o^g FILICES. Aspidinm. 



at several iilaccs in the Sierra Nevada, Lemmon. Also collected several years ago by F. A. Miller, 

 the station not known. The fronds of this fern nnich resemble those of the eastern A. Novchora- 

 ceiisc, bnt the rootstock is very different. 



2. A. patens, Swartz. Kootstock rather stout, creeping, "bearing several fronds 

 at the growing enil : fronds thin but rather firm, softly pubescent beneath, often long- 

 stalked, 2 to 5 feet high, ovate-oblong, pinnate ; piiinie linear-acuminate, often 4 to 6 

 inches long, pinnatitid three-fourths of the way to the midrib, the lower ones not 

 reduced ; segments very numerous, crowded, obliquely oblong, obtuse or acute, basal 

 ones longest : veins simple, free, or the lowest ones of adjoining segments sometimes 

 uniting and sending out a short veinlet to the nearest sinus : sori near the margin ; 

 indusium very pubescent. — 8yn. Fil. 49 ; Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 405 ;_ Eaton, 

 Ferns of jST. Amer. ii. 181, t. 70. Nephr odium patens, Desv. ; Hook. Sp. Fil. iv. 95. 



In several canons near Santa Barbara, Mrs. Cooper, Rothrock, Lemmon, etc. Attributed to San 

 Francisco in the Botany of Beechey's A'^oyage, but not found there of recent years. Texas to 

 Florida, troi)ical America generally, South Afiica and Polynesia. 



* * Texture firmer or stihcorlaceous : veins forldnrj freely. 



3. A. rigidum, Swartz. liootstock stout, ascending, very chaffy : fronds 1 to 2 

 feet long, stajiding in a crown, borne on moderately long very chaffy stalks, sub- 

 coriaceous, nearly evergreen, smooth and green above, paler and glandular beneath, 

 ovate-lanceolate in outline, usually bipinnate ; pinna? oblong-lanceolate, the lowest 

 ones broadest and a trifle shorter than tlie middle ones ; pinnules oblong, incised or 

 doubly serrate, conspicuously veiny : sori large, nearer the midvein than the margin ; 

 indusium firm, convex, orbicular with a very narrow sinus, the edge glandular. — 

 Syn. Fil. 53 ; Milde, Fil. Eur. et Atl. 126. 



Var. argutum, Eaton. Frond broader in outline, witli larger i^nnse and seg- 

 ments, its texture rather heavier and the teeth more decidedly spinulose. — Ferns of 

 tlie Southwest, 333, and Ferns of N. Amer. ii. 1, t. 46. A. argutum, Kaulfuss, 

 Enum. Fil. 242 ; Torr. Pacif. E. Eep. iv. 160, and vii. 21. Lastrea arguta, Brack- 

 enridge, Ferns of U. S. Expl. Exp. 196. 



Rocky hillsides and copses, commoner in the western counties than in the Sierra Nevada, ex- 

 tendino- northward to Oregon and southward to the Sierra Madre of Mexico. The Californian 

 plant differs from the common typical European form mainly in the more generous outhne of the 

 frond and its subdivisions. It is very fragrant in drying, so that a few fronds will perfume a 

 large bundle of dried plants. 



A SPiNULOSUM, Swartz (Eaton, Ferns of N. Amer. ii. 163, t. 68), a common eastern fern, has 

 been found in Oregon. The texture is thinner than in A. rigidum, and the pmnai more hnely 

 cut, with more spinulose teeth, etc. 



§ 2. Indusium orbicular and entire, peltate, fixed hij the depressed centre or short 

 central stalk to the middle of the sorus : jnniice and pinnules often auricled 

 on the upper side of the base: ?7ewis/?m — Polystichum. 

 * Pinnce or pinnules serrate laith spiiiypointed teeth. Large ferns. 

 4 A munitum, Kaulfuss. Ptootstock stout, ascending, chaffy : stalks a few 

 inches to a foot long, chaffy, at least at tlic base, with abundant large glossy-brown 

 acuminate scales : fronds 1 to 4 feet long, standing in a crown, subcoriaceous, ever- 

 green, lanceolate in outline, simply pinnate ; pinnae very many, often chaffy beneath 

 as is commonly the rhachis, 1 to 4 inches long, linear-acuunnate, very sharply and 

 often doubly serrate Avith incurved aculeate teeth, auricled at the upper side of the 

 nearly sessile base and obliquely truncate at the lower, all or only the upper ones 

 fertile, but not contracted ; veins forking : sori abundant, at lengtli confluent. — 

 Enum. 236 ; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. ii. 261 ; Eaton, Ferns of N. Amer. i. 187, t. 25. 

 Poliistirhinn nvmifum, Presl ; Brackenridge, 1. c. 203 ; Eaton, Bot. Mex. Bound. 235. 

 Var. nudatum, Eaton. Frond small, nearly devoid of chaff; pinna-, few, rather 

 rcimote, obh.ng-uval, sli-htly auricled : sori scanty, confined to the ends of a few of 

 the highest pinna\ — Ferns of N. Amer. i. 188. 



