178 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



like so many lips, for which reason the plant is often 

 called lip-fern, a loose translation of its Greek bo- 

 tanical name. In many species the spore-bearing 

 segments are rolled up like tiny green beads which 

 form, when present, a striking character by which 

 to identify ferns of this genus. A very charming 

 member of this family, not uncommon in the coast 

 mountains particularly in the South, is that popu- 

 larly known as lace fern (Cheilanthes Calif ornica). 

 It is a delicate little plant, whose finely divided 

 leafage is well described by the common name, and 

 there is none that is more eagerly sought by plant- 

 collecting amateurs in their mountain outings. It 

 is to be looked for in crevices of shady rocks or 

 about the bases of cliffs in mountain woodlands. 



Many ferns occurring on the Pacific Coast from 

 the vicinity of San Francisco northward, were made 

 known to the world through the collections of that 

 Adalbert von Chamisso, to whom we owe the dis- 

 covery of the California poppy. Among these is 

 one that is known and loved by everybody who has 

 rambled and day-dreamed in the California redwood 

 forests, and which goes popularly by the name of 

 sword fern. It belongs to a tribe that has been for 

 many years a battle ground with botanical nomen- 

 claturists, and it is variously listed in the books as 

 Aspidium munitum, Dryopteris munita, and Poly- 



