BoTRYCHiuM. CLXIV. FILICES. G35 



long, rather acute, entire ; some of the intermediate leaflets fertile. — A large 

 fern in low grounds. Fronds 2 — 3f high, light green, interrupted near the mid- 

 dle by 2 — 4 pairs of fertile leaflets, which are so much contracted in size as to 

 resemble dense, compound racemes, and densely covered with small reddish- 

 brown thecae. Stipe channeled, smooth above, chaffy at base. June. 



14. LYGODIUM. Swartz. 



Gt. \vyo}Sti, flexible, slender; from the slender, climbing habit. 



Thecae sessile, arranged in 2-ranked spikelets issuing from the 

 margin of the frond, opening on the inner side from the base to the 

 summit ; indusium a scale-like veil covering each theca. 



L. PALMATUM. Sw. Climbing Fern. 



Stem flexuous, climbing ; fronds conjugate, palmate, 5-lobed, lobes entire, 

 obtuse ; spikelets oblong-linear, from the upper fronds, which are divided and 

 contracted into a compound spike.— This is one of the few ferns with climbing 

 stems, and the only one found in the U. S. Plant of a slender and delicate 

 structure, smooth. Stem 3— 4f long. Stipes alternate on the stem, forked, 

 supporting a pair of fronds which are palmately divided into 5 — 9 segments. 

 Fertile fronds terminal, numerously subdivided into linear-oblong segments or 

 spikelets, with the fruit in 2 rows on the back. Mass. ! to Penn., &c. July. 



15. SCHIZiEA. Smith. 



Gr. o-vi^w, to cut, cleave ; alluding to the many-cleft spikes. 



Spikes unilateral, flabelliform, aggregate ; thecae roundish, radiate 

 at top, sessile, bursting laterally ; indusium continuous, formed of the 

 inflexed margins of the spikes. 



S. pusiLLA. Pursh. (S. tortuosa. Muhl.'^ 



Frond simple, linear, tortuous; spikes tew, crowded at the top of a long, 

 slender stipe or scape. — A very delicate fern, found in the pine barrens, Q-uaker 

 Bridge, N. J., also in Western N. Y. by Mr. Timothy Wcslmore ! Fronds nu- 

 merous, ceespitose, 2—3' long, *— 1" wide. Fertile stipes several, 3—6' high, 

 filiform, with a few short, unilateral spikelets at top arranged in 2 rows. 

 ThecEe somewhat turbinate, in 2 rows on the inner side of each spikelet. Aug. 

 Tribe 3. OPHIOGLOSSE^.— Thecae 1-celled, adnate at base, subglobose, 

 coriaceous, opaque, half-2-valved, not cellular, and destitute of a ring. 

 16. OPHIOGLOSSUM. 



Gr. o(pts, a serpent, yXoo-o-o, tongue; from the resemblance. 



Thecse roundish, opening transversely, connate, arranged in a 

 2-ranked, articulated spike. 



0. VULGATUM. Adder's Tongue. 



Fi-ond simple, obloug-ovate,''obtuse, closely reticulated; spike caulme.-— A 

 curious little plant in low grounds. Fronds solitary, 2 — 3' long, i as wide, 

 amplexicaul, entire, smooth, without a midvein, situated upon the stem or stipe 

 a little below the middle. Stipe 6—10' high, terminating in a lance-linear, 

 compressed spike, 1—2' long, with the thecae arranged in 2, close, margmal 

 ranks. Thecae opening outwards and horizontally, becoming lunate, dislmct, 

 straw-colored. Vernation straight, not circinate.- June. 

 17. BOTRYCHIUM. Swartz. 



Gr. Porpvi, a claster of grapes ; from the resemblance of the fructification. 



Thecse subglobose, 1-celled, 2-valved, distinct, coriaceous, smooth, 

 adnate to the compound rachis of a racemose panicle ; valves open- 

 ing transversely. 



1. B. NEGLECTUM. Wood. Merlden Botrychium. 



Stipe bearing the frond near the top ; frond simply pinnate, very short, 

 with subentire or subpinnatifid segments ; spikes paniculate.— A singular species, 

 54 



