Part 212 (2/2)

Fruit-dots round, borne on the back or rarely at the apex of the veins.

Indusium covering the sporangia, flat or flattish, scarious, orbicular and peltate at the centre, or round-kidney-shaped and fixed either centrally or by the sinus, opening all round the margin. Stipe continuous (not articulated) with the rootstock.--Our species have free veins and 1--3-pinnate fronds. (Name, ?sp?d???, _a small s.h.i.+eld_, from the shape of the indusium.)

-- 1. DRYoPTERIS. _Indusium reniform, or orbicular with a narrow sinus._

[*] _Veins simple or simply forked and straight; fronds annual, decaying in autumn, the stalks and slender creeping rootstocks nearly naked._

1. A. Thelpteris, Swartz. Fronds pinnate, lanceolate in outline; pinnae horizontal or slightly recurved, linear-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid, _the lowest pairs scarcely smaller_; lobes oblong, entire, obtuse or appearing acute when in fruit from the _strongly revolute margins; veins mostly forked_, bearing the (soon confluent) fruit-dots near their middle; indusium minute, smooth and naked.--Marshes; common. Aug.--Stalk 1 long or more, usually longer than the frond, which is of thicker texture than the next, and slightly downy. (Eu.)

2. A. Noveboracense, Swartz. Fronds pinnate, lanceolate in outline, _tapering both ways from the middle_; pinnae lanceolate, _the lowest 2 or more pairs gradually shorter and deflexed_; lobes flat, oblong, basal ones often enlarged and incised; _veins simple_, or forked in the basal lobes; fruit-dots distinct, near the margin; indusium minute, the margin glanduliferous.--Swamps and moist thickets; common. July.--Frond pale green, delicate and membranaceous, hairy beneath along the midribs and veins.

[*][*] _Veins, at least the lowest, more than once forked or somewhat pinnately branching; fruit-bearing veinlets often obscure or vanis.h.i.+ng above the fruit-dot; fronds, at least the sterile ones, often evergreen; stalks and apex of the thickened rootstock scaly or chaffy, and often the main rhachis also._

[+] _Fronds small, pinnate; pinnae pinnatifid; indusia very large, persistent._

3. A. fragrans, Swartz. Fronds (4--12' high) glandular and aromatic, narrowly lanceolate, with linear-oblong pinnately-parted pinnae; their crowded divisions (2” long) oblong, obtuse, toothed or nearly entire, nearly covered beneath with the very large thin imbricated indusia, which are orbicular with a narrow sinus, the margin sparingly glanduliferous and often ragged.--On rocks, especially near waterfalls, mountains of northern New Eng., west and northward.--Rootstock stout, nearly erect, densely chaffy, as are the crowded stipes and rhachis.

(Asia, and barely reaching S. E. Eu.)

[+][+] _Large (1--2 high), the fronds mostly twice pinnate with variously toothed and incised pinnules; indusia rather small, shrivelled in age, or deciduous._

4. A. spinulsum, Swartz. Stipes with a few _pale-brown deciduous scales_; frond ovate-lanceolate, twice pinnate; _pinnae oblique to the rhachis, elongated-triangular_, the lower pairs broadly triangular; pinnules set obliquely on the midribs, connected by a very narrow wing, oblong, acute, incisely serrate or pinnatifid with spinulosely-toothed lobes; _indusium_ smooth and _without marginal glands_.--In damp woods, New Eng. to Ky., and northward. July.--The common European type, rare in North America. (Eu.)

Var. intermedium, D. C. Eaton. _Scales_ of the stipe few, _brown with a darker centre_; frond broadly oblong-ovate, twice or often thrice pinnate; _pinnae spreading, oblong-lanceolate_, the lower unequally triangular-ovate; pinnules crowded, ovate-oblong, spreading, pinnately divided; the oblong lobes spinulose-toothed at the apex; _margin of the indusium denticulate and beset with minute stalked glands_.--Woods, everywhere.

Var. dilatatum, Hook. _Scales_ of the stipe large, _brown with a dark centre_; _frond broader, ovate or triangular-ovate_ in outline, oftenest thrice pinnate; pinnules lance-oblong, the lowest often much elongated; _indusium_ (in the North American plant) _smooth and naked_.--A dwarf state, fruiting when only 5--8' high, answers to var. dumetorum.--N. New Eng. to Minn., chiefly in mountain woods, and northward. (Eu.)

