POLYPODIACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



i. Polypodium vulgare L. Common or 

 Golden Polypody. Fig. 83. 



Polypodium vulgare L. Sp. PI. 1085. 1753. 



Rootstock slender, widely creeping, densely 

 covered with cinnamon-colored scales. Stipes 

 light colored, glabrous, 2'-6' long; blades 

 ovate-oblong or narrowly oblong, subcoria- 

 ceous or chartaceous, evergreen, glabrous, 

 3'-io' long, i '-3' wide, cut nearly to the rachis 

 into entire or slightly toothed, obtuse or sub- 

 acute, linear or linear-oblong segments ; sori 

 large, about midway between the midrib and 

 margins of the segments, upon the anterior 

 branch of the mostly i-3-forked veins. 



On rocks or rocky banks, occasionally on trees, 

 Labrador and Newfoundland to Manitoba and 

 Keewatin, south to Georgia, Alabama and Mis- 

 souri. Ascends to 5600 ft. in Virginia. The 

 blade varies much in cutting, and numerous 

 forms have been described. One of these, the 

 var. cambricum, is notable for its broad pin- 

 natifid segments. Male polypody, golden locks, 

 golden maiden's-hair. Adder's-, moss-, wood-, 

 male-, sweet-fern ; Rock- or Stone-brake. 



2. Polypodium polypodioides (L.) A. 

 S. Hitchcock. Gray Polypody. Fig. 84. 



Acrostichum polypodioides L. Sp. PI. 1068. 1753. 

 P. incanum Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. 3: 1645. 1806. 

 Polypodium polypodioides A. S. Hitchcock, Rep. 

 Mo. Bot. Card. 4: 156. 1893. 



Rootstock widely creeping, woody, covered 

 with small brown scales. Stipes densely scaly, 

 i '-4' long ; blades oblong-lanceolate, acute, cori- 

 aceous, evergreen, i'-j' long, i'-2' wide, cut 

 very nearly or quite to the rachis into entire 

 oblong or linear-oblong obtuse segments, gla- 

 brous or nearly so on the upper surface, the 

 lower densely covered with gray peltate scales 

 with darker centers, as also the rachises ; veins 

 indistinct, unconnected or casually joined. 



On trees or less commonly on rocks, Pennsyl- 

 vania to Florida, west to Iowa, Kansas and Texas. 

 Widely distributed in tropical America. July- 

 Sept. Called also Hoary-, Scaly-, Tree-Polypody ; 

 Rock-brake. Resurrection-fern. 



Family 6. MARSILEACEAE R. Br. 

 Prodr. Fl. Nov. Roll, i: 166. 1810. 



MARSILEA FAMILY. 



Perennial herbaceous plants rooting in mud, with slender creeping root-stocks 

 and 2- or 4-foliolate or filiform leaves. Asexual propagation consisting of sporo- 

 carps borne on peduncles which rise from the rootstock near the leaf-stalk or are 

 consolidated with it, containing both megaspores and microspores. The mega- 

 spores germinate into prothallia which bear mostly archegonia, while the micro- 

 spores grow into prothallia bearing the antheridia. 



Three genera and some 60 species of wide distribution known as Pepperworts. 



i. MARSILEA L. Sp. PI. 1099. 1753- 



Marsh or aquatic plants, the leaves commonly floating on the surface of shallow water, 

 slender-petioled, 4-foliolate. Peduncles shorter than the petioles, arising from their bases or 

 more or less adnate to them. Sporocarps ovoid or bean-shaped, composed of ^two vertical 

 valves with several transverse compartments (sori) in each valve. [Name in honor of 

 Giovanni Marsigli, an Italian botanist, who died about 1804.] 



About 53 species, widely distributed. Besides the following 2 or 3 others occur in Texas. 

 Sporocarps glabrous and purple when mature. I - M. qiiadrifoha. 



Sporocarps densely covered with hair-like scales. 2 - * t'estita. 



