CLASS CRYPT.0GAMIA. Jll 



small clusters of capsules) are nearly round, and scat- 

 tered without any regard to order ; they are, likewise, 

 without the protecting scale or involucrum so distinct in 

 Aspidium, or the Shield Fern, whose sori are 

 likewise roundish or elliptical and scattered, but, at 

 first, defended by an umbilicate or centrically attach- 

 ed common scale or involucrum, which either opens 

 all round, or only partially, and then appears reni- 

 form or kidney-shaped. Of the genus Aspidium there 

 are 13 or 14 species in the United States, some of 

 them common to Europe, and they are generally the 

 most frequent Ferns we meet with. 



The most common Brake, however, both in Europe 

 and North America, is the species of Pteris called P. 

 aquilina, bearing a large solitary branching frond, and 

 having, according to the genus, the sori forming a 

 continued marginal line, and with the scaly involucum 

 simply formed of the inflected margin of the frond, 

 and opening inwards. 



In Adiantum (Maiden hair) the sori are likewise 

 marginal, but somewhat oblong, and not continuous, 

 merely terminating the edge of each distinct lobe ; the 

 involucrum is similar and likewise opens inwards. 



Capsules destitute of the ring. 



In this section you will find the Osmunda, or Flow- 

 ering Fern (O. regalis), a large and very elegant spe- 

 cies, common in most of our dark swamps, with twice 

 pinnated fronds, terminating in panicles or branches 

 entirely devoted to the production of the conspicuous 

 capsules, which are globular, pedicellated, striate, and 

 only half way divided into 2 valves. There is no in- 

 volucrum. Another very common species, in similar 

 situations with the preceding, is the O. interrupta (In- 

 terrupted flowered Osmunda). This species grows in 



