fertile fronds are unlike the sterile. 
EMARGINATE.  Notched at the apex. 
ENTIRE.  Without divisions, lobes, or teeth. 
FALCATE.  Scythe-shaped, slightly curved upward. 
FERTILE.  Bearing spores. 
FILIFORM.  Thread-like; long, slender, and terete. 
FILMY.  Having a thin membrane; gauzy;
              said of the filmy fern fronds. 
FLABELLATE.  Fan-shaped; broad and rounded at
              the summit and narrow at the base. 
FROND.  A fern leaf or blade; may include
              both stipe and blade, or only the
              latter—­called also lamina. 
GLABROUS.  Smooth; not rough or hairy. 
GLAND.  A small secreting organ, globular or
               pear-shaped; it is often stalked. 
GLAUCOUS.  Covered with a fine bloom, bluish-white
              and powdery, in appearance
              like a plum. 
HASTATE.  Like an arrowhead with the lobes
              spreading. 
IMBRICATE.  Overlapping, like shingles on a roof. 
INCISED. Cut irregularly into sharp lobes. 
INDUSIUM.  The thin membrane covering the
              sori in some ferns. 
INVOLUCRE.  In ferns, an indusium; in filmy
              ferns, cup-shaped growths encircling
              the sporangia. 
LAMINA.  A blade; the leafy portion of a fern. 
LACINIATE.  Slashed; cut into narrow, irregular
              lobes. 
LANCEOLATE.  Lance-shaped; broadest above the
              base and tapering to the apex. 
LOBE.  A small rounded segment of a frond. 
MIDRIB.  The main rib or vein of a segment,
              pinnule, pinna, or frond; a midvein. 
MUCRONATE.  Ending abruptly in a short, sharp
              point. 
OBLONG.  From two to four times longer than
              broad and with sides nearly parallel. 
OBTUSE.  Blunt or rounded at the end. 
OIDES.  A Greek ending, meaning like, or
              like to, as polypodioides—­like to a
              polypody. 
OOeSPHERE.  The egg-cell in fern reproduction—­becoming
              the ooespore when fertilized. 
OVATE.  Egg-shaped with the broader end
              downward. 
PALMATE.  Having lobes radiating like the
              fingers of a hand. 
PANICLE.  A loose compound cluster of flowers
              or sporangia with irregular stems. 
PEDICEL.  A tiny stalk, especially the stalk of
              the sporangia. 
PELLUCID.  Clear, transparent. 
PERSISTENT.  Remaining on the plant for a long
              time, as leaves through the winter. 
PETIOLE.  The same as stalk or stipe. 
PINNA.  One of the primary divisions of a frond. 
PINNATE.  Feather-like; with the divisions of
              the frond extending fully to the rachis.