598 FILICES. (FERNS.) 



cal ring. Fronds elongated, climbing, the branches usually in pairs with a short 

 common foot-stalk. 



1. L. palmatum, Swartz. Fronds slender, pinnae deeply cordate at the 

 base, palmately 4 - 7-lobed, the lobes oblong, obtuse, entire ; the upper pinnae 

 decompound and bearing the fruit on the very narrow segments. Low shady 

 woods, Florida, and northward ; not common. Rootstock very slender, creep- 

 ing. Fronds 2 - 5 high, climbing on weeds and bushes. 



20. ANEIMIA, Swartz. 



Sporangia ovate, many-rayed at the apex, attached by the base in a double 

 row to the narrow one-sided paniculate divisions of the two lower branches of 

 the frond, or on separate fronds. Indusium none. Fronds erect, commonly 

 three-branched, the middle branch sterile and 1 -3-pinnate. 



1 . A. adiantifolia, Swartz. Fronds sparingly pubescent, erect on a slen- 

 der stipe ; the two lower branches elongated, pinnately decompound, fertile ; 

 sterile part of the frond deltoid-ovate, 2 - 3-pinnate ; ultimate segments obovate, 

 cuneate, entire or lobed, striate above with numerous flabellate veins. Key 

 West, &c., South Florida. Fronds 6' -12' high, rather rigid. Rootstock creep- 

 ing, slender, covered with a black tomentum. 



21. OSMUNDA, L. FLOWERING FERN. 



Sporangia globular, short-pedicelled, having an incomplete transverse ring, 

 represented by a few parallel striae near the apex, opening by a vertical chink 

 into two nearly equal valves, paniculately arranged on contracted parts of the 

 frond or on separate fronds. Fronds tall, erect, several from a stout rootstock, 

 1 - 2-pinnate. Veins forking, free. 



* Fronds bipinnate, fertile at the top ; sterile pinnce few. 



1. O. regalis, L. Fronds ovate, smooth; sterile pinnae distant; the finely 

 serrulate pinnules distinct, oblong-lanceolate, cordate or truncate at the nearly 

 sessile base, sometimes auricled at the lower side of the base ; the upper pinnae 

 erect, panicled and thickly covered with light brown sporangia. (O. spectabilis, 

 Willd.) Swamps, Florida to Mississippi, and northward. Fronds l-5 

 high ; pinnules 1'- 2' long, 3"- 4" wide. . 



* * Sterile fronds pinnate: the pinnce numerous, deeply pinnatifid, with oblong entire 



segments. 



2. O. Claytoniana, L. Fronds broadly lanceolate, woolly when young, 

 at length nearly smooth ; sterile pinnae sessile, oblong-lanceolate, deeply pinna- 

 tifid ; the segments crowded ; fertile pinnae few, between the middle and the base 

 of the frond, contracted, the sporangia deepening in color as the sterile pinnae 

 expand. (0. interrupta, Michx.) Low grounds in the upper districts, and 

 northward. Fronds 2 -3 high. 



3. O. cinnamomea, L. Sterile fronds covered with rusty wool when 

 young, at length smooth ; pinnae sessile, lanceolate ; segments broadly oblong, 



