[Illustration: Pinnæ of Slender Lip Fern. Cheilanthes Féei (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
Small ferns with fruit-dots borne beneath the revolute margin of the pinnules, at first roundish, but soon confluent into a narrow band without indusium. Veins free. Fronds one to several times pinnate, the lower surface hairy, or tomentose or powdery. Includes about forty species, mostly American, but only one within our limits. (Greek name means spurious cloak, alluding to the rudimentary or counterfeit indusium.)
Fronds two to six inches long, triangular-ovate, acute, broadest at the base, tripinnate. Stalks tufted, wiry, shining, dark brown. Upper surface of the very small segments green, smooth, the lower densely coated with a pure, white powder; hence, the specific name dealbata, which means whitened. Sori brown at length; veins free.
There are several species of cloak ferns, but only one within our limits. The dry, white powder which covers them doubtless is designed to protect them from too rapid evaporation of moisture, as they all inhabit dry and sunny places. This delicate rock-loving fern is found in the clefts of dry limestone rocks in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and southwestward.
[Illustration: Powdery Cloak Fern. Notholaena dealbata (Kansas) (G.E. Davenport)]
Large and somewhat coarse ferns of swampy woods with pinnate or nearly two-pinnate fronds, and oblong or linear fruit-dots, arranged in one or more chain-like rows, parallel to and near the midribs. Indusium fixed by its outer margin to a veinlet and opening on the inner side. In our section there are two species. (Named for Thomas J. Woodward, an English botanist.)
Sterile and fertile fronds similar in outline, two to four feet high, once pinnate, the pinnæ deeply incised with oblong segments. Fruit-dots oblong in chain-like rows along the midrib both of the pinnæ and the lobes, confluent when ripe. Veins forming narrow rows of net-like spaces (areoles) beneath the fruit-dots, thence free to the margin. The spores ripen in July.
[Illustration: The Common Chain Fern. Woodwardia virginica]
The sterile fronds resemble those of the cinnamon fern, but the latter grow in crowns, with a single frond in the center, while the fronds of the chain fern rise singly from the creeping rootstock, which sends them up at intervals all summer. The sori are borne on the backs of fertile fronds. There are usually more sterile than fertile blades, especially in dense shade. We have waded repeatedly through a miry swamp in Melrose, Mass., where the wild calla flourishes along with the blueberry and other swamp bushes, and have found the chain fern in several shaded spots, but every frond was sterile. It is said that when exposed to the sun it always faces the south. Swamps, Maine to Florida, especially along the Atlantic Coast, and often in company with the narrow-leaved species.
[Illustration: Net-Veined Chain Fern. Woodwardia areolata (Stratford, Conn.)]
Root stocks creeping and chaffy. Sterile and fertile fronds unlike; sterile ones nine to twelve inches tall, deltoid-ovate. Broadest at the base, with lanceolate, serrulate divisions united by a broad wing. Veins areolate; fertile fronds taller, twelve to twenty inches high with narrowly linear divisions, the areoles and fruit-dots in a single row each side of the secondary midrib, the latter sunk in the tissues.
This species is less common than the Virginia fern, but they often grow near each other. We have collected both in the Blue Hill reservation near Boston, and both have been found in Hingham, Medford, and Reading, and doubtless in other towns along the coast. Mrs. Parsons speaks of finding them in the flat, sandy country near Buzzard's Bay. The net-veined species has some resemblance to the sensitive fern, but in the latter the spore cases are shut up in small pods formed by the contracting and rolling up of the lobes, whereas the chain fern bears its sori on the under side of long, narrow pinnæ. Besides, the sterile fronds of the latter have serrulate segments. As in the sensitive fern there are many curious gradations between the fertile and sterile fronds, both in shape and fruitfulness. Waters calls them the "obtusilobàta form."
[Illustration: The Spleenworts 1. Narrow-leaved 2. Ebony 3. Rue 4. Scott's 5. Maidenhair 6. Green 7. Mountain]
Small, evergreen ferns. Fruit-dots oblong or linear, oblique, separate when young. Indusium straight or rarely curved, fixed lengthwise on the upper side of a fertile veinlet, opening toward the midrib. Veins free. Scales of rhizome and stipes narrow, of firm texture and with thick-walled cells.
