i iii i iiiri i ii i mmBwiffiMnniiwwwtHmBw tii wt^ iuiutM M i((iJMiuiiiiiii Mf [r[ riM 8i^ ^ WII.LARD N. CLVTE UtustrstfMtt ly WILLIAM ^'^ -STfT.<;nN !l!iiiii!r iiiiiii tti i l ti ii iil it llil i il liirtm l iliiitii l litNit l iiiiiTitiinmlltr ii tn mmmmmmm Cornell IDlntversit^ Xibrari? OF THE flew l^orft State College of Harlculture <.-jfe/-fc^ 8806 Albefo" R. Mann Library Cornell University Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924089416774 OUR FERNS IN THEIR HAUNTS. ,w - k^^ '• v^::.: 1 ' ^ ^^ i:7 ^ -, .* - •^ ' m ^f,^.^ .-y^ou" - - . ■ " ■' '_«? i ... .'liM^'^ '-'-.Wii*-.-^^ ■^ *'- "'% / 1 / / 1 PLATE VII. THE OAK FERN. PIu-:^opteris JJrwpi.ris. COPYHIGHT, 1901, BY FREDERICK A ST0KE3 COMPANY PRINTED IN AMERICA OUR FERNS IN THEIR HAUNTS H ©ui&e to all tbe IRattve Species BY WILLARD NELSON CLUTE Author of'^A Flora of the Upper Susquehanna " ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM WALWORTH STILSON ^ :■ '''4' ' ' NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS AmM Spec, CI A '-- -i I ^ 1 Copyright, 1901, By Frederick A. Stokes Company. CONTENTS. List of Illustrations. Preface, The Uncoiling Fronds, The Osmundas, The Rattlesnake Fern and the Adder's TONGUE, The Moonwort and its Allies, The Bracken, The Cliff Brakes, . The Woodsias, , The Christmas and Holly Fern The Marsh Fern Tribe, . The Wood Ferns, . The Rock Spleenworts, . The Lady Fern and its Kin, The Polypodies, The Bladder Ferns, The Chain Ferns, . The Boulder Fern, Cheilanthes and Maidenhair, The Sensitive and Ostrich Ferns, The Walking Fern and the Hart's-Tongue, The Curly Grass and the Climbing Fern, Border Species, Concerning Nomenclature, Key to the Genera, Checklist of the Ferns, . Glossary, Index to Common Names, Index to Scientific Names, Vll 3 7 21 37 4'9 65 79 89 lOI "3 129 151 175 191 205 215 225 233 249 261 273 283 291 301 313 321 327 330 List of Illustrations. THE OAK FERN. Phegopteris Dryopteris. a crosier, flowering fern, sori of asplenium. sori of polypodium. "fiddle-heads" a wayside spring. • CINNAMON FERN. Osmunda cinnamotnea, A FRUITING PINNA. TUFT OF WOOL AT BASE OF PINN/€. "HE CINNAMON FERN. Osmunda cinnamomea, INTERRUPTED FERN Osmunda ClayUniana. . INTERRUPTED FERN. Osmunda Claytoniana. Fertile frond THE INTERRUPTED FERN. Osmunda Claytoniana. FLOWERING FERN. Osmunda. regalis. . SPORE-CASES. CROSIERS. FLOWERING FERN. Osmunda regalis. . SPORANGIA. ... . . RATTLESNAKE FERN. Botrychiuvi Virginianum. RATTLESNAKE FERN. Botryckium Virginianum. ADDER'S-TONGUE, Ofkloglossum vulgatum. . THE ADDER'STONGUE. Ofkioglossum vulgatum. Plate I " THERE IS AN HERB " MOONWORT. Botrychium Lunaria COMMON GRAPE FERN. Botrychium obliquum. BOTRYCHIUM OBLIQUUM DISSECTUM LITTLE GRAPE FERN. Botrychium simplex. LANCE-LEAVED GRAPE FERN. Botrychium lanceolatum. THE MATRICARY GRAPE FERN. Botrychium matricaricefoli MATRICARY GRAPE FERN. Botrychium matricarixfolium. Frontispiece. PAGE. . la . IS . 16 17 facing i8 20 facing 26 . 27 . 28 facing 23 facing 30 31 facing 32 facing 34 34 35 facing 36 42 facing 42 44 46 facing 46 facing 50 , 5= S6 57 58 59 Plate II facing 60 61 V]1I LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. BOTRYCHIUM MATRICARI/EFOLIUM TENEBROSUM BRACKEN, ^'icris aguilina. Lower pinna. " KING CHARLES IN THE OAK." A FRUITING PINNA. PTERIS AQUILINA PSEUDOOAUDATA. Lower pinna. THE BRACKEN ROOTSTOCK. WINTER BRAKE. I'ellma atro^urpurea. WINTER BRAKE. Pellwa atrojiurJ>ureii. TIP OF FERTILE FROND. Enlarged. SLENDER CLIFF BRAKE. Pellaa gracilis. PELL/EA DENSA. Fertile frond. . RUSTY WOODSIA. Waodsia Ilvensis. ROOTSTOCK. FRUITING PINNA. OBTUSE WOODSIA. IVoodsia oiiusa. ALPINE WOODSIA. iVoodsia hyperborea. A FRUITINffiFROND. • VVoodsia obiusa. iVpodsia glabella. Polysiichujn acrostichoides. Ferlil and OBTUSE WOODSIA. FERTILE FROND. SMOOTH WOODSIA. CHRISTMAS FERN, fronds. POLYSTICHUM ACROSTICHOIDES INCISUM. HOLLY FERN' Poly^tickuin lonchitis. THE CHRISTMAS FERN. Polystichum acrostichoides. Plate III. POLYSTICHUM BRAUNII. CROSIERS- ...... MARSH FERN. Aspidiuni Tkelypteris. VENATION. THE MARSH FERN. ' ALONG STREAMS AND IN DAMP MEADOWS. SORI. THE SNUFF-BOX. NEW YORK FERN. Aspidium N'oveboracense. . NEW YORK FERN. Aspidium Noveboracense. FRUITING PINN/E. VENATION. ASPIDIUM SIMULATUM. FRUITING PINNA. VENATION. MARGINAL SHIELD FERN. PAGE. 62 71 73 7S 76 78 8.3 facing 84 86 facing 86 87 94 95 96 facing 98 98 98 facing 96 99 fac "g 100 sterile /ac ng 106 107 108 fact ng 108 Aspidiitvi ntarginaic. facing I facing 120 121 122 125 124 125 126 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. IX THE MARGINAL SHIELD FERN. Aspidium inarginale. Plate IV, SORI. Enlarged. FRUITING PINN/E. SORI. THE HOME OF THE WOOD FERNS. THE MALE FERN. A FRUITING PINNA. • GOLDIE'S SHIELD FERN. Aspidium Goldieaiium. ASPIDIUM CRIST ATUM. Middle pinnae. . CRESTED FERM Aspidium crtstatuni. ASPIDIUM CRISTATUM CLINTONIANUM. Middle pinna. ASPIDIUM BOOTTII. • ■ ... ASPIDIUM CRISTATUM CLINTONIANUM. ASPIDIUM BOOTTII. Lowest pinna. SPINULOSE SHIELD FERN. Aspidium spinulosum interinedi CRESTED FERN. Aspidium crisiatum. Sterile frond. A PINNULE. Much enlarged. .... ASPIDIUM SPINULOSUM DILATATUM. Lowest pinna. FRAGRANT FERN. Aspidium /ragrans. A FRUITING PINNA. ■ FRAGRANT FERN. Aspidium /ragrans. FROND OF MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT. GREEN SPLEENWORT. Asplenium viridc. FROND OF GREEN SPLEENWORT. SMALL SPLEENWORT. Asplenium parvulum. EBONY SPLEENWORT. Asplenium ebeneum. A FRUITING PINNA. .... EBONY SPLEENWORT. Fertile frond. . THE WALL RUE. Asplenium ruta-muraria. Three forms of fronds. MOUNTAIN SPLEENWORT Asplenium montanum. FERTILE FROND OF MOUNTAIN SPLEENWORT. ASPLENIUM BRADLEYI. FRUITING PINN-« OF ASPLENIUM BRADLEYI. ASPLENIUM PINNATIFIDUM. A fertile frond. THE PINNATIFID SPLEENWORT. Asplenium pinnatifidum. Plate V. ASPLENIUM EBENOIDES- ASPLENIUM FONTANUM- LADY FERN. Athyriumjilix-ffsmina PINNA OF VARIETY OVATUM. A common form, FRUITING PINNULE. Enlarged. facing PAGE. facing 134 135 13s 135 facing 136 137 138 facing 138 140 facing 140 141 142 fencing 142 143 144 144 145 146 147 148 facing 148 157 158 158 facing 160 facing 162 161 161 163 164 facing 166 166 167 facing 168 169 173 180 181 182 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. /acing i8 A FORM FROM SONNY THICKETS. A WOODLAND FORM. THE HAUNTS OF THE LADY FERN. SILVERY SPLEENWORT. Athyrium.thelypteroides. SILVERY SPLEENWORT. -Athyrium thelyptercides. FRUITING PINN/E. ... NARROW-LEAVED SPLEENWORT. Asplenium angustifoli frond. ..... PHEQOPTERIS DRYOPTERIS. INITIAL. THE COMMON POLYPODY. Polyfodium znclgare. Plale VI COMMON POLYPODY. Poiypociium vulgare. GRAY POLYPODY. Polyjtodiuin zncamim. BEECH FERN. Pkegopteris polypodioides. BEECH FERN. Phegopteris polypodioides. BROAD BEECH FERN. Phegopteris hexngonoptera. THE BROAD BEECH FERN IS A LOVER OF DEEP, SHADY WOOD' LANDS." COMMON BLADDER FERN. Cystopteris fragilis. CYSTOPTERIS FRAGILIS. A rare form of frond. BULBIFEROUS BLADDER FERN. Cystopteris bulH/era. COMMON BLADDER FERN. Cystcpteris fragilis. MOUNTAIN BLADDER FERN. Cystopteris monlana. COMMON CHAIN FERN. IVood-wardia Virginica. WOODWARDIA VIRGINICA. A fruiting pinna. . NARROW-LEAVED CHAIN FERN. Wood-wardia angustifotia. and sterile fronds. THE BULBIFEROUS BLADDER FERN. Cystopteris bulbifera. Plate VII. facing BOULDER FERN. Dicksonia pilosiuscuta. BOULDER FERN. Dicksonia pilosiuscula. A FRUITING PINNA. CHEILANTHES VESTITA. CHEILANTHES TOMENTOSA. CHEILANTHES LANUGINOSA. CHEILANTHES ALABAMENSIS. YOUNG FRONDS. MAIDENHAIR FERN. Adiaiituin pedatum. " ON MOIST SHADED SLOPES IN LOW WOODS." A FRUITING PINNULE. VENUS-HAIR FERN. Adiantum Cafillus-Veneris. SENSITIVE FERN. Onoctea sensibilis. Young fronds. PAGE. 182 183 Sterile facing 188 19s facing 196 ig6 198 facing 198 facing 200 facing 202 WOOD- facing 204 210 facing 210 212 facing 212 facing 214 facing 220 220 Fertile facing 222 VU. facing 224 230 facing 230 =31 ■ 238 • 240 241 242 243 244 facing 244 =45 246 facing 254 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XI ONOCLEASENSIBILIS OBTUSILOBATA. .... SENSITIVE FERN. Onoclea sensibilis. Fertile and sterile fronds. " IN THE WET, SANDY SOIL OF A HALF-SHADED ISLAND." OSTRICH FERN. Struthiopteris Germanica. Fertile and sterile fronds. " IT CARPETS THE FACE OF THE GRAY ROCKS." A FRUITING FROND HART'S-TONGUE fern. Scoloptndrium vulgare. IN THE HAUNTS OF THE HART'S-TONGUE. CURLY GRASS. Schizasa piisilla. CLIMBING FERN. Lygodmm palmatum. A FRUITING PINNA. I COME FROM HAUNTS OF COOT AND HERN." ROCK BRAKE. Crypiogramjiia acrostuhoitfes. KILLARNEY FERN, Trickomanes rndicans. A FRUITING PINNULE. TRICHOMANES PETERSII. Natural size. " GREW A LITTLE FERN LEAF." OSMUNDA. INITIAL. OPHIOGLOSSACE/E. OSMUNDACE/E. SOHIZ/€ACE/E, HYMENOPHYLLACE/E, POLYPODIACE/C. SCHIZ/CA. ONOCLEA. STRUTHIOPTERIS, LYGODIUM. OPHIOGLOSSUM. BOTRYCHIUM. POLYPODIUM. PHEGOPTERIS. NOTHOL/tNA. TRICHOMANES. PTERIS. ADIANTUM. PELL/CA, CHEILANTHES. CRYPTOGRAMMA. WOODWARDIA. POLYSTICHUM. PAQE. 256 facing 256 facing 258 facing 260 facing 266 267 269 facing 270 facing 278 facing 280 281 2S4 286 287 288 289 292 293 294 2^4 294 294 =95 305 3°S 305 306 306 306 307 307 307 307 308 308 308 308 308 309 309 ASPIDIUM. CYSTOPTERIS. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. . i . . ■ ■ • 3°9 3°9 WOODSIA. ^"^ . . • • 3'° . . . • 3^° , . t • 310 310 . ■ • • 3^° DIOKSONIA. SCOLOPENDRIUM. GAMPTOSORUS. ASPLENIUM. ATHYRIUM. ' The feathery fern, the feathery fern, It groweth wild and it groweth free. By the rippling brook and the wimpling burn, And the tall and stately forest tree ; Where the merle and the mavis sweetly sing. And the blue-jay makes the woods to ring. And the pheasant flies on whirring wing Beneath a verdurous canopy. ' The feathery fern, the feathery fern. An emerald sea, it waveth wide. And seems to flash, to gleam and burn, " Like the ceaseless flow of a golden tide ; On bushy slope or in leafy glade. Amid the twilight depths of shade, By interlacing branches made And trunks with lichens glorified." PREFACE. In recent years there has arisen a widespread interest in ferns from the popular point of view, creating a de- mand for more detailed information regarding their haunts and habits than is found in the text-boks de- voted to the subject. It is the aim of the present volume to supply this information ; and in such a manner that while conforming strictly to scientific canons, it shall make the way as smooth as possible for the beginner whose desire is, first of all, to know the names of the ferns. Few families of plants are at once so generally admired and so little known. Many who have been attracted to their study by the grace and beauty of the individual species, have been prevented from con- tinuing it by the apparent difficulties in the way. Al- though we have long had manuals from which the names of the ferns might be learned, the characters upon which the identification of the species is based are so difTerent from those employed in the better known flowering plants, and the descriptions are written in such brief and technical language, that they have served to discourage all save the most persevering of students. As a matter of fact, ferns are probably easier to identify than flower- ing plants when one knows how, and the knowing how may be acquired with less labour. After mastering the names of our ferns, the student who has desired to go deeper into the subject and learn something of their haunts, habits and folk-lore, has been 4 PREFACE. obliged to seek his knowledge in many books and periodicals, some of which are rare, others out of print, and the majority of foreign origin. A volume which would bring these scattered facts together in convenient form has been greatly needed. In comparison with other countries, our fern literature is very limited. The history of American fern books begins in 1878 with the publication of John William- son's modest little volume on the " Ferns of Kentucky." This went through three editions and has long been out of print. It is remarkable that the few years imme- diately following the appearance of this book should form our most prolific period as regards fern literature. In 1879 John Robinson issued his " Ferns in their Homes and Ours," a manual for the cultivator; in 1880 the first edition of Prof. Underwood's text book " Our Native Ferns " appeared and during the same period the two magnificently illustrated but expensive volumes of Prof. D. C. Eaton's " North American Ferns " were published. All of these have remained alone in their special fields. For nearly twenty years, no fern book that could compare with them in importance made its appearance. Several minor works, however, treating of the fern-flora of limited areas were published, chief among which may be mentioned Dodge's " Ferns and Fern Allies of New England," Lawson's " Fern-flora of Canada " and Jones' " Ferns of the West." Still more recently have appeared Mrs. Parsons' excellent " How to Know the Ferns" and Miss Price's " Fern Collector's Handbook." This completes the list of books, but a list of American fern publications would scarcely be com- plete without some mention of the Fern Bulletin which enjoys the unique distinction of being the only journal PREFACE. 5 in the world devoted exclusively to ferns. In its pages now appears the bulk of the periodical literature of ferns. Eight volumes have been issued. In this book have been included descriptions and illustrations of every species known to grow in North America north of the Gulf States and east of the Rocky Mountains, this area forming a more or less natural floral region. With few exceptions they have been treated in related groups and arranged as nearly as possible ac- cording to season, those first to fruit coming first in the book. By means of the illustrated Key to the Genera it is believed that no one will have difficulty in ascertain- ing the name of any specimen he may find. In view of the present unsettled state of botanical nomenclature, it has seemed best to adopt, in this volume, the botanical names longest in common use. They will certainly be Jess likely to confuse the beginner, since they are the names used by a majority of fern students and those by which the species are usually mentioned in other books. Botanists have recently proposed many changes in the interests of a more stable nomenclature, but these changes have not been generally accepted. Until they have been, they cannot properly be used in a volume of this nature. A complete account of these changes, however, has been inserted in the text for convenience of reference and in addition, a check-list has been included at the end of the book, which gives the other names by which the various species have been known in America. The early botanists were mainly engaged in describing new species and have left for us the pleasanter task of discovering the curious and interesting facts about them. In this direction still lies a practically virgin 6 PREFACE. field. Our knowledge of spores and sporelings is far from complete ; the prothallia of some species have never been seen ; the phenomena of fern hybridization have scarcely been touched upon ; while the study of the natural variation in species will afford much profita- ble work. There is also the ever delightful occupation of exploring unfamiliar territory and the possibility of thus adding to our knowledge of the distribution of species. The range of each species has been given in accordance with our present information, but it is ex- pected that many will prove to be more widely dispersed and that some now marked rare will ultimately be found to be more abundant. I shall be pleased to receive further information upon these points and will also undertake to identify any ferns that may be sent me provided that good fruiting specimens with rootstock, when possible, be selected for the purpose. In the preparation of this volume, I have had the hearty cooperation of American fern students and take this opportunity to express my indebtedness to them. My thanks are especially due to Mr. William R. Maxon for data regarding the range of many species, to Mr. George E. Davenport for verifying the nomenclature of the Check-List, to Mr. B. D. Gilbert for carefully reading the proof-sheets, and to Prof. L. M. Underwood for much valued information. WiLLARD N. CLUTE. Binghamton, N. Y. April 12, 1901. THE UNCOILING FRONDS. " The green and graceful fern, How beautiful it is. There's not a leaf in all the land, So wonderful, I wis. " Have ye e'er watched it budding. With each stem and leaf wrapped small. Coiled up within each other Like a round and hairy ball ? " Have ye watched that ball unfolding Each closely nestling curl Its fair and feathery leaflets Their spreading forms unfurl ? " Oh, theri most gracefully they wave In the forest, like a sea, And dear as they are beautiful Are these fern leaves to me." — Twamley. THE UNCOILING FRONDS. HE first call of Spring awakens the ferns. Before the last snow-banks have vanished from the shady hol- lows and while meadows are still bare and the woods deserted, the impa- tient young crosiers begin to stir the dead leaves in sheltered nooks. By the middle of April, in this latitude, millions are putting forth. Some, like tiny green serpents, uncoil in the shelter of rock or fallen log ; others hang from the shelves of mossy prec- ipices; while still others boldly appear along woodland streams, in fence corners and in open thickets, and soon the whole under-wood is filled with their waving pennons. When Thoreau wrote that " Nature made ferns for pure leaves, to show what she could do in that line " he voiced a thought which must often come to those who contemplate this beautiful race of plants. Whether it be a denizen of our own fields and woodlands or the lordly tree-ferns of the Tropics, we are obliged to confess that in these we have, indeed, " the proudest of all plants in the structure of their foliage." All the grace and beauty that may exist in mere leaves is here perfected and the title of "Nature's lacework" is well merited. Nature, however, is too clever to make all ferns beau- THE UNCOILING FRONDS. tiful. There are many, especially in tropical countries, that are coarse and ugly, but so far as our own are con- cerned, the few plain species make very welcome foils for the others. The fronds of a fern are essenti- ally complete in the bud and their development into those graceful and delicate objects that wave in the summer breeze is mainly a pro- cess of unrolling and expanding. In those species that produce their fronds in whorls or circles there may be seen within the circle of expanded fronds, sev- eral circles of buds, each successively smaller toward the centre. These are the fronds of coming years and strik- ingly remind us how many morrows the mn-i ►>•;'' ^^''^ tribe is prepared for. Although ioifi,/ii' known as fronds, these organs are really leaves and may be called leaves without impropriety. They are, however, more frequently called fronds, the expanded leafy portion being known as the l>/ade and the stalk that supports it, the stij>ir. The continuation of the stipe through the blade, or beyond the beginning of the leafy portion, is the racliis. Since many species have no stipes, the use of the word frond, to designate the blade alone, is common. As regards the pro- duction of fronds, our species may be divided into two classes. In the one, A CROSIER they are produced only in spring unless THE UNCOILING FRONDS. 13 the first crop is destroyed, and commonly appear in cir- cular clumps. This habit is nearly confined to species with short, stout, slowly creeping rootstocks. In the other, the fronds are produced throughout most of the summer. In the latter class, long, slender, extensively creeping and frequently branching rootstocks are the rule. Nature's pattern for fern buds is the spiral. Indeed, so inflexible is she upon this point, and so rarely does she adopt a similar pattern for other plants, that this forms one of the chief characters by which the whole fern tribe may be identified. No matter how varied in outline or different in size the mature fronds may be, in the bud all true ferns are coiled like a watch-spring. And not only are the fronds as a whole coiled thus, but each of the remotest divisions is rolled toward the next largest, these in turn toward the rachis, and then, begin- ning at the apex, rachis and stipe are rolled down to the crown. During winter, the buds are protected from the cold and wet by a multitude of papery or hair-like scales, usually tawny brown in colour. When the fronds de- velop, these often remain upon stipe and rachis, adding not a little to the picturesque appearance of the crosiers. The down and hairs so common on the stems and leaves of flowering plants are comparatively rare in the ferns, scales taking their places. There are nearly four thousand species of ferns in the world, but an examination of the rocks has shown that the present number is but a handful in comparison with those that flourished when the earth was younger. In the warmth and moisture of the long ago, they grew to a great size and with the allied club-mosses and scouring- rushes played an important part in the formation of the 14 THE UNCOILING FRONDS. coal measures. The presence of great beds of coal in lands that are now covered with ice and snow for a large part of each year, indicate that they once supported a luxuriant fern-flora. The temperature was then, of course, much higher. The tree ferns' descendants still retain their love for warmth, shade and moisture, and perhaps are still as abundant upon tropical islands as ever, but there is scarcely a spot on the globe without one or more species, unless it is an absolute desert. Nearly all ferns are perennial, although individual fronds seldom live more than a year. Many, even in a climate like that of Canada, are evergreen. The tree- fern with an erect trunk and a tuft of fronds at the sum- mit is probably the typical form. Our common species are supposed to be without trunks because they do not rise above the earth but one has only to dig up the nearest species to find that if it has not a true trunk, it has what is equivalent to one. This is usually a hori- zontal axis, bearing the crown of fronds at one end and giving off roots especially from the under surface. It is occasionally found upon the surface and seldom very far beneath it. In some the axis branches and in most the growing tip is advanced some distance each season, just as the crown of the tree-fern is lifted higher in air. The conditions under which our species exist, especially in winter, are not favourable to the formation of aerial trunks and they have therefore been modified for a life under ground. Ferns bear no flowers, — although one species is by courtesy called the flowering fern — and " fern-seed " is still as elusive and uncertain a thing as it was in the time of the Ancients. Many absurd ideas \\ere entertained regarding it, some of which are mentioned in the chap- THE UNCOILING FRONDS. 15 ters on the bracken and the lady-fern. As a sort of extension of the " Doc- trine of Signatures " it was assumed that since the seed is invisible, it would render its pos- sessor invisible also. It was supposed to have many other virtues, and could be obtained only by the exercise of the greatest care and endurance. An old legend accounts for the fern's lack of flowers by asserting that all ferns bore them until the Nativity. In honour of that event, the plants that were mixed with the straw in the stable put forth their flowers. The ferns, alone, did not, and were therefore condemned for ever afterward to be flowerless. Even the early botanists could not understand a proc- ess which in such a mysterious way produced new plants without the intervention of a flower. As late as 1828, Sir J. E. Smith wrote of the idea that ferns do not bear seeds, as follows : — " I see no advantage in applying a new denomination to the seeds of these and other cryp- togamous plants. Hedwig gave the Greek name spora to the seeds of mosses because he conceived them to differ in their structure and germination in some indef- inite manner from seeds in general. The most malicious rival of his immortal fame could not have imagined any- thing more subversive of that fame or of his luminous FLOWERING FERN. i6 THE UNCOILING FRONDS. discoveries." And again: "The production of perfect gernninating seeds contained in capsules .... is as clear in ferns as in mosses though nothing is certainly known of their stigmas any more than of their anthers. We are nevertheless content to plead ignorance on the subject and to presume by analogy that such parts exist, rather than to assume the idea of some other mode of impregnation, hitherto unknown, which would be going contrary to the first principles of Philosophy." What really happens in the generation of new ferns, and the way it is accomplished, is as follows. About mid-summer, there appear upon the underside of the fronds of most species, numerous small dots very reg- ular in size and shape. These are the " fruit-dots " or sori (singular, sorits) and under a simple lens are seen to be collections of tiny stalked globes. In the majority of cases, each sorus is covered with a membrane called an indnsmin which conceals the tiny globes until nearly ripe. In these globes, collectively called sporangia, are pro- duced many smaller one-celled bodies known as spores. At maturity these "spore-cases" open, and with a snap scatter the spores upon the wind. Ordinarily the)- germinate soon after leaving the capsules if a suitable sit- uation is encountered, but failing in this, some species are able to retain their vitality for nearly twenty years. Spores must not be mistaken for seeds, however. In no way do they resemble them except that they may serve to carry the species through a resting stage, as seeds do. When a seed is planted, a plant like the parent will come up, but a germinating spore does not give rise to a SORI OF ASPLBNIUM THE UNCOILING FRONDS. 