Part 214 (1/2)

long); the fertile racemose-panicled at the summit of the frond.--Swamps and wet woods; common. The cordate pinnules sometimes found here are commoner in Europe. May, June. (Eu.)

[*][*] _Sterile fronds once pinnate; pinnae deeply pinnatifid; the lobes entire._

2. O. Claytoniana, L. (Pl. 20, fig. 1--3.) Clothed with loose wool when young, soon smooth; _fertile fronds taller than the sterile_ (2--4 high); pinnae oblong-lanceolate, with oblong obtuse divisions; _some (2--5 pairs) of the middle pinnae fertile_, these entirely pinnate; sporangia greenish, turning brown.--Low grounds, common. May.--Fruiting as it unfolds.

3. O. cinnammea, L. (CINNAMON FERN.) Clothed with rusty wool when young; _sterile fronds tallest_ (at length 3--5 high), smooth when full grown, the lanceolate pinnae pinnatifid into broadly oblong obtuse divisions; _fertile fronds separate_, appearing earlier from the same rootstock and soon withering (1--2 high), contracted, twice pinnate, covered with the cinnamon-colored sporangia.--Var. FRONDSA is a rare occasional state, in which some of the fronds are sterile below and more spa.r.s.ely fertile at their summit, or rarely in the middle.--Swamps and low copses, everywhere. May.

ORDER 132. OPHIOGLOSSaCEae. (ADDER'S-TONGUE FAMILY.)

Leafy and often somewhat fleshy plants; the leaves (_fronds_) simple or branched, often fern-like in appearance, erect in vernation, developed from underground buds formed either inside the base of the old stalk or by the side of it, and bearing in special spikes or panicles rather large subcoriaceous bivalvular sporangia formed from the main tissue of the fruiting branches. Prothallus underground, not green, moncious.--A small order, separated from Ferns on account of the different nature of the sporangia, the erect vernation, etc.

1. Botrychium. Sporangia in pinnate or compound spikes, distinct. Veins free.

2. Ophioglossum. Sporangia cohering in a simple spike. Veins reticulated.

1. BOTRCHIUM, Swartz. MOONWORT. (Pl. 20.)

Rootstock very short, erect, with cl.u.s.tered fleshy roots (which are full of starch, in very minute, irregular granules!); the base of the naked stalk containing the bud for the next year's frond; frond with an anterior fertile and a posterior sterile segment; the former mostly 1--3-pinnate, the contracted divisions bearing a double row of sessile naked sporangia; these are distinct, rather coriaceous, not reticulated, globular, without a ring, and open transversely into two valves. Sterile segment of the frond ternately or pinnately divided or compound; veins all free. Spores copious, sulphur-color. (Name a diminutive of ?t???, _a cl.u.s.ter of grapes_, from the appearance of the fructification.)

-- 1. BOTRYCHIUM proper. _Base of the stalk containing the bud completely closed; sterile segment more or less fleshy; the cells of the epidermis straight._

[*] _Sterile portion of the frond sessile or nearly so at or above the middle of the plant. Plants small._

1. B. Lunaria, Swartz. _Sterile segment_ nearly sessile, borne near the middle of the plant, _oblong, simply pinnate with 5--15 lunate or fan-shaped_ very obtuse crenate, incised or nearly entire, _fleshy divisions_, more or less excised at the base on the lower or on both sides, the veins radiating from the base and repeatedly forking; fertile segment panicled, 2--3-pinnate.--N. Eng. to Lake Superior, and northward; rare.--Very fleshy, 4--10' high. (Eu.)

2. B. simplex, Hitchc.o.c.k. Fronds small (2--4', rarely 5--6' high), _the sterile segment short-petioled from near the middle of the plant, thickish_ and fleshy, simple and roundish, or _pinnately 3--7-lobed_; the lobes roundish-obovate, nearly entire, decurrent on the broad and flat indeterminate rhachis; _the veins all forking from the base_; fertile segment simple or 1--2-pinnate.--Maine to N. Y., Minn., and northward; rare. (Eu.)

3. B. lanceolatum, Angstroem. Fronds small (3--10' high); _the sterile segment closely sessile at the top of the_ long and slender common _stalk_, scarcely fleshy, _triangular, ternately twice pinnatifid; the acute lobes_ lanceolate, incised or toothed; veinlets forking from a _continuous midvein_; fertile part 2--3-pinnate.--N. Eng. and N. J. to Ohio and Lake Superior. July--Aug. (Eu.)

4. B. matricariaeflium, Braun. Fronds small (3--10' high); _the sterile segment nearly sessile at the top of the_ long and slender _common stalk_, moderately fleshy, _ovate or triangular_, varying from pinnate to bipinnatifid; _the lobes oblong-ovate and obtuse; midvein dissipated_ into forking veinlets; fertile part 2--3-pinnate.--Same range as the last. June, July. (Eu.)

[*][*] _Sterile portion of the frond long-stalked; the common stalk short in proportion to the size of the plant. Plants usually larger._

5. B. ternatum, Swartz. (Pl. 20.) _Plant very fleshy_ (4--16' high), spa.r.s.ely hairy; _sterile segment long-petioled_ from near the base of the plant, broadly triangular, _ternate and variously decompound with stalked divisions_; ultimate segments varying from roundish-reniform and sub-entire to ovate-lanceolate and doubly incised; fertile segment erect, 2--4-pinnate.--The following varieties pa.s.s into each other:--Var. AUSTRaLE; frond ample; ultimate segments rhomboid-ovate with a denticulate margin.--Var. INTERMeDIUM; frond of moderate size; ultimate segments as in var. australe. (B. lunarioides, of last ed.)--Var. RUTaeFLIUM; frond small; ultimate segments few, ovate and semicordate.--Var. LUNARIODES; frond small; ultimate segments roundish-reniform.--Var. OBLQUUM; frond moderate; ultimate segments obliquely lanceolate, denticulate or toothed.--Var. DISSeCTUM; segments dissected into innumerable narrow lobes or teeth.--Pastures and hillsides, sometimes in dry woods, rather common, especially vars.

intermedium and obliquum.--Var. rutaefolium occurs in Europe.

-- 2. OSMUNDoPTERIS. _Base of the stalk containing the bud open along one side; sterile segment membranaceous; the cells of the epidermis flexuous._

6. B. Virginianum, Swartz. _Fronds tall and ample; sterile segment sessile above the middle of the plant_, broadly triangular, thin and membranaceous, _ternate_; the short-stalked _primary divisions once or twice pinnate_, and then once or twice pinnatifid; the oblong lobes cut-toothed toward the apex; _veins forking from a midvein_; fertile part 2--3-pinnate.--Rich woods; common.--Plant 1--2 high, or often reduced to a few inches, in which case it is B. gracile, _Pursh._ June, July. (Eu.)

2. OPHIOGLoSSUM, L. ADDER'S-TONGUE. (Pl. 20.)

Rootstock erect, fleshy and sometimes tuberous, with slender fleshy roots which are sometimes proliferous; bud placed by the side of the base of the stalk; fronds with anterior and posterior segments as in Botrychium, but the coriaceous sporangia connate and coherent in two ranks on the edges of a simple spike. Sterile segment fleshy, simple in our species; the veins reticulated. Spores copious, sulphur-yellow.

(Name from ?f??, _a serpent_, and ???ssa, _tongue_.)

1. O. vulgatum, L. Fronds from a slender rootstock (2--12' high), mostly solitary; sterile segment sessile near the middle of the plant, ovate or elliptical (1--3' long); midvein indistinct or none; veins forming small meshes enclosed in larger ones.--Bogs and pastures; not common. July.

(Eu.)