Fronds four to six inches long, lanceolate, pinnátifid or pinnate near the base, tapering above into a slender prolongation. Lobes roundish-ovate, or the lower pair acuminate. Fruit-dots irregular, numerous. Stipes tufted, two to four inches long, brownish beneath, green above.
Although this fern, like all the small spleenworts, is heavily fruited, it is extremely rare. It is found as far north as Sharon, Conn., thence southward to Georgia, to Arkansas and Missouri. On cliffs and rocks. Resembles the walking fern, and its tip sometimes takes root.
Fronds four to ten inches long, broadly lanceolate, pinnátifid or pinnate below, tapering to a prolonged and slender apex. Divisions lanceolate from a broad base. Fruit-dots straight or slightly curved. Stipe and rachis brown.
[Illustration: Pinnatifid Spleenwort. Asplenium pinnatifidum a, Small Plants from Harper's Ferry; b, Sori on Young Fronds (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
[Illustration: Scott's Spleenwort. Asplenium ebenoides a, from Virginia; b, from Alabama; c, from Maryland (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
Resembles the last, and like that has been known to root at the tip. It is a hybrid between the walking fern and the ebony spleenwort, as proved by Miss Margaret Slosson, and may be looked for in the immediate vicinity of its parents. It was discovered by R.R. Scott, in 1862, at Manayunk, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, and described by him in the Gardener's Monthly of September, 1865. Vermont to Alabama, Missouri, and southward. Rare, but said to be plentiful in a deep ravine near Havana, Ala.
[Illustration: Green Spleenwort. Asplenium víride]
Fronds two to ten inches long, linear, pinnate, pale green. Pinnæ roundish-ovate, crenate, with indistinct and forking midveins. Stalks tufted, short, brownish below, green above. Rachis green.
Discovered at Smuggler's Notch, Mt. Mansfield, Vt., by C.G. Pringle in 1876. Found sparingly at Willoughby Lake, high on the cliffs of Mt. Horr. This rare and delicate little plant bears a rather close resemblance to the maidenhair spleenwort, which, however, has dark stipes instead of green.
Northern New England, west and northwest on shaded limestone rocks.
[Illustration: Maidenhair Spleenwort. Asplenium Trichomanes]
Stipes densely tufted, purple-brown, shining. Fronds three to eight inches long, linear, dark green, rather rigid. Pinnæ roundish-oblong or oval, entire or finely crenate, attached at the base by a narrow point. Midveins forking and evanescent.
Not very common, but distributed almost throughout North America. May be looked for wherever there are ledges, as it does not require limestone. July.
[Illustration: Maidenhair Spleenwort. Asplenium Trichomanes (From Woolson's "Ferns," Doubleday, Page & Co.)]
Asplenium párvulum. A. resíliens
Fronds four to ten inches tall, narrowly linear, rather firm, erect. Pinnæ opposite, oblong, entire or finely crenate, and auricled at the base. Stipes and rachis black and shining. Midveins continuous.
This small fern is a southern species half way between the maidenhair and ebony spleenworts, but rather more like the latter from which it differs in being smaller and thicker, and in having the fertile and sterile fronds of the same size. Mountains of Virginia to Kansas and southward.
Asplenium platynèuron. A. ebèneum
Fronds upright, eight to eighteen inches high, linear-lanceolate, the fertile ones much taller, and pinnate. Pinnæ scarcely an inch long, the lower ones very much shorter, alternate, spreading, finely serrate or incised, the base auricled. Sori numerous, rather near the midvein, stipe and rachis lustrous brown. ("Ebony.")
This rigidly upright but graceful fern flourishes in rocky, open woods, and on rich, moist banks, often in the neighborhood of red cedars. Having come upon it many times in our rambles, we should say it was not uncommon.
A lightly incised form of the pinnæ has been described as var. serratum. A handsome form discovered in Vermont in 1900 by Mrs. Horton and named Hortonæ (also called incisum) has plume-like fronds with the pinnæ cut into oblique lobes, which are coarsely serrate.
