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A spore case in the cryptogamous plants, as in ferns, etc.

That alternately produced form of certain cryptogamous plants, as ferns, mosses, and the like, which is nonsexual, but produces spores in countless numbers. In ferns it is the leafy plant, in mosses the capsule. Cf. Oöphore.

ally Madrepora cervicornis, and M. palmata, of Florida and the West Indies. -- Stag-horn fern (Bot.), an Australian and West African fern (Platycerium alcicorne) having the large fronds branched like a stag's horns; also, any species of the same genus. -- Stag-horn sumac (Bot.), a common American shrub (Rhus typhina)…

The principal persons in a government. The bold design Pleased highly those infernal states. Milton.

The stalk or petiole of a frond, as of a fern.

Supported by a stipe; elevated on a stipe, as the fronds of most ferns, or the pod of certain cruciferous plants.

The line of dehiscence of the sporangium of a fern. It is usually marked by two transversely elongated cells. See Illust. of Sporangium.

Of or pertaining to the river Styx; hence, hellish; infernal. See Styx. At that so sudden blaze, the Stygian throng Bent their aspect. Milton.

Being or living under Tartarus; infernal. "Subtartarean powers." Pope.

The infernal regions, described in the Iliad as situated as far below Hades as heaven is above the earth, and by later writers as the place of punishment for the spirits of the wicked. By the later poets, also, the name is often used synonymously with Hades, or the Lower World in general.

A kind of small fern, the wall rue. See under Wall.

Tergiferous plants (Bot.), plants which bear their seeds on the back of their leaves, as ferns.

ts, and are found in the tropical parts of America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. -- Tree fern (Bot.), an arborescent fern having a straight trunk, sometimes twenty or twenty-five feet high, or even higher, and bearing a cluster of fronds at the top. Most of the existing species are tropical. -- Tree fish (Zoöl.), a C…

Any fern of the genus Trichomanes. The fronds are very delicate and often translucent, and the sporangia are borne on threadlike receptacles rising from the middle of cup-shaped marginal involucres. Several species are common in conservatories; two are native in the United States.

em, or any modification of a hair, as a minute scale, or star, or gland. The sporangia of ferns are believed to be of the nature of trichomes. -- Tri*chom"a*tous, a.

y; triumphing; exultant. Successful beyond hope to lead ye forth Triumphant out of this infernal pit. Milton.

having the sporophoric plant conspicuous and consisting partly of vascular tissue, as in Ferns, Lycopods, and Equiseta, and Cellular Acrogens, or Bryophyta, having the sexual plant most conspicuous, but destitute of vascular tissue, as in Mosses and Scale Mosses. 2. Thallogens. -- Plants without distinct stem and lea…

wo spheromeres. See Illust. in Appendix. -- Venus's hair (Bot.), a delicate and graceful fern (Adiantum Capillus-Veneris) having a slender, black and shining stem and branches. -- Venus's hair stone (Min.), quartz penetrated by acicular crystals of rutile. -- Venus's looking-glass (Bot.), an annual plant of the genu…

See Beam, 10. -- Walking crane, a kind of traveling crane. See under Crane. -- Walking fern. (Bot.) See Walking leaf, below. -- Walking fish (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of Asiatic fishes of the genus Ophiocephalus, some of which, as O. marulius, become over four feet long. They have a special cavity over t…

Designating, or pertaining to, a kind of glass inclosure for keeping ferns, mosses, etc., or for transporting growing plants from a distance; as, a Wardian case of plants; -- so named from the inventor, Nathaniel B. Ward, an Englishman.