38 POLYPODTACEAE (fERX FAMILY) 



its outer margin to the fruitful veiiilet, free and opening on tlie =ide next the 

 niidrib. Veins more or less reticulated, free toward the margin oi the frond. — 

 Large ferns, with pinnatilid or pinnate fronds. (Named for Thomas J. Wood- 

 icard^ an English botanist.) 



§ 1. ANCHISTEA (Presl) Hook. Sterile and fertile fronds alike ; veins form- 

 ing only one^ row of meshes {areoles). 



1. W. virgfnica (L.) Sm. Fronds (0-14 dm. high) pinnate, with numerous 

 lanceolate pinnatilid junnae; segments oblong ; veins forming a row of narrow 

 areoles along the midrib both of the pinnae and of the lobes, the outer veinlets 

 free ; fruit dots oblong, one to each arec^le, confluent when rijje. — Wet swamps. 

 N. S. to Fla., La., Mich., and Out. Kootstocks creeping, often 2-3 m. long I 

 July. 



§ 2. LORINSERIA (Presl) Hook. Sterile and fertile fronds unlike; veins of 

 the sterile fronds forming many rows of meshes. 



2. W. areolata (L.). Moore. Fronds pimiatifid ; sterile ones (2-6 dm. high) 

 with lanceolate serrulate divisions united by a broad wing ; fertile fronds taller, 

 with narrowly linear almost disconnected divisions, the areoles and fruit dots 

 (8-10 mm. long) in a single row each side of the secondary midrib ; rootstocks 

 creeping. (IF. angustifolia Sm.) — Wet woods, s. Me. to Fla. and Tex. ; also 

 Ark. and Mich. ; rare. Aug., Sept. 



10. ASPLENIUM L. Spleenwort 



Fruit dots oblong or linear, oblique, separate ; the straight or ;i-arely curved 

 indusium fixed lengthwise by one edge to the upper (inner) side of the fertile 

 vein ; — in some species a part of the fruit dots are double, the fertile vein bear- 

 ing two indusia placed back to back. Veins free in all our species. (Name 

 from a- privative and <nr\T^v, the spleen, for supposed remedial properties.) 



§ L EUASPLENTUM (Endl.) Klotzsch. Indusium straight or slightly curved, 

 attached to the upper side of the vein, rarely double ; small evergreen ferns ; 

 stipes Jiliform or nearly so, vjith vascular bundles separate and peripheral or 

 if united toward the summit forming a Innate bundle ; scales of the rhizome 

 and stipes narrow, of Jinn texture and icith thick-walled cells. 



* Fronds pinnatifd, or pinnate only near the base. 



1. A. pinnatifidum Nutt. Fronds (7-20 cm. long) lanceolate, pinnatifid or 

 pinnate below, tapering above into a slender prolongation, "the apex sometimes 

 rooting"; lobes roundish-enmte, obtuse, or the lowest long-acunrinate ; fruit 

 dots irregular, those next the midrib often double, even the slender prolongation 

 fertile ; stipes brownish, becoming green above, and so passing into the broad 

 pale green midrib. — On cliffs and rocks, Ct. to Mo., and south w. ; very rare. 

 July. — Hpspmbles the Walking Leaf (Camptosorns) , but the veins are free. 



X A. ebenoides K. K. Scott. Fronds (1-2 dm. high) broadly lanceolate, jo/n- 

 natijid, below pinnate, the apex pndnnged and slender; divisions lanceolate 

 from a broad base, the lower ones shorter, often proliferous, as is the apex of 

 the frond; fruit dots much as in the last; stipes black and polished, as is the 

 lower part of the midrib, especially beneath. — Limestone cliffs, Vt. (Miss Wool- 

 son, Miss Smith) to Mo., and .south w. ; very rare. A noteworthy hybrid bt- 

 tween A. plaLyneuron and Camptosorus rhizoj)hyllus ; its origin early suspected 

 by M. (j. Berkeley i\\\d recently demonstrated l)y Miss Margaret Slosson. This 

 fern is more abundant and probably self-perpetuating in Ala. 



* * Fronds narrow, linear-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, pirmate, with numerous 

 pinnae ; these entire to serrate or rarely incised. 



-»- Pinnae not auricled. 



2. A. viride Iluds. Fronds (5-18 cm tall) tufted, linear in outline, pale 

 green, softly lierbaeeous ; pinnae roundish-orate or ovate-rhomhoid, short- 

 stalked, crenately toothed (4-5) mm. long), the niiilvein indistinct and forking; 



