Large or small ferns, with varying fronds and linear or oblong fruit-dots; indusium straight or curved; sporangia as above.
PELLÆA (Cliff Brakes)
Small or medium-sized rock ferns, with pinnate fronds and sporangia borne beneath the reflexed margins of the pinnæ; sporangia as above.
BOTRYCHIUM (Moonworts)
(Belonging to the Fern Allies)
Fleshy plants, with fronds (usually solitary) divided into a sterile and a fertile portion, the bud for the succeeding year embedded in the base of the stem.
[HOW TO USE THE BOOK]
Before attempting to identify the ferns by means of the following Guide it would be well to turn to the Explanation of Terms, and with as many species as you can conveniently collect, on the table before you, to master the few necessary technical terms, that you may be able to distinguish a frond that is pinnatifid from one that is pinnate, a pinna from a pinnule, a fertile from a sterile frond.