390 Class XXIV. Order I. 



nate, subsessile, auriculatetl on one side at base, slight- 

 ly serrate^ ciliate ; only the upper ones fruitful. Mich, 

 sub. syn. 



SljU. J\*EPHRODIUM JlcROSTICHOIDES. Mick. 



Remarkable for the difference between its lower and upper 

 leaves. The stipe is covered with loose, membranous, chaffy 

 scales. The leaves or pinnae are numerous, oblong-, somewhat 

 acute, edged with small, mucronate serratures, furnished with 

 an angular lobe on their upper side at base. The lower leaves 

 are without fruit ; the upper ones much smaller, covered with 

 dots of fructification, which unite, so as to overrun the whole 

 under surface. Rocks and hills, Roxbury. Perennial. 



ASPIDIUM NOVEBORACENSE. Sm. New York Shield Fern. 

 Frond pinnate ; divisions linear-lanceolate, pinnati- 

 fid, segments oblong, obtuse, entire, ciliate ; fruit mar- 

 ginal ; stipe smooth. 



Syn,. PoLTPODIUM JVOVEBORACENSE. L. 



About the middle size, smooth and even, with obtuse segments, 

 mostly entire. Roxbury, Bussey's hill. Perennial. 



ASPIDIUM THELYPTERIS. Sm. Meadow Shield Fern. 



Frond pinnate, its divisions pmnatifid, subcrenate, 

 distinct at base, decussating ; dots of fructification con- 

 fluent. Sm. 



Common in low, moist ground?, about the edges of meadows- 

 and swamps. Stipe glabrous. Divisions of the frond long and 

 slender, the lower pairs frequently decussating, or crossing each 

 other ; a circumstance which Dr. Smith has noticed in his spe- 

 cific character. They are pinnatifid, or deeply cut into oblong, 

 roundish segments, which are slightly crenate at the edge, and 

 revolute when in fruit. The first segments of each division are 

 at a little distance from the stipe, and seem to form a parallel 

 line on each side of it, ruuning through the whole length of the 

 frond, a character well represented in the figure of Plukenet. 

 The fruit commences in small dots, and finally overruns the 

 whole under surface of the frond. Perennial. 