17 fern. Instead, there appears a peculiar flat, green, heart- shaped body, scarcely a quarter of an inch across, known 2,% t\iQ prothalliiim. On the underside of this are borne two sets of organs and finally by a union of their contents, a new fern is produced. It is small wonder that this complicated process was so long a puzzle to investigators of plants. The knowledge of the subject grew very slowly. In 1648 the nature of the sporangia was first made out, and in 1669 the spores themselves were dis- covered. In 17 1 5 Morrison is said to have raised young plants from spores but it was not until 1788 that the office of the prothallium was known and more than thirty years later before its development was observed. Lastly it was not until near the middle of the nineteenth century that the functions of the small organs on the prothallium were discovered. The time required for a fern to come to maturity from the spore is from three to seven years. As may be imagined, many dan- gers threaten the young sporeling, and some species have devised vari- ous " short-cuts" by which to avoid the perils that often seem to threaten the very existence of their race. One of the bladder ferns produces spores in abundance and in addition, little bulblets grow from the under surface of the fronds. The spores , . , ^ SOEI OF POLYPODIUM. are scattered far and wide and may or may not land in a favourable place for germi- nation, but the bulblets drop into the soil beside their parents, ready to form new plants. It is interesting to know that the first fronds from these bulblets are much THE UNCOILING FRONDS. more mature than the first ones from the prothallium and will produce spores much sooner, being born " grown up " as one might say. In this plant, the bul- blets seem to be the chief means of continuing the specieSjwhile the spores travel about seeking new territory. Some species send out stolons which form new plants at their tips ; others produce tubers upon their roots that may be- come new plants ; and still others root at the tips of the fronds. None of them, however, VENATION OF A PINNA IN ASPiDiuM. ^^g lacking in the ordi- nary means of propagation. A tropical species of Nephrolepis has both tubers and stolons. A frond that bears sporangia is called fertile to dis- tinguish it from the unfruitful or sterile ones. In a large number of species the two are scarcely different, except for the presence of sporangia, but in others the fertile are more or less changed in appearance and reduced in size. When the blade of a frond is divided entirely to the midrib, it is said to be pinnate and the divisions are called pinnce. When the pinnae themselves are divided to the midrib, the frond is said to be bi-pinnate and the second divisions are c-aW&A pinnules or secondary pi^incB. When frond or pinna is not completely pinnate, it is said to hit pinnatifid s.nd the divisions are segments. A frond may be several times pinnate or pinnatifid in which case FIDDLE-HEADS/ THE UNCOILING FRONDS. 19 we have ultimate pinnules or ultimate segments for the smallest divisions, though pinnule is often loosely -used to designate them all. Another peculiarity of fern fronds is the way in which they are veined. Instead of giving off branches at inter- vals, as in flowering plants the veins, fork near the base and each fork may fork and fork again. Thus one vein is usually equal to any other in the frond. Commonly the veins do not connect with one another, when they are said to he free. If connecting they are said to he anasto- mose and the meshes of the net-work thus formed are termed areoltB. Ferns are separated into families upon characters taken chiefly from the rootstock, the manner of veining, and the shape and position of the sori and indusia. The indusium is a remarkably unvarying feature, and of itself forms a kind of family escutcheon from which the genus can usually be determined at a glance. Thus the indusia in the Polystichiims are circular ; in the Woodsias, star- shaped ; and in the Aspleniiims, Hnear. The distinguish- ing characteristics of the other genera may be found by referring to the " key " at the back of the book. l_"-*:r^^'5^ ^-^ -^ THE OSMUNDAS. " Fair ferns and flowers, and chiefly that tall fern So stately, of the Queen Osmunda named. Plant lovelier in its own retired abode On Grasmere's beach, than naiad by the side Of Grecian brook." — WORDSWORTH. ^ THE OSMUNDAS. MONG ferns as among flowering plants, there are certain species that so persistently force themselves upon our attention as to make it almost impossible not to know them. The i, members of the Osmunda family belong to ^^ this class. From the time their stout woolly crosiers peep from the ground in spring until their pinnae are mingling with the falling leaves of au- tumn, they are among the most conspicuous of our native species. In everything the family runs to ex- tremes. Their rootstocks are the largest, their crosiers the woolliest, their fronds the tallest and their fruit the earliest. They are also as common as conspicuous. Every farmer and wanderer countryward is fainiliar with their graceful forms, although he may have no other name for them than "brakes." The Cinnamon Fern. Tile best known of the Osimindas is doubtless the cinnamon fern {Osmunda cinnamomed). It grows in nearly every piece of boggy ground in the Eastern States, neighbouring with the coarse herbage of the wild helle- bore and skunk's cabbage, but is at its best in shaded swamps and wet open woodlands where it forms jungles of almost tropical luxuriance. Frequently it takes large 26 THE OSMUNDAS. areas to itself, stretching away for long distances in level reaches of green. The young crosiers or " fiddleheads " begin to peep up in plashy pastures before the grass has turned green and may be distinguished from all others by the dense coat of silvery white wool in which they are clad. As the weather warms and they expand into fronds, the woolly covering turns to a tawny hue and gradually falls away, although vestiges of it remain throughout the summer, scattered along the stipe and in little bunches at the base of each pinna. The fertile fronds are first to appear, but long before they have reached maturity the sterile have sprung up and overtopped them. It is rare for any fern to produce its fertile fronds first, and in the rapid development of the sterile fronds this species seems striving to be like the rest. An examirtation of the crown when the fronds are uncoiling shows that the fertile and sterile fronds are borne in separate circles and that the fertile belong to the outer circle although at maturity they are invariably surrounded by the sterile ones. The exchange is effected by a sharp bend outward at the base of the sterile frond's stipe but is so little known that nearly every one believes the fertile fronds to belong to the inner circle. Only one crop of fronds is produced each year, un- less the first is injured or destroyed. The plant is not to be caught unprepared, however, for nestling at the crown of the rootstock are the buds for several years to come. This central portion in all the Osmundas is known as the " heart of Osmond." It is tender, crisp and edible, tasting somewhat like raw cabbage, and is easily obtained by pulling up the clump of half-developed fronds. The operation, of course, destroys the plant. / CINNAMON FERN. Osmunda cinnamomea- THE OSMUNDAS. 27 A FRUITING PINNA. When full grown, the sterile fronds are often six feet high with stipes a foot long, and spread out in circular crowns like shuttlecocks or great green vases. They are lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate in out- line with twenty or more pairs of nearly opposite, lanceolate pinnae cut nearly to the rachis into numerous oblong, rounded lobes. The fertile fronds are totally unlike them ; in fact, in this species the difference between the two is probably greater than in any other American fern excepting, perhaps, the little curly grass. They are stiff, club like and cinnamon-coloured and are very noticeable in the greening swamp- lands of late spring. An examination of one of the woolly pinnae composing these clubs will discover the counter- parts of the ordinary green pinnae of the sterile frond here reduced in area and covered with sporai;igia. The fertile fronds are at first bright green. About the last week in May, just as they begin to assume the familiar brown hue, the spores are shed in myriads, the slightest touch sufficing to shake down a sage-green cloud. At this stage a pinnule presents a beautiful sight under a simple lens. The multitudes of tiny globes vary in colour from the deep green of the unopened spheres to the sulphur-yellow or rich brown of older empty ones. Many will be found partly open, disclosing the spores within. Most species have brownish spores, but those of the Osmundas are of a beautiful shade of green, due to the amount of chlorophyll they contain. Perhaps because of this rather perishable chlorophyll, they must germinate within a few days after they are shed or they will be 28 THE OSMUNDAS. powerless to do so at all. A single frond will produce many millions of spores and although the conditions for growth seem just right when they are shed, the com- paratively small number of mature ferns indicate very plainly that many dangers attend the sporeling. As soon as the spores are shed, the fertile spikes wither and have usually disappeared by the end of June. Under the frosts of autumn the pinnae of the sterile fronds twist and curl, and turning brown, soon loosen from the rachis. The latter remains erect and bare all winter in marked contrast to some of the evergreen species in which, although the fronds continue green, the rachids early become unable to hold them erect. The rootstock of the cinnamon fern is doubtless larger than that of any other American species. It is shaggy with the persistent bases of the fronds of other years and creeps along just at the surface of the soil, looking like a great shoe-brush half buried in the mud. The strong wiry roots are given off on all sides and many are obliged to penetrate the bases of one or more stipes before en- tering the earth. One end of the rootstock is annually renewed by fresh crowns of fronds and the other as con- stantly dies. If no injury happens to the crown, there seems nothing to prevent a plant from living for centur- ies. That some are very old, an examination of the root- stock will show. A medium sized specimen often ex- hibits the persistent bases of more than three hundred fronds, to say nothing of those that have decayed and disappeared. THE CINNAMON FERN, Osmunda cinnamomea. THE OSMUNDAS. 29 The Osmundas, like other large ferns, are commonly called brakes. The name, however, more properly be- longs to the bracken which can show cause for bearing it. In some of the Eastern States they are also known as hog-brakes, the qualifying word given, apparently to indicate their superior size, just as the words dog, horse and bull are applied to other plants. Occasionally they are called snake-brakes, popular opinion ever associating ferns and serpents. Nothing, however, can better show how unfounded is the belief in connection with this species than the fact that the Wilson's thrush and the brown thrasher are fond of choosing a clump of it for a nesting-site, often building in the centre of the green vase. It is doubtless this species that is coupled with the serpent in the old rhyme " Break the first brake you see, Kill the first snake you see. And you will conquer every enemy." In the Old World it was once believed that biting the first fronds seen in spring would insure one against the toothache for a year. Our earliest species appear to lack such desirable properties. Occasionally in a clump of this species one may chance upon a frond that is half-way between fertile and sterile. This is the form frondosa. It is seldom twice alike. The fertile portion may be at the apex, base or in the middle, or scattered about the frond. It may be common in a locality one season and rare the next. It is apparently caused by some injury to the rootstock which obliges the plant to turn the partly formed fertile fronds into organs of assimilation and is of special interest to the botanist for the relation it shows to exist between the two sorts of fronds. 30 THE OSMUNDAS. The cinnamon fern is fairly well distributed in Eastern America from Nova Scotia to Florida, Mexico, Nebraska and Minnesota. It also grows in the West Indies. I have collected it in Jamaica at an altitude of 4,000 feet where it flourished in a sphagnum swamp, in company with the stag-horn club-moss in the shelter of gigantic bamboos. This species is in all probability the best known of our native ferns. "The Interrupted Fern. Although the first of the Osmundas to appear in spring and fairly abundant in northeastern America, the interrupted fern {Osniunda Claytoniana) seldom becomes a reality to the casual observer because of its remark- bly close resemblance to the cinnamon fern. Fairly good observers have been known to pass it for years, under the impression that it was only a peculiar form of the latter. When both plants are in fruit, there is no chance of confusing them, but when only sterile fronds are to be had, they are not easy for the young collector to separate. Further acquaintance, however, will disclose many little points of difference. The experienced collector can dis- tinguish either species at a glance. The interrupted fern is less a lover of moisture than its kindred, and while it may occasionally be found with the cinnamon fern in some springy spot in the open grove, its preference is for the fence-row and the bushy half- wild lands that border so many of our back country roads. Here it often thrives in the face of the most untoward circumstances, frequently perched upon the top of a half-buried stone pile, through the interstices of which its strong roots ramify to the soil below. It is 5 THE OSMUNDAS. from some such situation as this that the wise fern cultivator selects his plants for the garden, for the labour of removing the stones from about the prize is much less than is required to dig it up when growing in the soil. It is as firmly anchored as any of its rel- atives and does not come up whole 'A-ithout a struggle. Both kinds of fronds begin to grow at about the same time. Although they are so nearly like those of the cinnamon fern, the eye begins to note slight differences even before the frond has unrolled as far as the blade, for the stipes are greener, slenderer and less downy. The sterile fronds grow from a circle inside the fertile ones, but as in the ciimamon fern they are on the outside at maturity. The fer- tile fronds are usually taller than the sterile and remain green all summer. Both kinds are oblong-lanceolate in outline with about twenty pairs of pin- natifid round-lobed pinnae. The spore- bearing organs are produced near the middle of the frond and consist of from two to seven pairs of transformed pinnae that look as if they might have been bodily transferred from the spike of the cinnamon fern. They look so out of place in the middle of the green blade that the uninitiated often take intjerrupted feeit. them to be dwarfed or blasted pinnae ^'""/ertiie^l'/onT''""' 32 THE OSMUNDAS. although in reality they are the most essential part of the frond. The sterile fronds are broader and blunter than those of the cinnamon fern and also lack the little tuft of wool at the base of each pinna. The fruiting pinns are at first dark ashy-green and at a short distance appear almost black, in pleasing contrast to the golden-green of the rest of the frond. The spores are often ripe before the tips of the fronds have unfurled and the parts that bear them soon turn brown and wither away. This species frequently presents curious transitions between fertile and sterile fronds. Some- times all the pinnules on one side of the midrib will be fertile and those on the other side, sterile ; or the dilated green sterile pinnules will be scattered among the con- tracted and brown fertile ones. Occasionally spores are borne on the underside of the frond after the manner of the polypody and most of our common ferns. A strong plant will often bear fifteen fronds, half of which are fertile. The sterile spread broadly outward but the fertile are nearly erect with only the tips spread- ing, making two tiers of green, the taller with a pretty palm-like effect. In folk-lore, the interrupted fern shares the honours with the cinnamon fern, being so near like it. It is found from Newfoundland to North Carolina, Missouri and Minnesota and is reported to grow in India. From the appearance of the fertile frond it was once called O. interrupta. Its preference for stony soil is very evident. With us it is sometimes called Clayton's fern. The Flowering Fern. The flowering fern {Osmunda regalis) is the only member of its tribe that is common to both Europe and X 8 THE OSMUND'AS. 33 America. Across the sea it is regarded as their hand- somest species and Withering alludes to it as the " flower-crowned prince of British ferns." We who have the ostrich fern, the Dicksonia and the cinnamon fern may not be willing to accord the palm to this species although it cannot be denied that it is a beautiful object when growing in suitable situations with room for its fronds to develop. The name of water fern, sometimes applied to it, indicates its fondness for moist situations. It loves to stand in shallow water and will generally be found in places too wet for its kin. The rootstock is frequently erect and, although it seldom rises more than a foot above the surface, has gained for the plant the name of tree-fern in some local- ities. As the uncoiling fronds begin to rise from the watery earth, the cobwebby wool that invested the cro- siers falls away in patches, revealing the glaucous wine- coloured stipes with their burden of pink or ochre pinnae. As these expand, the bright green spore-cases may be seen for some time before the uncoiling has reached them, peeping through the sterile pinnae which clasp them like chubby hands. Full grown fronds often reach a height of six feet and even taller specimens are recorded from England. These great cool-green, twice pinnate fronds have little re- semblance to those of the other Osmundas, or for that matter to any other of our native species. The stout shining stipe continues through the blade as the rachis, giving off at intervals from five to nine pairs of opposite branches. These in turn bear six or more pairs of ob- long pinnules 'with finely serrate margins and heart- shaped or oblique bases. The pinnules are usually slightly stalked and those on one side of the midrib 34 THE OSMUNDAS. alternate with those on the other. The pinnae and pin- nules are set at some distance from each other giving the whole frond a light and graceful appearance. The flowering fern produces a single crop of fronds each season and* forms a clump that is more pyramidal than vase-like in shape. Apparently its lighter, looser foliage makes it unnecessary for its fronds to spread to catch the light. The rootstock often gives off short branches which form new crowns of fronds close to the original one. Sterile and fer- tile fronds are alike, except that in the latter the several pairs of pinns compos- ing the upper part of the frond are changed to spore-bearing organs after the manner of the interrupted fern, and like it, showing many curious gradations be- tween fertile and sterile pinnules. Forms have been reported with fertile pinnules in the middle of the frond. The fruiting panicle is bright green until the spores ripen. It then be- comes rich brown in colour and bears no small re- semblance to a panicle of small flowers, whence the well known common name. The spores, as in the other Osmiindas, are green. This species has probably received more common names than any other. Royal fern, regal fern, king fern, and royal Osmund have doubtless been prompted by the same feeling that led Linnaeus to give it the name of regalis. Ditch fern is doubtless in allusion to its grow- ing near water, while buckthorn or buckhorn brake prob- ably has reference to the appearance of the crosiers. It has also been called French bracken, royal moonwort, and St. Christopher's herb, the latter connecting it with the legend of St. Christopher. SPOEE-CASES. FLOWERING FERN. Osinunda regalis. THE OSMUNDAS. 35 The flower- ing fern i s pretty gener- ally distribu- ted from New Brunswick to Mississippi, Nebraska and the Northwest Territory. It is also found in Mexico, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. It should b e looked for in the half shaded swamps along the shores of lakes and ponds and on the banks of streams. It will grow in cultivation but must be given plenty of water if one would have it produce the great fronds that constitute its chief beauty. This species was named from European material. American plants present some slight differences, espe- cially in the texture of the frond and the proportionate length of the stipes and may yet be proven to be a different species. In this event, our plant would be called O. spectabilis, having been described under this name by Willdenow. Authorities are not agreed as to the derivation of the word Osmtinda. According to Prof. Underwood, it is from Osmunder a Saxon name for the god Thor. Others derive it from " Osmond the water-man " of Loch Tyne, who is reported to have hidden wife and child from the Danes on an island covered with this fern. Prof. Meehan has also pointed out that during the middle ages nodules of iron ore were known as " Osmonds." Since these frequently contained impressions of our fern he suggests that the name may have originated in this way. There are six species in the genus, mostly in the North Temper- 36 THE OSMUNDAS. ate zone. With two additional genera, of which we have no representatives, they form the Order Osmundaceas which differs from other fern-families principally in the structure of the sporangia. FLOWERING FERN. Osmunda regalis. THE RATTLESNAKE FERN AND THE ADDER'S-TONGUE. " The leaves of adder's-tongue stamped in a stone mortar and boiled in olive oyle unto the consumption of the juice, and until the herbs be dried, and parched and then strained, will yeelde most ex- cellent greene oyle or rather balsame for greene wounds comparable to oyle of St. John's-wort if it do not farre surpasse it." — Gerarde. THE RATTLESNAKE FERN AND THE ^ ADDER'S-TONGUE. DMIRERS of ferns have always been puzzled to understand why ferns and serpents should be so indissolubly joined in popular opinion. Just as the average individual imagines every species of snake to possess fangs and venom and regards it as something like a duty to kill it, so does he consider ferns to be the natural protectors of these creatures and to be shunned accordingly. This suspicion of the ferns may not have originated as early as our antipathy to serpents, but it seems scarcely less deeply rooted in human nature. We have hardly passed the age when ferns were supposed to be endowed with the power to work charms, discover treasure and terrorize devils. It is possible that the mys- terious way in which they reproduce their kind without visible flowers and seed and the haunts they affect in the dank thickets and gloomy ravines have contributed to keep alive the superstitions concerning them ; but what- ever the cause, several of these harmless plants are still known as snake-brakes while the two to be mentioned in this chapter have been singled out as special objects of aversion. "The Rattlesnake Fern. Probably there is no fern in whose haunts serpents of any kind are less frequent, than the species which bears 42 RATTLESNAKE FERN AND ADDER'S-TONGUE. the terrifying name of the rattlesnake fern {Botrycliiiim Virginianum). It is a woodland species but by no means to be charged with harbouring the venomous serpent for which it is named. It delights in dim moist hollows, and is quite impatient of the sun, soon disappearing from a locality when the protecting trees are removed. In southern New York, the single fronds of this species begin to push up about the last week in April. Unlike higher types of ferns, they are folded rather than coiled in the bud and come out of the earth almost erect. Many suppose that each plant has two fronds, a fertile and sterile, but this is a mistake. There is but a single frond divided into a fertile and sterile portion. The sterile half expands soon after it appears above ground but the fertile is most deliberate and requires full\' a month longer to mature. In June the spores are pro- duced and then, having fulfilled its mission, the fruiting part begins to wither. It often disappears by July, al- though vestiges of it may be found on the frond all summer. This species is often three feet high and when full grown is a handsome plant. The sterile blade, borne some dis- tance above the earth by the fleshy stipe, spreads horizontally in a broad flat triangle, and above it the fertile portion rises several inches. The blade is usually described as ter- nate, but it is easily seen that two of the three divisions are really the enlarged lower pair of pinnae. Calling these pinnae, the frond is quadripinnate ; or tripinnate with pinnatifid SPORANGIA, piiiiige below, and once or twice pinnate with pinnatifid pinnse above. The segments are about ovate in outline. The fertile part is two or three times pin- RATTLESNAKE FERN. Bolrychimii Virginianim. RATTLESNAKE FERN AND ADDER'S-TONGUE. 