[Illustration: Ebony Spleenwort. Asplenium platyneuron (Melrose, Mass., G.E. Davenport)]
[Illustration: Bradley's Spleenwort. Asplenium Bradleyi a, from Maryland; b, from Kentucky (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
Fronds oblong-lanceolate, pinnate, three to ten inches long. Pinnæ oblong-ovate, obtuse, incised or pinnátifid into oblong, toothed lobes. The basal pinnæ have broad bases, and blunt tips and are slightly stalked. Stipes and rachis dark brown and the sori short, near the midrib.
A rare and beautiful fern growing on rocks preferring limestone and confined mostly to the southern states. Newburg, N.Y., to Kentucky and Alabama, westward to Arkansas.
Fronds ovate-lanceolate from a broad base, two to eight inches long, somewhat leathery, pinnate. Pinnæ ovate-oblong, the lowest pinnately cleft into oblong or ovate cut-toothed lobes, the upper ones less and less divided. Rachis green, broad, and flat.
[Illustration: Mountain Spleenwort (From the "Fern Bulletin")]
Small evergreen ferns of a bluish-green color, growing in the crevices of rocks and cliffs. Connecticut to Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas and southwest. July. Rare. Williams, in his "Ferns of Kentucky," says of this species, "Common on all sandstone cliffs and specimens are large on sheltered rocks by the banks of streams."
Fronds evergreen, small, two to seven inches long, deltoid-ovate, two to three pinnate below, simply pinnate above, rather leathery in texture. Divisions few, stalked, from cuneate to roundish-ovate, toothed or incised at the apex. Veins forking. Rachis and stipe green. Sori few, soon confluent.
[Illustration: The Rue Spleenwort. A. Ruta-muraria (Top, Lake Huron--Lower Left, Mt. Toby, Mass.--Lower Right, Vermont) (From Herbarium of Geo. E. Davenport)]
This tiny fern grows from small fissures in the limestone cliffs, and is rather rare in this country; but in Great Britain it is very common, growing everywhere on walls and ruins. From Mt. Toby, Mass., and Willoughby Mountain, Vt., to Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky and southward.
The following species, which are often two to three feet high and grow in rich soil, are quite different in appearance and habits from the small rock spleenworts just described. Some botanists have kept them in the genus Asplenium because their sori are usually rather straight or only slightly curved, but others are inclined to follow the practice of the British botanists and put them into a separate group under Athýrium. Nearly all agree that the lady fern, with its variously curved sori, should be placed here, and many others would place the silvery spleenwort in the same genus, partly because of its frequently doubled sori. In regard to the last member of the group, the narrow-leaved spleenwort, there is more doubt. The sori taken separately would place it with the Aspleniums, but considering its size, structure, habits of growth and all, it seems more closely allied to the two larger ferns than to the little rock species. We shall group the three together as the large spleenworts, or for the sake of being more definite adopt Clute's felicitous phrase.
Fronds one to three feet high, broadly lanceolate, or ovate-oblong, tapering towards the apex, bipinnate. Pinnæ lanceolate, numerous. Pinnules oblong-lanceolate, cut-toothed or incised. Fruit-dots short, variously curved. Indusium delicate, often reniform, or shaped like a horseshoe, in some forms confluent at maturity.
Widely distributed, common and varying greatly in outline. The newer nomenclature separates the lady fern of our section into two distinct species, which should be carefully studied.[A]
The rootstock or rhizome of the Upland Lady Fern here pictured shows how the thick, fleshy bases of the old fronds conceal the rootstock itself. In the Lowland Lady Fern the rootstock is but slightly concealed by old stipe bases, and so may be distinguished from its sister fern.
One design of such rootstocks is to store up food (mostly starch), during the summer to nourish the young plants as they shoot forth the next spring. The undecayed bases of the old stipes are also packed with starch for the same purpose.
[Illustration: Rootstock of the Upland Lady Fern]
[Illustration: The same split lengthwise (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
[Illustration: Sori of Lady Fern. Athyrium angustum]
Rootstocks horizontal, quite concealed by the thick, fleshy bases of old fronds. Scales of the long, tufted stipes dark brown. Indusium curved, often horseshoe-shaped, usually toothed or fringed with fine hairs, but without glands. Fronds bipinnate, one to three feet high, widest near the middle.
