2 FLORA. -~* 



cent sporanges. Veins reticulate. Spores sulphur-yellow. [Name from the 

 Greek, signifying the tongue of a snake, in allusion to the narrow spike of spo- 

 ranges. ] About 30 species of wide geographic distribution, 



Leaf ovate to elliptic, large ; basal veins, 9-13 or more. 



Areolae with few veinlets ; apex obtuse. I. O. vulgatunt. 



Areolae broad, with many veinlets ; apex mucronate. 2. O. Engelmanni. 



Leaf lanceolate, small ; basal veins 5-7. 3. O. arenarium. 



1. Ophioglossum vulgatum L. ADDER'S-TONGU^. (I. F. i.) Rootstock 

 short, oblique ; stem slender, erect, simple, glabrous, 1-4 dm. high, bearing the 

 sessile thin ovate or elliptic-oblong leaf, 3-12 cm. long, near its middle ; leaf 1-5 

 cm. wide, rather firm in texture, distinctly reticulated, with few veinlets within the 

 areolse ; basal veins 9-13 ; spike solitary, 1-2.5 cm - l n g erect, the axis extending 

 beyond the sporanges into a point. In moist meadows and thickets, Pr. Edw. Isl. 

 to Alaska, south to Fla. Also in Europe and Asia. May-Aug. 



2. Ophioglossum Engelmanni Prantl. (I. F. f. la.) Rootstock cylindric ; 

 stem 8-22 cm. high, bearing an elliptic or lanceolate-elliptic leaf which is 3-9 

 cm. long, 1.5-5 cm - wide, obtuse but sharply apiculate, fleshy but becoming pel- 

 lucid ; basal veins 13 or more, the transverse veinlets oblique, forming broad 

 oblong-hexagonal areolae with numerous included veinlets; spike 1.5-2.5 cm. long, 

 apiculate. In moist ground, Va. and Ind. to Mo., Tex. and Ariz. 



3. Ophioglossum arenarium E. G. Britton. (I. F. f. ib.) Rootstock slightly 

 thickened; stem 5-18 cm. high, bearing a lanceolate leaf 2-5 cm. long, 5-12 mm. 

 wide, with a long tapering base and an obtuse or rarely somewhat acute apex ; 

 basal veins 5-7, the central nearly parallel with short oblique veinlets, forming 

 long narrow areolae with few faint included veinlets near the middle of the leal 

 and much shorter irregular ones toward the margin; spikes 1-3 cm. long, often 

 twisted, apiculate. Gregarious in a single colony near the seashore, Holly 

 Beach, N. J. 



2. BOTRYCHIUM Sw. 



Fleshy plants with short erect rootstocks, and clustered fleshy roots, the bud 

 for the succeeding year imbedded in the base of the stem. Leaf pinnately or 

 ternately divided or compound, the sporophyll pinnate or tripinnate with sessile 

 distinct sporanges in rows on either side of its branches, forming large panicles 

 in some species. Veins free. Spores of various shades of yellow. [Greek, in 

 allusion to the grape-like clusters of sporanges.] About 20 species, mostly 

 natives of the northern hemisphere. 



Bud for the following year enclosed in the base of the stem. 



Leaf rising above the middle of the stem, small plants maturing in early summer. 

 Vernation partly inclined in one or both portions. 



Leaf entire, or with 1-3 pairs of distant lunate decurrent segments. 



1. B. tenebrosum. 

 Leaf with fan-shaped segments ; sporophyll not bent in vernation. 



2. B. Lunaria. 



Leaf pinnatifid or 2-pinnatifid with narrow segments ; both leaf and sporo- 



phylls bent in vernation. 3. B. negtectum, 



Vernation wholly inclined, recurved in the fertile portion ; leai triangular. 



sessile. 4. B. lanceolatum. 



Leaf rising from little above the rootstock. 



Vernation wholly straight ; bud smooth ; leaf entire, or 2-6-lobedL 



5. B. simplex. 

 Vernation inclined ; bud pilose ; leaf ample ternate. 



Leaf segments obliquely ovate or oblong, large, 1-2 cm. long. 



6. B.obliquum. 

 Leaf segments laciniate, narrow, i mm. or less wide. 



7. B. dissectum. 

 Leaf segments small, 3-6 mm. wide, rounded or ovate. 



8. B. matricaria. 



Bud enclosed in a cavity at one side of the base of the stem ; leaf ternate, decompound, 

 sessile at the middle of the stem. 9- B. Virginianum. 



i. Botrychium tenebrosum A. A. Eaton. Plant 3-20 cm. high, averaging 

 IO-I2 cm., one-third of which is below ground ; slender, fleshy, light green o* 



