KEY, 
9 
4 ^ Sterile portion more than once pinnate, 
B. lanceolatlim, Angstroem. Sterile portion sessile near the top 
of the stalk, fleshy, three-lobed or parted into three divisions, lance- 
olate and cut or toothed ; veins forking from the midrib ; fertile part 
bi- to tri-pinnate. Plant three to eight inches high. 
Mt. Ouray, Colorado (Brandegee). Lake Superior, New England and Europe. 
B, Yirgillianillll, Swartz. Sterile portion sessile above the middle 
of the stalk, thin and papery, divided into three parts, each of which 
is twice-pinnate at base and twice-parted above. Usually one to two 
feet high. 
Oregon, Washington Territory, also in Colorado and eastward. In various parts- 
of the world, 
* * Sterile portion long stalked. 
B. teniatum, Swartz. Sterile portion fleshy, many times divided ; 
final divisions from round -kidney -shaped to triangular - lanceolate ; 
fertile portions bi- to quadri-pinnate. 
Yellowstone Park (Parry). California, Oregon and various parts of the world. 
II. OFBIOIjLOSSUMj Linn^us. Adder’s Tongue. 
Sterile portion. of the frond (in our plant) entire, net-veined ; fertile 
portion with two rows of spore-cases grown together in a single spike ; 
fronds arising from a bud situated outside of the stalk of the previous 
season ; growing in wet and boggy places, 
A genus of about twelve species. 
0. Vlllgation, L. Sterile portion fleshy, sessile, ovate or elliptical, 
entire, one to three inches long. 
Arizona, Unalaska, eastern States and various parts of the world. Rather rare. 
ORDER IJ.-Fl LI CES .-FERNS. 
Plants with fronds which uncoil as they rise from the rootstock, 
and produce spore-cases from the epidermis of the under side (in our 
plants) of the frond. These spore-cases are collected in lines, or round 
or roundish spots (fruit-dots) ; they are either naked or covered by an 
indusium, or by the recurved edge of the frond (involucre). Prothallium 
growing on the surface of the ground. 
A large order of about eighty genera and three thousand species, 
found chiefly in the tropical regions. Some are used for food, some for 
their medicinal properties, and many are cultivated for ornament. Ferns 
are divided into six sub-orders, two of which are represented within our 
borders — the Polypodiacece with fifteen genera, and the Schizoeacece with 
one genus. 
SUB-ORDER I.— POLYPOBIACEdE. 
Spore-cases round or flattened somewhat, splitting cross-wise, pro- 