This is the common species of northern New England and the Canadian Provinces. The fronds differ very widely in form and a great many varieties have been pointed out, but the fern student, having first learned to identify the species, will gradually master the few leading varieties as he meets them.
Those growing in warm, sunny places where the fruit-dots when mature incline to cover the whole back of the frond are called "sun forms." These are varieties TÝPICUM and ELÀTIUS, both with the pinnæ obliquely ascending (including variety angustum of D.C. Eaton), but the latter has broader fronds with the pinnules of the sterile fronds oblong-lanceolate, somewhat acute and strongly toothed or pinnatifid.
[Illustration: Varieties of Lady Fern Left to right--lst and 2nd, Var. typicum; 3d, elatius; 4th, rubellum; 5th, uncertain, perhaps confertum]
Var. RUBÉLLUM has the sori distinct even when mature; its pinnules stand at a wide angle from the rachis of the pinna and are strongly toothed or pinnatifid with obtuse teeth. This variety favors regions with cool summers, or dense shade in warmer regions. The term RUBÉLLUM alludes to the reddish stems so often seen but this sign alone may not determine the variety. It occurs throughout the range of the species, being a common New England fern. Fernald remarks that this is also a common form of the species in southern Nova Scotia.
Among other varieties named by Butters are CONFÉRTUM, having the pinnules irregularly lobed and toothed; joined by a membranous wing, the lobes of the pinnules broad and overlapping, giving the fern a compact appearance; LACINIÀTUM with pinnules very irregular in size and shape, with many long, acute teeth, which project in various directions. "An abnormal form which looks as if it had been nibbled when young."
These varieties are represented in the Gray Herbarium.
Rootstocks creeping, not densely covered with the persistent bases of the fronds. Stipes about as long as the blade. Scales of the stipe very few, seldom persistent, rarely over 3-16 of an inch long. Fronds narrowly deltoid, lanceolate, widest near the base, the second pair of pinnæ commonly longest. Indusia ciliate, the cilia (hairs) ending in glands. Spores dark, netted or wrinkled.
[Illustration: Lowland Lady Fern. ATHYRIUM ASPLENIOIDES (From the Gray Herbarium)]
The following two forms are named by Butters:
F. TÝPICUM. The usual form frequent in eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, and Missouri.
F. SUBTRIPINNÀTUM. An unusually large and rare form with triangular, lanceolate, and pinnatifid pinnules, having blunt, oblong segments. Wet situations in half shade. Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Virginia.
Our lowland or southern lady fern flourishes in the southern states, comes up the Atlantic Coast until it meets the upland or northern species in Pennsylvania and southern New England, and their identification can hardly fail to awaken in the student a keen interest.
Our American botanists are inclined to think that the real Athýrium fìlix-fémina is not to be found in the northeastern United States, but is rather a western species, with its habitat in California and the Rocky Mountain region and identical with Athýrium cyclosòrum.
But whatever changes may occur in the scientific name of the old Athýrium fìlix-fémina, the name lady fern will not change, but everywhere within our limits it will hold its own as a familiar term.
Underwood, writing of the lady fern under the genus Asplenium, mentions the form "exìle, small, starved specimens growing in very dry situations and often fruiting when only a few inches high." He also mentions Eaton's "angústum," and alludes to the "Remaining sixty-three varieties equally unimportant that have been described of this species."
The lady fern is common in moist woods, by walls and roadsides, and at its best is a truly handsome species, although, like Mrs. Parsons, we have noticed that in the late summer it loses much of its delicacy. "Many of its forms become disfigured and present a rather blotched and coarse appearance." The lady fern has inspired several poems, which have been quoted more or less fully in the fern books. The following lines are from the pen of Calder Campbell:
"But not by burne in wood or dale Grows anything so fair As the palmy crest of emerald pale Of the lady fern when the sunbeams turn To gold her delicate hair."
Referring, perhaps, to the fair colors of the unfolding crosiers revealing stipes of a clear wine color in striking contrast with the delicate green of the foliage.
In identifying this fern the novice should bear in mind the tendency of the curved sori of youth to become straightened and even confluent with age, although such changes are rather unreliable. Possibly the suggestion of the poetic Davenport may be helpful to some that there is "An indefinable charm about the various forms of the lady fern, which soon enables one to know it from its peculiarly graceful motion by merely gently swaying a frond in the hand." Spores ripen in August.
