POLYPODIACEAE 



19 



1. P. caudata L. Kootstock elongate, stoutish, hori- 

 zontal: leaves erect, spreading or reclining, 1-5 m. 

 long or more; peti- 

 oles stout, purple 

 at the base; blades 

 3- or 4-times pin- 

 nate, the divisions 

 pinnatifid, the ulti- 

 mate segments nar- 

 row, usually linear, 

 separated, often 

 with small lobes on 

 one or both sides 

 of the base; veins 

 once-forked or 

 twice-forked: indu- 

 sium brown. 

 (BRAKE.) Ham- 

 mocks. Figure 10, 

 reduced. 



This brake is 

 among the larger 

 ferns of the ham- 

 mock. It occurs 

 also in nearby pine- 

 lands; but it is 

 more at home in the hammocks and on their borders. It 

 grows singly or sparingly or in great tangles, often form- 

 ing large masses, to the exclusion of nearly all other vege- 

 tation. Occasionally in hammocks it acts as a vine and 

 the leaves clamber up trees to a height of twenty feet. 

 It was discovered in Florida,' perhaps on Key West, in 

 the earlier half of the last century. Originally discov- 

 ered in the West Indies, where it is widely distributed, 

 as it is also on the tropical mainland. It occurs in many 

 places in the southern half of peninsular Florida. 