43 nate with double rows of sporangia along the midribs. Occasionally a plant bears two fertile spikes. The spores are abuadant, bright yellow, and escape from the cap- sules through a narrow transverse slit. The blade is noticeably thin and when dried is exceedingly delicate. The rootstock is scarcely discernible, the stipe seeming to spring from a tangle of thick fleshy roots radiating horizontally a few inches underground. Next year's leaf bud is enclosed in a hollow in the side of the growing stipe at base, and its tiny stipe encloses a still smaller bud whicii in turn encloses another, the latter destined not to develop for three years to come. According to Campbell's " Mosses and Ferns," the development of the sporangia begins fully a year before the spores are shed. Within our limits, this species never has more than a single frond, except by accident, but in the West Indies it normally appears with two. The author of the " Ferns of Jamaica " remarks, " There are two fronds to each plant, one without and the other with, the fertile division." The writer, who recently collected fine specimens in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, discovered, however, that the fern is still true to its habit of producing but one frond a year. The frond lacking the fertile division proves to be the frond of the preceding year which the mild climate allows to remain green until the next frond is produced. The scar left by the withering of the .fertile spike is quite noticeable. Another peculiarity of this species is the great disparity in the size of fruiting plants and in the large proportion of apparently full-grown specimens that are sterile. Some bear fruit when but a few inches high, but others near by, twice as large, do not. The cause of this sterility in the large plants is unknown unless it may be explained upon 44 RATTLESNAKE FERN AND ADDER'S-TONGUE. the supposition that they rest in alternate years. Something of this kind is hinted to exist among the adder's-tongues, and as the Botrycliiums are closely allied, they may have the same habit. The name of rattlesnake fern is probably due to the likeness which may be fancied to exist between the spikes of fruit and the rattles of the serpent. It is sometimes called the grape fern, also in allusion to its clus- ters of spore-cases, but this title more properly belongs to a related species. In the south- ern Alleghanies it is fre- quently known as " in. dicato r ' ' ff. from the supposi- tion that i t s occur- , rence indi- cates the proximity of ginseng. Hemlock - leaved moonwort and Virginia moonwort are obvious derivations, the true moonwort belonging to the Botry- chiuiii family. EATTLESN.VKE FERN. Botryckium Virginianum. RATTLESNAKE FERN AND ADDER'S-TONGUE. 45 Our plant is found from New Brunswick to the Tropics and the Pacific Coast. Throughout most of this region it is fairly common. It has numerous relatives but none resemble it enough to be mistaken for it. It grows readily in cultivation if given shade, moisture and a light soil. Specimens that have been considered indentical with our plant have been reported from Europe and Asia. "The Adder s-'Tongue. It is safe to say that the adder's-tongue {Ophioglossum vulgatum) is much better known to the collector from pictures and herbarium specimens than it is from experi- ence in the field. Although the plant is widely distrib- uted and when found at all is likely to be abundant, the many who have carefully and unavailingly searched their localities for it are quite willing to admit that this abund- ance is not general. Still, it may happen after all, that the plant has only been overlooked, for it is not conspic- uous, and some day when least expected may appear. So the search continues. All who have once found it, testify to the ease with which they subsequently find other stations for it, and incline to the belief that its single leaf is often passed under the impression that it is the leaf of some flowering plant, such as Pogonia or the two-leaved Solomon's seal. It seems a plant that one must first discover by accident before he can find it by intention. Doubtless the most promising place to look for it is among the grasses and sedges in moist meadows, but upon this point there is considerable difference" of opinion. Some years ago, several writers gave their experience in collecting it, in the Fern Bulletin. One wrote that in northern New York, he found it in "dry pastures, on and 46 RATTLESNAKE FERN AND ADDER'S-TONGUE. about hummocks of hemlock loam " and added " it is sel-^ dom found in moist places." Another in Vermont says " in old meadows, they will grow in little hollows where it is richer and more moist " while still another in Kentucky found it common " in dry open woods" and wiites that " it may safely be looked for in red cedar groves," adding, " I know few such places where it does not grow." In contrast to these, Mr. A. A. Eaton has found fine large plants in seven inches of sphagnum moss in New Hamp- shire swamps. The tallest specimens are seldom more than a foot high while the great majority do not attain to half this size. The blade or sterile portion is oblong, lanceolate or ovate, usu- ally with a narrow base, and is rather fleshy. It is from two to four inches long and is borne low down in the grass near the middle of the common stalk. The nar- row fruiting spike is from half an inch to two inches in length and consists of two rows of sporanges embedded \ ADDER'S-TONGUB. Opkioglossum viilgatum. rLATE I THE ADDER'S TONGUE, Ophioglossum vuk^atum. COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY FREDERICK A STOKES COMPANy PRINTED IN AMERICA RATTLESNAKE FERN AND ADDER'S-TONGUE. 47 primitive way of bearing spores than is found in most ferns and is considered an indication that the Ophioglossums are very ancient forms. The rootstock is short and produces many short fleshy roots. Here and there adventitfious buds may be formed upon them and new plants result. In some species in this genus, this is said to be the chief method of propa- gation. The prothallia are apparently seldom developed, perhaps because this way of getting new plants is so much surer. The curious manner in which the adder's- tongue appsars and disappears in the same spot in differ- ent years has given ground for the belief that the plants occasionally rest for a season. It is also conjectured that the prothallia may form resting bodies as the prothallia of certain other species of ferns are known to do. , In 1897 a party of botanists found a colony of small Ophioglossums in southern New Jersey, specimens of which were subsequently described as O. arenarium. This is apparently only a depauperate form of the com- mon species due to the sterile soil in which it grows. It is described as about half the size oivulgatum with a rather lanceolate sterile portion in which there are from five to seven basal veins. The describer writes of it " It seems a little difficult to tell some of the young fronds of O. vulgatum from the mature ones of O. arenarium, and yet the extremes are so different and the habit and habitat so distinct that I have concluded to retain them as separate species. That O. arenarium has originated from O. vulgatum and that intermediate forms may be found in young or poorly developed specimens, does not alter the view from the modern standpoint of evolution." It is probable that the majority of botanists, would con- sider this more properly placed as O. vulgatiim arenarium and not as a separate species. 48 RATTLESNAKE FERN AND ADDER'S-TONGUE. In America the adder's-tongue is found from Canada to Florida, Missouri and sparingly to California. In the Old World it occurs in Europe, Asia, Africa and Aus- tralia. Considering its wide distribution, some difference in specimens from remote points may be expected. In the western part of our range, there is a form named Engehnanni. It may be distinguished from the type by the slender stipe and apiculate sterile portion with broad areolae and anastomosing veins. It is found as far east as Virginia. This also is probably a form of vidgatum and better characterised as O. vulgatum Engel- inaiini. The common name of adder's-tongue is much older than the scientific Ophioglossuni and both have the same meaning. Adder's-spear, adder's-spit and other names formerly in use, all refer to a fancied resemblance be- tween the plant and the adder. The fronds were long used as the principal ingredient in " adder's-spear oint- ment " to make which they were boiled with unsalted butter. Drayton alludes to its use in the lines " For them that are with newts, or snakes or adders stung He seeketh out a herb that's called adder's-tongue. As Nature it ordained its own like hurts to cure, And sportive, did herself to niceties inure." There are about twenty species of Ophioglossum known. In northeastern America, there is but a single species unless the two forms noted should prove distinct. Three other species are sometimes found in tropical parts of the United States. THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. HEF^E IS an herb, si>nic say, wlmsc victue'i sucli 'It ill llie pasture, only with a touch Un^h'>e^ the new-iliod .steed/' IVn/iers. THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. ITH the exception of the rattlesnake and common grape ferns, the members of the Botrycliium family, although somewhat widely dispersed in eastern America, are very little Icnown, even to the botanizing public. In the books they are usually set down as rarb, but whether this is really the case, or whether their small size enables them to es- cape observation, it is difficult to say. It is pos- sible to find most of our ferns by diligent search in suitable situations but the Botrycliiunis usually elude such attempts to discover them and are likeliest to appear when one is looking for something else. Once discovered, they are often found in considerable numbers and are not rare in collections, although comparatively few have seen them growing. T'he Moonwort. The moonwort {Botrycliium Ljinarid) is a fat little plant that delights to grow in old fields in many parts of the world but is exceedingly rare in the United States. Like all the Botrychiuvis it bears but one frond annually, divided after the usual manner into a fertile and sterile portion. This comes up out of the earth stiff and erect although the tip of the sterile part is slightly bent down- 52 MOONWOET. Botrychium L THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. ward as if half inclined to coil after the manner of the true ferns. It seldom grows more than a few inches high, twelve inches being probably the maximum height. The blade is usually sessile, longer than wide, and borne at or above the middle of the stem. It is usually pinnate, though some- what disposed to vary, and has from two to eight pairs of lobes or pinnae which may be set close together or some distance apart. In outline, they are fan-shaped, or with a rounded outer edge which gives them enough the shape of a half-moon to suggest the common name. The fertile division is sometimes no longer than the sterile and is twice or thrice pin- nate. The frond is annual, dying at tlie approach of winter. The bud for the next year is enclosed in the base of the stipe. In the Old World, this plant was once held in great repute for its supposed power of working all sorts of wonders. Its old names of "blasting-root" and "spring- were given it under the impres- sion that the strongest locks would give way if it were merely brought in contact with them. To a more matter-of-fact generation it will doubtless seem strange that no one thought to make a test of its pow- THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. 53 ers and so set the matter at rest. The old botanist, Culpepper, who wrote about 1650, says of the moon- wort's reputed power to unshoe horses " Moonwort is an herb which they say will open locks and unshoe such horses as tread upon it ; these some laugh to scorn, and these no small fools neither, but country people that I know, cal it Unshoe the Horse ; besides I have heard commanders say that on White down in Devon- shire near Tiverton there were found thirty hors-shoes pulled from the feet of the Earl of Essex, his horses being there drawn up in a body, many of them but newly shod and no reason known which caused much admira- tion ; and the herb described usually grows upon heaths." Another ancient writer has done the idea into rhyme, as follows : — " Horses that feeding on the grassy hills, Tread upon moonwort with their hollow heels, Though lately shod, at night goe barefoot home, Their maister musing where thir shooes be gone. O moonwort, tell us where thou hid'st the smith Hammer and pincers thou unshodst them with. Alas, what lock or iron engine is't That can thy subtile secret strength resist, Sith the best farrier cannot set a shoe So sure, but thou so shortly cans't undoe." There was, however, some protest against these beliefs as may be seen from this quotation from Parkinson. " It hath beene formerly related by impostors and false knaves, and is yet believed by many, that it will loosen lockes, fetters and shoes from those horses feete that goe in the places where it groweth ; and have been so audatious to contest with those who have contradicted them, that they have been known and scene it to doe so ; but what observation soever such persons doe make, it is all but false suggestions and meere lyes." Accord- 54 THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. ing to the " Doctrine of Signatures " tlie shape of its pinnules showed this plant to be under the influence of the moon and therefore good for all diseases of a peri- odic character and especially valuable for the cure of lunacy which was supposed in some way to be caused by that luminary. To be efficient, it had to be gathered at full moon and by its light. " Then rapidly with foot as light As the young musk roe's, out she flew. To cull each shining leaf that grew Beneath the moonlight's hallowing beams." The moonwort is a boreal species. It is found in Greenland, Alaska and in the United States as far south as Connecticut, New York, Michigan and Colorado. Near its southern limits it is extremely rare, the records usually resting upon a very limited number of specimens. In British America it is said to be not uncommon. It is also found in Northern Europe and Asia. Across the water its habitat is given as " open heaths, moors and elevated rocky pastures." It is regarded as " local, rather than rare" in England. T^he Common Grape Fern. The common grape fern {Botrycliiuiii obliquHiu) is not rare in eastern America, but owing to its retiring dis- position cannot always be found when wanted. It de- lights to grow in half-cultivated lands where some friendly rock or stump protects it from the tread of cat- tle and the implements of the farmer. One often finds it as he climbs over an old stone wall or crosses a bushy pasture, especially if the spot be moist, but on other occasions he may search the countryside in vain for specimens. THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. 55 The triangular, much divided blade and heavy fruiting panicle of this species gives it considerable superficial resemblance to the rattlesnake fern but there is little chance that they will be confused in the field. The rattlesnake fern has shed its spores and the fertile part has withered and gone, long before the grape fern has thought of coming up. Of all our species, this is latest to appear. Often it does not start into growth until late in July and the spores are not ripe until September or October. It also has the distinction of being our only evergreen Botrychium. At the approach of cold weather the fertile portion decays while the sterile merely takes on a rich bronze hue and braves the frost and snow. In late fall and early spring it is quite con- spicuous and the collector often locates his specimens at such seasons, returning later to collect them. The old frond usually remains until the new one has developed, just as that of the rattlesnake fern does, further south. The grape fern is from six to eighteen inches in height and quite fleshy. The blade approaches the triangular in outline and springs from the common stalk near the base. It is itself long stalked, the latter feature serving to distinguish it from its allies in northeastern America. There are six or more pairs of stalked pinnae each of which is again pinnate with lobed or incised pinnules. The blade is frequently described as ternate, because the lowest pair of pinnae are nearly as large as the rest of the frond. The pinnules and segments are quite variable in shape and cutting and these differences are often con- sidered of sufficient importance to warrant the making of numerous varieties or even species. The sterile part of the frond spreads nearly horizontally but the fertile is much taller and quite erect. The latter is about three 56 THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. times pinnate. The plant often shows a remarkable tendency to double the fertile spike, and specimens with three complete fertile panicles, each on a separate stalk, are not rare. The rootstock, as in all the Botrychiums, is short and sends out numerous fleshy roots. The base of the living stipe com- pletely encloses the buds for succeeding years. Frequently the buds for four years to come may be discerned. The rootstock is reported / COMMON GRAPE FERN. Botrvchium oblhuum to occasionally bear two fronds as the ad- der's-tongue does. Throughout most of the grape fern's range, especially near the seaboard, there is an interesting va- riety whose principal erence is that the foliage is very finely cted, the ultimate segments ending nder Y-shaped divisions, that give it ry fine and lace-like appearance. This was formerly known as the variety dis- sccttun but some botanists now incline to give it specific rank. If this is a distinct species, its resemblance to B. obliqmim is truly re- markable. It affects the same habitats, fruits at the same time and has the same trick of waiting until THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. July to produce its new frond. The sterile part is also evergreen. Intermediate forms are not uncommon and the geographical distribution is essentially the same. In view of these facts, it seems best to regard it as only a variety of obliquuni. It probably attains its best devel- opment in places where there is more moisture than is agreeable to the type. Along the coast it is nearly as plentiful as B. obliquum and pro- duces luxuriant deeply- cut blades. Inland the blade tends to become less dissected. Until recently botanists have considered our spe- cies a variety of Botrych- itim tcrnatum. The latter was discovered in Japan by Thunberg and there' seems to be good reasons for believing ours to be a different species. It is found from New Brunswick and Ontario to Minnesota, Mex- ico and Florida, frequenting sliady fencerows and swampy woods. There are four forms in the West and one in the South that are closely related to our species and are often classed as varieties of it. Small forms from New York and New England are sometimes referred to B. Matricarice of Europe, and a form with larger blades on shorter stalks is the form intenne- dinni. The species and the varieties 57 Botrychium obltgnunt (fissectutn. 58 THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. take kindly to cultivation if taken up with plenty of soil and, after replanting, left to themselves. They resent any digging about their roots. "The Liiile Grape Fern. The little grape fern {Botryclduui simplex) is among the rarest of our Botrychiunis. Whether this is alone due to its small size, or whether it really is rare in the south- ern part of its range, we have scarcely enough data to decide. It has been re- ported from a few localities in Massachu- setts, Connecticut, New York, Mar3Tand and Wyoming and appears to increase in num- bers as we go northward. In Dodge's " Ferns and Fern Allies of New England," it is reported as "abundantly scattered over Vermont, its habitat usual!}- poor soil, especially knolls of hill pastures." By oth- ers the habitat is given as "moist woods, meadows and swamps." Mature plants are usually less than three inches high although luxuriant specimens may reach twice that height. The plant has a reputation for being extremely varia- ble as may be judged from this description taken from a recent botanical work. "Ster- ile portion ovate, obovate or oblong, entire, l.)bed or pinnately parted, borne near the ';JJJi^ 'JJ'^^^F base of the stem or higher, sometimes above Y ERN. BoTrych- ^ 7um simplex. ^Yiq middle; fertile portion a simple or slightly compound spike, sometimes reduced to only a few sporan- gia. Spores large for the genus." Six varieties have been described but it is not difficult to select a complete suite THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. 59 m of intergrading specimens. The plant is quite fleshy and usually has the sterile part stalked and attached to the main stem near the base. It also occurs in Europe, 7^/)e Lance-Leaved Grape Fern. In some parts of its range, the lance- leaved grape fern {Botrychium lanceola- iuni) is very abundant but it is not un- common for collectors to search for years without finding it. As yet, compara- tively little is known about its habitats. In Canada it is said to grow on " the shaded mossy banks of streams and in rich moist woods and low pastures." In central New York it is reported to be found " in shade, but generally in shaly soil that is almost barren of undergrowth and has but a slight covering of vegetable mould." In Pennsylvania the author has seen hundreds of these plants growing in the rich moist hollows of beech and maple woods at an altitude of about 2,100 feet. The underground portion of this spe- cies consists of a tangle of stout roots, one of which, descending perpendicularly, gives off irregular whorls of other roots, at intervals. Single roots are frequently sev- eral times longer than the part of the plant above ground. The frond is some- what fleshy and from three to nine inches high with the sterile division sessile near the top of the stem. It is somewhat lance-leaved triangular in outline with two or more '^"^^IfJif^fJiZ".' ^ 6o THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. pairs of opposite pinns, the lowest pair, of course, much the largest, as befits a Botrychiuiii. The pinnae are them- selves usually pinnatifid with lobed or sharp-toothed seg- ments, but show a decided tendency to vary. In general aspect, the blade resembles a very small specimen of the rattlesnake fern. The fertile portion but slightly overtops the sterile and is twice or thrice pinnate. In the southern part of its range, the spores are ripe about the last week in July. Botrychium lanceolatum is found from New Jersey, Ohio, Colorado and Washington to the far north. South- ward it appears to be an upland species and should be sought in moist level stretches of deciduous woods. In such places it is often found very plentifully over several acres. One of its constant companions is the rattlesnake fern. The species is also found in both Europe and Asia. The illustrations for this and the following species were drawn from specimens collected by the author at Ararat, Penna., where they were found growing in company. Matricary Grape Fern. All that has been said of the lance-leaved grape fern, may with equal truth be applied to the matricary grape fern {Botrychium uiatricariafoliuni) with which it is al- most invariably associated. Good botanists have often held that the two are but different forms of the same species. There are many intergrading forms, but each type remains fairly constant in a few particulars that seem to warrant us in considering them distinct. The most important is the difference in the time of fruiting. The present species fruits nearly a month earlier than lanceolatiDiL, its spores often ripening by the middle of 1=LATE II. THE MATRICARY GRAPE FERN. Botrychiuin matricariafolii. CQPYfilCHT, 1901, BY FREDERICK A STOKES COMPANY PFllNTeO IN AMERICA THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES, June. It is also a taller, fleshier plant and rather the more common of the two. The fronds are from four to twelve inches high and the blade, which is in- clined to be ovate in outline, is situated a short distance below the fruiting spike. In small plants it may be only pinnatifid but in the larger species it is usually twice pinnate. In all, the final divisions are rather blunt. The fertile portion is Usually taller than the sterile and twice or thrice pinnate. The ster- ile division differs from that of lanceola- tum in being stalked after the manner of B. obliqmmi although the frond it- self is more nearly like that of B. Lunaria. In North America this species has the same range as B. lanceolatum and in Europe both species are found to- gether. Recently botanists have ques- tioned the identity of our species with the European one. If they are not the same, our plant would be known as B. neglectum. In 1898 Mr. A. A. Eaton discovered in a New Hampshire sphagnum swamp a large number of peculiar Botrychi- unis which have since been described as a new species and named Botrychium tenebrosum. Many botanists incline to regard these specimens as forms of B. MATRICARY GRAPE FERN. Botrych iu tjt tnatricarite/oliu w. 62 THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. matric aria; folium that have grown in situations uiisuited to them. They would therefore seem more properly named B. niatricariwfoliiiin tenebrosum. The smallest are only an inch high with tiny threadlike steins and minute fertile and sterile parts, while the larger sometimes reach a length of nine inches. They can hardly be called nine inches high, since in such specimens the stem is usually decumbent with two or three inches of the stipe under ground. Lik-e B. simplex, this form is ex- / tremely variable. In speaking of it at the Boston Meeting of the Fern Chap- ter in 1898, Mr. Eaton said : "The av- erage height above ground is two inches and most commonly the sterile lamina is sessile or slightly stalked, less than one quarter of an inch long, the edge inflexed and top bent down just as it covered the fertile divison. . . . In this state the sterile division bears one lobe or notch on each side and the apex is emarginate. Often it bears a sporangium and may even bear one or two on each lobe. From this there may be found a regular series up to the fully developed form, one and three fourths of an inch long, of which three fourths of an inch is petiole. There are in this two or three pairs of Boiryc/tmm mairicaria- semi-lunate lobcs, the lower of which /oiiuvttenebr^^um. ^^^ alternate and all decurrent. . . . In small specimens the fertile division is overtopped by the sterile, but in the larger plants, the sterile division THE MOONWORT AND ITS ALLIES. 