riLICL-S. (ferns.) 601 



* # Sterile fronds once pinnate ; the pinna deeply pinnatiftd ; the lobes entire. 



2. O. Claytomsklia, L. Clothed with loose wool when unfolding, soon 

 perfectly smooth (2° -3° high) ; jnnna oblong-lanceolate, with ohlong obtuse 

 divisions; some (2-5 pairs) of the middle pinna fertile, these entirely pinnate ; 

 sporangia greenish turning brown. (0. interrupta, Miclix., <J-c.) — Low grounds ; 

 common. May : fruiting as it unfolds. — This, being Clayton's plant (as I as- 

 certained in 1839, both from the Claytonian and Linntean herbaria), must bear 

 the original Limuean name, though wrongly described, from young specimens in 

 which the fructification was thought to be terminal. 



3. O. ciaiiiailiomea, L. (Cinnamon-Fern.) Clothed with rusty 

 woo! when young; sterile fronds smooth when full grown, the lanceolate pinnce 

 pinnatifid into broadly oblong obtuse divisions ; fertile fronds separate, from the 

 same rootstock, contracted, 2-pinnatc, covered with the cinnamon-colored spo- 

 rangia. — Var. fkondosa is a rare occasional state, in which some of the fronds 

 are sterile below and more sparsely fertile at their summit. (0. Claytoniana, 

 Conrad, not of L.) — Rarely such fronds are fertile in the middle, otherwise 

 sterile. — Swamps and low copses ; everywhere. May. — Growing in large 

 bunches ; the fertile fronds in the centre, perfecting fruit as they unfold, 1° - 2° 

 long, decaying long before the sterile fronds (at length 4° -5° high) get their 

 growth. 



Suborder III. OPHIOGLOSSEjE. The Adder-Toxgue Fam. 



19. BOTBYCIIIUM, Swartz. Moonwort. (Tab. 13.) 



Frond teniately or pinnately divided or compound, rising straight from the 

 roots (of strong clustered and thickened fibres) ; the lateral division sterile, with 

 forking free veins, the terminal one wholly fertile : spike contracted, the spikes 

 pinnatelv panicled. Sporangia sessile, clustered but distinct, rather coriaceous, 

 veinless, transversely 2-valved, shedding the copious powdery sulphur-colored 

 6pores. (Name a diminutive of /3drpvs, a cluster of grapes, from the appearance 

 of the fruitful fronds.) 



1. B. lusiarioiclcs, Swartz. Sterile frond petioled, from near the base, 

 2-3-ternate, or the ultimate divisions often pinnate or pinnately parted, broadly 

 triangular in general outline ; the lobes or divisions obovate, somewhat kidney- 

 shaped, roundish, or oblong, somewhat crenate ; fcrti'c stalk 3' -6' high; fruc- 

 tification mostly 2-pinnate. (Botrypus lunarioides, Michx. Botrychium fuma- 

 rioides & matricarioides, Wilkl.) — Dry, rich wcods, mostly southward. July. 

 — A state, from Hingham, Mass. ( C. J. Spragui), has the two lateral primary 

 divisions of the sterile frond changed into long-stalked fertile fronds. (Eu.) 



Var. ©foBsquiflm (B. obliqaum, MM.) is mostly larger (C -17' high) ; 

 the fertile frond more compound ; the sterile with oblong or lanceolate divisions, 

 either obtuse or oblique at the base, nearly entire, toothed, or irregularly pin- 

 natifid. — New England to Wisconsin, and southward; rather scarce. 



Var. diss&ctum (B. disscctum, MM.). Divisions of the sterile frond 

 compoundly and laciniately cut into narrow small lobes and teeth : otherwise, as 

 the last, into which it passes, and with which it grows. 



51 



