SCHIZAEACEAE 



divisions, which are destitute of chlorophyll. Veins forked, regular and prominent. 

 Sporanges each opening by a longitudinal cleft into two halves. Spores green. 



Leaf-blades 2-pinnate, fertile at the apex. 1. 0. spectabilis. 



Leaf-blades 2-pinnatifid, wholly or partially fertile, or sterile. 



Leaflets of sterile leaf with a tuft of tomentum at the base ; fertile leaf normally 



distinct from sterile. 2. 0. cinnamomea. 



Leaflets of sterile leaf without a tuft of tomentum at the base ; leaves fertile in 



the middle. 3. 0. Claytoniana. 



1. Osmunda spectabilis Willd. Leaves several, clustered, 6-20 dm. high ; blades 

 2-pinnate. Leaflets 1.5-3 dm. long, 5-10 cm. wide, their segments oblong-ovate, or lance- 

 olate-oblong, sessile or slightly stalked, glabrous, finely serrulate, especially near the apex 

 and occasionally crenate towards the truncate oblique or cordate base : sporophylls linear- 

 cylindric, panicled, withering and shrivelling with age, greenish before maturity, but 

 becoming dark-brown after the spores have fallen. 



In swamps and marshes, New Brunswick to Nebraska, Florida and Mississippi. Also in Mexico. 

 Distinct from the European 0. regalis L. May-July. ROYAL FERN. 



2. Osmunda cinnamomea L. Kootstock widely creeping, bearing a cluster of 

 sterile leaves with one or several fertile ones within. Leaves erect or nearly so ; petioles 3 

 dm. long, or longer, clothed with ferruginous tomentum when young, glabrous when old ; 

 blades 3-12 dm. long, with merely a tuft of tomentum at the base of each leaflet ; leaflets 

 linear-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid into oblong obtuse segments : sporophyll 2-pinnate, con- 

 tracted, soon withering : sporanges cinnamon-colored after the numerous green spores have 

 been discharged. 



In wet places, Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Florida and Mexico. May-June. CINNAMON 

 FERN. Forms' occur with leaves variously intermediate between the sterile and fertile. 



3. Osmunda Claytoniana L. Eootstock bearing a cluster of ascending or arching 

 leaves, some usually partially fertile and taller than the sterile. Leaves 6-20 dm. long, 

 1.5-2.5 dm. wide; blades 2-pinnatifid; sterile leaflets linear-lanceolate, without tufts of 

 tomentum at the base, deeply cleft into oblong obtuse segments ; some of the leaf-blades 

 contracted at the middle and bearing 2-5 pairs of sporophylls with dense'cylindric divi- 

 sions greenish at first, afterward dark-brown. 



In moist or shaded places, Newfoundland to Minnesota, North Carolina and Missouri. May-July. 



FAMILY 3. SCHIZAEACEAE Eeichenb. CURLY-GRASS FAMILY. 



Plants various in habit, with simple or pinnate leaf-blades. Sporanges 

 borne in spikes or panicles, sessile, each provided with an apical ring opening 

 vertically by a longitudinal slit. 



Twining : sporanges in ample panicles in the upper portion of the leaf : leaflets palmate. 



1. LYGODIUM. 

 Erect : sporanges in panicles borne on the elongated lower leaflets. 2. ORNITHOPTERIS. 



1. LYGODIUM Sw. 



Twining or climbing plants. Leaves with the lower divisions sterile, variously 

 stalked and lobed, the fertile divisions terminal, panicled. Sporanges ovoid, solitary or 

 in twos, in the axils of imbricated scale-like indusia. Indusia fixed by their broad bases 

 to short oblique veinlets. 



1. Lygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw. Eootstock slender, horizontal. Leaves 

 ample ; petioles slender, flexible and twining; blades 4-10 dm. long, their short alternate 

 branches 2-forked, each fork bearing a nearly orbicular 4-7 -lobed leaflet, which is more or 

 less cordate at the base with a narrow sinus ; surfaces naked ; fertile leaflets contracted, 

 several times forked, forming terminal panicles : sporanges solitary. 



In moist thickets and open woods, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, to Pennsylvania, Tennessee 

 and Florida ; rare or local. Summer. CLIMBING FERN. 



2. ORNITHOPTERIS Bernh. 



Erect plants, with creeping or horizontal rootstocks. Leaves with the lower pair of 

 leaflets elongated and often overtopping the blade, bearing numerous panicles of sporanges 

 which are borne in two rows on the back of very narrow divisions. Veins free. [Anemia Sw. ] 



Leaf-blades simply pinnate. 1. Q. Mexicana. 



Leaf-blades pinnately decompound. 2. 0. adianttfolia. 



1. Ornithopteris Mexicana (Kl.) Underw. Leaf-blades 2-4 dm. long, on petioles 

 of equal length, with a large terminal leaflet and from 4-6 pairs of lateral ones ; leaflets 