5. A. Bottii, Tuckerman. _Scales_ of the stipe _pale-brown_; fronds (1--2 long) elongated-lanceolate in outline, somewhat narrowed at base; lowest pinnae triangular-ovate, the upper longer and narrower; pinnules oblong-ovate, sharply spinulose-serrate or the lower pinnatifid; _indusium minutely glandular_. (A. spinulosum, var.

Boottii, of last ed. A. cristatum, var. uliginosum, _Milde_.)--Wet thickets and about ponds, New Eng. to Del. and Minn. July.--Sterile fronds much smaller and simpler than the fertile. (Eu.)

[+][+][+] _Large (2--4 high); fronds once pinnate and the pinnae deeply pinnatifid, or nearly twice pinnate; fruit-dots not very near the margin; the indusium large, thinnish and flat, persistent._

6. A. cristatum, Swartz. _Frond linear-oblong or lanceolate in outline_ (1--2 long); _pinnae short_ (2--3' long), _triangular-oblong_, or the lowest nearly triangular-ovate, from a somewhat heart-shaped base, acute, deeply pinnatifid; the _divisions (6--10 pairs) oblong_, very obtuse, finely serrate or cut-toothed, the lowest pinnatifid-lobed; _fruit-dots as near the midvein as the margin_; indusium round-reniform, the sinus mostly shallow, smooth and naked.--Swamps, etc.; common.

July.--Stipes and the stout creeping rootstock bearing broad and deciduous chaffy scales. (Eu.)

Var. Clintonianum. _Frond in every way much larger_ (2--4 long); _pinnae_ oblong-lanceolate, _broadest at base_ (4--6' long, 1--2' broad), deeply pinnatifid; the _divisions (8--16 pairs)_ crowded or distant, _linear-oblong_, obtuse, obscurely serrate or cut-toothed, the basal sometimes pinnately lobed; veins pinnately forking, the lowest anterior veinlets bearing the _fruit-dots near the midvein_; indusium orbicular with a shallow sinus, smooth and naked.--Swampy woods, New Eng. to N. J., N. Y. (_G. W. Clinton_, etc.), and westward. July.--Rootstock stout, creeping, chaffy (like the stipes) with large bright-brown scales. A showy fern, unlike any European form of A. cristatum, and often mistaken for A. Goldianum.

7. A. Goldianum, Hook. _Frond broadly ovate_, or the fertile ovate-oblong in outline (2--3 long); _pinnae_ (6--9' long), oblong-lanceolate, _broadest in the middle_, pinnately parted; the _divisions (about 20 pairs) oblong-linear, slightly scythe-shaped_ (9--15” long), serrate with appressed teeth; veins pinnately forking and bearing the _fruit-dots very near the midvein_; indusium very large, orbicular with a deep narrow sinus, smooth and without marginal glands.--Rich and moist woods, from Conn. to Ky., and northward.

July.--A stately fern, often 4 high, the fronds growing in a circle from a stout ascending chaffy rootstock, and decaying in autumn.

Indusium with the sides of the sinus often overlapping, thus appearing to be round and entire as in -- Polystichum.

[+][+][+][+] _Large (1--3 high); stipes very chaffy at base; fronds twice pinnate, but the upper pinnules confluent, some of the lower pinnatifid-toothed; fruit-dots rather large; indusium convex, without marginal glands, persistent._

8. A. Filix-mas, Swartz. Frond lanceolate in outline (1--3 high); pinnae linear-lanceolate, tapering from base to apex; pinnules oblong, very obtuse, serrate at the apex and obscurely so at the sides, the basal incisely lobed, distinct, the upper confluent; fruit-dots nearer the midvein than the margin, and usually confined to the lower half of each fertile pinnule.--Rocky woods, N. Mich. to Dak. and Col.--Frond thickish but not surviving the winter. (Eu.)

9. A. marginale, Swartz. (Pl. 19, fig. 1, 2.) Frond evergreen, smooth, thickish and almost coriaceous, ovate-oblong in outline (1--2 long); pinnae lanceolate, ac.u.minate, slightly broadest above the base; pinnules oblong or oblong-scythe-shaped, crowded, obtuse or pointed, entire or crenately-toothed; fruit-dots close to the margin.--Rocky hillsides in rich woods; common, especially northward. Aug.

<script>