adder's tongue fern family. 501 



CXXXIX. OPHIOGLOSSACE^, ADDER'S TONGUE FERN 



FAMILY. 



Mostly rather small ferns, with sessile, globular, coriaceous, 

 opaque, and smooth spore cases in spikes or panicles, opening 

 transversely into 2 valves, and wholly destitute of a ring. 

 Fronds not rolled up in the bud, as they are in the true Ferns, 

 rising from a very short rootstock or corm, with fleshy roots. 

 Plants often somewhat fleshy. (Lessons, Fig. 508.) 



1. BOTRYCHIUM. Spore cases in pinnate or compound spikes, dlstiiict. Sterile part 



of the frond compound ; veins free. 



2. OPHIOGLOSSUM. Spore cases cohering in a simple spike. Sterile part of frond simple 



in our species ; the veins reticulated. 



1. BOTRYCHIUM, MOONWORT. (From Greek, for a bunch of 

 grapes, from the appearance of the fructification.) Species few, none 

 cultivated. Several inconspicuous ones occur on our northern borders. 



B. tematum, Swartz. Shaded grassy pastures and hillsides ; plant 

 fleshy, 3'-10' high ; common stalk with two branches, a long-stalked, 

 fertile one with twice or thrice pinnate fructification facing a triangular 

 ternately compound sterile portion on a longer or shorter stalk ; has 

 several forms, of which the following are mostly well marked. Var. 

 liinarioides has roundish, kidney-shaped, sterile divisions ; in var. obli- 

 quum they are lanceolate from an oblique ba,se ; and in var. diss^ctum, 

 pinnatifid into narrowly toothed and ragged lobes. 



B. Virginicum, Swartz. In rich woods ; plant herbaceous, not fleshy, 

 G'-18' high ; sterile portion sessile on the common stalk, thin, broadly 

 triangular, ternate ; the parts twice or thrice pinnate ; divisions thin, 

 oblong-lanceolate, incised or toothed ; fertile portion long-stalked, twice 

 or thrice pinnate. 



2. OPHIOGLOSSUM, ADDER'S TONGUE. (Greek equivalent of 

 the common name.) 



O. vulgatum, Linn. Wet meadows or hillside pastures, rare ; 3'-10' 

 high; .sterile portion somewhat fleshy, ovate or elliptical, entire, l'-2' 

 long, sessile near the middle of the stalk which supports tlie short two- 

 sided spike. (Lessons, Fig. 508.) 



CXI. LYCOPODIACE^, CLUB MOSS FAMILY. 



Flowerless plants, often moss-like or fern-like, with leafy, 

 often elongated and branching stems, the spores contained in 

 rather large solitary 1-3-celled spore cases borne in the axils 

 of the simple mostly awl-shaped leaves (fruiting leaves often 

 reduced to scales forming a sort of spike). (Lessons, Figs. 

 511, 512.) Mostly evergreen plants, growing on land; stems 

 more or less elongated and branching ; the leaves awl-shaped, 