63 reaches only to the base of the fertile. The latter varies in size from a short stalked division bearing one or two sporangia to a spike two inches in length." Mr. Eaton writes me that tencbrosum can always be distinguished from its allies by the notch in the tip of the sterile portion and by the spores which are nearly twice as large as those of simplex. The plant's small size and variable nature have caused it to be regarded as a variety of B. simplex also. Tenebrosum grows on the borders of maple swamps. Where the earth is deeply covered with leaves, many specimens are never able to reacl^the light and air, but bear fruit, nevertheless. Thus far it has been reported from Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York. It is likely to be found elsewhere within the range of the other small Botrychiums. In some spots, two hundred and fifty specimens have been collected in an hour. Our illustration was made from specimens col- lected by Mr. Eaton. The name of the genus is derived from a Greek word meaning a bunch of grapes and was given to this family in allusion to its clustered spore-cases. There are twenty- five or more species, widely scattered on the globe. In America, they are exceedingly variable and present some puzzling questions to the student. " Judging from size and external appearances alone," writes Prof. Under- wood, " a regular gradation of forms might be arranged from the most diminutive undivided fronds of B. simplex to the largest of B. Virginianum. THE BRACKEN. ' As a coming screen grows the bracken green ; Up springeth it fair and free, Where in many a fold, grotesque and old, Twineth the hawthorne tree ; A covert meet from the noontide heat, Or should you steal anear, You may chance to discern, neath the spreading fern. The antlers of the deer. " It boasteth a name of mystic fame. For who findeth its magic seed A witching and weirdly gift may claim, To help him at his need : Unseen, unknown he may pass alone Who owneth the fern-seed's spell ; Like the viewless blast, he sweepeth past. And walks invisible ! " Have ye to learn how the eagle fern Doth in its heart enshrine An oak tree like that which the hunter Hearn Haunted in days ' lang syne ? ' An oak tree small is repeated all Complete in branch and root. Like the tree whereunto King Charles did flee, When pressed by hot pursuit. " O eagle fern, when I thee discern When thy withered leaf I meet. In places the careless foot might spurn. The crowded mart or street. Thou takest me back to thy birthplace fair. Where thou wavest in thy pride. And the form of the hare and the deer's close lair Doth mid thy stems abide." — Mary Isabella Tomkins. THE BRACKEN. ' T is no easier to account for the likes and dislikes of ferns, than it is for those of more highly organized beings. Our ferns annually cast their spores by millions upon the wind to be sown broadcast, but the majority have seldom been able to get beyond their rather restricted hmits, although the adjacent territory seems just i ' as favourable to their growth. There are a few conspicuous exceptions to this rule, however, such as the cosmopolitan polypody, bladder fern and maidenhair spleenwort, but none of these are at home in so many places as our single representative of the brackens. There are nearly a hundred other species of this genus scattered about the world, but our plant has a wider range, both geographically and altitudinally than all the rest of its family together. Wherever the bracken {Pteris aquilind) grows, it forms a conspicuous feature of the landscape. In British song and story it is constantly associated with the wildness and desolation of heath, moor and mountain side. '' The heath this night must be my bed The bracken curtain for my head." sings Scott, while Cowper, drawing a picture of untamed nature, speaks of " The common overgrown with fern, and rough With prickly gorse. " 70 THE BRACKEN. Less mention of this species is made by our own writers, though it is surely not for lack of occasion, as it fills a distinctive place in our scenery. It is perhaps the commonest American fern. Found both in the wood- land and the open field, its favourite haunt is in neither, but in that half-way ground where man leaves off and Nature begins — the copse or thicket. Unlike most ferns, it seems to care little for shade. Given a scrubby hill-top or a neglected roadside half grown up to weeds and bushes and the bracken is sure to be there. It is the dominant fern of the half reclaimed lands. Indeed, it is said that the word brake, by which the fern is often known, is from an old Saxon word for fallow or clearing and that it was given to this fern because it is the first green thing to spring up in such places after they have been burned over. The word has since come to be applied, though less properly, to many of our larger ferns. The prevalent idea that brakes differ in some mysterious way from true ferns is without foundation in fact. The most prominent characteristics of this fern are strength and coarseness, qualities well in keeping with the tangles in which it dwells. In eastern America it seldom grows more than three feet high with fronds that spread more than a yard across, but in more favourable localities it reaches a much larger size. Specimens thir- teen- feet long have been recorded from Ireland. Wil- liamson notes that in the AUeghanies it covers large tracts and becomes the favourite haunt of the deer. Although the bracken is not particular as regards habitat its presence is supposed to indicate a thin and barren soil. The rootstock is black, smooth and about as thick as ones little-finger. It is rather deep in the earth and THE BRACKEN. 71 creeps for long distances. A good strong plant fre- quently has a rootstock measuring twenty feet or more in length. In endeavouring to avoid obstructions in the soil, it has been known to go to depths of fifteen feet. It branches freely and secondary rootstocks are frequently given off from the base of the stipes. Although very abundant in northern countries, this species is quite sensitive to cold. A late spring frost frequently cuts down the young crosiers and the mature BRACKEN. Pieris aquilina. Lower Pinna. fronds early turn brown under the frosts of autumn although they commonly remain erect for most of the winter. The crosiers are quite characteristic and easily distinguished from all others. They are covered with a fine silvery-gray pubescence and the three divisions un- rolling separately from the stiff stipes look not unlike the claws of some large bird. No doubt this accounts for the name of turkey foot fern, sometimes applied to it. 72 THE BRACKEN. The fronds are produced all summer, rising from the rootstock at intervals of from six inches to six feet. They are triangular in outline and ternately divided ; that is, the lowest pair of pinnae are so much larger than the rest, that the frond appears as if made up of three nearly equal divisions. Counting these lowest divisions as pinnae, the frond is three times pinnate below and passes by every gradation upward to the pinnate apex. In very large specimens the basal pinnules on the lower pinnae are again lobed or parted, making this part of the frond nearly quadripinnate. The pinnules are narrow, two or three times longer than broad and set fairly close along the midrib. The fruit is borne in a continuous narrow line on the margin of the pinnules and is covered by an indusium formed of its refiexed edges. There is said to be a second indusium, also, attached within the receptacle and spreading beneath the sporangia but this is not to be discerned in most specimens. When young the outer indusium forms a silvery-white edging on the underside of the pinnules, but as the spore-cases mature, they peep from under it, and turning a deep rich brown, cause the frond to look as if embroidered. The bracken has many common names. Brake, bracken and eagle fern are the only ones in ordinary use in America. The last, as well as the specific name aquilina, is supposed to have been given to the plant from some eagle-like characteristic, but whether this is found in the claw-like crosiers, the broad fronds like an eagle's wings, or the spread-eagle which some fancy they see in a section of the stem, is not apparent. Erne fern, an old name for this species, is merely another variation for eagle fern, erne or heme, signifying eagle. The name :he bracken. n of umbrella fern refers to the spreading character of the fronds, and oak fern is another allusion to the appearance of a cross section of the stem. In Arkansas it is reported to be called upland fern. The word bracken forms part of many English surnames, and fern, farn and fearn, probably referring to the same species form part of as many more. The superstitions that cluster about the bracken are very numerous. A cross section of the stem presents a curious arrangement of the vascular tissues which some have likened to the letter C. Accordingly the plant was supposed to be good to protect one from goblins and witches " because it bears the initial of Christ upon its root." The " canny Scot," on the other hand, sees in this sec- tion the mark of the devil's hoof. The appearance may also be fancied to resem- ble an oak tree and is frequently called " King Charles in the Oak." One an- cien,t writer says, "If you cut the root of the bracken slantwise you will see the picture of an oak tree. The more per- > feet the representation, the more lucky ™ '^he oak." you will be." By others the arrangement was held to form the initial of one's sweetheart. The smoke from burning ferns also had its virtues. Parkinson says, " The fume of feme being burned, driv- eth away serpents, gnats and other noisome creatures " and that "the sent of it is very gratefull to the braine." In the seventeenth century it was customary to burn the bracken when rain was needed. It is said there is still in existence a letter from an early English king, who, desirous of having fine weather during his visit to Staf- 'KING CHARLES 74 THE BRACKEN. fordshire, enjoined the High Sheriff to forbear burning the bracken. The bracken is also the species originally reputed to bear the " mystic fern seed " and was called the female fern. According to the legend, fern seed could be ob- tained from this " Wondrous one-night-seeding fern " only on midsummer eve. " But on St. John's mysterious night, Sacred to many a wizard spell, The time when first to human sight Confest, the mystic fern seed fell : I'll seek the shaggy, fern-clad hill Where time has delved a dreary dell Befitting best a hermit's cell ; And watch 'mid murmurs muttering stern The seed departing from the fern. Ere watchful demons can convey The wonder-working charm away, And tempt the blows from arm unseen Should thoughts unholy intervene," At dusk the plant was supposed to put forth a small blue flower which soon gave place to a shining, fiery seed that ripened at midnight. If it fell from the stem of its own accord and was caught in a white napkin, it was supposed to confer upon its possessor the power to be- come invisible. Thus one of Shakespeare's characters is made to say, " We have the receipt for fern-seed ; We walk invisible.'' For another way of obtaining fern seed, I quote an ancient authority. " Although that all they that have THE BRACKEN. 75 written of herbes have affyrmed and holden that the brake hath nether sede nor frute, yet have I dyvers tymes proved the contrarrye. ... I have foure yeres to- gether, one after another upon the vigill of Saynte John the Baptiste . . . soughte for this sede of brakes upon the nyghte and indeed found it earlye in the mornynge before the daye brake. The sede was small, blacke and like unto poppye. ... I gathered it after this manner. I laid shetes and rnollen leaves underneath the brakes which receyved the sede that was by shakyng and beatynge broughte out of the branches and leaves. . . I went about this busy- ness, all figures, conjur- ings, saunter's charms, wychcraft,andsorceryes sett asyde, takyngwyth me two or three honest men to bere me com- panye." If the charm because all " sorceryes " observed all the rules A FRUITING PINNA. to work, no doubt it was sett asyde." Those who failed ' were and waited for the small blue flower, no doubt came home disappointed. " Watching the fern," as this practice was called, had too much of black art in it to suit the Church, and in France a Synod condemned all who should gather ferns or fern seed on St. John's eve. This is also one of the few species for which uses have been found. As a packing for fruit, fish and vegetables it has the reputation of keeping off mildew and decay. In 76 THE BRACKEN. Europe, in times of scarcity, the roots have been ground and mixed with flour in making bread, and also brewed with the beer. The young crosiers may be cooked and eaten like asparagus. It is said that these are often offered for sale in the Japanese markets. The fresh plants contain much tannic and other acids and have been used in tanning light leathers. In Scotland they were formerly burned while green and the ashes made into balls and used instead of soap. The fronds make a brisk fire, and according to Withering, have been used for burning limestone. The ashes have also been used in making glass. Houses have been thatched with the fronds and in many parts of the world they are cut as a beddins: for stock. Ptcris aquilitta f>SL'udocaudtita, Lower Pinna. " In June and in August, as well doth appeare, Is best to mowe brakes of all times of the yeere." The bracken is seldom found in the fern garden, per- haps because it is so common in field and wood as to THE BRACKEN. 77 almost justify its being considered a weed. The great spreading fronds, however, are not without their place in effective plantings. The species is one of the most dififi- cult to transplant. The long running rootstock can rarely be taken up entire and those who can make it grow in new quarters regard it as an accomplishment. It is about as hard to start in a new place as it is to root it out when it has once obtained a hold. Those who intend to cultivate it should take up very small plants with plenty of earth early in spring. A few months will suf- fice to produce fine large fronds. In dry sandy soil there is a variety of bracken known as pseudocaudata which differs from the type in its longer, narrower and more distant pinnules. It is found from Long Island to the Gulf of Mexico and Arizona, and is especially abundant in the pine barrens. The part of a frond shown is from a Long Island specimen collected by the author. It has frequently been confused with P. caudata, a species common in the Tropics and which also occurs in the southern part of the United States. In western America the common bracken gives way to the variety known as lanuginosa or pubescens which in ad- dition to being much taller is densely woolly underneath. The generic name, Pteris, is an ancient name for ferns in general, from a Greek word meaning a wing. Its application to this class of plants, containing as it does so many feathery forms, was exceedingly appropriate. The term is now restricted to the bracken family. Since our plant differs from other species of Pteris in occasionally possessing a second fugacious indusium it has been pro- posed to place it in a separate genus as Pteridium but this seems an over refinement. THE BRACKEN ROOTSTOCK. THE CLIFF BRAKES. Far upward 'neath a shelving cliff Where cool and deep the shadows fall, The trembling fern its graceful fronds Displays along the mossy wall. The wildflowers shun these craggy heights — Their haunts are in the vale below ; But beauty ever clothes the rocks Where Nature bids the ferns to grow. Let others cull the flowers that bloom By wood and field, by stream and hedge ; For me there grows the dainty fern That droops upon the stony ledge. THE CLIFF BRAKES. HE bracken is now considered to be the sole representative of its genus in northeastern America. Time was, however, when other species were classed with it, but owing to some slight differences in the manner of fruiting, these latter are now placed in the genus PellcBa. Superficially examined, the fruiting seems to be identical, but there is this difference : in Pteris the sporangia are borne on a continuous receptacle connect- ing the ends of the veins, on the margin of the pinnules; in Pellcsa the sporangia are borne in dot- like masses at the ends of free veins, inside the margins. The indusia are similar and when the spore-cases of Pellcea are ripe, they frequently appear to form a continuous line, as in Pteris. WINTER BRAKE. Pellaa atrofurfureu. 84 THE CLIFF BRAKES. The Winter Brake. Those who dwell in other than limestone regions, have not a very good chance of finding the winter brake {PellcBa atropurpurea) at home. It is not entirely con- fined to calcareous rocks, but its occurrence upon other kinds is sufficiently rare to be noteworthy. Next to limestone, its preference is for sandstone, though even on limestone it is peculiar in its choice of situations and is common only here and there. It seems impatient of deep shade and not very particular as to moisture, in this showing one of the bracken's traits. It often thrives on dry cliffs in full sun. Several things combine to make the winter brake a striking species. Especially is this so in regard to the colours it displays. The short creeping rootstock is covered with hairlike, bright brown scales, the stipes are dark, purplish brown and the fronds are bluish green, quite unlike the hue of ordinary species. The blade is about as long as the stipe, the whole frond measuring from four to eighteen inches in length. In a general way the blade may be described as twice pinnate below, grading upward to the pinnate apex, but it is noted for its irregularity. Small fronds may be twice pinnate and larger ones simply pinnate ; an entire pinna may stand opposite a pinnate one ; one side of the secondary rachis may bear lobed pinnules and the other entire ones, while eared and forking pinnules are com- mon. In sterile fronds the pinnules are oval or elliptical, but the fertile, which are somewhat taller, have broadly linear pinnules, due to the fact that part of each margin is reflexed to form the broad indusium. The infant fronds are undivided and nearly circular in outline, the lb/' WINTER BRAKE. Pellcea atropurpurea. THE CLIFF BRAKES. 85 next to appear are eared at base and in those that fol- low, the ears grow more distinct until they become sep- arate pinnules. One fancies that all the pinnules of a large frond were successively cut off from the terminal one in this way. The fronds remain green through the winter, the leathery texture of the blades enabling them to endure the cold, while the rootstock, which is frequently on the surface, is warmly wrapped in its protecting scales. When the fronds die, the pinnules drop from the rachis leaving the new growth surrounded by an unsightly tangle of dead stems. From the colour of the blade this is often called the blue fern, while the colour of the stipe has suggested the specific name atropiirpurea as well as the common one of purple-stemmed cliff brake. The winter brake is found in suitable situations from British America to Georgia, Northern Mexico and Cal. ifornia. Its natural habitat is rocky ledges, though it occasionally grows upon the masonry of bridges and other structures. Notwithstanding its predilection for limestone, it thrives in cultivation in any gpod soil if not kept too wet. A fruiting pinna of this species is shown in the Key to the Genera. The Slender Cliff Brake. The slender cliff brake (Pell(Ba gracilis) is even more closely associated with the limestone than its relative. There appears to be no record of its having been found on any but rocks of this character. In southern New York it grows on shales that contain but a small percent- age of lime, which seems to be as far as it ever gets from 86 THE CLIFF BRAKES. its natural place of growth. It is a frail and delicate species, little fitted to battle with wind and weather. It therefore seeks the shelter of shady dripping ledges and spreads its thin veiny fronds in the dim light, covering the shelving crags with graceful drapery. The fertile fronds are taller than the sterile and more erect. Occasionally they may reach a length of nine inches although usually not more than half so long. The blade is lanceolate, and, in heavily fruited fronds, twice pinnate with linear pinnules. When less fruitful the frond is usually simply pinnate with ovate pinnae cut into oval or lanceolate segments, the terminal one longer and narrower than the rest. The sori are close to the margin and covered with a broad and con- spicuous indusium usually extend- ing entirely around the pinnule. The sterile fronds are generally simply pinnate with pinnatifid pinnae and broad, obtuse seg- ments which are entire or irregu- larly notched. The stipes are as TIP OF FERTILE FROND ^^"g °'^ longer than the blades ENLARGED. and are straw-coloured. There seems to be a complete gradation from wholly sterile fronds to ^hose most heavily fruited. This is one of our most delicate species and is able to live only in deep shade and moisture. It withers at the first sign of dryness, often disappearing by the first of August in situations subject to summer drouths. The greater part of its range appears to be north of the United SLENDER CLIFF BRAKE. Pellaa gracilis. THE CLIFF BRAKES. States. The most southern stations are in Pennsylvania, lUinois, Iowa and Colorado, mostly in cool and elevated regions. It is quite remarkable that this thin-fronded plant which seems so little adapted to ex- tremes of temperature should be found only in cold northern countries. It is plentiful on the sides of many ravines in Central New York especially in the habitats of the hart's tongue. It grows in Northern Asia, also. The systematists have had much trouble in placing this species satisfactorily. It was long known to American botany as Pteris gracilis. Later it was called Pellcea gracilis and until recently was known by that name. Then it was changed to P. Stelleri and still later placed in another genus as Crypto- grauiiiia Stelleri. It is likely that the major- ity of botantists will continue to call it by the name we have given at the beginning of this description. The plant figured was collected near Binghamton, N. Y., at an altitude of about 900 feet. The Dense Cliff Brake. The dense cliff brake (Pellcza densa) prop- erly belongs to the northwestern part of North America, being found from California and Colorado northward to Alaska, but it also strays as far east as Mt. Albert in Quebec. In this part of its range it is ex- tremely rare. Only one other eastern local- Fellcra densa. Fertile Frond. 88 THE CLIFF BRAKES. ity is known for it, namely near Durham, Gray county, Ontario. This species grows in the crevices of rocks in moun- tainous districts. The rootstock is rather small, and the wiry, purple-brown stipes, several times longer than the blades, are densely tufted. The blades are ovate-tii- angular in outline, pinnate at the summit and often four times pinnate at the base. So great is its tendency to fruit that sterile fronds are seldom seen. When they do occur, the pinnules are somewhat broader than those of the fertile fronds and are sharply serrate. In fruit the narrow pinnules are recurved over the sori in such a manner as to have the appearance of sharp-pointed, linear, half-open pods. They vary in length from a quar- ter to half an inch and are placed very closely together. There are upwards of fifty species of Pellaa. The ma- jority are inhabitants of warm regions. In California and the Southwest, there are about a dozen species, all found in rocky places. Some grow exposed to the full sun and during drouth curl up and become dry and brittle. When rain comes again the apparently dead fronds unfurl and take up vigorous life once more. The generic name is from the Greek and means dusky, in allusion to the stipes of most species. THE WOODSIAS. Across the mountain's crest of stone Behold ! an emerald garland thrown In many a fold, as soft and fair As day-cloud idly lingering there ; And now it ripples in the breeze That scarcely stirs the forest trees ; And now it shimmers in the light In hues of brown or silvery white. 