FERN FAMILY. 



2. Cystopteris fragilis (L.) Bemh. Brittle Fern. 

 Poly podium fragile L. Sp. PI. 1091. 1753. 



Cystopteris fragilis Bernh. Schrad. Neues 

 Journ. Bot. i : Part 2, 27. 1806. 



Rootstock short. Stipes 4'-8' long ; leaves 

 thin, oblong-lanceolate, only slightly taper- 

 ing below, 4'-io / long, 2-3-pinnatifid or pin- 

 nate ; pinnae lanceolate-ovate, irregularly 

 pinnatifid, with a broad central space and 

 bluntly or sharply toothed segments decur- 

 rent along the margined or winged rachis, 

 without bulblets ; indusia narrow or acute 

 at the free end, early withering and exposing 

 the sori which finally appear naked ; texture 

 membranous. 



On rocks and in moist grassy woods, New- 

 foundland to Alaska, south to Georgia and Ari- 

 zona. Also in South and Central America, 

 Europe, Asia and New Zealand ; almost cosmo- 

 politan in distribution. Ascends to 5000 ft. in 

 New Hampshire. May-July. 



3. Cystopteris montana (Lam.) Bernh. Mountain Cystoineri- 



1'iilypodiuni nionlannni I.im II I r , t 

 23- 1778. 



'/>/V//s nii'iittin,! Bernh Schrad S'rors 

 Jouni. Hot. i : Part 2, 36. 1806. 



Rootstock slender, widely creeping. Stipes 

 6'-o/ long, slender ; leaves deltoid-ovate. 

 pinnate, about 6' long and broad, the lowest 

 pinnae deltoid-lanceolate and much larger 

 than the upper, their inferior pinnules 

 i '-1^2' long ; segments deeply divided into 

 oblong lobes, deeply toothed ; sori numer- 

 ous ; indusia acute, soon withering, expos- 

 ing the sori and causing them to appear 

 naked at maturity. 

 



On rocks. : British 



Columbia, south t<> t: 

 perior. and in the K". 

 Also in northern luirope and Asia. Aujr 



5. DRYOPTERIS Adaiis. Fain. PI. 2: 20. i; 



[ASPIDIUM Sw. Schrad. Journ. Bot. a : 4. iSoa] 



Ferns with i- 3 -pinnate or pinnatifid leaves and round sori usually borne oo the b 

 the veins, the fertile and sterile leaves similar in outline. In.lus.um il. 

 and peltate or cordate-reniform, superior, fixed by its sinus or di-prea 

 tinuous, not jointed with the rootstock. Sporanges abundant, ped 

 bursting transversely. Veins free in the northern species, uniting occss 

 in some of the southern. [Greek, signifying Oak-fern, in allusion U 

 most species.] 



About 350 species, of wide geographic distribution. 

 occur in the southern and western parts of North America. 

 separated as a distinct genus. (Polystickum Roth, i; 



The 



._ me to other. 

 ,pccir rr sometime* 



