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46 FERNS OF NORTH AMERICA.
erect, or nearly so ; fronds smooth and green, herbaceous, mostly
about three or four inches long and three-fourths as broad,
triangular-ovate in outline, quadripinnatifid, — i.e., four times
pinnate, but with a very narrow' wing bordering the divisions of
the rachis, as well as the upper half of the main rachis. The
glossy-brow'n appearance of the stalk continues some distance up
the rachis and its divisions, especially on the under surface. The
tw'O lowest pinnæ are opposite, and very much larger and broader
than the others. They are much broader on the inferior than on
the superior side, the lowest inferior secondary pinna being about
one-third as long as the rest of the whole frond. The quaternary
or smallest divisions are two or three lines long, rather less than
a line broad, and are lanceolate and very acute. They bear two
or three acute teeth on each side, and in the fruiting-frond a delicate,
whitish, crescent-shaped involucre sweeps from the apex of
each tooth half way up the side of the next tooth above; but
sometimes one involucre runs into the next. When the sporangia
ripen, the teeth are usually reflexed partly over the sorus.
This very pretty and delicate little fern reminds one, by its
general habit, of the still rarer Cystopteris montana. The frond,
however, is of rather firmer texture, and is still more finely divided.
There is no other North-American fern which it resembles even
slightly. It was formerly very rare in collections, but of recent
years has been liberally distributed by the botanists of Santa
Barbara, where it seems to be reasonably common.
It certainly has nothing in common with the recognized
species of Hypolepis, a genus of large ferns, which is, perhaps.
F E R N S OF NORTH AM ER ICA . 47
best arranged with the Aspidieee. Cheilanthes Schimperi (Kunze),
from Abyssinia, and Ch. incisa (Kunze), from Brazil, are its nearest
allies; and the three form a good subordinate group of the
sub-genus Adiantopsis.
The figure represents a fully-developed frond, quite as large as one
often sees, and a small portion of a fertile segment, the latter much enlarged,
and showing well the peculiar lunately-curved involucre.
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