'Twould seem a vandal act to tread Where such a dainty fabric's spread. But drawing nearer, we discern Naught save the banners of the fern ; The Woodsia fern that scorns to dwell By shaded cliff, in shadowy dell. But on the gray ridge rooted fast. Fears neither sun nor tempest's blast ; And is, like pillared saint of old, In summer's heat, in winter's cold. Content above the world to brood In silence and in solitude. THE WOODSIAS. HE fern collector who lives in a region abounding in shaded ledges of limestone may count himself fortunate, since it is in such places that the families of rock-loving ferns attain their best development. Rocks of any kind, however, unless per- fectly dry and exposed to the full sunshine, have strong at- tractions for ferns and even the sunny cliffs are not always un- tenanted, so that all are worth searching. Explorations of this kind are among the most pleasant phases of botanizing. There is such an attractive element of chance in it. It is possible that we may find only common species, but it is also possible that the next turn in the cliffs or a climb to a higher ledge may bring to our hand some rare and graceful denizen of the rocks for which we have long been looking. The Rusty Woods ia. An interesting little member of one of these rock- loving families is the rusty woodsia (Woodsia Ilvensis). In its chosen haunts it has few companions and no com- 94 THE WOODSIAS. petitors, for it elects to dwell in places where most others cannot exist. It delights in the very crests of exposed precipices, often growing in full sun. In the region about Little Falls, N. J., it is an abundant and character- istic species, growing in dense tufts on the rugged trap- rock hillocks. A climb up the loose and crumbling ledges is not without its adventures, but one feels fully repaid for the scramble by the first sight of the woolly little plants at the top. It is a decidedly social little species and is usually found with rootstocks and fronds so matted and inter- twined that it is dif^cult to decide how much belongs to any one plant. The rootstocks nestle in the shallow crevices and produce fronds all sum- mer. The young crosiers are cov- ered with a dense coat of silvery- white, hairlike scales and present an attractive picture when unfolding amidst the browns and dark greens of mature fronds. Doubtless this hairy covering is of service in pre- venting too great evaporation dur- ing the heat of summer. On old fronds the upper surface is usually little if at all hairy, but underneath, they are so woolly that the fruit-dots are almost concealed. At maturity this wool turns to a rusty brown and gives occasion for the common name. RUSTY WOODSIA ll'oodsta Jlvensis. THE WOODSIAS. 95 The stipes are comparatively short and remarkable for possessing an obscurcv joint an inch or more above the root- stock, at which point they separate when the fronds die, leaving the bases as a sort of stubble still attached to the rootstock. Thissingle characteristic may be depended upon to distinguish the species from rootstock. Cheilantlies vestita, a fern which other- wise very much resembles it, even as to habitat. The fronds seldom attain a length of more than eight inches and the average length is several inches less. They are rather stiff, long-lanceolate in outline and pinnate with numerous pinnae that are themselves cut nearly to the midribs into short, rounded, close-set lobes. Occasion- ally the lobes nearest the rachis are distinct. The sori are borne on the backs of the veins on the underside of ordinary fronds and near the margins, but owing to the hair-like scales by which they are sur- rounded ara seldom very noticeable. They are round in shape and have the indusium fixed underneath the sorus. The indusium, however, is scarcely entitled to the name except by courtesy. It consists simply of a few slender hairs which curve over the sporangia in youth " as if attempting to protect what they cannot conceal." Woodsia Ilvensis is a northern species, being found in Greenland and throughout British America as well as in northern Europe and Asia. In the United States it ranges to North Carolina and Kefttucky and while it is by no means a common species, it is abundant in certain localities. It is found upon various rocks but seems to have a preference for those of igneous origin. In Canada, it is reported to lose its fronds at the approach of winter. 96 THE WOODSIAS. but further south it appears to be half evergreen. Among its common names are oblong Woodsia, hairy Woodsia and hair fern. A hving plant of this species is illustrated in the initial design for this chapter. The Obtuse Woodsia. The obtuse Woodsia {JVoodsta obt^isd) is the only com- mon member of the genus in eastern North America. It is to be looked for on shaded ledges and in the loose talus at the base of cliffs and seldom occurs in the ex- posed situations affected by Ilvciisis. When it does find itself in the sun, the change is apparent at once since it takes on a yellow-green colour and becomes thicker and more erect. In length the blades vary from six to fifteen inches. They are oblong ovate in outline and once pinnate with triangular-ovate, rather distant pinnce. The pinnae are pinnatifid, or pinnate near the base, with oblong, slightly lobed pinnules and segments. Both pinnules and pinnae are quite blunt. This feature is one of the points by which it may be distinguished su- perficially from Cystopteris fra- gilis with which it is very often confused. The stipes are about a third as long as the blades, light \f in colour and bear scattered brownish scales. Similar scales ^'^ are found on the rachis. The FRUITING PINNA. * , , , , , . , blades are nearly always minutely glandular-hairy and the rootstock is short. The sori are round and borne near the edge of the segnients on ordinary fronds. Under a lens they are among the most beautiful of their kind. As in all the OBTUSE WOODSIA. Woodsia oitusa. THE WOODSIAS. 97 Woodsias. the indusium is fixed to the frond underneath the sorus. In the beginning, it surrounds the sporangia, but early splits into several segments which spread out in star shape when the sorus considerably resembles a small green flower, the indusium answering to the corolla and the sporangia to the essential organs. The range of the obtuse Woodsia is almost wholly in the United States. One station in Nova Scotia is all that is known beyond our limits in the East. Southward it extends to Georgia, the Indian Territory and Arizona. It is also reported from British Columbia and Alaska. It may occur on any shaded ledge but it is not always to be found in what appear to be suitable situations. It is usually less common than its counterpart, Cysiopteris fragilis. In the southern part of its range, the fronds are evergreen but their texture would indicate that this condition does not prevail northward. A small and more glandular form has been described as the variety glandtilosa. The common form in fruit is illustrated in the Key to the Genera. In the West the obtuse Woodsia is represented by two other species which are occasionally found as far east as northern Michigan. The first of these, Woodsia Oregana, is chiefly distinguished by its narrower blade covered beneath with flattened hairs and stalked glands, its oblong-ovate, toothed pinnae and the much narrower segments of the indusium. The second species, Woodsia scopulina, has shorter, nearly smooth fronds, with tri- angular-ovate pinna; the lowest of which are noticeably shortened. The indusium, which consists merely of a few hair-like divisions, is difificult to see in ordinary speci- mens. In appearance and habitat, both species are much like the obtuse Woodsia and at various times have been described as varieties of it. 98 THE WOODSIAS. The Alpine Woodsia. The rare little alpine Woodsia {IVoodsia Iiyperbored) is an inhabitant of the colder parts of both Europe and America. It is usually supposed that it was first discovered in the United States by C. G. Pringle at Willoughby Mountain in Vermont, but it was col- lected in the Adirondack Mountains in New York by Prof. C. H. Peck nearly ten 5-ears earlier. At that time the specimens were referred to W. glabella and it remained for B. D. Gilbert to discover their identity. His announce- ment of this, however, was somewhat later than Eaton's announcement of Pringle's discovery. It has since been found at a few other stations along our northern border in Maine, Vermont and New York. In these, it is never found ex- cept at considerable eleva- tions and is always so rare as to be considered a great prize by the collector. The largest fronds are scarcely six inches long and half an inch broad and grow in little tufts from a short rootstock. They are linear- lanceolate, pinnate with ovate or ovate-oblong pinnae cut nearly to the midrib into rounded lobes. The blades are smooth or slightly chaffy and the indusium consists of a few hair- like processes that radiate from beneath the ALPINE WOODSIA. Woodsia hyperborca. OBTUSE WOODSIA. Woodsza obtusa. THE WOODSIAS. 99 round sori as in W. Ilvcnsis. The stipe is brown and jointed near the rootstock. Many botanists have considered this species but a smooth form of W. llvensis. Except for its size and lack of scales there is very little to distinguish it from its larger relative. Its habitat is reported to be on moist rocks. North of the United States, it is found sparingly from Ontario to Labrador and Alaska. The plant was for a long time known among botanists as Woodsia alptna. The Smooth Woodsia. The smooth Woodsia (\Voodsia glabella) is nearly allied to the alpine Woodsia and is found in the same places. It may be distinguished by its shorter fronds, fan-shaped, often three-parted, pinnules with toothed margins and by the straw-coloured stipes. Like W. liyperborea it is also found in Europe and although probably more plentiful than its ally, is nowhere common. Mr. W. W. Eggles- ton, who has had abundant opportunities for studying these rare ferns in the field, writes of them in the Fern Bulletin as follows : " Many of our best botanists collect both, thinking they have nothing but this species {liyperborea {alptna)']. Alpina, however, has a black or brownish rachis with scattered palaceous hairs, while that oi glabella \i entirely smooth and green. Alpina, ■s\=,o,\\'&.% a larger, coarser ap- pearance in the field. . . . We are more often deceived, now, by smooth forms of llvensis than hy glabella ; in fact, some smooth forms of the former require an expert to separate." fertile frond. loo THE WOODSIAS. The smooth Woodsia is found from New Hampshire, Vermont and Northern New York to the far North and Northwest. Our illustrations of this species and of IV. hyperborea were made from specimens collected in Vermont by Mr. Eggleston. The genus Woodsia was named in honour of Joseph Woods, an English botanist. It contains a dozen or more species all confined to the colder parts of the world. SMOOTH WOODSIA. Wooihia g-hibella. THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS. When frost has clad the dripping cliffs With fluted columns, crystal clear, And million-flaked the feathery snow Has shrouded close the dying year ; Beside the rock, where'er we turn. Behold, there waves the Christmas fern. No shivering frond that shuns the blast Sways on its slender chaffy stem ; Full-veined and lusty green it stands, Of all the wintry woods the gem. Our spirits rise when we discern The pennons of the Christmas fern. With holly and the running pine Then let its fronds in wreaths appear, 'Tis summer's fairest tribute given. To grace our merry Yuletide cheer. Ah, who can fear the winter stern While still there grows the Christmas fern. THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS. OWEVER much we may admire the summer species, we can scarcely fail to have a higher regard for ose sturdy ferns that remain rough cold and snow to make the woodlands and thickets less dreary. For the most part they are among our coarsest species — delicate fronds have little chance against the frost — and for this reason are likely to be overlooked or neglected in a milder season. But when in dark and stormy weather the green fronds wave us a welcome from icy ledge or snowy thicket, the day seems suddenly to brighten. Foremost among our winter species must be placed the members of the; Polystickicin family. These are often classed with the wood ferns in the genus Aspidimn or Dry- opteris. The wood ferns indeed are their nearest relatives, but there is this important difference between them : in the Polystichums, the sori are round and covered with a circular indusium which is fixed to the frond by its de- pressed centre ; while in the wood ferns, the indusium is usually reniform and attached to the frond by the sinus. Like the wood ferns these species are sometimes called shield ferns and buckler ferns. io6 THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS. The Christmas Fern, To the hunter, the trapper and the rambler in the winter woods, the Christmas fern (Polystichujn acrosti- choides) is a famihar species. In summer it is not espe- cially noticeable, but in the snowbound season, the cheerful, fresh-looking fronds are sure to attract the eye. It is a most abundant species and suitable localities within its range where it cannot be found are exceedingly rare. All the Christmas fern's fronds are produced early in spring. They rise in circular clumps from a stout root- stock and when uncoiling are thickly covered with silky- white scales that make them conspicuous objects in the vernal woods. As the fronds mature, the scales turn brown and many remain uponrachis and stipe, especially the latter, through the season. The fronds occasionally reach a height of three feet, and are thick, narrowly lanceolate, acute and once pinnate. The numerous narrow pinnules have finely serrate margins and are arranged alternately on the rachis. Each has a triangu- lar ear on the upper side at base. The fertile fronds are taller than the sterile and differ in having the upper third or half suddenly decreased in size, this part bear- ing the sporangia. The sori are arranged on the under surface in two or more rows lengthwise of the pinnules with two other short rows on the earlike projections. They are partly formed before the fronds unfurl and ripen early in the year, being among the first of our species in this respect. The sporangia early push out from beneath the peltate indusia and make the fruiting pinnules look like little assemblages of tiny brown ant- hills. One of these pinnules is shown in the Key to the Genera. CHRISTMAS FERN. Polystichwn acrostichoides. Fertile and Sterile Fronds. THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS The variety incisnm is frequently found with the typical plants. It is distinguished by the deeply toothed pinnules and by the way in which the sori are borne. These are not confined entirely to the narrowed upper part of the frond, but continue downward on the tips of the other pinnae, growing fewer in number toward the base. In rich shady woods,one sometimes comes upon another form which is here named variety crispiim. In this there seems to be a super- abundance of tissue in the fronds and the pinnules are beautifully crisped and ruf- fled. It is by far the hand- somest of the common forms and does not lose its peculiar characteristics under culti- vation. Fronds are oc- casionally found with the pinnules again pin- nate. Owing to the endur- ing nature of the fronds, they have been exten- sively used in floral dec- orations in recent years, of them are now used in all our large cities. It is doubtless from this use of its fronds during the winter holidays that the plant derives its name of Christmas fern. Millions annually Polysticltunt acrosiichoides incisuit io8 THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS. '-S'i? r^^'^^^'-'i^ The fronds of an allied species are similarly used for decorations in the West. The Christinas fern is found from southern Canada to Florida, Missis- sippi, Arkansas and Wisconsin. Its favourite haunt is probably a rocky " side hill," sloping away from the south and covered with a variety of deciduous trees, but it does not disdain the evergreen woods or e\'en the scrub- by roadsides. Even after the shelter- ing copse is cut off, it manages to exist for some time in the sunlight though with stunted and dull coloured fronds. In the ^^'est, our species is repre- sented by P. inuuituvi which has the same eared pinnules and looks much like it but lacks the narrowed tips in the fertile fronds. Our plant is frequent in out-door cultivation, its hard- iness making it one of the most satisfactory species for this purpose. HOLLY FERN. Polysiichum ionchitis. The Holly Fern. It is quite in keeping with our ideas of such matters that the holly fern {Polystic/mm Ionchitis) should be an ever- green and nearest of kin to the I?* PLATE 111. THE CHRISTMAS FERN, PolyMchum a,-rost,choide,. COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY FRECEFIICK A. STQKE3 COMPANY PRINTED IN Aiy?ER'CA THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS. 169 Christmas fern. Half the appropriateness of the name would be lost if the plant dropped its fronds at the beginning of winter. Its name, however, was not given because of its presence during the holiday season, but because the pinnules are set with bristle-tipped teeth which gives them a considerable resemblance to holly leaves. That it loves the cold, is shown by its range which extends over the northern parts of both Hemis- pheres. In America, its southern limits are nearly identical with the northern limits of the Christmas fern, as if Nature had assured herself that there should be no rivalry, by keeping separate two species so nearly alike. The holly fern is rather smaller than the Christmas fern but in many ways suggests the relationship. Like it, the fronds are narrow, lanceolate, once pinnate with eared pinnules, and grow in circular clumps. They differ, however, in the shorter, broader and scythe-shaped pinnules, in the basal ones being reduced to small green triangles and in producing sori on the backs of ordinary fronds. The pinnules are often so closely set as to over- lap and the margins are sharply toothed. The stipes are also shorter. The sori are confined to the upper part of the frond and are arranged on the pinnules in two rows midway between the margin and the midrib, and also on the eared bases. This species is found in most of British America, being rarest in the Southeast. It does not occur in the Eastern United States but is found sparingly in Wisconsin, and in the West extends as far south as Utah and California. It is a lover of the rocks, its favourite dwelling place being the talus of broken stone at the base of shaded cliffs. THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS. Braun s Holly Fern. The last of this trio oi Polysticliunis — P. Braunii — is, like the holly fern, an inhabitant of the more .northern parts of our continent. It is a sin- gularly decorative and beautiful species and belongs to a type that is found the world over. The typ- ical species is called Polystichiun aciileatiim and our plant was long thought to be a variety of it. It is now considered by most botanists to be a distinct species. The rootstock is short and thick and the fronds usually reach a height of two feet or more. They are lan- ceolate in outline on short stipes and twice pinnate. The pinnae are linear-oblong, usually acute, and broadest at base, their ovate or ob- long divisions appearing like small duplications of the holly fern's pin- nules, even to the ear on the upper side at base. Both stipe and rachis are densely clothed with short hair- like growths as well as with the ovate, brown scales common to its allies. The sori are on the backs of ordinary fronds and not very con- spicuous. The fronds remain green through the winter but the stipes are unable to hold them erect. On ac- count of the resemblance of the pin- Polystichuni Braunii, THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS. iii nules, the holly fern was once believed to be an immature form of this species or of the closely allied, P. aculeatum. According to Dodge's " Ferns and Fern Allies of New England," this species is common along the mountain brooks of northern New England. In Canada it is found sparingly in the Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Sco- tia and Quebec. Southward it ranges to the mountains of Pennsylvania, having been collected at several localities in that State. It is also found in Michigan. In the West it is replaced by the true P. aculeatum as well as by the varieties Californicum and angulare. The genus Polystichum as now defined contains about thirty species, pretty generally distributed throughout the world. The name is derived from two Greek words signifying many rows. It is difficult to understand its application here unless it refers to the rows of sporangia. CROSIERS. THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. " As gracefully as ladyes fair Bend o'er their mirror's sheen, ( So o'er the turbid water's breast. Thy plumes are waving green ; As sweet and fair as ladyes bright, Thy plumes gleam in the morning light.' THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. N Eastern America, two families of ferns divide nearly half our species between them. One of these is known as the genus Aspidium or Dryoptcris, the other as Aspleniuvi. As the genus Aspidium has been understood in America, it has in- V eluded a diversity of forms, some of which have but recently been re- moved to the genus Polystichum. Those that remain fall very natur- ally into two divisions as regards form and habitat, and to the smaller of these, of which the marsh fern may be taken as the type, we have for . convenience given the title of the marsh fern tribe. The species have a strong family resemblance — almost too strong, the young student may be inclined to say when he comes to study them — but a little study will soon fix the characters of each in the mind, after which they may be distinguished at a glance. The Marsh Fern. Any one who has visited a bushy swamp in the north- eastern States, where alders, button-bushes and cat-tails flourish, has doubtless seen the marsh fern {Aspidium Thelypteris). It is one of our commonest species, and al- though, as its name indicates, the marsh is its favourite ii8 THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. MARSH FERN. Aspidiuiit Tlietypteris. dwelling place, it is also found in the wet woodlands, along streams and in damp mea- dows. It avoids actual water but soft watery mud is its delight. In open places it grows as thickly as grass, often to the exclusion of other vegetation, and seems to court the sun if it can obtain a supply of moisture. Early in spring, before other marsh plants have come up, the slender crosiers of the marsh fern begin to push above the black soil. They are not flattened laterally as are the crosiers of most ferns but shaped like little green spheres. These attractive looking objects nodding at the tops of the long stipes in the swampy wastes, are so characteristic of the species that one may frequently identif)' the plant from the crosiers alone. The slender, cord-like rootstock creeps about freely just beneath the surface and produces fronds throughout the sum- mer. The early ones develop very quickly and may I often be seen with the lower pinna: ful- venation. ly spread while the upper are still coiled. --•-■!if,m ir% THE MARSH FERN. Along streams and in damp meadows," THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. The first fronds are always sterile. They are thin, lanceolate, broad at base and once pinnate, with the pinnae set at right angles to the rachis. The latter are ob- long-linear, pointed and cut nearly to the midrib into many close, short, rather sori. rounded lobes. Bipinnate fronds with toothed or pinnat- ifid pinnules also occur. It is not until about the middle of July or later that the fertile fronds are produced. They are like the sterile in form, except that the pinnules are somewhat narrower and appear as if pointed, owing to the margins being re- flexed over the fruit when it is young. The sori are borne in a double row on each pinnule and are well on the way toward maturity when the frond unfurls. The indusium is kidney-shaped and soon withers. The spor- angia then spread out and often completely cover the under surface of the pinnule. Fronds midway between fertile and sterile also occur. In these the pinnules are flat and the less abundant sori are confined to the upper part of the frond and the tips of the lower pinnae. In deep shade, the marsh fern grows tall and slender but fruits sparingly; in sun, the fruit is abundant but the fronds lose much of their beauty, becoming thicker, yel- lowish and with pinnae strangely contorted. Both sorts of fronds are borne on long stipes, in some cases twice as long as the blades. The plant is commonly not fra- grant, though specimens have been reported that emitted an agreeable odour when drying. After the first sharp frost the fronds in exposed places wither, but in sheltered situations they remain green for a month or more longer. This species is frequently known as the lady fern — in- deed, its specific name signifies as much — but the real lady THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. fern belongs to another family. In the Isle of Wight, ac- cording to Britten, it is called ground fern, while an- other English writer alludes to it as the creeping water fern. In some parts of America it is called the beaver meadow fern probably from its abundance in the wet open savannas known as beaver meadows. The name of snuff- THE SNUFF-BOX. box fern will no doubt be thought particularly appropriate by all who examine fully matured fertile fronds. The pinnules curl over the abundant sporangia in such a way as to appear very much like tiny half-open snuff boxes. Per- haps quill fern is also in allusion to the revolute pinnules. The marsh fern is found from Canada to North Caro- lina, the Indian territory and Kansas and occurs also in Europe and Asia. It thrives well in the fern garden but can scarcely be said to be a beautiful species and is therefore little cultivated except upon the borders of small lakes and ponds. "The New York Fern. Just as the marsh fern loves wet situations, the New York fern {Aspidium Noveboracense) loves dry ones. It is not meant that either is strictly confined to its favourite domain, but that their habitats seldom overlap to any great extent. In dry, shady woodlands, this is an abundant — possibly the most abundant — species. It par- ticularly loves the shade of oak, birch, maple and beech but avoids direct sunlight and seldom remains long after the sheltering trees are removed. NEW YORK FERN, Aspidium Noveboracense. THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. The slender crosiers of this species resemble those of the marsh fern, with blades rolled into similar green balls, but the stipes are much shorter. The mature fronds are very thin and deli- cate, of a light yellow-green colour, and are produced in tufts along a slender creeping rootstock. In shape they are broadly lanceolate, pinnate, and taper from about the middle to the acuminate apex. Below, the pinns grow farther and farther apart, and are gradually reduced in size until the lowest are mere green ears. The pinnae are lanceolate, acute and pinnatifid, with numerous, narrow, round-ended pinnules. The fronds are often finely hairy under- neath and strewn with minute glands. When the foliage is bruised these glands give out a pleasing odour which has been called lemon- like, by one writer and vanilla-like, by others. The fact is, however, that it can hardly be likened to the odour of any other substance. It is the same ferny scent common to numer- ous species but in this one sweet and strong. One of its allies, Aspidium oreopteris, is called sweet-scented fern in England. It is described as having the under surface sprinkled with shining, yellowish, resinous globules, and even the crosiers are fragrant. One of its admirers writes of it, " Few things in nature are more beautiful than a great number of these plants 1^ NEW YORK FERN. A spidiunt Novebora- cense. THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. ■^^^--~-~— -■■---- ■ FRUITING PINN^. before they are unfolded. The grass seems strewn with silver balls and as you reluctantly tread on them and brush by them, the scent is delicious." Prbf. Peck has described a variety fragra^is of the New York fern which is principally distinguished by the odour, and later, Eaton made a variety snaveolens of which he says, " Fronds narrower, slightly more rigid, very sweet scented in drying, the under surface copiously sprinkled with minute glands." This is apparently only a form which, exposed to the sun, has made some slight changes to adapt itself to the new conditions, as other ferns are known to do. The fertile fronds are produced a little later than the sterile and scarcely difTer from them except that heavily fruiting fronds are slightly taller and narrower. As in all of the Aspidmins, the sori are round and covered with a kidney-shaped indusium. In this species the indusium is dotted with little glands and the sori are rather small and borne in a double row' on each pinnule near the margin. Young collectors frequently mistake this for the marsh fern, and indeed the early botanists were themselves in some doubt about it. Several gave it the specific name of thclypteroidcsh&Cd.ViSii of its resemblance to Thelypteris,d.nd others called it the variety Noveboracense of the latter. The two, however, are very distinct. If it is remembered that in Noveboracense the pinnae are always much decreased toward the base of the frond, it will not be VENATION. THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. 