22 



POLYPODIACEAE 



11. CRYPTOGRAMMA R. Br. In Richards. Bot. App. Frankl. Journ. 767. 



1823. 



Small, mainly alpine or boreal ferns of rocky situations. Fronds dimorphous, in most 

 species numerous and densely clustered upon stout ascending rhizomes, the stipes pale, not 

 articulate ; blades glabrous, 2-3-pinnate, herbaceous, the sterile ones foliaceous, with numer- 

 ous, crowded, rather small, flat, obtuse segments, the fertile ones on longer stalks, with fewer, 

 narrower, copiously soriferous segments. Sori marginal or submarginal, in a continuous 

 line at the free ends of the forked veins, confluent ; indusia continuous, formed of the broadly 

 revolute or reflexed, modified margin of the lilade. [Name Greek, alluding to the sori hidden 

 before maturity.] 



Five species, the following, 1 in Chile, and 2 of Eurasia. Type species, C. acrostichoidcs R. Br. 



Rhizomes stout, ascending, in massive tufts; fronds very numerous, clustered; Ijlades herbaceous. 



1. C. acrostichoides. 

 Rhizomes very slender, creeping; fronds few, scattered; blades membranous, very translucent. 



2. C. stelleri. 



1. Cryptogramma acrostichoides R. Br. 



American Parsley-fern. 



Fig. 41. 





Cryptogramma acrostichoides R. Br. in Richards. Bot. A]>\). Frankl. 

 Journ. 767. 1823. 



Rhizomes short-creeping or ascending, in massive tufts, 

 chafify ; scales lance-ovate, attenuate, rusty to dark brown, 

 or striped. Fronds very numerous, closely clustered, the 

 fertile ones 10-30 cm. long, erect, long-stalked, usually 

 much surpassing the short-stalked spreading sterile ones ; 

 stipes deciduously scaly below, those of the sterile fronds 

 slender and greenish, and of the fertile ones stouter and 

 stramineous; sterile blades ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 3-12 

 cm. long, 2-3-pinnate, the rachises compressed, greenish- 

 marginate ; pinnae few, mostly close, the ultimate segments 

 crowded, ovate, oblong, or obovate, obtuse, crenate or in- 

 cised, decurrent, herbaceous, glabrous ; fertile blades sim- 

 pler, the segments fewer, linear-oblong, 6-12 mm. long, 

 about 2 mm. broad, the thin margins widely revolute, 

 nearly meeting, at length expanded ; sporangia broadly 

 confluent. 



Cliffs and rock-slopes, Canadian and Hudsonian Zones; Alaska 

 to Labrador, southward in the high mountains to southern California 

 (San Bernardino County), Nevada, Utah, northern New Mexico, 

 and the northern shores of Lake Huron. Type locality: Nootka 

 Sound. 





2. Cryptogramma stelleri (S. G. Gmel.) Prantl. 

 Slender Cliff-brake. Fig-. 42. 



Ptcris stelleri S. G. Gmel. Nov. Comm. Acad. Sci. Petrop. 12: 519. 



/>/. 12, f. 1. 1768. 

 Ptevis gracilis Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 262. 1803. 

 Pcllaca gracilis Hook. Sp. Fil. 2: 138. pi. 133. B. 1858. 

 Pellaca stelleri Baker in Hook. & Baker, Syn. Fil. 453. 1868. 



Rhizomes very slender, cordlike, creeping ; scales few. 

 pale, ovate, appressed. Fronds few, scattered, drooping, 

 8-20 cm. long, the fertile ones exceeding the sterile; stipes 

 slender, usually longer than the blades, stramineous or 

 yellowish brown from a glossy castaneous base; blades 

 ovate or oblong-ovate, 4-10 cm. long, 2-5 cm. broad, 2-pin- 

 nate ; pinnae few, the larger ones with pinnately divided 

 basal pinnules ; segments of the sterile blades ovate to 

 obovate, cuneate, crenately lobed, adnate-decurrent, those 

 of the fertile blades longer (up to 2 cm.), linear-oblong 

 to lanceolate, mostly acute, distant ; indusium membranous, 

 concealing the sporangia ; leaf tissue delicately membra- 

 nous, translucent, the veins conspicuous. 



Moist shaded cliffs (usually limestone), Canadian and Transition 

 Zones; Alaska to Labrador and eastern Cjuebec, south to Washing- 

 ton (Wenatchee Mountains), Montana, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, and 

 Pennsylvania; also in Asia. Type locality: Siberia. 



