PEKN FAMILY. 371 



23. AlJSOPHIIiA. (From Greek Tvprds mfiaaijig grwe-loving, the species 

 growing in tropical forests. 



A. &spera. Rarely cult, from W. Indies: trunk 6° -8° high; stalks 

 prickly, clothed at the base -with pale, narrow scales ; fronds 6° - 8° long, 2° - 3° 

 wide, bipinnate ; rhachis hairy Above ; pinnse obloug-lanceol^te ; pinnules very 

 many, lanceolate, pinnatifid almost to the midrib ; lobes oblong, curved, ser- 

 rate, obtuse; fruitrdots 8-10 to a lobe; iudusium a thin scale on one side of 

 the fruit-dot, often disappearing with age. 



A. pruin^ta, from S. America, is sometimes seen ; a much smaller plant ; 

 rootstock short, clothed with bright-brown wool ; fronds smooth, green above, 

 pale and glaucous often almost white beneath, bipinnate; jflnnules deeply 

 toothed; fruit-dots solitary at the b^se of each tooth; spore-cases mixed with 

 woolly hairs. 



24. TBICHCJMAM'ES. (An ancient Greek name of some Fern, referring 

 to the hair-like stalks.) A large genus ; most of the species tropical. 



T, radlcans. On dripping rocks, Alabama and Tennessee, very rare : froi),(pjS 

 pellucid, 4' - 8' high, the stalk and rhachis narrowly winged, lanceolate, pinnate 

 with 1 - 2-pjnnatifld ovate pinnae ; involucres on short lobes, funnel-shape^, 

 with long exserted receptacles. — A broader and more compound form &o^ 

 Killarney, Ireland, is grown in Wardian cases. 



25. LYGODIUM, CLEVEBING-rERN. (Name from a, Greek woj-d 

 meaning ^ariWe, alluding to the twining and climbing fronds.) Not many 

 species ; all but ours tropical. 



L. palm^tum. Low shady woods, rather rare : smooth, slender, and deli- 

 cate, 2°-4° high, entangled among herbs;, pinnae roundish, 12"- 18" wide, 

 deeply heart-shaped at the base, palmately 5 - 7-lobed, upper ones decompound 

 and fertUe. 



Ii. Jap6nicum. Conservatory plant from Japan : climbing 10°- 12° high, 

 smooth ; .pinnEe ovate, 5' - 9' long, bipinnate, divisions ovate-lanceolate, often 

 halberd-snaped ; divisions of the upper pinnse bordered with narrow fertile Ipbej. 



26. AITSIMIA. (Name from the Greek, meaning without covering, allud- 

 ing to the n^kefl sporfeca^es.) Mainly tropiijal. 



A. Phyllitidis. Cult, from S. America : 12' -18' high, has the two lower 

 pinnse long-stalked, narrowly.elongated, 3 -r 4-pinnate, fertile ; middle portion 

 of the frond sterile, simply pinnate ; pinnse lanceolate, finely serrate ; veins r^ 

 ticulated. 



A. adiantoldes. Native in Key West, Florida ; with lower pinnse as in 

 the last; middle portion sterile, 2-3-pinnate; pinnse long-pointed; divisions 

 obovate-wedge-shaped, entire or toothed at the end, with free veins forking from 

 the base. 



27. SCHIZ.SjA. (Name from the Greek verb which means to split, refer- 

 ring to the many-forked fi-onds of certain tropical species. ) 



S. pusllla. Wet sand, in pine woods of New Jersey : sterile fronds very 

 slender, flattened, simple and linear, curled up ; fertUe ones similar, but straight, 

 2' - 3' high, bearing at the fop the fertile portipn, 2" - 3" long, composed of 

 about 5 pairs of minute pinnse. 



28. OSMIJNDA, FLOWERING FERN. (Name of doubtful origin, 

 anciently " Osmund the Waterman," who was perhaps St. Osmund, Bishop of 

 Salisbury, or possibly St. Christopher, patron of watermen. Vide Hooker's 

 British Ferns. ) Species very few, fruiting in spring or early summer. 



« Fruiting fronds distinct from the leafy ones. 

 O. cinnain6inea, Cinnamon-Fern. Swamps, abundant everywhere: 

 sterile fronds 2° - .^° high, broadly lanceolate, pinnate with many lanceolate 

 deeply pinnatifid pinnse ; fertile ones much shorter, at first woolly, soon with- 

 ering ; fructification bright cinnamon cplor. 



