GENERA AND SPECIES. 45 
PLATE IX. 
CHEILANTHES. Swartz. 
Gen, CHAR.—Fruit-dots at the ends of free veins, covered, when 
young, by a mostly continuous indusium, formed by the reflexed 
margin of the lobe; low, hairy, sometimes woolly plants, with 
stipes brown or black, shining. 
The species of Cheilanthes are very numerous, and are 
distributed over the tropical and temperate regions of the 
globe. The Cheilanthes fragrans, a dwarf bi-pinnate spe- 
cies, whose fronds have a pleasant odor like that of new- 
mown hay, is found along the Mediterranean, and reaches 
as far north as Switzerland. Arabia, Abyssinia, South 
America, and the West Indies yield a variety of species. 
Three well-marked species are indigenous to the Northern 
United States, and several to the Pacific States and Mexico. 
Some of the species of this beautiful genus have the 
underside of the fronds covered with a silvery or golden- 
colored powder, as in Gymnogramme. The fructification 
is somewhat similar to that of the Adiantum, but this 
apparent similarity disappears on close examination. In 
Cheilanthes the fruit-dots are arranged at the ends of the 
veins, close to the margin of the pinnule. This margin is 
turned over so as to form a lip, which then becomes the 
indusium. From this peculiarity of the indusium the 
generic name is derived—the lip-flower. 
The Plate shows a pinnule slightly magnified; and figure 
2, a lobe greatly magnified. 
