FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM BOTANY, VOL. III. 



Sori contiguous under the continuous marginal indusium, which does 

 not include the blunt apex, nor the entire base; sporangia nearly cir- 

 cular in outline, and marked by anastomosing ridges; spores globular 

 or nearly so, hyaline, papillate. 



Stipes fasciculate from a rusty-woolly rootstock; 1035 cm - ^ on - 

 This species, together with Cheilanthes microphylla, is commonly 

 known among the Yucatecs as " HELECHO, " the family appellation of 

 the ferns, and is used in domestic practice as a refrigerant in fevers 

 and inflammations. 



Hab. Dry situations, in open lands: Near Merida, Valdezd^; 

 and Chichankanab, Gaunter 1473. 



CHEILANTHES. 



Fronds chaffy or woolly, 2-3-pinnate. Sori distinct or contiguous, 

 borne on the thickened ends of the free veinlets and covered by a 

 commonly whitish, membranaceous, more or less continuous com- 

 mon indusium, formed of the reflexed and altered margin of the 

 segment. 



Cheilanthes microphylla (Sw.) Sw. Syn. Fil. 806. 

 Adiantum microphyllum Sw. 



Stipes wiry, glabrous. Fronds pinnatisect, the rachis and seg- 

 ments rusty-puberulous, the latter especially beneath ; segments 



serrate-pinnatifid, blunt, the ulti- 

 mate subentire. Sori more or less 

 interruptedly confluent, the margin 

 indusiate, formed of the revolute 

 and altered crenations of the lobes ; 

 sporangia pyriform, the surfaces 

 finely and closely reticulate-veined ; 

 spores globose, hyaline, slightly and 

 finely papillate. 



Plants 8-30 cm. high; fronds 5 

 20 cm. long, 6-8 cm. broad. In 

 fruit throughout the year. 



Hab. Crevices of walls, and 

 on rocks in dry situations : Merida, 

 and the ruins of Uxmal, Schott 686 ; 

 walls of cenote"s and of dwellings 

 near Izamal, Gaunter 533, and San Anselmo, f2j8, 1266, 1409; throat 

 of an open well, Izamal, Stone 25 j. 



Cheilanthes leucopoda Lk. Sp. Fil. 66. 

 C. glandulifera Liebm. 

 Fronds canary-yellow, terminal on the stipe, ovate in general 