123 easy to confuse it with its ally. In fact,- the single char- acterisitic of the re- duced basal pinnae serves to distinguish this species from all the other members of its genus in eastern America. The New York fern is found from Newfoundland to North Carolina, Arkansas and Minnesota. It seldom reaches a greater height than two feet and is one of our most delicate woodland species. In the vicinity of New York City it is very abundant and it grows luxuri- antly on the wooded crests of the Palisades in New Jersey. It is reported to occur also in the mountains of Southern Asia. In California there is a species {Aspi- d'mm Ncvadcnse) which very closely resembles the New York fern, even to the reduced pinnules at the base of the frond. It has, however, a stout rootstock and the fronds are produced in circular crowns. Our species is easily cultivated. In some books it is called bear's-paw, a name without apparent meaning. Aspidium Simulatum. Counting from the time of christening, Aspidium siinu- latutn is our youngest fern. It has been known to science for barely half a dozen years. When its discovery was announced and the features in which it differs from other ferns pointed out, those who had trampled it under foot for years, supposing it to be merely a form of Noveboraccnse or Tliclypteris, were quite astonished, and the wonder grew when it was subsequently found to be 124 THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. Aspii^iuftt sifuulatutn. fairly plentiful over a wide, range of territory. When one becomes acquainted with its appearance it is very easily distinguished from its congeners, but its superficial resemblance to the marsh and New York ferns is close enough to uiake trouble for the novice. When this species was first col- lected, is perhaps not known. There is a note in Eaton's " Ferns of North America" regarding a form of Tlielypteris " with most of the veins simple and the lower pinnae a little contracted " which is doubtless to be re- iJi^ ferred to this species, and Lawson seems to have had the same thing in mind when he described in the Canadian Naturalist his variety intermedium of Aspidiuni Tlielypteris. Mr. Raynal Dodge, however, was first to notice its specific differences. He originally collected it about 1880 near Sea- brook, N. H., and after referring it for some time from Tlielypteris to Noveboracense and back again without being satisfied of its identity, came to the conclusion that it was neither It was subsequently named sim- ulatujn by Mr. Geo. E. Davenport. Aspidium siinulatum is certainly a very dis- tinct species, but in habit and habitat it is so nearly like its allies as to suggest the thought that it may be a hybrid. It seems about midway between the two in everything, even as THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. 125 to the place in which it grows ; for while Thelypteris loves the sunny swamps and Noveboracense, dryish shades, the present species demands the moisture of the one and the shade of the other and is to be found in deep wet woodlands. The rootstock, as might be inferred, creeps near the surface of the soil and sends up bipinnatifid fronds which are like those of Thelypteris in general appearance but like those of Noveboracense in colour, texture and the graceful curve of the blades. In technical language they may be described as lanceolate, acuminate, pinnate with numerous sessile, lanceolate, long-pointed, pinnatifid pinnae and narrow obtuse segments. In the vicinity of New York, the fertile fronds appear FRUITING PINNA. in July. They are slightly taller and more erect than the sterile and bear the medium-sized sori in a double row on the pinnules. The indusia are thin and rather more conspicuous than those of its nearest relatives. Although the frond may be heavily fruited, the pinnules appear never to become revolute as in Thelypteris. When seen growing in masses this fern seems almost identical with Noveboracense but single fronds show a very decided difference. While the lower pinnae may be slightly smaller than those in the middle of the frond, they are never so greatly reduced as in Noveboracense. The stipes are also much longer. The marks by which it maybe distinguished from Thelypteris are the flat fertile 126 THE MARSH FERN TRIBE. pinnules, lanceolate pinnjE and simple veins. In TJu- lyptcris the veins normally fork once. Aspidium sivnilatuiii is at present known to grow in most of the New England States, New York, Penn- sylvania and Maryland. Its partiality to spruce and tamarack swamps is most pronounced. In the two locali- ties known for the fern in New York State, it grows in dark cedar swamps in company with Woodwardia angns- tifolia and an occasional mar'sh fern. It is a singular fact that it thrives best in spots too shady for Tlielypteris to be fruitful, and in moisture too great for Novcboraccnse to be common. It is the opinion of many botanists that this species is nearly as widely distributed as the ferns it mimics but is not reported because confused with the others. There is a tendency in some sections to call this the Massachusetts shield fern. But since the fern is not confined to that State, and is common in localities far re- moved from New England, such a name is both unfortu- nate and misleading. Many suppose that this species was named siiimlattnn because of its resemblance to Noveboi-accnsc and Tlielypteris. While this thought may have occurred to its HCf'i' /SRMM/^«/«m>/««a/,yjrf»,H. *' ' ■' A fertile frond. it was found. r5^ i68 THE ROCK SPLEENWORTS. The rootstock is short, nearly erect and usu.illy roots in a crevice well out of ordinary reach. The fronds, some six inches or less in length, are broadest at base and taper outward to a long slender tip that often roots after the manner of the walking fern ; in fact the whole plant sug- gests the latter species and it is not surprising to learn that it was once considered a variety of it. It is, however, clearly distinguished by its free veins, and mostly single indusia, not to mention its pinnatifid fronds. The fronds are thick and evergreen. At some dis- tance from the tip they begin to be round lobed and these lobes grow larger and the cutting deeper as the base is approached, until the lowest often. become separate pinnae, rather rounded triangular in outline. The stipes are usually short, but vary in length with the location of each plant, being always long enough to lift the blade clear of the crevice in which it is rooted. There is consid- erable variation in the fronds. Forms that are pinnate nearly to the summit, with ovate pinnse, have been found, and others with long, sharp-pointed pinnae at the base of the frond are known. The sori are borne both upon the lobes and the tapering apex, many of them opening toward the inferior edges. The pinnatifid spleenwort is found from New York to Illinois, Arkansas and Georgia. Throughout most of its range it is extremely rare though in some small sections it is not uncommon. It has been found on limestone, gneiss and sandstone and will probably yet be found on shale. Within its range the collector is always warranted in expecting it, though he is probably destined to be very frequently disappointed. / / ^ PLATE V. THE PINNATIFID SPLEENWORT. AspUinum pinnatijidui;:. COPYRIGHT, 5901, BY FREDERICK A STOKES COMPANY PHINTED W AMERICA THE ROCK SPLEENWORTS. i6q Asplenium Ebenoides. Still rarer than the pinnat- ifid spleenwort is Asplenium ebenoides. It can hardly be said to have a definite range. Here and there plants have been found over a wide terri- tory, and new stations be- yond its known distribution are occasionally reported, but in nearly every case the surroundings are such as to indicate the possibility of its being a hybrid between two more common ferns, Asple- nium ebeneum and Camptoso- rus rhizophyllus. Much ink has been wasted in arguing for and against this theory of hybridity and botanists are still divided in opinion regarding it. Those who favour the theory point as evidence to the facts that the spores are generally abortive, that its fronds are exceedingly variable in shape, and that it occurs only here and there as a chance hybrid might do and always in the vicinity of its supposed parents. Those who believe it to be a distinct species Asple. ttjn ebe7ioidcs. I70 THE ROCK SPLEENWORTS. reply that though widely scattered, in no case is its habitat exactly like tliat of its supposed parents ; for while the eb- ony spleenwort grows at the tops and bases of cliffs, and Camptosorus grows on the shelving sides of mossy rocks, Asplenium ebenoides ^re{cv& the niches under overhanging ledges. In addition, the processes of reproduction in ferns are such as to afford very small chance for hybridiza- tion. If, following Lowe's successful experiments in crossing ferns by sectioning the prothallia and bringing the antheridia of one fern in contact with the archegonia of another, we could produce a plant like ebenoides from the sectioned prothallia of its supposed parents, the fact of its hybridity might be regarded as proven. Exper- iments are being made in this direction at present, but until we have definite results, it seems betterto consider this a distinct species. In outline the fronds are much like those of the pin- natifid spleenwort, but are not easily confused owing to the fact that the pinnules are thinner, narrower, longer and pointed. The blade tapers from a broad base to a slender tip and is fully pinnate below and deeply pinnat- ifid above. There is great diversity in the shape and arrangement of the pinnules, however. Some are eared on one side, some on both, others not at all but are at- tached to the rachis by a broad base. The pinnae are very unequal in length, the longest often standing next to one that is merely a short green ear. Some fronds, which appear to be juvenile examples, have a broad blunt apex and the lower portion merely toothed or lobed. In this feature of producing some fronds without tapering tips, it resembles the walking fern. The figure in Eaton's "Ferns of North America" does not much resemble average specimens. Like the pinnatifid spleenwort, this THE ROCK SPLEENWORTS. 171 species produces young fronds at the apex, but only rarely. In plants that have this tendency to be vivaparous, a sud- den check, as by cold, just as the fronds are fruiting, is said to greatly increase it. In cultivation the produc- tion of young plants in this* way is much more common than when they are growing wild. The sori are seldom plentiful and are borne in a double row on each pinnule and open toward the midvein. The spores are frequently, perhaps always, abortive. This species has been reported from stations in Ver- mont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Ala- bama, but the records usually rest upon very few speci- mens, often only one. So far as known, there is only one locality where it is plentiful — a deep ravine near Havana, Alabama. Prof. Underwood who collected it in this spot writes as follows concerning it. " Its nearest congener is As- plenmm pimiatiftdumhysX the frond is much thinner than in that species. In habitat, however, it is very close to that species, growing under overhanging rocks ; in this respect it is totally unlike both A. ebeneum and Cainp- tosorns, its supposed parents. It appears to be multiply- ing, as many young plants were seen in the rock crevices. This myth of hybridity may be put aside, for Aspleniiun ebenoides is as clearly defined a species as we possess in the genus Asplenium and has no near relatives outside its own genus." The plant figured was collected b_\- Prof. Underwood at the Alabama station. There are two other spleenworts for which a place is sometimes claimed among American ferns, though the proof of their occurrence in this country rests upon 172 THE ROCK SPLEENWORTS. somewhat doubtful evidence. The first is Asplcnium mari)mm which fifty years ago was reported from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. No specimens of it from America are known at present and it is supposed that the'fern was referred to this country by mistake. Tlie plant is not uncommon along the coast on the other side of the Atlantic and may yet be found in New England on some rocky ledge near the sea. It is an evergreen species, growing in tufts, with thick linear-lanceolate fronds of a deep glossy green. They are usually about six inches long and borne on short dark-brown stipes. The blade is simply pinnate with short, broad, blunt, toothed pinnae connected along the rachis by a narrow wing of tissue. As to the second species, Asplenhini fontanuin, the evidence is fully as uncertain. It is supposed to have been collected near Williamsport, Lycoming Co., Penn., in 1869 and sent with other specimens to Prof. T. C. Porter of Lafayette College, where it lay unrecognised for twenty years. By the time the plants were identified as specimens of^. fonlanum and con- nected with the Williamsport locality, the collector had died and with him died the knowledge of the exact locality for the plant, if, indeed, he ever collected it. Two sharp-eyed collectors who at once ransacked the general region returned empty handed and no trace of it has since been found. Later another locality for the plant was reported from Ohio, also by Prof. Porter, who found specimens among plants distributed by a local collector. No locality for these specimens has since been found and it would seem that the plant has been mistakenly ascribed to America. The fern is common in the Old World, however, and possibly may THE ROCK SPLEENWORTS. 173 occur here. It is described as follows : Rootstock short, ascending ; stipes tufted, one to three inches long, some- what blackish at base especially on the inner side, usually glabrous ; fronds lanceolate, broadest above the middle, thin, two to three pinnate, three to six inches long, acuminate at the apex, narrowed at the base ; segments deeply dentate with spinulose teeth ; sori one to four on each segment. The indu- sium is slightly curved, and for this Aspuniuvifontanum. reason it is often proposed to place this species with the Atliyriums. Our illustration is drawn from specimens from Central Europe, in the author's herbarium. The generic name Asplenium is derived from the Greek and means without a spleen in allusion to the belief once current that herds which fed upon this plant were with- out spleens. In an old volume we find the statement that " If the asse be oppressed with melancholy, he eates of this herbe and so eases himself of the swelling of the spleen." There are about three hundred and fifty spe- cies in the world. THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. " If you would see the lady fern In all her graceful power, Go look for her where woodlarks learn Love-songs in a summer bower. Go look for the pimpernel by day, For Silene's flowers by night, For the first loves to bask in the sunny ray. And the last wooes the moon's soft light ; But day or night the lady fern May catch and charm your eye. When the sun to gold her emeralds turn Or the moon lends her silvery dye. But seek her not in early May For a Sibyl, then, she looks. With wrinkled fronds that seem to say, ' Shut up are my wizard books.' Then search for her in the summer woods Where rills keep moist the ground, Where foxgloves from their spotted hoods Shake pilfering insects round ; Fair are the tufts of meadowsweet That haply blossom nigh. Fair are the whorls of violet Prunella shows hard by ; But not by burn, in wood or dale, Grows anything so fair As the plumy crests of emerald pale Of the lady fern, when the sunbeams turn To gold her delicate hair." — Campbell. THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. N our latitudes the earth-lov- ing spleenworts are all tall and graceful plants with very little in their bearing to suggest a relationship to the members of the family that grow on rocks. They are more like some of the wood ferns and no doubt are frequently mis- taken for them. A glance at the sori on mature fronds, however, is quite sufificient to settle the question, since it will show the Asplenioid character of the linear sori. These species have always been classed as Aspleniums in America but owing to the fact that the indusia in some are more or less curved on the side attached to the frond and when young often appear to be nearly semi- circular, it is now considered better to follow the British practice and place them in the gtxvws Athyrium. The Lady Fern. Our ideas as to which of the ferns is most abundant, are likely to vary somewhat with the time of year and the locality in which we may happen to be. In early May, we are inclined to award the palm to the cinnamon fern ; in July, to the bracken ; while a visit to some moist i8o THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. shady woodland at any time of year might decide us in favour of some wood fern. But tlie matter can not be regarded as decided until the claims of the lady fern (Atliyriiuii filix-fcem- ind) have been considered. While it may not be the most abundant in any one locality, its wide range of habitat from deep woodlands to open swamps, stony pastures and dusty roadsides gives it a larger representation than one would at first imagine. In any event it is always common enough to be found by the young collector and attrac- tive enough to be worth the finding. Although a pretty and decorative species, the lady fern seems scarcely to deserve all that the poets have said of it. It is barely possible that much of this praise is due to the fact that the poet seldom feels sure of his species, owing to a defect in his botanical education, and so the few he does know come in for all the credit. Scott's four lines. "Where the copse-wood is the greenest, Where the fountain glistens sheenest. Where the mountain dew lies longest. There the lady fern is strongest." have been quoted in every fern book since they were written, which must be our excuse for in- cluding them. Less familiar are the fairly descriptive lines by Edwin Lees of which three stanzas are LADY FERN A thyriumjilix-jccmina. here given. THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. i8i " When in splendour and beauty all nature is crowned The fern is seen curling, half hid in the ground, But of all the green brackens that rise by the burn, Commend me alone to the sweet lady fern. By the fountain I see her just spring into sight, Her texture as frail as though shivering with fright; To the water she shrinks, I can scarcely discern In the deep humid shadows the soft lady fern. Where the water is pouring, forever she sits And beside her the Ouzel, the Kingfisher flits; There supreme in her beauty, beside the full urn In the shade of the rock, stands the tall lady fern.'' The following lines from Howitt were sent to the author by a lady who suggests that the last one may have been intended as a hint to those vandals who delight to uproot and carry away all they can find of a rare plant, simply because it is rare. "And when thou art in lonely glen. Keep by the running burn, And do not pluck the strawberry flower Nor break the lady fern.'' In my opinion the most quaint and descriptive poem upon Pinna of variety ovatutn, A common form. this species is the one by Calder Campbell, parts of which preface this chapter. The fronds of the lady fern spring in circular tufts from a large horizontal rootstock and often reach a l82 THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. length of three feet. The crosiers are of interest from the colours they present early in the year. In some va- rieties the stipes are a clear wine colour with light, thin scales and contrast very prettily with the yellow-green of the uncoiling blades. The blades themselves are on long stipes and are exceedingly variable in the cutting of the pinnules. Nearly a hundred varieties from Europe have been described. The com- monest form with us is prob- ably that with oblong-ovate, acute, twice pinnate fronds with the secondary pinnae Fruiting pinnule enlarged. again lobcd Or tOOthcd. The primary pinna are about oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, and set at sufificient distances from each other to render the frond light and graceful. Mr. B. D. Gilbert has recently identified some twenty varieties from Amer- ican localities, none of which are the results of cultivation. This species is noted for having pinnules missing here and there throughout the fronds. Ordinarily there is scarcely any difference in the ap- pearance of fertile and sterile fronds. The sori are borne in a double row on each pinnule and the indusia are attached to the frond by a curving edge. a form from sunny thickets. When young they extend in the shape of a horse-shoe across the veins which bear them. The novice who ex- amines them at this stage of their growth may jump to the conclusion that his plant is some species oi Aspidiuvi but later the sori become almost straight as in the true THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. 183 Asplcniums. It is a nice question to decide whether or not the position and behavior of the indusium entitle this fern to be put in a separate genus. The name of lady fern is of very ancient origin, going back to the time when this was supposed to be the spe- cies which bore the " mystic fern seed," so valued for its reputed power to render its possessor invisible. In those days it was not lady fern, but female fern, the male fern being Aspidiiim filix-mas. The original female fern was the bracken, but when the name was transferred to this fern, many of the miraculous powers ascribed to the bracken seem to have come with it. Some curious stories m^:^^ A woodland form. are told of this wonderful fern seed. In one, a man, passing through a wood when the seed was ripe, got some into his shoes without knowing it, which of course rendered him invisible. Reaching home he entered, but his presence was not noticed. When he spoke, the family were startled at the sound of his voice and supposed him to be hiding. At length, hearing him walking about the room, they thought of the fern seed, and calling to him to take off his shoes, he did so, and became visible again. In Russia, in addition to its other virtues, fern seed was supposed to confer second sight. It is related that a man went out to search for his cattle, when some fern seed fell into his shoes. He at once knew where his cattle were and discovered a buried treasure besides. Going THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. home for a shovel with which to dig it up, his wife unfortunately in- duced him to change his shoes, when the fern seed fell out and was lost and with it went all knowledge of the treasure. In Swabia it was believed that fern seed brought by the devil near mid- night would enable one man to do the work of thirty. It must be confessed that fern seed received in such a manner would go a long way toward con- vincing one of its powers. The lady fern is found in nearly all parts of North Amer- ica and is equally com- THE HAUNTS OF THE LADY FERN. THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. 