DESCKIPTIVE FLORA 



PTERIDOPHYTES 

 1. OPHIOGLOSSACEAE Presl. ADDER'S-TONGUE FAMILY 



Leafy plants; the leaves (fronds) simple or branched, erect in vernation. 

 Spores of one kind, borne in special spikes or panicles in sporangia (without 

 an elastic ring) which are formed by groups of cells in the interior of the fruit- 

 ing segments of the frond. Prothallia underground, destitute of cholorophyll. 



1. BOTRYCHIUM Swartz. GRAPE FERX. MOONWORT 



Fronds with a posterior pinnatifid or compound sterile segment and an an- 

 terior panicled fertile segment, the separate sporangia in a double row on the 

 branches of the panicle. Bud inclosed in the base of the stalk. 



Leaf borne above the middle of the stem. 



Leaf near the middle of the stem, its lobes lunate or fan-shaped . 1. B. Lunaria. 



Leaf near the summit of the stem, triangular . . . . 2. B. lanceolatum. 

 Leaf borne near the base of the stern. 



Bporophyll simple, often much reduced . . . . . . 3. B. simplex. 



Sporophyll multipinnate . . . . . . . . 4. B. Coulteri. 



1. Botrychium Lunaria (L.) Sw. Schrad. Journ. Bot. 2: 110. 1800. Plant 

 1-3 dm. high, very fleshy: leaf rising near the middle of the stem, pinnate with 

 2-8 pairs of lunate or fan-shaped lobes which vary from crenate to entire, over- 

 lapping each other or somewhat distant: sporophyll 2 3-pinnate, often dense, 

 2-4 cm. long; in vernation apex of leaf bent over sporophyl). Colorado, north 

 to Canada and thence across the continent. 



2. Botrychium lanceolatum (Gmel.) Augs. Bot. Notiser 1854: 68. Plant 

 5-25 cm. high, scarcely fleshy: leaf sessile near the summit, deltoid, once or 

 twice pinnatifid, with oblique oblong-lanceolate acute segments: sporophyll 

 slightly longer than the leaf, short-stalked, 2-3-pinnate, in vernation recurved 

 with the leaf reclined upon it. Across the continent northward and south in 

 the mountains to Colorado. 



3. Botrychium simplex E. Hitch. Am. Journ. Sci. 6: 103. 1823. Plant 

 smooth, fleshy, 5-15 cm. high: leaf rising noar the base, short-petioled, vary- 

 ing from simple and rounded obovate (4-6 mm. long) to triangular-ovate and 

 deeply 3-7-lobed, and even to f ully ternate with incised divisions; the segments 

 broadly obovate-cuneate or somewhat lunate: sporophyll a simple or slightly 

 compound spike, sometimes reduced to only a few sporangia: spores targe, 

 minutely tuberculate. Wyoming to Montana and thence across the con- 

 tinent. 



4. Botrychium Coulteri Underw. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 25: 537. 1898. 

 Stout and fleshy, with numerous fleshy roots: stem only 2-3 cm. long, swollen 

 with the contained bud of the succeeding season: leaf short-petioled, broader 

 than long, 3-parted and each division tri- or quadripinnatifid; the segments 

 obliquely ovate, about 10 mm. long, with entire or barely repand margin: 

 sporophyll large, paniculate, 3-6 cm. long; the numerous pinnae crowded: 

 sporangia numerous, bright yellow, with copious yellow spores. On the 

 geyser formations; Yellowstone Park and Montana. 



ROCKY MT. BOT. 2 17 



