174 COMMON CANADIAN WILD PLANTS. 



partially open, disclosing the spores inside. Each little globe is, 

 in fact, a spore-case or spor<in<jiirii>, so that here \\ have some- 

 thing quite different from what we have so far met with. Up to 

 this point we have found the sporaniga collected into dots or 

 lines or clusters of some sort. In the Moonwort the sporangia 

 are sepai-ate and naked, and instead of bursting through the 

 action of an elastic ring, they open by a horizontal slit and 

 discharge their spores. In other Ferns, as the Osmunda, the 

 sporangia are somewhat similar, but burst open by a vertical 

 instead of a horizontal slit. 



Observe that the frond of Botrychium is not circinalc in the bud. 



We shall now proceed to describe the commonly occurring 

 representatives of the Fern Family. 



ORDER CVII. FILTCES. (FERN FAMILY.) 



Flowerless plants with distinct leaves known as frond*, these 

 circulate in the bud, except in one suborder, and bearing on 

 the under surface or margin the clustered or separate sporangia 

 or spore-cases. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



SUBORDER I. POLYPODIA'CEJE. (THE TRUE FERNS.) 



Sporangia collected into various kinds of clusters called *<///. 

 Each sporangium pedicelled and encircled by an elastic jointed 

 ring, by the breaking of which the sporangium is burst and the 

 spores discharged. Sori sometimes covered by an in<lu*iuni. 



1. Polypo'dium. Fruit-dots on the back of the frond near the ends of the 



veins. No indusium. Veins free. (See Fiy. 281, Part I.) 



2. Adiaii'tum. Fruit-dots marginal, the ed-je of the frond bcin^ reflexed 



so as to form an indusium. Midrib of tin', pinniili* cl<>s>' t<> tin 1 // 

 edge or altogether wanting. Stipe black and xhlnhvi. All the pinnules 

 distinct and generally minutely ^talked. Veins free. 



3. Pte'ris. Fruit-dots marginal. Indusium formed by the reflexrd ed-e 



of the frond. Midrib of the pinnules in the centre and prominent. 

 Veins free. Stipe light-coloured. (Seo Fijr. :>r.i) 



t. IVlI:i-';i. Fruit-dots in(ir;ilintl, covered by a broad indusium, formed by 

 the reflexed margin of the frond. Small ferns with onee- or t wiec- 

 piminte fronds, ilx; fertile ones very much like the sterile, hut with 

 narrower divisions. Stipe shining, purple or bi 



