FILICES. (FERNS.) 599 
obtuse ; the lower basal ones in large fronds often elongated and pinnatifid ; fer- 
tile frond distinct, contracted, bipinnate, very woolly, densely covered with cin- 
namon-colored sporangia, withering before the sterile fronds are expanded. — 
Low grounds, Florida, and northward. — Fronds 1? -3° high. 
22. BOTRYCHIUM, Swartz Moonworr. 
Fronds mostly solitary, erect from a root of thickened fleshy fibres ; the termi- 
nal branch fertile, pinnately decompound, bearing on its narrow divisions the 
large coriaceous, transversely 2-valved sporangia; the lateral branch sterile, with 
forking free veins. 
1. B. Virginicum, Swartz. Stem tall; sterile part of the frond sessile, 
broadly triangular, ternately 3 -4-pinnate ; ultimate segments oblong-lanceolate, 
thin and delicate, toothed and incised ; fertile part long-stalked, 2-3-pinnate, — 
Shady woods, Florida, and northward. — Fronds 4! - 2? high. 
2. B. lunarioides, Swartz. Stem low; sterile part of the frond mostly 
long-stalked, broadly triangular, 2 — 4-pinnate; ultimate segments of a thick and 
fleshy texture, roundish, ovate, oblong or lanceolate, entire, toothed, incised, or 
even dissected into very narrow lobes; fertile part taller than the sterile, ovate, 
2-3-pinnate. (B. fumarioides, Willd. B. “iia: and B. dissectum, Muhl.) 
— Low shady woods and pastures, rarely in open pine-barrens, Florida, and 
northward. — Fronds 3! - 10! high, the succulent stem divided down to the sur- 
face of the ground, or even lower. x 
23. OPHIOGLOSSUM, L.  ApDpER's-TONGUE. 
Fronds mostly solitary, with short and often thickened rootstocks, and fleshy 
fibrous roots ; sporangia large, coriaceous, opening transversely, connate, arranged 
in compact simple 2-ranked spikes, proceeding variously from the mostly simple 
sterile part of the frond. Veins reticulated. 
1. O. vulgatum, L. Sterile part of the frond ovate or oblong-oval, ob- 
tuse, sessile near the middle of the stem, without a midrib ; fertile spike terminal, 
long- peduncled ; rootstock short, erect; roots fibrous, spreading horizontally. — 
Insphagnous meadows and pastures, Tennessee, and northward. — Fronds 4/- 
10' high. — The following are probably but forms of this widely diffused and 
variable species. 
— Var. crotalophoroides. Smaller; sterile part of the frond near the base 
of the stem, ovate, abruptly contracted at the base and slightly petioled ; spike 
short and thick; rootstock bulbous; roots slender. (O. crotalophoroides, Wal- 
ter. O. bulbosum, Michx. ) — Low pam Florida to Louisiana. — Fronds 3/- 
6’ high. 
~i nudicaule.. Small, sterile part of the frond near the base of the stem, 
ovate or oblong, acute, narrowed into a short petiole ; spike linear acuminate ; 
rootstock bulbous; roots coarse. (O. nudicaule, Z. f. O. ellipticum, Hook. § 
Gres.) —Low dada or oci GBA e 
