6 POLYPODIACEAE 



1. WOODSIA R. Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. 1: 158. 1810. 



Small ferns of rocky situations, the short-creeping or ascending rhizomes densely tufted. 

 Fronds numerous, fasciculate, erect or spreading, in several species the stipes jointed above 

 the base and separable ; blades linear to lance-ovate, 1-2-pinnate, the segments lobed or 

 pinnatifid, glabrous, variously hairy, or paleaceous ; veins free. Sori roundish, separate, often 

 confluent with age; indusia inferior in attachment, either roundish and early cleft into 

 lacerate divisions, or deeply stellate, the filiform divisions mostly concealed lieneath the 

 sporangia or inflexed and partially covering them. [Name in honor of Joseph Woods 

 (1776-1864), an English architect and botanist.] 



About 35 species, mainly of temperate and boreal regions. Six species besides the two following occur 

 in the United States. Type species, Polypodutm ilvcnse L. 



Blades glandular-puberulent and bearing flattish, septate, whitish hairs. 1. H'. scot>ulina. 



Blades glabrous; plants smaller. 2. IV. orcgana. 



1. Woodsia scopulina D. C. Eaton. 

 Rocky Mountain Woodsia. Fig. 10. 



Woodsia scopulina D. C. Eaton, Canad. Nat. II. 2: 91. 1865. • 



Rhizomes short-creeping, forming large tufts, clothed with thin, 

 pale, brown, ovate-oblong scales. Fronds very numerous, tufted, 10- 

 40 cm. long; stipes 3-15 cm. long, inflated, stramineous or golden 

 brown f rotn a castaneous chaffy base ; blades linear to oblong-lance- 

 olate, short-acuminate, 6-25 cm. long, 1.5-6 cm. broad, 1-2-pinnate; 

 pinnae numerous, oblong to deltoid-ovate, acute or acutish, the 5-9 

 pairs of serrate or deeply toothed oblong segments lightly joined, or 

 the larger ones free; surfaces (especially the lower) glandular- 

 puberulent and bearing few to many, flat, septate, _ whitish hairs; 

 sori supramedial ; indusia deeply cleft, the divisions spreading, 

 lacerate, with filamentous tips; leaf tissues membro-herbaceous, dull 

 green. 



Crevices and talus of cliffs, in the Transition Zone; Alaska to Quebec (Gasjie 

 County), Ontario, South Dakota, Colorado, and Utah, and in the Sierra Nevada 

 sparingly to Tulare County, California: also in West Virginia and North Carolina. 

 Type locality: Rocky Mountains (40° N. Lat.). 



2. Woodsia oregana D. C. Eaton. 

 Oregon Woodsia. Fig. 11. 



Woodsia oregana D. C. Eaton, Canad. Nat. II. 2: 90. 1865. 



Rhizomes short-creeping, rather slender, tufted, densely 

 paleaceous, the scales thin, pale brown, often dark-striped. 

 Fronds many, erect, fasciculate, 6-25 cm. long; stipes 1.5-12 

 cm. long, slender, stramineous from a castaneous base; 

 blades linear to lance-oblong, acutish, 5-13 cm. long, 1-3.5 

 cm. broad, pinnate, glabrous; pinnae 6-12 pairs, mostly 

 deltoid-oblong (the lower ones deltoid, distant), acute or 

 acutish, subpinnate at the base ; seginents few, apart, mostly 

 oblong, obtuse, crenate or crenately lobed, the larger ones 

 constricted at the base and nearly free, the others decur- 

 rent and rather broadly joined; leaf tissue delicately 

 herbaceous, the teeth cominonly reflexed and partially 

 concealing the supramedial sori; indusia minute, divided 

 nearly to the base into a few short, turgid, moniliform 

 segments. 



Crevices of dryish cliffs arid rock slopes, chiefly in the Arid 

 Transition Zone; British Columbia to South Dakota, Nebraska, New 

 Me.xico, and Arizona, and in the Sierra Nevada to southern Califor- 

 nia (San Bernardino Mountains); also in eastern Quebec. Type lo- 

 cality: Dalles, Oregon. 



^^^1 





2. FILIX Adans. Earn. PL 2: 20, 558. 1763. 

 [Cystopteris Bernh. Schrad. Neues Journ. Bot. 1': 26. 1806.] 



Small, delicate ferns of shaded rocky or alluvial situations, with slender creeping 

 rhizomes. Fronds erect to recurved-spreading, more or less succulent, the stipes slender, 

 not jointed to the rhizome; blades 1^-pinnate, delicate, the fertile ones commonly less 

 foliose and longer-stalked than the sterile. Sori roundish, dorsal, separate ; indusium mem- 



