636 LXV. MARSILEACEZ. y AZOLLA. 
growing in woods, Meriden, N. H.! It bears a general resemblance to B. Lu- 
naria of Europe, but is quite distinct from that species. Height 5—8’. Frond 
920” long, } as wide; segments 3—4 pairs, oblong, obtuse, erosely or incisely 
dentate. Panicle subsimple, often larger than the fronds. Thece 2-valved. Jl. 
B. simpLex. Hitchcock. 
Stipe bearing the frond above; frond ternate, pinnatifid; segments cune- 
ate-obovate, incised, unequal; spike subcompound, unilateral, interrupted— | 
Grows in dry, hilly pastures, Ms. f Frond sheathed at base, with a lacerate 
membrane, nearly simple, divided into3 or more segments which are 1—2’ 
long, often much dissected. Stipe or scape 3—6’ high. Thece sessile. Jn. 
3. B. Vircinicum. (B. gracile. P.) Rattlesnake Ferm p 
Stipe with a single frond in the middle; frond twice and thrice pinnate, 
the lowest pair of pinne springing from the base; ultimate segments obtuse, 
somewhat 3-toothed ; spikes decompound; plant subpilose—A beautiful fern, 
the largest of its genus, in low woods. Stipe or scape 1—2f high, bearing the 
frond about halfway up. This is apparently ternate, the lower pair of divi- 
sions arising from the base. It is almost tripinnate, the ultimate segments 
being decurrent and more or less confluent at base, with 3—5 cut serratures. 
Panicle terminal, 3—6/ long, reddish-tawny. June, July. 
4. B. rumariéipes. Willd. (B. obliquum. Dee 
Scape bearing the frond near the base; frond in 3 bipinnatifid divisions ; 
segments obliquely lanceolate, crenulate; spikes bipinnate.—Native of shady 
woods and pastures. Frond almost radical; of a triangular outline, 3—5’ long 
and wide, of a stouter texture than the last, distinctly petiolate. Scape thick, 
8—12’ high, bearing a tawny, compound panicle 2—4’ in length, composed of 
numerous little 2-ranked spikes. Aug. 
B. dissectum. Oakes. (B. dissectum. Willd.) Frond near the base of the 
scape, more numerously dissected, almost tripinnatifid. 
Orver CLXV. MARSILEACE Al.—Peprerworts. 
Plants stemless, creeping or floating. —_ , : yeas : 
Leaves veiny, usually petiolate, often sessile and scale-like, sometimes destitute of a lamina. _ 
Reproductive organs of two kinds; the one compound, the other simple, oval, radical bodies separate 
from or mixed with the first, with many cells. 
Genera 4, species 20? inhabiting ditches and inundated places in nearly all countries, but chiefly in 
temperate latitudes. 
; 1 SALVINIA. Micheli. 
In honor of Salvini, professor of Greek at Florence. 
Stamens? jointed hairs on the stalks of the ovary; ovary nearly 
sessile, among the roots, hairy, 1—5, opening at top; fruit capsular, 
covered with bristly hairs, containing reproductive bodies of two kinds, 
one kind globular, the other oblong. 
S. natans. Willd. (Marsilea natans. Linn. 
Leaves opposite, arranged in two rows upon the rhizoma, elliptical, entire, 
subcordate at base, obtuse at apex, clothed with fascicles of hairs above; ova- 
ries or fruit nearly globose, aggregated in subsessile clusters on the rhizoma, 
submersed.—Q) Floating, like a Lemna, in lakes and other still waters, West- 
ern N. Y. and Can. Leaves nearly an inch long, of fine green. The plant is 
quite rare. 
2, AZOLULA. Lam. 
Gr. a2, tomake dry, od vpt, to kill; as the plants speedily die when taken from the water. 
Stamens? capillary; reproductive organs in pairs or numerous, of 
two kinds, the one of two transverse cells, the upper containing seve- 
ral angular, stalked bodies, the other stipitate, numerous, globose, 1- 
celled, enclosed in an ovate, close inyolucre, and containing several 
angular spores. oe 
