38 POLYPODIACEAB (FERN I'AMILY) 



its outer margin to the fruitful veinlet, free and opening en the side next the 

 midrib. Veins more or less reticulated, free toward the margin of the frond. — 

 Large ferns, with pinnatifid or pinnate fronds. (Named for Thomas J. Wood- 

 ward, an English botanist.) 



§ 1. ANCHISTEA (Presl) Hook. Sterile and fertile fronds aWce ; veins form- 

 ing only one row of meshes {areoles), 



Vl. W. virginica (L.) Sm. Fronds (6-li dm. high) pinnate, with numerous 

 lanceolate pinnatifid pinnae ; segments oblong ; veins forming a row of narrow 

 areoles along the midrib both of the pinnae and of the lobes, the outer veinlets 

 free ; fruit dots oblong, one to each areole, confluent when ripe. — Wet swamps, 

 N. S. to Fla., La., Mich., and Ont. Rootstocks creeping, often 2-3 m. long! 

 July. 



§ 2. LOKINSERIA (Presl) Hook. Sterile and fertile fronds unlike; veins of 

 the sterile fronds forming many rows of meshes. 



2. W. areolUta (L.) Moore. Fronds pinnatifid ; sterile ones (2-6 dm. high) 

 with lanceolate serrulate divisions united by a broad wing ; fertile fronds taller, 

 with narrowly linear almost disconnected divisions, the . areoles and fruit dots 

 (8-10 mm. long) in a single row each side of the secondary midrib ; rootstocks 

 creeping. {W. angustifolla Sm.) — Wet woods, s. Me. to Fla. and Tex. ; also 

 Ark. and Mich. ; rare. Aug. , Sept. 



10. ASPLfeNIUM L. Spleenwokt 



Fruit dots oblong or linear, oblique, separate ; the straight or rarely curved 

 indusium fixed lengtbwise by one edge to the upper (inner) side of the fertile 

 vein ; — in some species a part of the fruit dots are double, the fertile vein bear- 

 ing two indusia placed back to back. Veins free in all our species. (Name 

 from a- privative and <rw\-^v, the spleen, for supposed remedial properties.) 



§ 1. EUASPLENIUM (Endl.) Klotzsch. Indusium straight or slightly curved, 

 attached to the upper side of the vein, rarely double ; small evergreen ferns ; 

 stipes filiform or nearly so, with vascular bundles separate and peripheral or 

 if united toward the summit forming a lunate bundle; scales of the rhizome 

 and stipes narrow, of firm texture and with thick-walled cells. 



* Fronds pinnatifid, or pinnate only near the base. 



1. A. pinnatifidum Nutt. Fronds (7-20 cm. long) lanceolate, pinnatifid or 

 pinnate below, tapering above into a slender prolongation, "the apex sometimes 

 rooting"; lobes roundish-ovate, obtuse, or the lowest long-acuminate; fruit 

 dots irregular, those next the midrib often double, even the slender prolongation 

 fertile ; stipes brownish, becoming green above, and so passing into the broad 

 pale green midrib. — On oliifs and rocks, Ct. to Mo., and southw. ; very rare. 

 July. — Resembles the Walking Leaf (Camptosorus) , but the veins are free. 



X A. ebenoides R. R. Scott. Fronds (1-2 dm. high) broadly lanceolate, pin- 

 natifid, beloio pinnate, the apex pro\,jnged and slender; divisions lanceolate 

 from a broad base, the lower ones shorter, often proliferous, as is the apex of 

 the frond ; fruit dots much as in the last ; stipes black and polished, as is the 

 lower part of the midrib, especially beneath. — Limestone cliffs, Vt. (^Miss Wool- 

 son, Miss Smith) to Mo., and southw. ; very rare. A noteworthy hybrid bt- 

 tween A. platyneuron and Camptosorus' rhizophyllus ; its origin early suspected 

 by Jf. G. Berkeley and recently demonstrated by Miss Margaret Slosson. This 

 fern is more abundant and probably self-perpetuating in Ala. 



* * Fronds narrow, linear-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, pinnate, with numerous 

 pinnae ; these entire to serrate or rarely incised. 



-•- Pinnae not auricled. 



2. A. virlde Huds. Fronds (5-13 cm. tall) tufted, linear in outline, pale 

 green, softly herbaceous; pinnae roundish-ovate or ovate-rhomboid, short- 

 stalked, crenately toothed (4-9 mm. long), the midvein indistinct and forking; 