185 mon in the Old World. It is one of the easiest of ferns to cultivate and will grow in almost any soil if given moisture and partial shade. This species is frequently called a brake, and is also occasionally known as back- ache fern. The rhizome of the European species is erect or ascending and commonly rises a few inches above the soil. That of our plant is long and creeping, which seems to indicate that the two are not identical. In this case our plant would be known as Athyrium Michmixii, or perhaps more properly Athyrium fili.x-fcemina Jllich- auxii. In northwestern America there is a form that is taller and broader, with indusia so curved that they ap- pear almost circular with a narrow sinus. It was formerly considered a variety of the lady fern and named cyclqso- rum. It is now generally thought to be a distinct species. The Silvery Spleenwort. The best place to look for the silvery spleenwort {Athyrium thelypteroides) is in the rich moist woods on the borders of the crested fern's haunts where it delights to grow among the Jack-in-the-pulpits, Trilliums, Solo- mon's Seals and other lily-like plants. It is an unas- suming plant as ferns go, with few characteristics suffi- ciently striking to make it prominent among its sister species. Unless one is making a clean sweep of every woodland, it is possible for it to exist in his locality for years without being discoverefl. When growing in clumps, its resemblance to some of the wood ferns, especially the marsh and New York ferns, is quite close. The rootstock is thick, horizontal and creeps near the surface. The fronds are produced singly from the grow- 1 86 THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. ing end but soon form a nearly circular clump two or three feet high. The stout young crosiers are covered with large brown scales which seldom persist until the fronds mature. The stipe and rachis are strewn with slender chaff and the upper surface of the fronds is often covered with longish hairs that give it a peculiarly velvety effect when growing. It is not very noticeable SILVERY SPLEEN WORT. A thyrium thclypteroides. in herbarium specimens, and the books are silent upon the subject, although in the field one can often identify the species by this single feature. The blade is about oblong, tapering both ways from the middle, but is never so greatly reduced below as is that of the New York fern. It is thin and delicate, with oblong, acuminate pinnae cut nearly to the midrib into short, close, rounded, obscurely serrate lobes. When f the fronds are exposed to the sun, the blades become thicker, narrower, more erect and yellow-green in colour. Curiously enough, although they do not grow in full sunlight from choice, they are most fruitful in such situa- tions. The stipe is about one third the length of the frond. SILVERY SPLEENWORT. Athyrium thclypleroides. THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. 187 Fertile and sterile fronds are much alike and the former are sharply distinguished from those of other spe- cies by their regular rows of clear-cut sori. Beginning at the base of each pinnule, these alternate on each side of the midvein almost to the tip. They are usually set close together and curve shghtly outward at an oblique angle nearly to the edge of the pinnule in a very pleasing pattern. Occasionally the lower sori are double, opening away from each other, and on the long slender tips of the pinnae they are nearly always so. In heavily fruited fronds the fruit covers nearly all the under surface of the blade. The indusia are rather thick and for most of the summer retain the silvery white colour of their youth thus giving the common name to the plant. The fronds do not survive the frosts. This species is found from Canada and Minnesota to Alabama. It also occurs in Eastern Asia. It is con- sidered a fairly common species — never so common as the lady fern, perhaps, although often forming dense thickets in small areas. After studying it for many years, I am inclined to agree with the author of " How to Know the Ferns " that "although it cannot be classed among the rare things, it is absent from many promising localities." American authors frequently give this species the name of Aspleniiun acrosticlwides. This is the older by three years, but has never been commonly accepted. The Narrow- Leaved Spleenwort. The rarest of the larger Aspleniunis is without doubt the narrow-leaved spleenwort {Aspleniuin angustifoliiuii). According to Eaton, it has no very near relatives any- where. It is a true Asplenimii and not an Athyrhim, 1 88 THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. ^ but except for its fruiting characters, it is more nearly like the species in the latter genus and has therefore been included in this chapter. It is found in low wood- lands in situations similar to those chosen by the silvery spleenwort though seldom if ever so abundant as that species. The fronds grow in tufts from a creeping rootstock and sometimes reach a height of four feet, though they are usually at least a foot shorter. They are exceedingly thin and delicate, very sensitive to frosts and are often destroyed by summer storms. The oblong-lanceolate, acute blades are simply pinnate with many long, narrow, entire or crenulate pinnules which taper outward from a rounded, sessile, or shortly stalked, base to the slender tips. The fertile fronds are usually the taller and the pin- nules much narrower with the whole under surface cov- ered by the long, sharply defined sori in two rows along the midrib of each pinnule, much as in the silvery spleenwort. Normally sterile fronds sometimes have a few pinnules that are fertile in which case the spore- bearing parts are narrow like the pinnules of the fertile frond, showing how close is the relationship between FRUITING PlNNiE. NARROW-LEAVED SPLEENWORT, Asplenium angustifoHnm. Sterile Frond. THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. 189 spore-bearing and diminished leaf surface in this spe- cies. The narrow-leaved spleenwort is found from Quebec to Wisconsin, Missouri and Tennessee. It is likeliest to be found in woods that are free from undergrowth. Its liking for wet places obtains for it the name of swamp spleenwort in some places and it is also called Kidney-fern. It is easily cultivated and makes a very pretty addition to the fern garden where tall species with simply pin- nate fronds are not common. There are probably less than a dozen species in the genus Athyriujn as it is at present defined. The generic name is from a word meaning opened and refers to the appearance of the sori. The origin of the name Asple- nium is given in the chapter on the Rock Spleenworts. THE POLYPODIES. " It is very pleasant and cheerful nowadays, when the brown and withered leaves strew the ground and almost every plant is fallen, to come upon a patch of Polypody .... on some rocky hillside in the woods, where in the midst of dry and rustling leaves, defying frost, it stands so freshly green and full of life. My thoughts are with the polypody a long time after my body has passed. . . . The forest floor is covered with a thick coat of moist brown leaves, but what is that perennial and springlike verdure that clothes the rocks, of small green plumes pointing various ways. It is the cheerful community of the polypody. It survives at least as the type of vegetation to remind us of the spring that shall not fail. — Thoreau. THE POLYPODIES. HE polypodies belong to the largest of the fern families. There are nearly four hundred species in the world, mostly in the Tropics. Only five species extend into northeastern America, and three o f these are considered by many botanists to belong to a closely allied genus which they name Phegop- teris. This name, it may be said, was once the name of a section of the genus Phegopteris DryopUris. Polypodijtlll and tllOSC wllO call our plants species of Phegopteris, simply consider this section worthy of generic rank. As in the true poly- podies, the fruit dots are without indusia of any kind but the phegopterids differ in having the fruit on the backs of the veins while in the Polypodiiims they are op the ends. In Polypodiiivi, too, the stipes are jointed to the rootstock, while in P/iegopterts, a.s in most oi ourcommon ferns, they are not. Phegopteris is also very closely al- lied to the wood fern genus, differing principally in the lack of an indusium. In habit, also, the species are rpuch like the wood ferns and it is probable that they will 196 THE POLYPODIES. ultimately be included in this family notwithstanding the absence of the indusium. For our present purpose we shall include them with the other non-indusiate forms. The Common Polypody. Wherever there is a shaded ledge of rocks in the northeastern States one is almost sure to find the polypody (/b/j/- podiuni vulgare). There is no question as to choice of location with this sturdy species. All are alike to it, provided there are rocks upon which it can grow. The only preference it has is for the tops and upper shelves of the rocks where the soil is moderately dry. So characteristic is it in such situations that when one sees a fern clad rocky summit from a distance too great to discern the individual fronds he identi- fies them with confidence as this spe- cies. The fronds of the polypody are thick and leathery and remain green all winter. They grow from a slender, brown-scaly, branching rootstock that creeps at the surface of the soil, and are produced during most of the early summer. They are ordinarily about a foot long with a short slender stipe and narrow pinnatifid or pinnate blade. The pinnules are linear, usually blunt at the ends, and COMMON POLYPODY. Polypodiuni vui PLATE VI, THE COMMON POLYPODY. Polypodium vulgare. COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY FREDERICK A. STOKEB COMPANY PRINTED IN AMERICA THE POLYPODIES. 197 broaden somewhat as they join the rachis. Occasionally they are slightly serrate. It sometimes happens that fronds of this species are mistaken by the novice for those of the Christmas fern which are also pinnate, but the latter may' always be distinguished by the eared pinnules. About the middle of June the bright yellow-brown sori begin to appear. They are found on the backs of ordinary fronds in a double row near the margins of the pinnules and mostly in the upper two thirds of the frond. They are round, very regular in arrangement and so large as to be quite conspicuous, looking like little buttons. Except the narrow-leaved chain fern, none of our species produce sori so large. There is no indusium. Among its common names are adder's fern, golden polypody, golden-locks, moss fern, stone fern, stone brake and wall fern. Most of these are of obvious deri- vation. It was once considered valuable as a pectoral and, boiled with sugar, was a remedy for the whooping cough. Little, if any, use is made of it at present. Ac- cording to some authorities, this is the original oak fern although Phegopteris Dryopteris now has the title. The polypody has numerous varieties but few of them are worthy of special note. The most famous is the Welsh polypody which has a frond much broader than the normal with the pinnae cut nearly to the midrib into narrow segments making a bipinnatifid frond. It is called the variety Cambricuin, and is supposed to be always sterile. It was originally found in Wales and has seldom been noted in this country but is likely to occur in any locality where the type is common. The other varieties reported are angustum with narrow serrate pin- nules, rotundatum with short, round-ended pinnules and 1 98 THE POLYPODIES. cristatum with pinnules variously forked and crested. i\ form from West Virginia has recently been described as P. vulgare deceptuin. It differs from the common form in being somewhat larger with narrower, pointed pinnae. This was earlier considered a mere form and named biscrratum. Considering the unimportant differ- ences it displays, the earlier view seems the correct one. In North America the polypody is found from Alabama to the far north and northwestward. Its natural habi- tat is upon rocks but it is occasionally found upon trees and logs where the atmosphere is moist. In the moister climate of England, it is said to be very commonly found on trees. In our western States, it is rare or absent, but its place is taken by several allied species that much resemble it. It is a tough and hardy species able to en- dure great extremes of temperature and is found in nearly all parts of the world. The Gray Polypody. The little gray polypody {Polypo- dmm incanuni) may be termed a strag- gler into our territory from a warmer region. It is most abundant in the Tropics, where it grows on rocks, trees, walls and even on the roofs of the houses. In the northern pnrt of its range, it is usually found on rocks or about the roots of CiRAV POLYPODY. Polypoifiii in iiicanmn 1 ^■^ ■r- BEECH FERN. Phegopliih polypo.iio/des. THE POLYPODIES. 199 trees, although in the Gulf States it may be found high upon the trunk or branches. In appearance it is nearly an exact duplicate of the common species with the same creeping, scaly rootstock and leathery, pinnatifid, or pinnate, fronds. It is, how- ever, rather smaller and further distinguished by having the stipe and under surface of the blade thickly covered with gray, or brownish, peltate scales with darker centres. The upper surface may be slightly scaly, though it is usually smooth. The sori are of medium size and borne near the margins of the pinnules but are seldom notice- able owing to the scales by which they are surrounded. Usually they are so deeply sunk in the blade as to form little bosses on the upper surface. Since this species grows in situations where moisture is a very uncertain quantity, it has acquired the trick of curling up its fronds when drought comes and remaining in a comatose condition until the next rain, when they are again unrolled and life proceeds as before. During a drouth the fronds have been known to uncurl in a heavy dew. Among its common names are hoary polypody, scaly polypody, tree fern and resurrection fern. Tree fern is from its habit of growing in the treetops, and resurrection fern refers to its habit of revival after a drought. This species is found as far north as Virginia, Illinois and Missouri but is not common except in the Gulf States. According to strict priority, this species should have polypodioides for its specific name. This being translated would mean, simply, a polypody that is like a polypody ! Incaniun is a name far better known to bot- ii.i.sts and is the one generally used. 200 THE POLYPODIES. The Beech Fern. To find the beech fern {Pliegopteris polypodioides) in its greatest luxuriance the collector must visit the cliffs and ravines where dripping ledges provide dwelling places to its liking. One soon comes to associate it mentally with the drip and splash of falling water, and the gurgle of small streams. The rootstock is long and cord-like with many branches and wanders extensively just beneath the surface. In spring, long before the fronds unfurl, the clusters of crosiers covered with small light-coloured scales just peeping above the earth are often noticeable along the rocks, in appearance suggesting the budding horns of the deer. The fronds are produced all summer and owing to the branching and interlacing of the rootstocks are usually found in dense clumps, filHng every inch of the ledge on which they are rooted. When young there is a bend where stipe and blade join so that the soft, limp blades hang downward while unfolding like the wings of a newly hatched butterfly. Mature fronds are often eighteen inches long. The blades do not vary greatly in size but the stipe is long or short as necessity demands, being always of sufficient length to extend the blade out into the light. The stipes commonly grow nearly upright, but the blades make a sharp angle and bend gracefully outward, especially when growing in a niche in the rocks. In shape they are triangular, somewhat longer than broad and once pin- nate. The pinnae are rather long, narrow and acute and cut nearly to the midrib into oblong, blunt segments. In the upper part of the frond, the pinnse are decurrent BEECH FERN. Phegopteris polypodioides. THE POLYPODIES. 201 on the rachis, forming a lobed border along it, but the lower pinnse are separate. The lowest pair are lanceolate instead of linear and are brought forward and downward in a striking and characteristic manner. In herbarium specimens, owing to the flattening of the frond, much of this appearance is lost, but when the plant is fresh this feature may almost serve to identify it. The fronds are thin, glandular beneath, and slightly scaly on the rachis and ribs. Sometimes both surfaces are pubescent. The fronds are not evergreen and wither early in autumn. The sori begin to appear in June. They are borne on both edges of the segments of ordinary fronds and are without indusia as in the true Polypodies. They are quite small and rarely extend to the tips of the seg- ments. The name of beech fern is said to have been given to this species from a supposition that it is partial to the shade of the beech tree, but a wet rock would seem to be nearer its first requisite, at least with us. It is also called sun fern, perhaps from its growing in exposed places. Many botanists call this Phegopteris Phegopteris. When Linnaeus named it, he thought it was a Polypodiuni and called it Polypodiuni phegopteris. Later it was taken out of this genus, and p-laced in a new one created to re- ceive it, and christened Phegopteris polypodioides. The question as to which specific name it shall bear depends entirely upon whether or not we should allow it a new specific name when the original one has been taken as the name of the genus. Botanists, generally, dislike the practice of making generic and specific names the same. This species is, found from Virginia, Iowa, and Wash- ington to the far North but is seldom found except in the vicinity of rocks. It also grows in northern Europe 202 THE POLYPODIES. and Asia. It takes readily to cultivation and is excellent for planting on rockeries, each small bit of rootstock soon producing a thrifty colon}'. The Broad Beech Fern. The indiscriminating collector might gather the broad beech fern {Phegopteris liexagonoptera) for many seasons and not surmise that he had anything more than the common species, so near alike are they in shape, habit and the cutting of the fronds. The differences, however, are quite apparent when once pointed out and all botanists agree that each is a distinct species. The broad beech fern is a lover of the deep shady woodlands and cares nothing for rocks. It delights in moist soil, but does not avoid dryish shades and is often to be found in the company of the New York fern. The rootstock is slender and creeping and the fronds are scattered along it at short intervals. The slender, erect, straw-coloured stipes are nearly twice the length of the tri- angular blades and the latter are pinnate with deeply pin- natifid pinnae. The blades are usually broader than long and the pinnse are also broader, approaching a lanceo- late form, in this differing from the common beech fern. The lowest pair of pinnae are much the largest, broadly lanceolate, narrowed at base with narrow, crenulate- toothed or lobed segments, the longest nearly an inch in length. They may sometimes be deflexed though com- monly they are not. The decurrent pinnae form a con- spicuous angled wing along the rachis that usually extends to the lower pair. The sori are borne on the backs of ordinary fronds. They are mostly near the margins of the segments and rather small. This species averages somewhat larger than the com- BROAD BEECH FERN. Phegopteris hexagonoptera. THE POLYPODIES. 203 mon beech fern and the fronds are more erect. They are also thinner with fewer hairs and scales. The crushed fronds of both species emit a peculiar ferny odour from the minute glands scattered over their blades. This odour differs slightly with the species and one with an acute sense of smell might bring it into use in identifying them. In the matter of range hexagonoptera again shows a difference. It is a southern species, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. It has not as yet been found in the Old World. The aijgular wings of the rachis have suggested the specific name and also the common one of six-angled polypody. Specimens inter- grading between this and the common beech fern are said to be occasionally found. The Oak Fern. Should the collector in crossing a piece of rich moist woods find nestling among the violets, mitreworts and trilliums, a tiny fern with a blade " like three fronds in one " that would pass for a good miniature of the bracken, he will be warranted in concluding that it is the oak fern {Phegopteris Dryopteris). The rootstock is like that of the beech fern — slender and creeping — and the fronds are produced all summer. They sometimes at- tain a height of more than fifteen inches but are usually much shorter. The stipes are very slender and the blade triangular, ternate, and of a delicate shade of yel- low-green. At the top of the stipe the blade divides into three nearly equal, triangular, stalked divisions, each of which is pinnate with sessile, deeply pinnatifid, blunt- lobed pinnae. The middle division of the blade is slightly the largest and the pinnules of the lateral divisions are 204 THE POLYPODIES. longest on the lower side. Even in unfurling, the blades show their ternate character, each division being rolled up separately. These three little green balls on their slender thread-like stalks are exact miniatures of the conventional sign of the pawnbroker. The ultimate segments are often slightly toothed and the rather in- conspicuous sori are borne near their margins. A form of the oak fern, often called the limestone poly- pody {Phegopteris Dryopteris Robertianci) is occasional in Canada and the northwestern United States. It is distinguished by its larger size, glandular fronds, greater rigidity, and in having the lower pinnules on the lateral divisions of the frond scarcely longer than the others. It is frequently considered to be a distinct species and named P. calcarea, but the opinion of the majority places it as a variety of the common form. The oak fern is found from Virginia, Kansas and Col- orado to the far North and also in Europe and Asia. The variety is also found in the Old World. The plant is a lover of moist and rocky woods and makes an excel- lent species for cultivating at the base of the artificial rockery. The initial for this chapter shows a frond of this fern. The name Polypodium is from the Greek and means many feet. By some, this is conjectured to be in allusion to the branching rootstocks of certain species, but it seems quite as likely to refer to the numerous roots which nearly all produce. One writer observes of our common species that " the rhizome when destitute of the fronds has the appearance of some kind of sea polypus." Phegopteris means literally beech fern. As the latter genus is defined at present, it contains nearly a hundred species. " The broad beech fern is a lover of the deep shady woodlands.'' THE BLADDER FERNS. ' Mark ye the ferns that clothe these dripping rocks The crosier-headed ferns, most fresh and rare. Their hairlike stalks, though trembling neath the shock Of falling spraydrops, rooted firmly there. ' What quaint varieties. The leaflets grow With a metallic lustre all their own ; I And velvet mosses, fostered by the flow Gain a luxuriance elsewhere all unknown." THE BLADDER FERNS. * HE bladder fern family comprises jf|B#b less than half a dozen species &3pS.#J distributed nearly throughout the ^. j^f'MV world though most abundant in '^A^v the North Temperate Zone. The generic name, Cystopteris, is the Greek for bladder fern and is ap- I plied to these species in allusion to the '•j indusium which is hood-shaped and ^'/attached to the frond by the broad t' base on the inferior side of the soru? ' and arching over it. The species are mostly inhabitants of rocks and are usu- ally plentiful in mountainous regions. Recently the attempt has been made to change the generic name to Filix. This name without doubt was used for the genus before Cystopteris was, but the latter has been universally used by botanists for so long that it is very unlikely that Filix will ever be accepted. The Common Bladder Fern, Shaded rocks in almost any locality are likely to har- bour the common bladder fern (Cystopteris fragilis). It is fond of a niche in the cliff where its fronds may droop gracefully outward but also grows on the talus of broken rock at their bases and is often found in moist woods. In the extent of its distribution, it yields only to the THE BLADDER FERNS. bracken. It seems equally at home in the Tropics or in lands where snow and ice abound for nearly half the year. Of all our native ferns, this fragile little species is first to put forth its fronds in spring. They start into growth at the first hint of a warmer season, being often fully iread before those of stouter id what appear to be hardier jecies have begun to uncoil. •"ronds continue to be pro- luced all summer when the sea- 3n is favourable, but frequent- the plant disappear before losed to drought. It is not I'ever, to find fresh and green November in the latitude of York, and the plants that wither in summer may revive and put forth new fronds later in the year. The rootstock is rather slender and creeps about in the chinks between the rocks. The fronds are seldom more than fifteen inches long, the stipe making up a little more than lialf of this length. Mature fronds, however, may reach a length of two feet, while moun- tain forms may be reduced to four or five inches. The blade is thin, narrowly oblong- COMMON BLADDER FERN. Cystopteris fragilis. Cy^topteris fragiUs. A rare form of frond. THE BLADDER FERNS. 