a white or yellow waxy powder. Sori roundish or oblong, borne near the 

 margin upon the free veins, at or near their extremities, soon more or less confluent laterally 

 in a broad or narrow marginal band. Indusia wanting, the revolute margins at first covering 

 the sporanges in some species, the sporanges often partially concealed otherwise by the hairy, 

 scaly or waxy covering of the under surface. [Greek, meaning spurious cloak, no proper 

 indusium being formed.] 



About 50 species of wide distribution. Besides the following numerous other species occur 

 in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Type species: Acrostichum Marantae L. 



i. Notholaena dealbata (Pursh) Kunze. 

 Powdery Notholaena. Fig. 82. 



Cheilanthes dealbata Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 671. 



1814. 

 Notholaena dealbata Kunze, Amer. Journ. Sci. 



(II.) 6: 82. 1848. 

 Notholaena nivea var. dealbata Davenp. Cat. 



Davenp. Herb. Suppl. 44. 1883. 



Rootstock short, chaffy with slender brown 

 scales. Stipes closely tufted, wiry, very 

 slender, shining, dark brown, i'-4' long; 

 leaves triangular-ovate, acute, broadest at 

 the base, i'-4' long, 3~4-pinnate, the rachis 

 dark brown or blackish and wiry; pinnae 

 ovate or deltoid-ovate, mostly with long 

 slender stalks, the pinnules also mostly 

 stalked ; segments ovate-oblong, or some- 

 what elliptical by contraction, small, white 

 and powdery on the lower surface. 



On dry calcareous rocks, Missouri and Ne- 

 braska to Texas and Arizona. June-Sept. 



20. POLYPODIUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. 

 PI. 1082. 1753. 



Mainly shade-loving species of various habit, commonly epiphytic in the humid tropics, 

 the leaves articulate to the creeping or ascending rhizome at the base of the stipe, the blades 

 ranging from simple to bipinnate or several times pinnatifid, the veins free. Sori round or 

 less commonly oval or elliptical, dorsal or sometimes terminal on the veins. Indusia wanting. 

 [Greek, probably in allusion to the numerous knob-like prominences of the rootstock.] 



As here limited to free-veined species, the genus comprises several hundred species, mainly of 

 tropical and subtropical regions. Several additional species occur in the southern and western 

 United States. Type species : Polypodinm vulgare L. 



Lower surface of the blade glabrous ; plant green. i. P. vulgare. 



Lower surface of the blade densely scaly ; plant grayish. 2. P. polypodioides. 



