82 OUR NATIVE FERNS AND THEIR ALLIES. 



Stock. Name from Gr. TCoX-di, many, and icov%, aoSoi, foot, 

 alluding to the branching rootstock. The largest, most cosmo- 

 politan genus of ferns, containing 1 50 or more species. 



§ I. EUPOLYPODIUM. Veins free ; fronds {in our species) 

 pinnate. 



* Sori large. 

 'J- I. P. vulgfare L. Stipes 2' — 4' long, firm, erect ; fronds 4' — 

 10' long, i' — 3' broad, cut nearly or quite to the rachis into entire 

 or slightly toothed, usually blunt pinnae ; veins once or twice 

 forked. Larger fronds with their pinnae sharply serrated and 

 long-pointed form the var. occidentale Hook. New England 

 westward to Oregon and southward to Alabama. 



2. p. falcatum Kellogg. Stipes 5' — 8' long, stramineous ; 

 fronds 12' — 15' long, 4' — 8' broad; pinnae numerous, tapering to 

 a slender point, sharply serrate ; sori nearest the midrib; veins 

 with 2 — ^4veinlets. {P.glycyrrhtza\i.Q,.'^2\.on.') California to 

 British Columbia. 



** Sori smaller, often minute. 



3. P. plumula H. B. K. Stipes i' — 4' long, black, slender; 

 fronds narrowly lanceolate, 9' — 18' long, i' — 2' broad; pinnae nu- 

 merous, narrow, entire, blunt, lower gradually reduced ; surfaces 

 naked except the black wiry rachis ; veinlets forked, obscure. 

 Florida. 



4. P. pectinatum L. Stipes rigid 2' — 6' long; fronds el- 

 liptical-lanceolate, 1° — 2^° long, 2' — 6' broad, cut to the rachis 

 into horizontal, entire or toothed pinnae, the lower ones much 

 reduced ; rachis naked or finely villose ; veinlets pellucid, once 

 or twice forked ; sori in long rows, of medium size. Florida. 



§2. GONIOPHLEBIUM Blume. Veins forming ample regular 

 areola {almost imperceptible in No. 5), each with a single distinct 

 free included veinlet, bearing a sorus at its terminus. 



* Under surface squamous. 

 aJ 5. p. polypodioides (L.) Hitch. Rootstock creeping, cov- 

 ered with small brown scales; stipes i' — 4' long, erect, densely 

 scaly; fronds 2' — 6' long, i' — 1\' broad, cut to the rachis into 

 entire pinnae ; texture coriaceous; sori small; veins indistinct. 

 (.P. incanum Swz.) Virginia to Illinois, and southward. 



