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FERNS OF NORTH AMERICA. H 3
half long : but Hooker gives the extreme as three feet. Their
general outline is oblong-linear, tapering somewhat toward the
apex, and occasionally a little toward the base also. They curve
away from the erect position very gracefully, so that the apex
often droops a little, and, growing in their native swamps, must
constitute objects of great beauty. They are rigidly coriaceous,
glossy above, and somewhat paler beneath, and simply pinnate
with very numerous often imbricated sessile pinnæ, which are
attached to the rachis by an evident articulation, and leave a
slightly elevated ovate scar when detached.
The sterile pinnæ are elliptical or linear-oblong, with a
rounded or obtusely cuneate often unequal base, and an obtusely
pointed rarely acute apex. They measure from two to four
inches in length, and about half an inch in breadth. The midrib
is straight, and slightly channelled above, but very prominent
beneath, where it is commonly furnished with a few little ovate
scales. The edge is very finely serrulate with cartilaginous teeth.
The veins are placed very close together, are frequently forked
dose to the midrib, but are uniformly free, and are most prominent
on the upper surface, giving it a finely striated appearance.
The fertile pinnæ are usually confined to the upper half of
the frond : they arc narrower and often longer than the sterile
ones, and consequently more cuneate at the base, and more acute
at the apex.
The venation differs from that of the sterile pinnæ in that
the veinlets are reticulated so as to form a series of elongated
narrow areoles following closely along each side of the midrib :
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