The lady fern is very easy to cultivate and when once established is apt to crowd aside its neighbors.
Fronds two to four feet tall, pinnate, tapering both ways from the middle. Pinnæ deeply pinnatifid, linear-lanceolate, acuminate. Lobes oblong, obtuse, minutely toothed, each bearing two rows of oblong or linear fruit-dots. Indusium silvery when young.
[Illustration: Silvery Spleenwort. Athyrium acrostichoides]
[Illustration: Silvery Spleenwort. Athyrium acrostichoides]
The sterile fronds come up first and the taller, fertile ones do not appear until late in June. Where there are no fruit-dots the hairs on the upper surface of the fronds will help to distinguish it from specimens of the Marsh fern tribe, which it somewhat resembles. The regular rows of nearly straight, clear-cut sori of the fertile fronds are very attractive, and the lower ones, as well as those at the slender tips of the pinnæ, are frequently double.
Rich woods and moist, shady banks, New England to Kentucky and westward. Generally distributed but hardly common.
Fronds one to four feet tall, pinnate. Pinnæ numerous, thin, short-stalked, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, those of the fertile fronds narrower. Fruit-dots linear. Indusium slightly convex.
[Illustration: Narrow-leaved Spleenwort. Athyrium angustifolium (Vermont) (Geo. E. Davenport)]
In rich woods from southern Canada and New Hampshire to Minnesota and southward. September. Not common. Mt. Toby, Mass., Berlin and Meriden, Conn., and Danville, Vt. Can be cultivated but should not be exposed to severe weather, as its thin and delicate fronds are easily injured. Woolson writes of it, "There is nothing in the fern kingdom which looks so cool and refreshing on a hot day as a mass of this clear-cut, delicately made-up fern."
[Illustration: Pinnæ and Sori of Athyrium angustifolium]
Sori linear, a row on either side of the midvein, and at right angles to it, the indusium appearing to be double. (Scolopendrium is the Greek for centipede, whose feet the sori were thought to resemble. Phyllitis is the ancient Greek name for a fern.) Only one species in the United States.
(1) Scolopendrium vulgàrePHYLLÌTIS SCOLOPÉNDRIUMFronds thick and leathery, oblong-lanceolate from an auricled, heart-shaped base, ten to twenty inches long and one to two inches wide. Margin entire, bright green. |
Sori |
|
[Illustration: Sori of Scolopendrium vulgare] |
In shaded ravines under limestone cliffs. Chittenango Falls, and Scolopendrium Lake, central New York, and Tennessee. Also, locally in Ontario and New Brunswick. One of the rarest of our native ferns, although very common in Great Britain. This plant is said to be easily cultivated, and to produce numerous varieties. According to Woolson, "No rockery is complete without the Hart's Tongue, the long, glossy, undulating fronds of which are sufficiently unique to distinguish any collection." In cultivation it "needs light protection through the winter in northern New England."
[Illustration: Hart's Tongue. Scolopendrium vulgare (Base of calcareous rocks, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada)]
Fruit-dots oblong or linear as in Asplènium, but irregularly scattered on either side of the reticulated veins of the simple frond, the outer ones sometimes confluent at their ends, forming crooked lines (hence, the name from the Greek meaning crooked sori). Only one species within our limits.
Fronds evergreen, leathery, four to eighteen inches long, heart-shaped at the base, but tapering towards the apex, which often roots and forms a new plant. Veins reticulated. The auricles of this species are sometimes elongated and may even take root.
This curious and interesting fern is one of the finest for rockeries, the tips taking root in rock-fissures. Shaded limestone, or sometimes other rocks. Shapleigh and Winthrop, Me., rarely in New Hampshire (Lebanon), and Connecticut, Mt. Toby, Mass., and western New England; also Canada to Georgia and westward.
[Illustration: Walking Fern. Camptosorus rhizophyllus]
These have been grouped with the wood ferns, but are now usually placed under the genus Polýstichum, which has the sori round and covered with a circular indusium fixed to the frond by its depressed center. The wood ferns, on the other hand, have a kidney-shaped indusium attached to the fronds by the sinus. (Polýstichum is the Greek for many rows, the sori of some species being in many ranks.)
