ORDER 160. FILICES. 817 



the ultimate segments being decurrent and more or less confluent at base, with 

 3 5 cut serratures. Panicle terminal, 3 G' long, reddish-tawny. June, July. 



3. LYGO'DIUM Swartz. CLIMBING FERN. (Gr. kvyudw, flexible, 

 slender ; from the habit.) Sporangia sessile, arranged in 2 -ranked 

 spikelets issuing from the margin of the contracted frond, opening on 

 the inner side from the base to the summit ; indusium a scale-like veil 

 covering each sporange. (Fig. 109.) 



L. palmatum Sw. Stem fiexuous, climbing; fronds conjugate, palmate, 5-lobed, 

 lobes entire, obtuse; spikelets oblong-linear, from the upper fronds, which aro 

 divided and contracted into a compound spike. This is one of the few ferns with 

 climbing stems, and the only one found in the U. S., Mass, to Ky. and S. States, 

 rare. Plant of a slender and delicate structure, smooth. Stem 3 if long. Stipes 

 alternate on the stem, forked, supporting a pair of fronds which are palmately 

 divided into 5 9 segments. Fertile fronds terminal, numerously subdivided into 

 linear-oblong segments or spikelets, with the fruit in 2 rows on the back. July. 



4. SCHIZ^E X A Smith. (Gr. o%t^w, to cut, cleave; alluding to the 

 many-cleft spikes.) Sporangia oval, radiate at top, sessile, bursting later- 

 ally ; indusium continuous, formed of the inflexed margins of the leaf- 

 lets which arc contracted, spike-like, crowded at the summit of the fertile 

 frond. 



S. pusilla Pursh. Frond simple, linear, tortuous; spikes few, crowded at tho 

 top of a long, slender stipe or scape. A very delicate fern, found in tho pino 

 barrens, Quaker Bridge, N. J. (This is the only locality clearly known.) Fronds 

 numerous, csespitous, 2 3' long, \ 1" wide. Fertile stipes several, 3 6' high, 

 filiform, with a few short unilateral spikelets at top arranged in 2 rows. Capsules 

 somewhat turbinate, in 2 rows on the inner side of each spikelet. August. 



5. OSMUN'DA, L. FLOWERING FERN. Sporangia globular, half 2- 

 valved, roughened on the surface somewhat in lines, pedicellate and 

 clustered on the lower surface of the frond or a portion of it, which is 

 more or less contracted into the form of a panicle ; spores green. Tall, 

 handsome Ferns. Veins forked, straight. 



Frond bipinnate with distinct pinnae; tho upper part contracted find fertile No. 1 



Frond pinnate with pinnatifid pinna?, partially or separately fertile Nos. 2, 3 



1 O. regalis MX. Fronds bipinnate, fructiferous at the summit ; segments of tho 

 leaflets lance-oblong, distinct, serrulate, subsessile ; raceme large, terminal, decom- 

 pound. A large and beautiful fern, in swamps and meadows. Tho fronds aro 

 3 4f high, smooth in all their parts. Leaflets or pinnae opposite, remote, each 

 with 6 9 pairs of leaves with an odd one. These are an inch or moro long, \ as 

 wide, obtuse, the petioles J-" long. Above, the frond is crowned wilh an ample 

 bipinnate panicle of a deep fulvous hue, with innumerable, small, globular, 2- 

 valved spore-cases covering the segments. Jn. (0. spectabilis "VVilld.) 



2 O. cinnamomea L. CINNAMON FERN. Sterile frond pinnate, leaflets elongated, 

 pinnatifid, segments ovate-oblong, obtuse, very entire; fertile frond bipinnate, 

 leaflets all contracted, paniculate, subopposite, lanuginous as well as the stipe. This 

 is among the largest of our ferns, growing in swamps and low grounds. Fronds 

 numerous, growing in clumps, 3 5f high, most of them barren, the stipe and 

 rachis invested with a loose, cinnamon-colored wool. The fertile fronds resemble 

 spikes, 1 2f long, an inch wide. Leaflets all fertile, erect, with the segments 

 covered with fruit in the form of small, roundish capsules, appearing, under a 

 microscope, half- 2 -cleft. June. 



3 O. Clay toniana L. INTERRUPTED FLOWERING FERN. Frond smooth through- 

 out, pinnate with lance-linear pinnatifid Ifts. ; lobes obtuse, entire, tho veinlets all 

 once forked, some (2 to 7) of the intermediate leaflets fertile. Common in low 

 grounds. Fronds ample, 2 to 3f high, light green, interrupted near the middle 

 by 2 to 4 pairs of fertile leaflets, which are so much metamorphosed as to resemble 



compound racemes, densely covered with small reddish-brown sporangia. 

 52 



