10 



POLYPODIACEAE 



2. Polystichum munitum (Kaulf. ) Presl. Western Sword-fern. 



Fig. 



18. 



Asfidium munitum Kaulf. Enum. Fil. 236. 1824. 

 Polystichum munitum Presl, Tent. Pter. 83. 1836. 



Rhizome stout, woody, ascending. Fronds several, 

 rigidly ascending in a crown, 30-140 cm. long ; stipes 

 stout, 5-60 cm. long, together with the rachis densely 

 paleaceous, the scales large, ascending, bright glossy 

 brown, often dark-centered, ovate to oblong-acu- 

 minate, with many small laciniate-ciliate ones inter- 

 spersed; blades linear-lanceolate, short-acuminate, 

 25-100 cm. long, 5-25 cm. broad, simply pinnate ; 

 pinnae very many, spreading, subfalcate. linear- 

 attenuate, strongly auriculate at the base above, 

 cuneate below, often very chaffy beneath, sharply 

 biserrate to incised, the teeth incurved, rigidly long- 

 aculeate ; sori large, borne in a close medial to sub- 

 marginal row, or sometimes in several crowded 

 rows; indusia papillose-dentate to long-ciliate ; leaf 

 tissue coriaceous, evergreen. 



Damp wooded slopes, chiefly in the Humid Transition 

 Zone; Alaska to northwestern Montana, northern Idaho, and 

 extreme southern California (Cuyamaca Mountains). Type 

 locality: California. Extremely variable. Attains its best 

 development in the Coast Ranges from the Santa Cruz Penin- 

 sula to Washington in a luxuriant form with thick, scurfy, 

 deeply serrate to incised, copiously fertile pinnae, known as 

 the variety inciso-serratum (D. C. Eaton) Underw. 



2a. Polystichum munitum imbricans 



( D. C. Eaton) Maxon. 



Imbricated Sword-fern. 



Asfidium munitum imbricans D. C. Eaton, 



tl. 25, f. 3. 1878. 

 Polystichum munitum imhricaits Maxon, Fern 



Fig. 



Ferns 

 Bull. 



19. 



N. Am. 1: 188. 



8: 30. 1900. 



Fronds small, 30-50 cm. long; stipes with a conspicuous 



basal tuft of lance-attenuate, glossy, castaneous scales, 



nearly naked above ; blades usually linear, the stout rachis 



naked with age ; pinnae crowded, obliquely imbricate, 



acutish, abruptly long-cuspidate; indusia rather thick, never 



ciliate. 



Open rocky slopes, mainly in the Canadian Zone; Vancouver 

 Island and eastern Washington to southern California; less common 

 than the typical form near the coast. A well-marked subspecies, con- 

 nected with the typical form by numerous intermediate specimens. 

 Type locality: Plumas County, California. 



3. Polystichum lemmoni Underw. 

 Lemmon's Shield- fern. Fig. 20. 



Polystichum lemmoni Underw. Nat. Ferns ed. 6, 116. 1900. 



Rhizomes tufted, ascending, stout, thickly covered with 

 old stipe-bases. Fronds ascending, 10-40 cm. long; stipes 

 3-15 cm. long, stramineous from a very paleaceous, brown- 

 ish liase, the scales mostly large, lanceolate to ovate- 

 acuminate, fulvous ; blades linear to narrowly lance-oblong, 

 acutish, 8-28 cm. long, 1.5-5 cm. broad, pinnate-pinnatifid ; 

 i pinnae numerous, usually imbricate (only the slightly re- 

 duced lower ones apart ) , deltoid-oblong to deltoid-ovate, 

 obtuse or rounded-acutish, pinnately divided at the base, 

 deeply lobed or (often) divided nearly to the tip, the 

 divisions close, spreading, trapeziform-ovate to obliquely 

 oval or obovate, obtuse, crenate or crenately lobed; mar- 

 gins crenulate-dentate ; sori borne on the apical pinnae, 

 large, close, 1 or several to the segment; indusia large, 

 thin, bullate, erose-dentate ; leaf tissue carnose, herbaceous 

 in drying, venose. 



Moist granitic soil, among loose rocks, Canadian and Hudsonian Zones; .Siskiyou and Trinity Counties, 

 northern California, and the Mount Stuart region, Washington; ascribed also to Alaska. Type locality: 

 vicinity of Mount Shasta, California. 



