POLYPODIACEAE. 



Vol. I. 



i. Polypodium vulgare L. Common or 

 Golden Polypody. Fig. 83. 



Polypodium vulgare L. Sp. PI. 1085. 1753. 



Rootstock slender, widely creeping, densely 

 covered with cinnamon-colored scales. Stipes 

 light colored, glabrous, 2'-6' long; blades 

 ovate-oblong or narrowly oblong, subcoria- 

 ceous or chartaceous, evergreen, glabrous, 

 3-10' long, 1-3' wide, cut nearly to the rachis 

 into entire or slightly toothed, obtuse or sub- 

 acute, linear or linear-oblong segments ; sori 

 large, about midway between the midrib and 

 margins of the segments, upon the anterior 

 branch of the mostly 1-3-forked veins. 



On rocks or rocky banks, occasionally on trees, 

 Labrador and Newfoundland to Manitoba and 

 Keewatin, south to Georgia, Alabama and Mis- 

 souri. Ascends to 5600 ft. in Virginia. The 

 blade varies much in cutting, and numerous 

 forms have been described. One of these, the 

 var. cambricum, is notable for its broad pin- 

 natifid segments. Male polypody, golden locks, 

 golden maiden's-hair. Adder's-, moss-, wood-, 

 male-, sweet-fern; Rock- or Stone-brake. 



2. Polypodium polypodioides (L.) A. 

 S. Hitchcock. Gray Polypody. Fig. 84. 



Acrostichum polypodioides L. Sp. PI. 1068. 1753. 

 P. incanum Sw. Fl. Ind, Occ. 3: 1645. 1806. 

 Polypodium polypodioides A. S. Hitchcock, Rep. 

 Mo. Bot. Gard. 4: 156. 1893. 



Rootstock widely creeping, woody, covered 

 with small brown scales. Stipes densely scaly, 

 I '-4' long; blades oblong-lanceolate, acute, cori- 

 aceous, evergreen, i'-j' long, 1-2' wide, cut 

 very nearly or quite to the rachis into entire 

 oblong or linear-oblong obtuse segments, gla- 

 brous or nearly so on the upper surface, the 

 lower densely covered with gray peltate scales 

 with darker centers, as also the rachises ; veins 

 indistinct, unconnected or casually joined. 



On trees or less commonly on rocks, Pennsyl- 

 vania to Florida, west to Iowa, Kansas and Texas. 

 Widely distributed in tropical America. July- 

 Sept. Called also Hoary-, Scaly-, Tree-Polypody ; 

 Rock-brake. Resurrection-fern. 



Family 6. MARSILEACEAE R. Br. 

 Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. i : 166. 1810. 



Marsilea Family. 

 Perennial herbaceous plants rooting in mud, yvith slender creeping root-stocks 

 and 2- or 4-foliolate or filiform leaves. Asexual propagation consisting of sporo- 

 carps borne on peduncles which rise from the rootstock near the leaf-stalk or are 

 consolidated with it, containing both megaspores and microspores. The mega- 

 spores germinate into prothallia which bear mostly archegonia, while the micro- 

 spores grow into prothallia bearing the antheridia. 



Three genera and some 60 species of wide distribution known as Pepperworts. 



1. MARSILEA L. Sp. PI. 1099. 1753. 



Marsh or aquatic plants, the leaves commonly floating on the surface of shallow water, 

 slender-petioled, 4-foliolate. Peduncles shorter than the petioles, arising from their bases or 

 more or less adnate to them. Sporocarps ovoid or bean-shaped, composed of two vertical 

 valves with several transverse compartments (sori) in each valve. [Name in honor of 

 Giovanni Marsigli, an Italian botanist, who died about 1804.] 



About S3 species, widely distributed. Besides the following 2 or 3 others occur in Texas. 

 Sporocarps glabrous and purple when mature. 1. M. quadrifolia, 



Sporocarps densely covered with hair-like scales. 2. M. vestita. 



