CANADIAN FILICINBiB. 173 



or at the basal sinus, free around the margin. Pinnae not articulated to the racliis. Frond often decom- 

 pound. 



t t t IiKhisimn fixed across the fertile veinlet at the lower dde of the sorus, ovate or roundish, very 

 delicate. Small ferns. 



15. CYSTOPÏEEIS. (Character of the subsection.) 



* * Sterile fronds foltaccous, the fertile frond uilh contracted and pod-lihe or herrij-like diridons. 



16. ONOCLEA. Sporangia on an elevated receptacle, which is half surrounded at the base by an obscure collar- 

 like indusium. 



Tribe ^'II. Woodsise. Sori round, borne on tlu^ veins ; indusium fixed beneath the sori, saucor-shaped and 

 long-ciliate, or at first globose and at length breaking into several segments. 



17. AVOODSIA. Small ferns with free veins. 



ÏB1BE A'lII. Dlcksoniesc. Sori roundish, marginal or .submarginal. Indusium cujhshaped or two-valved 

 its outer part composed of a reflexed lobe of the frond, or more or less united with it. 

 IS. DICKSONIA. Indusium in our species small, nearly globular, membranaceous. Frond nillier large, elong 

 ated, decompound. 



Subm-der 2. Schizjîacejs. Sporangia variously placed, globose or acorn-shaped, opening longitudinally; the 

 ring an apical cap of cells radiating from a central point or minute circular space. 



19. SCHIZ.EA. Sporangia aftaclied basally in two or four rows on the narrow divisions of little pinnate (rarely 

 digitate) terminal appendages of the simi)le or dichotomous fronds. C'elKs of the ring radiating from a 

 circular space. 



Suborder 3. Osmuxdaceje. Sporangia naked, globose, .short-pedicelled, reticulated, opening into two valves by a 

 longitudinal slit and having only a vestige of a transverse ring near the apex. Large ferns, the bases of the 

 stalks dilated into stipuliform appendages. 



20. OSMUNDA. Sporangia borne on the thread-like di\'i.sions of a separate frond or of a special part of a frond; 

 the fruit-bearing portion normally destitute of green colouring matter. 



Order.— OPHIOGI-OSSACE.E, Lindl. 



Genus I.— OPHIOGLOSSUM, L., Addeb's-tongue. 



1. — O. VULGATUM, L., (Common Adder's-tongue), Michx., Fl. Bor.-Am., 11, 2Y5. Pursh, 

 IL, 6*75. Swartz, Syu. Fil., 169. Gray, Man., G12. Eaton, Ferns of N. A., II, 261. 

 Underwood, Our Nat. Ferns, etc., 70. Lawson, Can. Nat., I, 293. Macoun's Cat., No. 

 2341. 



This plant, easily overlooked in the grass of low meadows where it is usually found, 

 is one which once seen, with its long stalked spike rising from the single loaf-like barren 

 segment, can never be mistaken for anything else. Occasionally it is found in woods, and 

 sometimes on dry hillsides. In height it ranges from 6 to 12 inches, and though /leshy is 

 non-evergreen. Root-stock slender, erect or rarely creeping, giving off fleshy horizontal 

 roots ; sterile segment sessile near the middle of the plant, from 1 to 4 inches long, smooth, 

 entire, oblong-ovate or elliptical in outline, obtuse, and narrowed at the base ; fertile spike 

 usually about an inch in length, apiculate, long-stalked, and much overtopping the sterile 

 segment. 



O. vulgatum as a rule does not vary much, but occasionally the sterile segment is acute, 

 is perfectly round, or is not exceeded by the fertile, while sometimes a rootstock bears a 

 second frond, or, according to Prof Eaton, one of the roots may produce an adventitious 

 bud and originate a new plant at some little distance from the old one. 



Adder's-tongue was formerly extolled as the principal ingredient in an ointment 



