OSMUXDACEAE. 



3. Osmunda Claytoniana L. Clayton's 

 Fern. (Fig. 10. ) 



Osmunda Claytoniana L. Sp. PI. 1066. 1753. 

 Osmunda interrupta Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2 : 273. 

 1803. 



Rootstock stout, bearing a circle of 2-pinnat- 

 ifid leaves 2-6high, 6'-io' wide ; sterile pinnae 

 without tufts of tomentum at the base, linear- 

 lanceolate, deepl% r cleft into oblong obtuse seg- 

 ments, some of the leaves contracted in the 

 middle and bearing 2-5 pairs of fertile pinnate 

 pinnae with dense, cylindric divisions which are 

 greenish at first, afterwards dark brown, finally 

 withering ; leaves clothed with tomentum when 

 young, glabrous when mature, the fertile ones 

 taller than the sterile, and finally widely re- 

 curving. 



In swamps and moist soil. Newfoundland to Min- 

 nesota south to North Carolina and Missouri. As- 

 cends to 5000 ft. in Virginia. Also in India. May- 

 July. 



Family 3. HYMENOPHYLLACEAE Gaud, in Freyc. Yoy. 262. 1826. 



FILMY-FERN* FAMILY. 



Membranaceous, mostly small ferns with filiform or slender creeping root- 

 stocks, lyeaves usually much divided. Sporanges sessile on a filiform, usually 

 elongated receptacle, surrounded by a transverse ring which opens vertically. 



Two genera, Hymenophyllum L.., and the following, comprising some 200 species, very abund- 

 ant in tropical regions, a few occurring in the temperate zones. 



i. TRICHOMANES L. Sp. PI. 1097. 1753- 



Delicate filmy ferns, the leaves usually much divided. Sporauges flattened, surrounded 

 by a broad entire transverse ring opening vertically, sessile on the lower part of the slender 

 filiform receptacle. Receptacle surrounded by a tubular or funnel-shaped indusium which 

 is truncate or slightly 2-lipped. [Greek, in allusion to the thin hair-like segments of some 

 species.] 



About 100 species, mostly of tropical regions. Besides the following, another occurs in Alabama. 



i. Trichomanes radicans Sw. 

 Bristle-fern. (Fig. u.) 



liomants radifansS\v. Fl. Ind. Occ. 3: 1736. 



: " ' 



Rootstock filiform, wiry, tomentose, creep- 

 ing. Stipes (petioles) ascending, i'~3' 

 long, naked or nearly so ; leaves 2 '-8' long, 

 8"-i#' wide, membranaceous, lanceolate 

 or ovate-lanceolate, 2-3-pinnatifid ; pinnae 

 ovate, obtuse, the upper side of the cuneate 

 base parallel with or appressed to the nar- 

 rowly winged rachis; segments toothed or 

 cut into linear divisions ; indusia terminal 

 on short lobes, 1-4 on a pinnule, the mouth 

 lightly 2 lipped; receptacle more or less 

 exserted, bristle- like, bearing the sessile 

 ftporanges mostly near the base. 



Onwrt rocks, K< mucky to Florida and Ala. 



bama Also in the \\Vst In.lif*. Mexico, trop. 



irope, Asia and Africa. Summer 



