OSMUNDACEAE 3 



4. Botrychfum Virginianum (L. ) Sw. Plant 2-6 dm. high, the stem slender but 

 fleshy. Leaf-blade nearly or quite sessile above the middle of the stem, spreading, thin, 

 ternate with the primary 'divisions pinnate or 2-pinnate and the segments 1-2-pinnatifid } 

 ultimate segments oblong, more or less toothed near the apex ; epidermal cells flexuous i 

 sporophyll long-stalked, 2-3-pinnate : bud for the following year pilose, enclosed in a 

 glabrous cavity at one side of the lower part of the stem : sporophyll recurved its whole 

 length, the leaf reclined upon it in vernation. 



In woods, Nova Scotia to British Columbia, Florida and Arizona. Also in Europe and Asia. Spring 



Order 2. FILICALES. 



Terrestrial aquatic or epiphytic plants, various in habit. Sporanges devel- 

 oped from the epidermal tissues, on the back or margin of the leaf-blades, or in 

 panicles formed from modified leaves. Spores of one sort. Prothallia with 

 chlorophyll, flat, terrestrial. 



Leaves with filmy translucent blades : sporanges sessile on a filiform receptacle. 



Fam. 1. HYMENOPHYLLACEAE. 

 Leaves with herbaceous or leathery blades : sporanges on normal or 



modified leaf-blades. 

 Sporanges in panicles or spikes. 



Sporanges nearly globose, with a rudimentary ring. Fam. 2. OSMUNDACEAE. 



Sporanges ovoid or pyriform, with a complete apical ring. Fam. 3. SCHIZAEACEAE. 



Sporanges borne on the back or margin of a leaf-blade. 



Sporanges scattered, globose, with a more or less complete broad 



ring, opening vertically : aquatic. Fam. 4. CERATOPTERIDACEAE. 



Sporanges arranged in sori, with a complete ring, opening trans- 

 versely : terrestrial or epiphytic. Fam. 5. POLYPODIACEAE. 



FAMILY 1. HYMENOPHYLLACEAE Gaud. FILMY FERN FAMILY. 



Membranous, mostly small ferns with filiform or slender creeping or hori- 

 zontal rootstocks. Leaf-blades usually much divided. Sporanges sessile on a 

 filiform usually elongated receptacle, surrounded by a transverse ring which 

 opens vertically. 



1. TRICHOMANES L. 



Delicate filmy plants. Leaves usually with much divided blades. Keceptacle slender- 

 filiform, surrounded by a tubular or funnel-shaped indusium which is truncate or slightly 

 2-lipped. 



Leaf-blades entire or slightly pinnatifid, 6-24 mm. long. 1. T. Peter&ii. 



Leaf-blades 2-3-pinnatifid, 8-27 cm. long. 2. T. Boschianum. 



1. Trichomanes Pet&rsii A. Gray. Rootstocks widely creeping. Leaves with a 

 few black hairs along the margins when young ; blades entire, or slightly pinnatifid, 6-24 

 mm. long, 2-4 mm. wide, on a stalk 2-4 mm. long : indusium solitary, terminal, funnel- 

 form, expanded and slightly 2-lipped at the mouth : receptacle mostly included. 



Under moist rocks, Winston and Etowah Counties, Alabama, and in Georgia and Mississippi. 



2. Trichomanes Boschianum Sturm. Rootstocks wiry, tomentose. Leaves erect or 

 ascending ; petioles 2.5-7.5 cm. long, naked or nearly so ; blades 5-20 cm. long, 1.5-3.3 

 cm. wide, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2-3-pinnatifid : leaflets ovate, obtuse, the upper 

 side of the cuneate base parallel or appressed to the narrowly winged rachis ; segments 

 toothed or cut into linear divisions : indusia terminal on short lobes, 1-4 on a segment, 

 slightly 2-lipped at the mouth : receptacle partially exserted. [T. radwans A. Gray, not Sw. ] 



On wet rocks, Kentucky to Alabama and Florida. Also widely distributed in the tropics. 



FAMILY 2. OSMUNDACEAE R. Br. CINNAMON FERN FAMILY. 



Large plants, with stout often erect rootstocks. Leaves coiled in vernation : 

 blades 1-2 pinnate : veins free, mostly forked, running to the margins of the 

 leaflets or lobes. Sporanges large, globose, with no ring or mere traces of a 

 transverse ring of thick-walled cells, borne on modified contracted leaflets, or in 

 clusters (sori) on the lower surface of the leaflets. 



1. OSMUNDA L. 



Swamp plants, growing in large crowns, with the fertile (spore-bearing) portions very 

 much contracted, the short-pedicelled naked sporanges on the margins of their rachis-like 



