rort .,r, v FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND SIMILAR j 

 SPORANGIA IN LINEAR OR OBLONG FRUIT - DOTS 



This plant resembles the Walking Leaf to such an 

 extent that formerly it was not considered a sep- 

 arate species. The long, slender apex of its frond, 

 which, it is said, sometimes takes root, as in the 

 Walking Leaf, gave ground for its confusion with 

 that fern. But the tapering apex of the frond of the 

 Pinnatifid Spleenwort is not so long and the veins 

 of the frond are free. 



The Pinnatifid Spleenwort grows on rocks. Its 

 usual companions are the Mountain Spleenwort and 

 the Maidenhair Spleenwort. Williamson tells us 

 that, though it is quite common in Kentucky, he 

 has never found a frond which rooted at the apex. 

 Eaton, however, speaks of " one or two instances of 

 a slight enlargement of the apex, as if there were 

 an attempt to form a proliferous bud. 



33. BRADLEY'S SPLEENWORT 



Asplenium Bradleyi 



New York to Georgia and Alabama, westward to Arkansas, on 

 rocks preferring limestone. Six to ten inches long, with slender, 

 chestnut-brown stalks. 



Fronds. Oblong-lanceolate or oblong, tapering to a point, pin- 

 nate ; pinna oblong-ovate, lobed or pinnatifid ; fruit-dots short, 

 near the midrib ; indusium delicate. 



To my knowledge the only place in the northeast- 

 ern States where this rare and local species has been 

 collected is near Newburg, N. Y., where Dr. Eaton 

 found a plant growing on lime rock in 1864. 



144 



