196 POLYPODIUM FALCATUM. SICKLE-LEAVED POLYPOD. 



tobacco, imparting- to it a sweetish licorice flavor. The Polypody 

 upon oak trees was famous among the ancients for the cure of 

 melancholy and madness." 



It is epiphytic on old decayed trees, stumps and roots, and 

 clefts of rocks, — indeed we should imagine much as the Poly- 

 podiimi vulga7'e is. It probably grows rather stronger than the 

 species last named. Mr. Lunzer, our artist, who was kindly per- 

 mitted to examine a specimen under cultivation in the Cambridge 

 Botanic Garden, Massachusetts, found some of the fronds with 

 their stipes about eighteen inches long. The experience in this 

 garden leads to the belief that the plant will adapt itself easily 

 to cultivation, and the facts we have given in regard to its native 

 locations will help the cultivator. 



Explanations of the Plate, i. A rather young plant from Washington Territory furnished 

 by Mrs. Fanny E. Briggs. 2. A full-grown frond from a specimen grown in the Cam- 

 bridge Botanic Garden. 3. Portion of pinnule enlarged, showing the position of the sori 

 on the veins, and the thickening of the ends of the (pellucid) veins at a. 



itt-^ ^brary 



