POLYPODIACEAE 13 



1. Hypolepis ripens (L.) Presl. Eootstock minutely brownish scaly-tomen- 

 tose. Petioles 2-15 dm. long, stramineous to reddish brown, smoothish to pubescent, 

 or prickly; blades deltoid, 4-15 dm. long, nearly as wide, 3-4-pinnate, the lateral 

 branches opposite or nearly so, spreading, the rachises glabrate or glandular-pubes- 

 cent, often spinescent; ultimate segments spreading, oblong, rounded, more or less 

 lobed, chartaceous, paler below, glabrate to glandular-pubescent; indusia scale-like. 



In woods, border of Lake Apopka, Florida. General in tropical America ; variable. 



14. NOTHOLAENA R. Br. 



Eelatively small rock-inhabiting plants. Leaves various: blades 1-4-pinnate, 

 free-veined, the under surfaces hairy, tomentose, scaly, or pulverulent. Sori marginal, 

 roundish or oblong, more or less confluent laterally. Indusium wanting: sporanges, 

 in some species, covered at first by the revolute margins, or otherwise concealed by 

 the scaly, hairy or waxy covering of the undersurface. 



Leaf-blades covered with white or yellow powder beneath. 



Leaf-blades 3 4-pinnate at the base. 1. N. dealbata. 



Leaf-blades barely 2-pinnate. 



Leaf-blades deltoid-ovate, white-powdery beneath. 2. TV. Candida. 



Leaf-blades pentagonal, yellow-powdery beneath. 3. N. Hookeri. 



Leaf-blades scaly or tomentose beneath. 



Leaf-blades 1 -pinnate, nearly linear. 4. N. sinuata. 



Leaf-blades 2-pinnate, oblong-lanceolate. 5. N. Aschenborniana. 



1. Notholaena dealbata (Pursh) Kunze. Eootstock chaffy with narrow brown 

 scales. Petioles tufted, wiry, shining, dark brown, 2.5-4.5 cm. long; leaf -blades trian- 

 gular-ovate, acute, broadest at the base, 2.5-10 cm. long, 3-pinnate, the rachis black 

 and shining; leaflets ovate or obovate, obtuse, lobed, to entire, scarcely 2 mm. long. 



On calcareous rocks, Missouri and Nebraska to Texas and Arizona. 



2. Notholaena Candida (Mart. & Gal.) Hook. Eootstocks with rigid blackish 

 scales. Petioles tufted, 7-15 cm. long, wiry, black and shining; leaf -blades deltoid, 

 pinnate, rather shorter than the petioles; leaflets various, the lower with the lowest 

 inferior segments elongated and again pinnatifid, the 3 or 4 successive pairs lanceo- 

 late; upper leaflets resembling the segments of the lower; margins slightly revolute. 



On rocks, Texas and New Mexico. Also in Mexico. 



3. Notholaena Hookeri D. C. Eaton. Eootstocka densely covered with rigid 

 dark-brown scales. Petioles tufted, 10-20 cm. long, reddish brown, wiry, shining; 

 leaf -blades nearly pentagonal, 5-8 cm. in diameter, of 1 terminal and 2 lateral divi- 

 sions, the former pinnatifid into a few toothed segments, the second pair larger than 

 the first; lateral divisions bearing a single elongated pinnatifid basal segment below. 



On rocks, Uvalde Canon, Texas, west to Arizona. Also in Mexico. 



4. Notholaena simiata (Sw.) Kaulf. Eootstocks knob-like, densely covered 

 with ferruginous capillary scales. Petioles erect, 5-10 cm. long; leaf -blades simply 

 pinnate, 15-60 cm. long; leaflets numerous, short-stalked, roundish or ovate, subentire 

 or pinnately lobed, densely scaly beneath, with merely scattered hairs above. 



On rocks, San Saba, Texas, to Arizona and Mexico. Also in tropical America. 



5. Notholaena Aschenborniana Kl. Eootstocks short. Petioles tufted, 5-10 

 cm. long, wiry, blackish, densely scaly; leaf -blades oblong-lanceolate, 10-25 cm. long, 

 2-pinnatifid; leaflets lanceolate, cut into linear-oblong, crenate or pinnatifid segments, 

 densely clothed beneath with ciliate ferruginous scales; sori black. 



On rocks, Texas to southern Arizona. Also in Mexico. 



15. BLECHNUM L. 



Mainly tropical plants of various habitat. Leaves clustered, the blades nearly 

 uniform, mostly pinnatifid or once pinnate. Sterile veinlets free; veinlets of fertile 

 leaflets connected near the base by a transverse receptacle bearing a linear sorus near 

 and parallel to the midrib. Indusia linear, at length reflexed from the inner side. 



1. Blechnum serrulatum L. C. Eich. Eootstock wide-creeping. Petioles erect, 

 nearly naked, 15-30 cm. long, stout; leaf -blades oblong-lanceolate, 30-60 cm. long, 

 leathery, with 12-24 pairs of linear-oblong leaflets; margins serrulate: veins very 

 fine and close: blades of fertile leaves narrower than those of the sterile. 



In swamps, Florida. Widely distributed in tropical America. 



