346 FILICES. Aspidium. 



at several places in the Sierra Nevada, Lemmon. Also collected several years ago by F. A. Miller, 

 the station riot known. The fronds of this fern much resemble those of the eastern A. Novcbora- 

 ccnse, but the rootstock is very different. 



2. A. patens, Swartz. Rootstock rather stout, creeping, bearing several fronds 

 at the growing end : fronds thin bnt rather firm, softly pubescent beneath, often long- 

 stalked, 2 to 5 feet high, ovate-oblong, pinnate ; pinnae linear-acuminate, often 4 to 6 

 inches long, pinnatih'd three-fourths of the way to the midrib, the lower ones not 

 reduced ; segments very numerous, crowded, obliquely oblong, obtuse or acute, basal 

 ones longest : veins simple, free, or the lowest ones of adjoining segments sometimes 

 uniting and sending out a short veinlet to the nearest sinus : sori near the margin ; 

 indusium very pubescent. Syn. Fil. 49 ; Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 405 ; Eaton, 

 Ferns of N. Amer. ii. 181, t. 70. Nephrodium patens, Desv. ; Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 95. 



In several canons near Santa Barbara, Mrs. Cooper, Rothrock, Lemmow., etc. Attributed to San 

 Francisco in the Botany of Beechey's Voyage, but not found there of recent years. Texas to 

 Florida, tropical America generally, South Africa and Polynesia. 



* * Texture firmer or subcoriaceous : veins forking freely. 



3. A. rigidum, Swartz. Rootstock stout, ascending, very chaffy : fronds 1 to 2 

 feet long, standing in a crown, borne on moderately long very chaffy stalks, sub- 

 coriaceous, nearly evergreen, smooth and green above, paler and glandular beneath, 

 ovate-lanceolate in outline, usually bipinnate ; pinnae oblong-lanceolate, the lowest 

 ones broadest and a trifle shorter than the middle ones ; pinnules oblong, incised or 

 doubly serrate, conspicuously veiny : sori large, nearer the midvein than the margin ; 

 indusiurn firm, convex, orbicular with a very narrow sinus, the edge glandular. 

 Syn. Fil. 53 ; Milde, Fil. Eur. et Atl. 126. 



Var. argutum, Eaton. Frond broader in outline, with larger pinnae and seg- 

 ments, its texture rather heavier and the teeth more decidedly spinulose. Ferns of 

 the Southwest, 333, and Ferns of N. Amer. ii. 1, t. 46. A. argutum, Kaulfuss, 

 Enum. Fil. 242; Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 160, and vii. 21. Lastrea aryuta, Brack - 

 enridge, Ferns of U. S. Expl. Exp. 196. 



Rocky hillsides and copses, commoner in the western counties than in the Sierra Nevada, ex- 

 tending northward to Oregon and southward to the Sierra Madre of Mexico. The Californian 

 plant differs from the common typical European form mainly in the more generous outline of the 

 frond and its subdivisions. It is very fragrant in drying, so that a few fronds will perfume a 

 large bundle of dried plants. 



A. SPINULOSUM, Swartz (Eaton, Ferns of N. Amer. ii. 163, t. 68), a common eastern fern, has 

 been found in Oregon. The texture is thinner than in A. rigidum, and the pinnae more finely 

 cut, with more spinulose teeth, etc. 



2. Indusium orbicular and entire, peltate, fixed by the depressed centre or short 

 central stalk to the middle of the sorus : pinnce and pinnules often auricled 

 on the upper side of the base: veins free. POLYSTICHUM. 



* Pinnce or pinnules serrate with spiny-pointed teeth. Large ferns. 



4. A. munitum, Kaulfuss. Rootstock stout, ascending, chaffy : stalks a few 

 inches to a foot long, chaffy, at least at the base, with abundant large glossy-brown 

 acuminate scales : fronds 1 to 4 feet long, standing in a crown, subcoriaceous, ever- 

 green, lanceolate in outline, simply pinnate ; pinnce very many, often chaffy beneath, 

 as is commonly the rhachis, 1 to 4 inches long, linear-acuminate, very sharply and 

 often doubly serrate with incurved aculeate teeth, auricled at the upper side of the 

 nearly sessile base and obliquely truncate at the lower, all or only the upper ones 

 fertile, but not contracted ; veins forking : sori abundant, at length confluent. 

 Enum. 236 ; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. ii. 261 ; Eaton, Ferns of N. Amer. i. 187, t. 25. 

 Poli/stichum munitum, Presl ; Brackenridge, 1. c. 203 ; Eaton, Bot. Mex. Bound. 235. 



Var. nudatum, Eaton. Frond small, nearly devoid of chaff ; pinna; few, rather 

 remote, oblong-oval, slightly auricled : sori scanty, confined to the ends of a few of 

 the highest pinnae. Ferns of N. Amer. i. 188. 



