The Polypodies
1 Polypody. Polypodium
(From the Greek meaning many-footed, alluding to the branching rootstocks.)
Simple ferns with stipes articulated to the creeping rootstocks, which are covered with brown, chaffy scales. Fruit-dots round, naked, arranged on the back of the frond in one or more rows each side of the midrib. Sporangia pedicelled, provided with a vertical ring which bursts transversely. A large genus with about 350 species, widely distributed, mostly in tropical regions.