FERN FAMILY. 367 



truncate or rounded base, acuminate, nearly entire ; those of the fertile frond 

 narrower ; fruit-dots slightly cun'ed, very numerous. 



§ 4. Fronds more than once pinnate. 

 * Fruit-dots more than one in each smallest division of the frond. 



A. Ruta-murkria, Wall-Rue. On exposed cliffs of limestone, from 

 Vermont W. & S. : fronds small, l'-4' long, ovate, twice or thrice pinnate, 

 the few divisions rather thickish, wedge-shaped or rhomboid, toothed at the 

 top ; fruit-dots few, becoming confluent. 



A. furc^tum. Cult, from Trop. America, S. Africa, &c. : fronds 8' -1.5' 

 long, 3' -6' wide, on a somewhat hairy stalk, ovate-lanceolate, pinnate with 

 lance-oblong acuminate pinnte, which are again pinnateiy cut nearly or quite to 

 the midrib ; divisions oblique, wedge-shaped, narrow, serrate, rather coriaceous, 

 deeply marked by the forking veins ; fruit-dots elongated, radiating from the 

 base of the division. 



A. thelypteroides. In rich rocky woods, not rare : fronds l^°-3° high, 

 thin in texture, broadly lanceolate, pinnate; pinnaj 3' -6' long, lanceolate, 

 deeply pinnatifid into close-set oblong and obtuse minutely toothed lobes ; fruit- 

 dots 6-12 to each lobe, some of them commonly double. 



A. Pilix-fcBmina, Lady-Fern. Common in moist woods : fronds large 

 (2° -3° high, 4' -8' broad), growing like the last in a crown, 2-3-pinnate; 

 pinnae lanceolate, with a narrow bordar to the secondary rhachis : pinnules 

 oblong and sharply serrate, or in larger plants lanceolate and pinnatifid with 

 incised lobes ; fruit-dots short, variously curved, at length confluent. 



* * Smallest divisions of the frond narrow, entire, containing but a single veinlet 

 and but one fruit-dot. 



A. Bel^ngeri. Cult, from Malacca and Java: fi-onds 1°-1^° high, 

 2' -3' wide, coriaceous, pale green, as is the stoutish stalk; pinna; oblong, 

 truncate at the base, with a rounded apex, pinnatifid to the winged midrib into 

 numerous narrowly oblong and obtuse lobes, the upper basal ones of each pinna 

 2 - 3-cleft, the rest entire and bearing on the side farthest from the main rhachis 

 a solitary elongated fruit-dot. 



A. myriophyllura. Limestone caves in Jackson Co., Florida : fronds 

 delicate, almost translucent, lanceolate, ri'-g'long, l'-2' wide, 2-3-pinnate; 

 smallest divisions obovate-oblong, 2" -3" long, ^" wide; fruit-dot in the lower 

 half of each division. 



A. bulbiferum. Cult, from New Zealand, &c : fronds herbaceous, ample, 

 broadly lanceolate, l°-3° long, 6'- 12' wide, 2-3-pinnate, often producing 

 leafy bulbs on the upper surface ; pinna; tnauLnilar-lanceolate, with a broadly 

 winged midrib ; pinnules lanceolate, deeply toothed or cut into oblong-linear 

 lobes ; fruit-dots extending from the middle of the lobes downward almost to 

 the midrib of the pinnules. 



12. SCOLOPENDRIITM. (Name from the Greek word for a centipede, 

 suggested by the many oblique lines of fruit each side of the midrib.) 



S. VUlg^re, Hart's-tongue. Rare, among shaded rocks in Central New 

 York and in Canada West; fronds 6'- 18' long, l'-2' wide, oblong-lanceolate 

 from a heart-shaped base, herbaceous, the margin entire or wavy. Cultivated 

 forms from England are crisped, crested, many-forked, &c. 



13. CAMPTOSORUS, WALKING-LEAF. (Name from the Greek, 

 meaning a hr'nt heap, referring to the curved and angled fruit-dots.) Almost 



the only species is 



C. rhizoph;^llus. Damp mossy rocks N. & S., mainly along the moun- 

 tains : froiul 4'- 12' long, tapering from a heart-shaped or auricled base 6"- 12" 

 wide to a long narrow point, which often roots at the end, and there gives rise 

 to a new plant, ready to take another step in advance. 



14. PHEGOPTERIS, BEECH-FERN (which the name means in Greek, 

 the original species often found among beeches). Chiefly tropical; but the 

 following are all wild species, in rocky or shady woods. 



