FEEN FAMILY. S67 



truncate or rounded base, acuminate, nearly entire ; those of the fertile frond 

 narrower ; fruit-dots slightly curved, very numerous. 



§ 4. Fronds more than once pinnate. 

 » Fruit-dots more than one in each smallest division of the frond. 



A. Rilta-mur^ia, "Wall-Rue. On exposed cliffs of limestone, from 

 Vermont W. & S. : fronds small, 1 ' - 4 ' long, ovate, twice or thrice pinnate, 

 the few divisions rather thickish, wedge-shaped or rhomboid, toothed at the 

 I top ; fruit-dots few, becoming confluent. 



A. fureS.tUIIl. Cult, from Trop. America, S. Africa, &c. : fronds 8' -15' 

 long, 3'-^' wide, on a somewhat hairy stalk, ovate-lanceolate, ui nnat e with 

 lance-oblong acuminate pinnae, which are again pinnately cut nearly or quite to 

 the midrib ; divisions oblique, wedge-shaped, narrow, serrate, rather coriaceous, 

 deeply marked by the forking veins ; fruit-dots elongated, radiating from the 

 base of the division. 



A. thelypteroides. In rich rocky woods, not rare : fronds lJ°-3° high, 

 thin in texture, broadly lanceolate, pinnate; pinnae 3' -6' long, lanceolate, 

 deeply pinnatifid inJo close-set oblong anci obtuse minutely toothed lobes ; fruit- 

 dots 6-12 to each lobe, some of them commonly double. 



A. Filix-fOBmina, Lady-Fern. Common in moLst woods : fronds large 

 (2° -3° high, 4' -8' broad), growing like the last in a crown, 2-3-pinnate; 

 pinna lanceolate, with a narrow border to the secondary rhachis : pinnules 

 oblong and sharply serrate, or in larger plants lanceolate and pinnatifid with 

 incised lobes ; fruit-dots short, variously curved, at length confluent. 



* * Smallest divisions of the frond narrow, entire, containing but a single veinlet 

 and but one fruit-dot. 



A. Belangeri. Cult, from Malacca and Java: fronds l°-lj° high, 

 2' -3' wide, coriaceous, pale green, as is the stoutish stalk; pinnaj oblong, 

 truncate at the base, with a rounded apex, pinnatifid to the winged midrib into 

 numerous narrowly oblong and obtuse lobes, the upper basal ones of each pinna 

 2-3-cleft, the rest entire and bearing on the side farthest from the main rhachis 

 a solitary elongated fruit-dot. 



A. myrioph^llum. Limestone caves in Jackson Co., Florida : fronds 

 delicate, almost translucent, lanceolate, 6'-9'long, l'-2' wide, 2-3-pinnate; 

 smallest divisions obovate-oblong, 2" -3" long, J" wide; fruit-dot in the lower 

 half of each division. 



A. bulbiferuin. Cult, from New Zealand, &e : fronds herbaceous, ample, 

 broadly lanceolate, l°-3° long, 6'-12' wide, 2-3-pinnate, often producing 

 leafy bulbs on the upper surface ; pinnse triangular-lanceolate, with a broadly 

 winged midrib ; pinnules lanceolate, deeply toothed or cut into oblong-linear 

 lobe's ; fruit-dots e-NLtending from the middle of the lobes downward almost to 

 the midrib of the pinnules. 



12. SCOLOPENDRIUM. (Name from the Greek word for a centipede, 

 suggested by the many oblique lines of fruit each side 6f the midrib. ) 



S. vulg&re, Habt's-tongue. Rare, among shaded rocks in Central New 

 York and in Canada West ; fronds 6' -18' long, I' -2' wide, oblong-lanceolate 

 from a heart-shaped base, herbaceous, the margin entire or wavy. Cultivated 

 forms from England are crisped, crested, many-forked, &c. 



13. CAMPTOSORUS, WALKING-LEAF, (Name from the Greek, 

 meaning a bent heap, referring to the curved and angled fruit-dots.) Almost 



the only species is 



C. rhizoph^llus. Damp mo-ssy rocks N. & S., mainly along the moun- 

 tains : frond 4' - 12' long, tapering from a heart-shaped or auricled base 6" - 12" 

 wide to a long narrow point, which often roots at the end, and there gives rise 

 to a new plant, ready to take another step in advance. 



14. PHEGrOPTERIS, BEECH-FERN (which the name means in Greek, 

 the original species often found .among beeches). Chiefly tropical ; but the 

 following are all wild species, in rocky or shady woods. 



