FILICES. (FERNS.) 001 



§2. LORIXSERIA, Presl. Sterile and fertile fronds unlike : reins of the sterile 

 fronds forming many rows of meshes. 

 2. W. angUStifblia, Smith. Fronds pinnatifid ; sterile ones (12'- 18' 

 high) with lanceolate serrulate divisions united by a broad wing; fertile fronds 

 taller, with narrowly linear almost disconnected divisions, the areolcs and fruit- 

 dots (4" -5" long) in a single row each side of the secondary midribs. (W. 

 onocleoides, Willd. W. areolata, Moore.) — Bogs, Massachusetts, near the 

 coast, to Virginia, and southward : rare. Aug., Sept. 



8. ASPLENIUM, L. Spleenwort. (PI. 17.) 



Fruit-dots oblong or linear, oblique, separate; the straight, or rarely curved, 

 indusium fixed lengthwise by one edge to the upper (inner) side of the fertile 

 vein : — in some species a part of the fruit-dots are double ; the fertile vein 

 bearing two indusia placed back to back. Veins free in all our species. (Named) 

 from a privative and o-rrXrjv, the spleen, for supposed remedial properties.) 



§ 1. ASPLENIUM proper. Indusium straight or slightly curved, attached to the 



upper side of the vein, rare/g double. 



* Indusium flat, or flatfish, thin. (Fronds evergreen.) 



*- Fronds pinnately lobed or parted, or simply pinnate. 



1. A. pinnatifidum, Nutt. Fronds (3' -6' long) lanceolate, pinnatifid, or 

 pinnate below, tapering above into a slender prolongation, " the apex sometimes root- 

 ing " ; lobes roundish-ovate, obtuse, or the lowest pair long-acuminate ; fruit-dots irreg- 

 ular, those next the midrib often double, even the slender prolongation fertile. 

 — Cliffs on the Schuylkill and Wissahickon, near Philadelphia, and southward 

 along the Alleghanies ; also sparingly westward : rare. July. — Resembles the 

 AValking-Leaf (Camptosorus), but the veins are free. Stipes brownish, becoming 

 green higher up, and so passing into the broad pale-green midrib. 



2. A. ebenoides, R.R.Scott. Fronds (4' -9' long) broadly lanceolate, 

 pinnatifid, below pinnate, the apex prolonged and slender ; divisions lanceolate from a 

 broad base, the lower ones shorter, often proliferous, as is the apex of the frond ; 

 fruit-dots much as in the last ; stipes black and polished, as is the lower part of the 

 midrib, especially beneath. — Limestone cliffs on the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, 

 R. R. Scott. A single plant was found, growing with Camptosorus and Aspl. 

 ebeneum, of which Rev. M. G. Berkeley (Journ. Royal Horticult. Soc. July, 

 1866) considers it a probable hybrid. 



3. A. Trichomanes, L. Fronds (3' -8' long) in dense spreading tufts, 

 linear in outline, pinnate; pinnce numerous, roundish-oblong or oval (3" -4" long), 

 unequal-sided, obliquely wedge-truncate at the base, attached by a narrow point, 

 the midvein forking and evanescent; the thread-like stipe and rhachis purple- 

 brown and shining. (A. melanocaulon, Willd.) — Shaded cliffs: common. 

 July. (Eu.) 



4. A. ebeneum, Ait. Fronds upright (8'- 16' high) pinnate, lance-linear in 

 outline ; pinna' ( j' - 1' long) many, lanceolate, or the low r er oblong, slightly scythe- 

 shaped, finely serrate, sessile, the dilated base auricled on the upper or both sides ; 

 fruit-dots numerous on both sides of the elongated midvein ; stipe and rhachis 

 blackish-purple and shining. — Rocky, open woods : rather common. 



