44 POLYPODIACEAE (FERN FAMILY) 



irregular pieces or lobes. Small and tufted pinnately divided ferns. (Dedi- 

 cated to Joseph Woods, an English botanist.) 



* Stalks obscurely articulated some distance from the base ; fronds chaffy or 

 smooth, never glandular ; indusium divided nearly to the center into slender 

 hairs which are curled over the sporangia. 



1. W. ilvSnsis (L.) R. Br. Frond oblong-lanceolate (5-15 cm. long, 2-4 

 cm. wide), smoothish and green above, thickly clothed underneath as well as the 

 stalk with rusty bristle-like chaff, pinnate ; the pinnae crowded, oblong, obtuse, 

 sessile, pinnately parted, the numerous crowded segments oblong, obtuse, 

 obscurely crenate ; the fruit dots near the margin, somewhat confluent when 

 old. Exposed rocks; arctic Am., s. to N. E., the Great L. region, and in the 

 mts. to N. C. June. (Eurasia.) 



2. W. alpina (Bolton) S. F. Gray. Frond narrowly oblong-lanceolate (4-13 

 cm. long, (5-34 mm. wide), smooth above, sparingly paleaceous-hirsute beneath, 

 pinnate ; the pinnae triangular-ovate, obtuse, pinnately lobed, the lobes few and 

 nearly entire; fruit dots rarely confluent. (W. hyperborea R. Br.) N. B., 

 Que., n. Vt., n. N. Y., Ont., and northw. ; rare. (Eurasia.) 



3. W. glablla R. Br. Smooth and naked throughout; frond linear and 

 very delicate (4-16 cm. high), pinnate ; pinnae roundish-ovate, the lower ones 

 rather remote (3-9 mm. long), obtuse, crenately lobed; fruit dots scanty; the 

 hairs of the indusium fewer than in the last two species. On moist mossy rocks, 

 Nfd. to n. N. E., N. Y., Minn., and northw. to Alaska and Greenl (Eurasia.) 



* * Stalks not articulated; fronds never chaffy, often glandular-pubescent. 

 t- Indusium of a few broad segments, at first covering the sorus completely. 



4. W. obtusa (Spreng.) Torr. Frond broadly lanceolate, minutely glan- 

 dular-hairy (2-5 dm. high), pinnate or nearly bipinnate ; pinnae rather remote, 

 triangular-ovate or oblong (2-6 cm. long), bluntish, pinnately parted : segments 

 oblong, obtuse, crenately toothed, the lower pinnatifid with toothed lobes ; veins 

 forked, and bearing the fruit dots on or below the minutely toothed lobes ; indu- 

 sium at length splitting into several spreading jagged lobes. Rocky banks and 

 cliffs, " N. S.," and centr. Me. to Ga., and westw. Var. ANGUSTA Peck is a form 

 with very narrow fronds (35 cm. long and 4 cm. wide) and pinnae. High- 

 lands, N.Y. 



i- f- Indusium entirely concealed beneath the sorus, divided into very narrow 

 segments or reduced to minute hairs. 



5. W. oregina D. C. Eaton. Glabrous; fronds bright green, soft in texture, 

 narrowly lance-oblong (12-23 mm. wide), bipinnatifid, pinnae triangular-oblong, 

 obtuse ; the segments oblong or ovate, obtuse, crenate-serrulate, the teeth or 

 margin nearly always reflexed. Limestone cliffs and ledges, Bic, Que. ; s. shore 

 of L. Superior (Robbins), northw. and westw. 



6. W. Cathcartiana Robinson. Finely glandular-puberulent ; fronds (2-3 

 dm. high) rather dull green, of firm texture, lanceolate (25-55 mm. broad), 

 bipinnatifid ; pinnae oblong, the lower distant ; segments usually separated by 

 wide sinuses, oblong, denticulate. ( W. scopulina Man. ed. 6, not D. C. 

 Eaton.) Rocky river banks, w. Mich. (Wheeler}, and n.e. Minn. (Miss Ellen 

 Cathcart. ) 



7. W. scopulina D. C. Eaton. Loosely hispidulous with minute white hairs, 

 and finely glandular-puberulent; segments approximate, crenate-serrulate. 

 Limestone cliffs ; Gasp6 Co., Que. ; S. Dak. ; Rocky Mts., etc. ; reported from 

 Minn, and n.w. la. 



17. DICKS6NIA L'Her. 



Fruit dots small, globular, marginal, each placed on the apex of a free vein 

 or fork ; the sporangia borne on an elevated globular receptacle, inclosed in a 

 mem bran aceous cup-shaped indusium which is open at the top, and on the 

 outer side partly adherent to a reflexed toothlet of the frond. (Named for 

 James Dickson, an English cryptogamic botanist.') 



