I. PTERIDOPHYTA Ferns and Fern Allies 

 #*fiWJ (Yang Ch'ih Chih Wu Men) 



Vascular plants bearing asexual spores on the leaves, in the axils of leaves, in 

 strobili, or in sporocarps. 



Treatment of Pteridophyta contributed by Charles E. DeVol. 



1. EQUISETACEAE Horsetail or Scouring Rush Family -fcW& (Mu Tse K'o) 



Rush-like perennial plants from underground rhizomes; aerial stems jointed and 

 hollow, simple or branched, grooved; surfaces of the stems overlaid with silica in the 

 form of dots, cross-bands, rosettes or a smooth covering; the internodes usually having 

 a large central cavity (centrum), a smaller cavity under each groove (vallecular), and 

 a very small cavity under each ridge (carinal): stomata in broad bands or regular 

 rows in the grooves: leaves scale like, at the nodes, very small, united to form a sheath: 

 branches, when present, one or two at each node, or in whorls: strobilus terminal: 

 sporangia borne on peltate sporangiophores : spores of one kind, each with four elaters. 

 One genus. 



1. Equisetum Linn. yfcMS (Mu Tse Shu; Wood Thief Genus) 

 Characters of the family. 23 species. (Latin: equus, horse; seta, bristle.) 



Key to the Species 



Sterile stems with 6-12 branches at each node; fertile stems unbranched, 



without chlorophyll 1. E. arvense 



Fertile and sterile stems alike, unbranched or with 1-4 branches at 



some of the nodes 2. E. ramosissimum 



1. Equisetum arvense Linn. Field Horsetail ^^^ (Pi Kuan Ts'ao) (Fa. B. 9:132) 

 Sterile stem 10-45 cm. high; fr. early spring; centrum l/3diam. Temperate and 

 arctic Eurasia and North America; locally in An., Hun., Ku. Roadsides. 



2. Equisetum ramosissimum Desf. Branched Horsetail gfrfff j£ (Chieh Chieh Ts'ao. 

 (Fa. B. 9:129) Sterile stem 20-80 cm. high; fr. VIII-X; centrum 1/2 to 4/5 of diam) 

 Asia, Africa, Europe; locally in An., Che., Hun., Ki., Ku. Roadsides, dikes. Fig. 1. 



2. LYCOPODIACEAE Club-Moss Family ^fe^f (Shih Sung K'o) 



Spores of one kind, borne in large reniform or nearly round sporangia; walls of 

 the sporangia 2 or 3 layers of cells thick. Two genera with about 700 species, one 

 (Phylloglossum) monotypic; one genus in China. 



1. Lycopodium Linn. S"fcfl| (Shih Sung Shu) 



Low, evergreen, trailing or erect plants of woodlands and barren fields: Ivs. uniform, 

 small, lanceolate, crowded on the brg. stems: sporangia large, reniform, in axils of 

 ordinary lvs., or subspherical and in terminal strobili: spores of one kind. About 700 

 species. (Greek: lycas, wolf, and pons, foot; perhaps referring to the branching rhizomes 

 of some species.) 



Key to the Species 

 Sporangia in strobili. 

 Strobili sessile, less than 1 cm. long 1. L. cernuum 



23 



