82 Our Native Ferns. 



I. L. Spicant, Desv. (Deer-fern.) Rhizoma short, thick, 

 very chaflfy ; fronds tufted, erect , sterile ones nearly sessile, nar- 

 nowly linear-lanceolate 8' — 24' long, i' — 3' wide, tapering to both 

 ends, cut to the raehis into ohlong or oblong-linear closely set 

 segments, the lower ones gradually diminishing to minute auri- 

 cles ; fertile fronds sometimes three feet high, long-stalked, pin- 

 nate ; pinnae somewhat fewer and mnre distant, longer and much 

 narrower than in the sterile frond ; indusia distinctly intramargh;al, 

 Cal., Ore. and northward. IV. 



XIII. BLECHNUM, L. 



Son linear, continuous or nearly so, parallel with the midrib 

 and usuallycontiguoustoit. Indusium membranous, distinct from 

 the edge of the frond. Veins usually free. 



I ■ EUBLECHNUM. 



I. B. semilatum, Michx. Stipes 6' — 12' long, stout, erect, 

 nearly naked; fronds oblong-lanceolate, i°— 1>^° long, 3' — 6' 

 broad, with 12 — 24 pairs of distinct linear-oblong pinnae, the mar- 

 gins finely incised ; texture coriaceous ; veins very fine and close; 

 fertile pinns narrower. Fla. VI. 



XIV. WOODWARDIA, Sm. Chain-fern. 



Sori oblong or linear, sunk in cavities in the frond, arranged in 

 a chain-like row parallel to the midribs of the pinnae and pinnules 

 and near them. Indusium sub-coriaceous, fixed by its outer mar- 

 gin to the fruitful veinlet and covering the cavity like a lid. Veins 

 more or less reticulated. 



\ I. EUWOODWARDIA. Fronds uniform, the veins form- 

 ing at least one series of areola: between the sori and margins. 



1. W. radicans, Sm., var. Americana, Hook. Caude.x stout, 

 erect, and rising a little above the ground; stipes stout, 8' — 12' 

 long ; fronds 3° — 5° high, sub-coriaceous, pinnate ; the pinnae 8' — 

 15' long, 2' — 4' broad, oblique to the raehis, pinnatifid nearly to 

 the midrib ; segments spinulose-serrate ; veinlets forming a single 

 row of oblong sorus-bearing areolae next the midvein besides a 

 few oblique empty areolae outside the fruiting ones thence free to 

 the margin. Cal. IV. 



\ 2. ANCHISTEA, Presl. Fronds uniform, the veins free be- 

 tween the sori and the margins. 



2. W. Virginica,* Sm. Stipes stout, 12' — 18' high ; fronds 

 oblong-lanceolate, i2'^i8' long, 6' — 9' broad ; pinnae linear-lan- 

 ceolate, 4'— 6' long, X' — i' broad, cut nearly to the raehis into 

 linear-oblong lobes. Canada to Fla. III. 



