POLYPODIACEAE. 



5. Asplenium Trichomanes I,. Maiden- 

 hair Spleenwort. (Fig. 50.) 



Asplenium Trichomanes I,. Sp. PI. 1080. 1753. 



Rootstock short, nearly erect, chaffy with blackish 

 scales. Stipes densely tufted, commonly numerous, 

 i '-5' long, purplish-brown and shining; leaves linear 

 in outline, 3'-8' long, 6 // -io // wide, rather rigid, once 

 pinnate, evergreen ; pinnae oval or roundish-oblong, 

 inequilateral, partly opposite, partly alternate, or 

 nearly all opposite, cuneate at the base, the point of 

 attachment to the dark brown rachis narrow, their 

 margins slightly crenate ; sori 3-6 on each side of the 

 forking and evanescent midrib, short, narrowed at 

 either end ; sporanges dark brown when mature. 



On rocks, preferring limestone, throughout nearly- 

 the whole of North America except the extreme north. 

 Ascends to 2500 ft. in Vermont. Also in Europe, Asia,. 

 South Africa and the Pacific Islands. July-Sept. 



6. Asplenium viride Huds. Green Spleen- 

 wort. (Fig. 51.) 



Asplenium viride Huds. Fl. Angl. 385. 1762. 



Rootstock stout, creeping, chaffy with brown nerve- 

 less scales. Stipes numerous, densely tufted, brown- 

 ish below, green above ; leaves linear-lanceolate, 

 2'-8' long, 4 // -io // wide, once pinnate, pale green, 

 soft, herbaceous or almost membranous; rachis 

 green ; pinnae 12-20 pairs, ovate or rhomboid, deeply 

 crenate, obtuse, unequal sided, their upper edges nar- 

 rowed suddenly at the base, the lower obliquely trun- 

 cate; sori oblong and numerous or scattered and fewer . 



On rocks, New Brunswick to British Columbia, south 

 to the Green Mountains of Vermont. Also in northern 

 Europe and Asia. Summer. 



7. Asplenium angustifolium Michx. Narrow-leaved Spleemvort. (Fig. 52.) 



Asplenium angustijolinm Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2:265. 

 1803. 



Rootstock stout, creeping, rooting along its whole 

 length. Stipes growing in a crown, brownish or 

 green above, chaffless, 8 / -i2 / long, sometimes 

 slightly scaly toward the base ; leaves lanceolate in 

 outline, i-2 long, once pinnate, glabrous ; pinnae 

 20-30 pairs, linear-lanceolate, or those of the sterile 

 leaves lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, obtuse 

 or truncate at the base, 2 / -5 / long, flaccid, the mar- 

 gins entire or slightly creuulate ; fertile leaves com- 

 monly taller than the sterile, narrower, their pinnae 

 generally much narrower, often falcate ; sori 20-30 

 on each side of the midrib, linear, close together, 

 the indusia at length concealed by the mature 

 sporanges. 



In moist woods and shaded ravines, Quebec to Wis- 

 COtuin, south to Virginia and Kentucky. Ascends to 

 1 700 ft. in the Adirondacks,to 2300 in the Catskills. Aug. 