Polýstichum acrostichòides. Aspídium acrostichòides
Stipes clothed with pale, brown scales. Frond rigid and evergreen, one to two feet long, lanceolate, pinnate. Pinnæ linear-lanceolate, scythe-shaped, auricled on the upper side, and with bristly teeth; fertile pinnæ contracted toward the top, bearing two rows of sori, which soon become confluent and cover the entire surface. Indusium orbicular, fixed by its depressed center.
F. incìsum is a form in which the pinnæ are much incised.
F. críspum has the edges of its pinnæ crisped and ruffled. The name Christmas fern, due to John Robinson, of Salem, Mass., suggests its fitness for winter decoration. Its deep green and glossy fronds insure it a welcome at Christmas time. "Its mission is to cheer the winter months and enhance the beauty of the other ferns by contrast." In transplanting, a generous mass of earth should be included and its roots should not be disturbed.
[Illustration: Christmas Fern. Polystichum acrostichoides]
[Illustration: Christmas Fern. Polystichum acrostichoides]
[Illustration: Christmas Fern. Polystichum acrostichoides Top, Forked Form; Bottom, Incised Form (Maine)]
Polystichum Bráunii. Aspídium aculeàtum Bráunii
Fronds thick, rigid, one to two feet long, spreading, lanceolate, tapering both ways, bipinnate. Pinnules ovate or oblong, truncate, nearly rectangular at the base, sharply toothed and covered beneath with chaff and hairs. Fruit-dots small and near the mid veins. Indusium orbicular, entire. Stipes chaffy with brown scales.
[Illustration: Braun's Holly Fern. Polystichum Braunii (Willoughby Mountain, Vt.) (Herbarium of G.H.T.)]
This handsome fern is rather common in northern New England. We have collected it in the Willoughby Lake region, Vt., and it is found at Mt. Mansfield, Randolph, and elsewhere in that state; also at Gorham, N.H., and Fernald reports it as common in northern Maine. It also grows in the mountains of New York and Pennsylvania, and westward. It was formerly thought to be a variety of the prickly shield fern (P. aculeàtum), which has a very wide range and numerous varieties. The fronds remain green through the winter but the stipes weaken and fall over.
Fronds linear-lanceolate, short-stalked and rigid, eight to fifteen inches long. Pinnæ broadly lanceolate-falcate or the lowest triangular, strongly auricled on the upper side, densely spinulose-toothed. Sori midway between the margin and midrib.
[Illustration: Holly Fern. Polystichum Lonchitis (Nottawasaga, Canada, West, Right, Alaska, Left) (Herbarium of C.E. Davenport)]
The name holly fern suggests its resemblance to holly leaves with their bristle-tipped teeth. The specific name lonchìtis (like a spear) refers to its sharp teeth. A northern species growing in rocky woods from Labrador to Alaska, and south to Niagara Falls, Lake Superior and westward. Its southern limits nearly coincide with the northern limits of the Christmas fern.
Under this designation Clute has grouped three of the shield ferns, which have a close family resemblance, and has thus distinguished them from the wood ferns, which also belong to the shield fern family.
[Illustration: The Marsh Fern]
These are all good names and each one is worthy to be chosen. Aspídium, Greek for shield, in use for a century, adopted in all the seven editions of Gray's Manual, is still the most familiar and pleasing term to its friends. Dryópteris, Greek for oak fern, has been chosen by Underwood and Britton and Brown and has grown in favor. Nephròdium, meaning kidney-like, favored by Davenport, Waters and, of late, Clute, is a most fitting name. THELÝPTERIS, meaning lady fern, is found to be the earliest name in use and according to rule the correct one.
[Illustration: The Marsh Fern. Aspidium Thelypteris]
Fronds pinnate, lanceolate, slightly or not at all narrowed at the base. Pinnæ horizontal or slightly recurved, linear-lanceolate and deeply pinnatifid. Lobes obtuse, but appear acute when their margins are reflexed over the sori. Veins once forked. Indusium minute. Stipes tall, lifting the blades ten to fifteen inches above the mud, whence they spring.
