ASPIDIUM MUNITUM. 
CHAMISSO'S SHIELD-FERN. 
NATURAL ORDER, FILICES. 
ASFIDIUM MUNITUM, Kaulfuss.—Stem tufted, four to nine inches in length, strong straw-colored, 
densely clothed especially below, with large glossy lanceolate scales; fronds one to two 
fect long, four to eight inches broad; pinnze close, three to four inches in length, three- 
eighths to half an inch broad, the apex acuminate, the edge finely spinulose, serrated 
throughout, the upper side auricled and the lower obliquely truncate at the base; texture 
sub-coriaceous; rachis generally scaly; veinlets fine, close; sori in two rows near the 
edge. (Eaton’s Ferns of North America.) 
N Vancouver’s celebrated voyage, Chamisso, the botanist 
of the expedition, collected largely on the northwest 
coast, and many of the ferns of that region especially were made 
known to us through his labors. Kaulfuss, the German botanist, 
who, in 1824, described the ferns of this collector, named this one 
Aspidium munitun. Professor Eaton well suggests that it may 
“commemorate the original collector in its popular name, and 
hence we have “Chamisso’s Shield-Fern.” Asprdium is from 
aspidion, a Greek word denoting a little shield, which name was 
suggested by the shield-like structure of the involucre or indu- 
sium, as we may note in our Fig. 2. The specific name munitum 
may have been suggested by the munificent manner in which the 
plant is furnished with scales, which in strong plants forms a very 
striking character. The species is closely related to the Christ- 
mas Shield-Fern of the Atlantic States, Asprdium acrostichoides. 
This is also known to be very well clothed with chaffy scales, but 
not near to the extent that the Aspedium munitune is. 
In a dried specimen, before us as we write, collected by Dr. 
Edward Palmer in southern California, the stipe at its junction 
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