CHAPTER XIII. 



SCHIZ^A, Smith. 



(Schiz-ae'-a.) 



Comh or Rush Ferns. 



HE name of this small, widely-difFased genus, composed of 

 plants totally distinct in habit from all other known Ferns, 

 is derived from schizo, to split, in allusion to the fan-shaped 

 or multifid nature of the fronds of most species. In Hooker's 

 "Synopsis Filicum" Schizoea forms Genus 64, and comprises 

 plants with fronds terete (cyUndrical) or nearly so, with pinnate fertile 

 segments and biserial capsules ; others with fronds distinctly flattened, pinnate 

 fertile segments, and biserial capsules ; and a few with fertile segments digitate 

 (hand- shaped) rather than pinnate and quadriserial capsules. The distinctive 

 character of the genus, besides the peculiar appearance of the plants of 

 which it is composed, lies in the nature of the fructification, which consists 

 of sessile (stalkless), two-valved capsules opening down the side, disposed in 

 either two or four rows covering one side of close, distichous (two-rowed) 

 spikes which form separate fertile segments at the extremity of the fronds. 

 The genus belongs to the sub-order Schizceacece, which also embraces the 

 better-known genera Anemia, Lygodium, Mohria, and Trochopteris. 



Schizcea has representatives in Cape Colony, New Zealand, various parts of 

 Australia, North and South America, and the West Indies, where they are 

 usually found growing in marshy places, but exposed to the action of light — 

 a circumstance which may easily be accounted for by the rush-like nature of 

 their fronds. 