The fronds of the marsh fern are apt to be sterile in deep shade. It may be readily distinguished from the New York fern by its broad base, instead of tapering to very small pinnæ; by its long stalk, lifting the blade up into the sunlight, and by the revolute margins of the fertile fronds, which have suggested for it the name of "snuff-box" fern. It is separated from the Massachusetts fern by its forked veins. Common in marshes and damp woodlands; Canada to Florida and westward. While the marsh fern loves moisture and shade it is sometimes found in dry, open fields. Miss Lilian A. Cole, of Union, Me., reports a colony as growing on land above the swale in which Twayblade and Adder's Tongue are found, "around rock heaps in open sunlight on clay soil, but homely and twisted," as if a former woodsy environment had been long since cleared away while the deserted ferns persisted.
Fronds pinnate, one to three feet long, oblong-lanceolate, somewhat narrowed at the base. Pinnæ lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid, the lower most often turned inward. Veins simple. Indusium glandular. Sori rather large.
Resembles the marsh fern, of which it was once thought to be a variety. In some respects it is also like the New York fern, and is in fact intermediate between the two.
[Illustration: Massachusetts Fern. Aspidium simulatum 1. Sterile Frond. 2. A Fruiting Pinnule. 3. Pinnule enlarged showing venation (From the "Fern Bulletin")]
That it is a distinct species was first pointed out by Raynal Dodge in 1880, and it later was named simulàtum> by Geo. E. Davenport because of its similarity to a form of the lady fern. It may be identified by its thin texture and particularly by its simple veins. On account of its close resemblance to the marsh fern, Clute would call it "The lance-leaved Marsh Fern," instead of the irrelevant name of Massachusetts Fern. Woodland swamps usually in deep shade, New England to Maryland and westward. Often found growing with the marsh fern.
Fronds pinnate, tapering both ways from the middle. Pinnæ lanceolate, pinnatifid, the lowest pairs gradually shorter and deflexed. Veins simple. Indusium minute and beset with glands.
[Illustration: New York Fern. Aspidium noveboracense]
Very common in woodlands, preferring a dryer soil than the marsh fern. August. The fronds are pale green, delicate and hairy beneath along the midrib and veins.
[Illustration: Sori of New York Fern (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
[Illustration: New York Fern. Aspidium noveboracense]
When bruised its resinous glands give out a pleasing, ferny odor. This species can be distinguished from every other by the greatly reduced pinnæ at its base. Throughout North America east of the Mississippi.
The beech ferns are often classed with the polypodies, because, like them, they have no indusium; but in other ways they are more akin to the wood ferns. Their stipes are not jointed to the root stock, nor are their sori at the ends of the veins as in the polypodies. We here place them with the wood ferns, retaining the familiar name Phegópteris but giving THELÝPTERIS as a synonym. The fruit-dots are small, round and naked, borne on the back of the veins below the apex. Stipe continuous with the rootstock. Veins free. (The name Phegópteris in Greek means oak or beech fern.)
Fronds glabrous, broadly triangular, ternate, four to seven inches broad, the divisions widely spreading, each division pinnate at the base. Segments oblong, obtuse, entire or toothed. Fruit-dots near the margin. Rootstock slender and creeping from which fronds are produced all summer, in appearance like the small, ternate divisions of the bracken.
This dainty fern has fronds of a delicate yellow-green, "the greenest of all green things growing." Its ternate character is shown even in the uncoiling of the fronds, the three round balls suggesting the sign of the pawnbroker. The parts of the oak fern develop with great regularity, each pinna, pinnule and lobe having another exactly opposite to it nearly always. In rocky woods, common northward; also in Virginia, Kansas and Colorado. A fine species for cultivation at the base of the artificial rockery.
[Illustration: Oak Fern. Phegopteris Dryopteris]
Resembles the oak fern, but with fronds rather larger, especially the terminal segment; also more rigid and coarser in appearance. Stalks and fronds minutely glandular beneath. Lower pinnules of the lateral divisions scarcely longer than the others. Often called "Limestone Polypody," the beech ferns having formerly been classed with the polypodies. Britton and Brown designate it as the "Scented Oak Fern." Canada and the northwestern states. Rare.