504 



FILICES. 



OsMUNDA. 



3. Osmunda spectabilis, Linn. Flowering-fern. 



Frond bipinnate, fertile at the summit ; pinnules lanceolate-oblong, rather obtuse, nearly 

 equal at the base, slightly petiolate, serrulate ; raceme large, decompound, smooth. — Willd. 

 sp. 5. p. 93 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 568 ; Beck, hot. p. 457 ; Darlingt. ft. Cest. p. 585 ; Hook, 

 ft. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 265. O. regalis, /3., Linn. sp. 2. p. 1065. O. regalis, Michx. fl. 2. p. 

 273 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 388 ; Torr. compend. p. 386. 



Whole plant smooth, 3-4 feet high, branching, grayish green ; the divisions mostly 

 opposite. Pinnules 1-2 inches long and 3-6 lines wide, alternate or opposite, distant, 

 obtusely serrulate ; the veins twice forked, once at the very base and then again unequally. 

 Raceme or rather panicle 4-8 inches long, ferruginous when old ; the ultimate segments 

 (pinnules) linear, distant, bearing the clusters of capsules on little tooth-like processes. 



Wet meadows and thickets : frequent. Fr. July. Differs from the European O. regalis 

 (which it greatly resembles), in the nearly equal bases of the pinnules, and also in wanting 

 the auricle on their lower side. 



18. LYGODIUM. Swartz, syn. Fil. p. 154. CLIMBING-FERN, 

 [From the Greek, lygos, a band ; in allusion to its twining habit.] 



Hydroglossum, Willd. 



Capsules in 2-ranked little spikes, which are produced on the margin of the more or less 

 metamorphosed frond, sessile, ovate, radiately striate or wrinkled, opening on the inner 

 side. Involucre scale-like, covering each capsule. — Climbing ferns ; the fronds mostly in 

 pairs, palmate, lobed or pinnate. Veins radiating from the base, forked, free. 



1. Lygodium palmatum, Swartz. (Plate CLXI.) Climbing-fern. 



Stems flexuous and twining ; fronds conjugate, cordate, palmately 5 - 7-lobed, with the 

 lobes entire and mostly obtuse ; terminal ones contracted and fructiferous, forming a compound 

 panicle. — Swartz, I. c. ; Bigel. ft. Bost. p. 387 ; Bart. fl. N. Am. 3. t. 88. /. 1 ; Torr. 

 compend. p. 386 ; Beck, hot. p. 457. Cteisium paniculatum, Michx. fl. 2. p. 275. Hydro- 

 glossum palmatum, Willd. sp. 5. p. 84 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 656. 



A very delicate fern ; the stem almost filiform, 1-2 feet or more in length, twining and 

 tortuous, very smooth. Fronds or pinnae petiolate, their petiolioles united near the base, 

 roundish in the circumscription, 1-2 inches in diameter, deeply lobed, light green above, 

 paler underneath ; the primary veins diverging from the base, and then repeatedly forked. 

 Several of the uppermost pairs of fronds or leaflets are reduced in size, and deeply divided 

 into narrow segments, with the fruit in two imbricated rows on the back. These lobes, 

 forming little spikes, bear 7-9 ovate slightly stalked capsules, which arise from the veins. 



