FERN FAMILY. 371 



23. ALSOPHILA. ( From Greek words meaning grove-loving, the species 

 growing in tropical forests. 



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

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

 wide, hipinnate ; rhachis hairy above ; pinnse oblong-lanceolate ; pinnules very 

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

 rate obtuse; fruit-dots 8-10 to a lobe; indusinm 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 witli bright-brown wool ; fronds smooth, green above, 

 pale and glaucous often almost white beneath, bipinnat«; pinnules deeply 

 toothed ; fruit-dots solitary at the base of each tooth ; spore-cases mixed with 

 woolly hairs. 



24. TRICHOMANES. (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 : fronds 

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

 with 1 - 2-pinnatifid ovate pinnse ; involucres on short lobes, funnel-shaped, 

 with long exserted receptacles. — A broader and more compound form from 

 Killarney, Ireland, is grown in "Wardian cases. 



25. LYGbpiUM, CLIMBING-FEBN. (Name from » Greek word 

 meaning _/?eci6/e, alluding to the twining and climbing fronds.) Not many 

 species ; all but ours tropical. 



Ii, 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, palraately 5 - 7-lobed, upper ones decompound 

 anil fertile. 



Ij. Japdnicum. Conservatoiy plant from Japan : climbing 10°- 12° high, 

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

 halberd-shaped ; divisions of the upper pinnae bordered with narrow fertile lobes. 



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

 ing to the naked spore-cases.) Mainly tropical. 



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

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

 of the frond sterile, simply pinnate ; pinnae lanceolate, finely serrate ; veins re- 

 ticulated. 



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

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

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

 the base. 



27. SCHIZ.S1A. (Name from the Greek verb which means to split, refer-, 

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



S. pusilla. Wot sand, hi pine woods of New Jersey : sterile fronds very 

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

 2' -3' high, bearing at the top the fertile portion, 2" -3" long, composed of 

 about 5 pairs of minute pinnae. (Lessons, p. 158, fig. 505-507.) 



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

 anciently " Osmund the Woierman," 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. einnambmea, Cinnamon-Fern. Swamps, abundant everywhere: 

 sterile fronds 2° -5° high, broadly lanceolate, pinnate with many lanceolate 

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

 ering ; fructification bright cinnamon color. 



