237 



nating short of the edge of the margin or casually uniting ; sori me- 

 dial, terminal on a veinlet, involucres dark, coriaceous. — Aspidium, 

 Desv. 



Infrequent on rocks in moist woods from 3,000-4,000 ft. altitude ; 

 gathered in several parts of Portland. The fronds vary from suben- 

 tire or trilobed to the state described. The largest are cut quite to 

 the racbis, which is free \-\ an inch, at the base of the central divi- 

 sion ; generally however it is winged there. The substance though 

 pellucid, becomes opaque usually in drying. Casually the branches of 

 the inferior veins, which do not run to the margin, curve and unite at 

 their tips forming large interior areolae. The aspect of the plant is 

 that of young Aspidium trifoliatum, but the substance is thicker. 



54. N. cicutarium, Swartz. — Rootstock J- J in. thick, shortly elon- 

 gated and repent, coated with small brown scales ; stipites tufted, 

 spreading 2-6 in. L, slender, slightly deciduously scaly and puberuh us ; 

 fronds prostrate, oblong, acuminate, 6-15 in. w., usually broadest at 

 the shoulders and a little narrowed toward the base membranous -char- 

 taceous, pellucid, glabrescent, the ribs slightly pube scent, dark-green ; 

 pinnae distant below the pinnatifid apex opposite, s pr eading, deeper 

 on the inferior side, l-3£ in 1. J-1J in. w., lobed or dteeply pinnatifid, 

 or the inferior shortly petiolate ones fully pinnate a the base, seg- 

 ments spreading, decurrent, with a rounded oblique si nus and their 

 own width or more between them, blunt, repand sinuate or lobate, £-1 

 in. 1. from the sinus, J- \ in. w. ; rachis slender puberulous ; viviparous 

 in the axil of one of the central or upper pinnae ; veins copiously areo- 

 lated, without free included branches ; sori biserial in the lobes, often 

 extending round the sinuses, confined usually to the upper half of the 

 frond ; involucres-reniform-orbicular. — SI. Herb. pg. 99. PI. Fil. t. 150. 

 Aspidium hippocrepis, Sw. Polypodium, L. 



Common on dry banks and rocks in several parts of the country be- 

 low 2,000 ft. altitude, usually at low elevations. There is a small 

 form in which the fronds are only three or four inches long and one to 

 two wide, fully pinnate only at the base, the pinnae simply lobed or 

 sinuate, with the exterior vein-branches free and the surface and ra- 

 chises more pubescent. In the larger state the pinnae are 2-3 inches 

 apart. Of this there is a quite glabrous form. Differs from the next 

 by its less compound state, small size, and prostrate habit. 



55. N. apiifolium, Schk. — Rootstock very stout, erect, often a foot 

 or more high, the crown clothed with brown scales ; stipites caespitose, 

 strong, erect, naked, except at the base, 1J-2J ft. 1. ; fronds erect, am- 

 ple, 2-3ft. L lj-lf ft. w., bipinnate and again pinnatifid, as wide or 

 widest at the base, the apex acuminate and pinnatifid, chartaceous, gla- 

 brous, the ribs rusty above, dark glossy green, papillose on the up- 

 per side; pinnae spreading, opposite, petioled \-l in., oblong acumi- 

 nate, 1-1^ ft. 1. 4-8 in. w., deeply pinnatifid or fully pinnate at the 

 base ; pinnulae oblong lanceolate, 2-5 in. 1. in. w., the larger acu- 

 minate, decurrent at the base and more or less apart, lobed or pinna- 

 tifid from Jrd-Jths deep; lobes 2-4 L w. J-f in. 1. blunt or rounded ; ra- 

 chis strong, channelled ; veins freely areolated ; sori biserial in the 

 lobes, sunk; involucres reniform-orbicular, persistent.— A. dilacera- 

 turn, Kunze. 



Common and widely diffused through the country on wet rocks 