2U ovate, acute and pinnate, the pinnae rather distant, broadest at base and themselves pinnatifid or again pin- nate. Tlie pinnules are narrow, bluntish, lobed or toothed and usually decurrent on the rachis. There is, however, a wide range in the shape and cutting of the fronds. Our illustrations show two interesting forms of American specimens. A pinnule is also shown in the Key to the Genera. Not only is this species the first to put forth its fronds, but it is one of the earliest to fruit and, unlike other species which fruit early, fertile fronds may be found all summer. Nearly every frond bears sporangia. The sori are rather small and thickly scattered on the lobes of the pinnules. Owing to the early withering of the indusia, they usually appear as if naked. Only in the young- est sori can the indusium be seen to advantage. It is ovate, very thin, and taper pointed. From the "hape of the arching indusium, this species was anciently Known as the cup fern. The fronds of this species are very easily confused with those of Woodsia obtusa, with which it often grows, and the difficulty in separating them is increased by the evanescent nature of the indusia in both species. In Cystopteris, however, a careful search will usually reveal enough shrivelled vestiges of the indusia to make identi- fication sure. In Woodsia, too, the pinnae and pinnules are ordinarily broader and blunter. In America, the common bladder fern is found from British America to Georgia and Arizona. It is frequently called the brittle bladder fern, a translation of its specific name. The name of white-oak fern has also been given it, though for what reason does not appear. Several varieties have been named but none of them are very THE BLADDER FERNS. striking and little attention is paid to them. The variety dentata has narrow bipinnate fronds with blunt pinnae and pinnules, the latter toothed. The variety angiistata has broad, nearly tri- pinnate fronds with acute, rather lan- ceolate, pinnules with sharply toothed lobes. Variety laciniata has the pinnules cut into irregular narrow teeth. The author once collected this species in the mountains of a tropi- cal island, where it grew in the crevices of a ledge that interrupted the flow of a mountain torrent. When the rainy season swells the volume of water, all the fronds are washed away, but as soon as it subsides, a new crop is produced. Since there are two rainy seasons in this place the plant seems regularly to produce two sets of fronds each year. The Bulbiferous Bladder Fern. cyticfteris Whercvcr there is a line of buibifcra. shaded, dripping cliffs, especial- ly in limestone regions, one may look for the bulbiferous bladder fern {Cysiopteris y ^^.^j^' COMMON BLADDER FERN. Cystopteris fragilis. THE BLADDER FERNS, 213 bulbiferd). In such places it grows in great luxuriance and is a singularly decorative species, with long narrow fronds hanging downward over the face of the rock in such profusion as to cover it like a curtain. Full grown fronds are frequently four feet long. They are on short stipes and twice pinnate, the oblong pinnules toothed, or the lowest deeply lobed. In cutting, the pin- nae have considerable resemblance to those of C. fragilis, but the frond as a whole is very different, being widest across the basal pinnae and tapering outward with regular gradations to the long slender apex. The blades are finely glandular underneath and very fragrant specimens are occasionally reported, the fragrance being doubtless due to these glands. In appearance the fertile and sterile fronds do not differ materially. The sori are borne in what approximates a double row on each pinnule, a sorus near the base of each tooth. The indusium is not quite so evanescent in this species as in C. fragilis though it usually withers when the spores are ripe. In young fruiting fronds it may be very clearly seen. Its apex is truncate. Although this species produces spores as freely as any, its principal means of propagation is probably by the bulblets which nearly every mature frond bears upon its under surface. These are about the size of a grain of pepper and are borne on one or several of the pinnae usually in the apical half of the frond. They are in the nature of adventitious buds and consist bf two or three cotyledon-like masses enclosing one or more rudimentary fronds. When these come in contact with the soil, they put forth roots and are ready to begin life for themselves. They form new plants much sooner than spores could and the early fronds have less of the juvenile form. 214 THE BLADDER FERNS. Cystoptcris bulbifcra ranges from Canada to Tennessee, Arkansas and Wisconsin and is also reported from Alaska. It is rather irregularly distributed, being very common in some localities and entirely absent from others that seem equally favourable to its growth. It if found on many rocks other than limestone and is excel- lent for the rockery in the fern garden. This species shares with the maidenhair the honour of being first to be sent to the Old World by botanical explorers. In Great Britain it is occasionally known as the berry-bearing fern. T'he Mountain Bladder Fern, The mountain bladder fern {Cystoptcris viontana) is not likely to be found by the eastern collector. It is a rare species within our limits, coming south only as far as Labrador and Northern Canada. It has also been found north of Lake Superior and in the mountains of Colorado. In Northern Europe and Asia it is rather more abundant. It may be distinguished from the other bladder ferns by its almost triangular fronds on long straw-coloured stipes. It is usually about a foot high and grows along woodland streams in deep shade. The blade is thin, three to four times pinnate, the pinnse much like the frond in shape. The pinnules are deeply toothed and the sori abundant. The indusium is pointed at the free end, and soon withers. Our illustration is from a plant, rather smaller than ordinary, collected in the Cape Nome gold fields. MOUNTAIN BLADDER FERN. Cystopterts montana. THE CHAIN FERNS. " We paused beside the pools that lie Under the forest bough ; Each seemed as 'twere a little sky Gulfed in a world below : A firmament of purple light Which in the dark earth lay, More boundless than the depths of night And purer than the day ; In which the lovely forest grew As in the upper air More perfect both in shape and hue Than any spreading there." — Shelley. THE CHAIN FERNS. HE chain ferns are most at home in the sandy swamps along the Atlantic seaboard, and unless the collector lives within a short distance of the ocean, he is likely to see compara- tively little of them. One species, it is true, is found sparingly in inland swamps throughout most of the northeastern States but it is never plentiful enough to become com- mon. One is likely to always re- member the day upon which he first found it in his locality. The family is distinguished from others by the fact that the species bear their spor- angia in oblong sori parallel to the midvein, differing in this respect from the Aspleniums whose sori are oblique to the midvein. Otherwise the fruit dots are not so very unlike. The Common Chain Fern. It is a frequent occurrence for collec- tors to mistake the fronds of the common chain fern (\Voodwardia Virginicd) for those of the ubiquitous ' cinnamon fern. When growing in dense clumps they are practically indistinguishable until one is 220 THE CHAIN FERNS close to them. Then their separation is very simple and one marvels at nature's versatility in making two species so alike and yet so unlike. Their resemblances are con- fined entirely to the sterile fronds, their differences are everywhere. The chain fern fruits on the backs of the fronds; the cinnamon fern in a club-shaped spike: the one has a slender rootstock and the fronds rise singly ; in the other the rootstock is thick and the fronds grow in crowns. Even the beginner, therefore, has no excuse for confusing them. The rootstock of the chain fern is about a quarter of an inch in diameter. It creeps extensively in the mud Woodwardia Virgtnica. A fruiting pinnii. and ooze of its boggy haunts and sends up its fronds at intervals all summer. These often reach a height of five feet with stipes nearly as long as the ,blades. The latter are oblong-ovate and pinnate with oblong-lanceo- late, acute piunae cut three-fourths of the way to the midrib into slightly falcate, obscurely crenate, bluntish pinnules. Although rather thick in texture, they do not survive the winter. There is no perceptible differ- ence in the form of fertile and sterile fronds. The oblong sori are borne on the apical portion, one series in a double row, near to and parallel with the midvein of each COMMON CHAIN FERN. n'oodzMnf/a [iixiiiica. THE CHAIN FERNS. 221 pinnule, and another series of larger sori parallel with the midribs of the pinnae. They appear as if partly sunk. in the tissues of the frond and are covered with a leathery indusium as with a lid. It does not require a very lively imagination to see in the oblong sori placed end to end a resemblance to the links in a chain and the common name is therefore quite appropriate. From its delight in mud and water, it is sometimes called the bog fern. This species is also illustrated in the Key to the Genera, The chain fern is found from southern Canada to Florida, Louisiana and Michigan and also in Bermuda. 'It is frequently found growing in several inches of water near the coast where it is often so abundant as to al- most fill the swamp, like a field of grain. Inland it is likely to be found in sphagnum swamps among Pogonias, pitcher-plants and other semi-aquatic vege- tation. According to Eaton, the fronds may face in any direction in bushy swamps, but when they are exposed to the sun, all face toward the south. It is an excellent species for cultivating on the borders of artificial lakes in the fern garden. On the western coast of America, there is a tall and robust species — IV. radicans — which is much like ours in general appearance, but is darker green in colour. This is the only western species and is widely distributed in other parts of the world. The Narrow-Leaved Chain Fern. Like its relative, the narrow-leaved chain fern {IFood- wardia angustifolid) has the misfortune to resemble a more plebeian species. This species is the sensitive fern and the resemblance, as in the case of the other, extends 222 THE CHAIN FERNS. only to the sterile fronds. Since both the sensitive fern and the chain fern fruit late in the year, there is a large part of the season when they are easily confused, espe- cially if the collector has never seen both growing. It is not to be inferred, however, that it is impossible, or even difficult, to separate the species when sterile. When they are in fruit there is, of course, no chance of mis- taking them. The rootstock is quite slender and creeping and the fronds somewhat scattered along it. The sterile are twelve to twenty inches long with slender, straw-coloured stipes and ovate blades cut nearly to the midrib into oblong, acute lobes. Toward the base, the lobes incline to be separate, the part nearest the rachis being rapidly narrowed into a broadly winged stalk. This makes the blade appear pinnate, at least at base, but there is usually a narrow wing of membrane connecting even the lowest division with the rest. All the pinnules are finely ser- rate on the edges. In June the taller fertile fronds begin to come up. They are on longer stipes and quite unlike the sterile fronds. Even the stipe is of a different colour, being black and polished, while the blade is distinctly pinnate with long, narrowly-linear, distant pinnules that seem just wide enough to hold the two lines of large, heavy, sunken sori. None of our other ferns have an indusium so thick and corky, and perhaps for this reason the fer- tile fronds are much heavier than the sterile. Long after its usefulness has departed, this indusium remains attached to the frond. There are many curious grada- tions between fertile and sterile fronds both in the shape of the pinnules and in fruitfulness. In the northern part of its range, at least, this species is not evergreen NARROW-LEAVED CHAIN FERN. Woodwardia angusttfolia. Fertile and Sterile Fronds. THE CHAIN FERNS. 223 but the fronds are among the last to yield to the frost. The fertile, although apparently dead, remain erect for a great part of the winter and it is probable that many of the spores are not released until spring. This species is found along the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Florida. Inland it is reported from stations in Arkansas, Tennessee and Michigan, but if it occurs at points between, the fact has not been noted. Within the limits marked by these stations, it is not im- probable that more localities for it will be found. Ap- parently it does not grow in salt marshes although it loves their vicinity. It is most frequently found in springy places in the twilight of pine and cedar groves. I have found it neighbouring the little ScJiizcea in New Jersey, and on Long Island its usual companion is Aspidiuin sitnulatuui. It is frequently called Woodwardia areolata in the books, in reference to the interesting series of aureola; formed by the veins of the sterile pin- nules. The genus was named in honour of Thomas Woodward, an English botanist. There are about six species, mostly confined to the North Temperate zone. PLATE VIII. THE BULBIFEROUS BLADDER FERN. Cystopteris bulbiffra. COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY FHE0ER1CK A STOKES COMPANY PftlNTED IN AMERICA THE BOULDER FERN. Dicksonia groweth in thickets deep, Where the grouse and the rabbit hide ; But she loveth best the boulder rock On the desolate mountain side. And there, though shaken by wind and storm, The glint of her fronds is seen, As she wreathes about the lichened stone A circle of delicate green. Fitted by Nature's loving hand To dwell in the fairest bowers. She has grace and beauty in every line And the fragrance of the flowers. But oh, she loveth the free wilds best And the cold, gray boulder's side And there, adorning the rugged steeps. Forever she will abide. THE BOULDER FERN. I HE boulder fern {Dicksonia pilosiusciild) is one of the most beautiful and dec- orative species of our entire fern flora. Whether growing in clumps in our lowland woods or spreading over large areas in mountain pas- tures and thickets, its shimmering fronds are sure to catch the eye. In many uplands the scenery cannot be properly men- tioned without taking this fern into account. Those who visit such places about midsummer will scarcely for- get the picture formed by the broad gray-green fields in which every boulder and rocky outcrop is outlined by the brighter green of its fronds. Its predilection for rocky fields is very marked. It seems never to grow more thriftily than when clustering in little colonies about some half buried rock fragment. By this trait, alone, one can often identify the fern with certainty at distances of half a dozen miles or more. The rootstock creeps extensively near the surface of the earth and frequently branches. Fronds are produced all summer and form dense, tangled clumps. The stipe often gives of? a runner near its junction with the root- stock and this also produces fronds, being in fact a sort of secondary rootstock. In strong plants the blade is often twenty-five inches or more in length and ten inches wide at the base from whence it gradually tapers to the apex. 230 THE BOULDER FERN. ^ Occasionally it is slightly nanowed below. It is twice pinnate, the primary pinnae being oblong-lanceo- ate and the secondary oblong- ovate, deeply lobed and the lobes again toothed. The stipes are a shining chestnut-brown and about half the length of the fronds. There is not much difference in the appearance of fertile and ster- ile fronds ; indeed the sori are so inconspicuous that one has to look rather closely to see them at all and a magnifier is required to satisfactorily make out their parts. They are mostly situated on the outer margins of the pin- nules at the base of the segments. The indusium is fixed under the spor- angia and is held by a reflexed tooth of the segment. Under a lens it looks like a tiny green cup filled with round spore-cases. The fronds are minutely glandular-hairy and when bruised in the hand give off a strong, sweetish fragrance. The odour is very noticeable in the drying plants. During the haying season, whole BOULDER counties in eastern Pennsylvania are Dicksonia thoroughly perfumed by the fronds cut With the hay. Among its common names are fine-haired iii: f^ '^■ /;=*•' . ^.''. "■ -*■ ''iVC^ •■• ■-H.'-'. BOULDER FEkN. £>tck$onia pilosiuscula. THE BOULDER FERN. 231 mountain fern, hairy Dicksonia, gossamer fern and hay- scented fern. All but the last have reference to the delicate structure and handsome cutting of the fronds. To call this the hay-scented fern is certainly to " damn with faint praise." The boulder fern is found from Canada to Alabama and Minnesota. It is seldom entirely missing in any locality in the northeastern part of its range, but one must visit the stony uplands to see it at its best. It is an excellent species for cultivation in the fernery but the farmer has no desire for its presence in his fields. Cattle will not eat it and it is almost impossible to eradi- cate from stony soil. Some botanists assert that our plant and the tree-like species in other parts of the world are not of close enough kinship to be placed in the same genus. They would therefore call our species a Dennstcedtia reserving the name Dicksonia for the arborescent species. The genus Dicksonia was named for James Dickson an English botanist. There are about fifty species in the world, twenty of which would be placed in Dennstadtia if that genus were recognised. There is but a single species in North America. A FRU'TING PINNA. CHEILANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. " It is a quiet glen, as you may see, Shut in from all intrusion by the trees That spread their giant branches, broad and free. The silent growth of many centuries ; And malies a hallowed time for hapless moods, A Sabbath of the woods. " And still the waters trickling at my feet Wind on their way with gentlest melody. Yielding sweet music, which the leaves repeat Above them to the gay breeze gliding by ; Yet not so rudely as to send one sound Through the thick copse around." — Simms. CHEILANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. T first glance the maidenhair fern seems to have very little in common with the various species of Cheilan- tlies, but the way in which they all fruit brings them very close together in the opinion of botanists. Both genera belong to the tribe of which the bracken is a prominent member and, like the species in that genus, bear their sori close to the margins of the pinnules. But here the likeness ends, for there are many patterns after which marginal sori may be arranged. In the bracken the fruit is in long lines and covered with linear indusia ; in the maidenhair it is under a re- flexed tooth of the pinnule ; while in Cheilanthes the edges of the pinnules simply curl over the fruit, and scarcely form an indusium at all. Cheilanthes Vestita, This interesting little species is rather southern in its distribution, beginning to be rare north of Maryland. It once grew in what is now the northern part of New York City and this is generally supposed to be the fern's northern limit, but a station still further north has been known to a few botanists since 1892 when the plant was discovered near New Haven, Connecticut. This is its northeastern limit, so far as known. 238 CnBlLANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. Cheilanthes vcstita is a conspicuous example of a rock- loving fern that is not partial to limestone. It shows a strong preference for igneous rock. A.t the New Haven station it is described as growing in the crevices of a basaltic cliff and in northern New Jersey it is most frequently found on gneiss ledges. Superficially it has a decided resem- blance to Woodsia Ilvcnsis and is not in- frequently collected for it. Its fronds are about the same size and shape, are hairy, and the plant has the same fondness for growing in dense little clumps on ex- posed rocky crests. The species are not difficult to distinguish between, when one has both in hand ; the difficulty comes when one collects a single species and would be sure which it is. When other signs fail, Clieilantlies may be known for a certainty by its lack of a joint in the stipe. The fronds are also somewhat slenderer, and the pinnules narrower and further apart. The plant has a short, creeping root- stock covered with hairlike brownish scales, and shows its southern nature by producing fronds until late autumn as if there were no such things as frost and snow. Even in the north, it appears to be evergreen. The fronds are usually from six to eight inches long, on short stipes and narrowly lanceolate in outline. They are twice pinnate, the primary pinna about ovate, Cheilanthes vestita. CHEILANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. 239 and the secondary oblong and deeply lobed. Both sides are invested with long whitish hairs which are most abundant upon the under surface. The fronds are dark grayish-green, and the stipe and rachis are dark chestnut-brown and covered with tiny hairlike scales. The sori are very small and are borne on the lobes of the pinnules whose tips roll over them in little pocket- like indusia. These are always green and have faint likeness to the indusia of other ferns. In old fronds the confluent sori push out from the indusia and cover a large part of the pinnules. In the Key to the Genera, a fruiting pinnule of this species is shown. Cheilanthes vestita is found southward to Georgia and Texas, and westward to Kansas. It is probably not an abundant species in any locality but where there are ex- posed cliffs of igneous rock there is always the possibility of finding it. The name of hairy lip-fern, by which this species is frequently mentioned in the books, is rarely used in speaking of it. Recently the specific name lanosa has been given this species. Both names have reference to the hairy fronds, and all that has been gained by the change is the addition of another scientific name to per- plex the beginner and the satisfying of certain demands for priority. Our illustration is from specimens col- lected by the author at Milburn, N. J. Cheilanthes Tomentosa. It is usually difficult for the young collector to identify the species of Cheilanthes. Some will consider them fully as difficult as the wood ferns. Clieilanthes tomentosa, however, is one that need not be mistaken. It has a general resemblance to C. vestita, but is taller, woollier 240 CHEILANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. '*M^ and three times pinnate. It is also of more southern distribution, extending to Mexico and the West Indies and barely reaching Virginia and Missouri on the north. Like most of its rela- tives it loves dry and exposed situations and is often found in places where it does not receive a drop of water for weeks or even months. The fronds are rather long and narrow, and dull green in colour. The primary and second- ary pinnae vary from ovate to lanceolate and are usually broadest at base. The ultimate pinnules are very small and roundish in out- line like little green beads. The terminal seg- ments are about twice as large as the others. The stipe is chestnut-brown but the colour is hidden under the dense coat of hairs. The sori are marginal and arranged in such a way as to appear to form a continuous line on the edges of each pinnule. In youth the edges are flattened over them in a pale green indusium, but later they push from under it and may be seen dividing the margin from the tuft of to- mentum in the centre of each pinnule. From its coat of tomentum, this species is some- times called, in the books, the woolly lip-fern. i//',^ ford excellent examples of the charac- tenstic veinuig of the fern tribe. The rootstock is found just at the surface of the earth; It is slender, widely creeping and branches freely, giving off numerous black, wiry roots. Fresh fronds are produced all summer and the little colonies of the plants ^•Qr'V^2,a,v,foi''"'^ I'gl^*^' open clumps. Where Jy-j.^C"'''^^'^' the blade joins the stipe, there is a sharp bend which causes the frond to hang downward until ex- panded. Nearly every frond is fertile. The sori are scattered along the outer margins and are covered with a rather conspicuous gray indusium formed by the reflexed and altered segments of the pinnules. It is said that this species and Cystopteris biilbifera were the first American ferns to be taken to England. Until the time of Linnaeus it was known as Adiantiim Canadeiisc. The present specific name is said to be de- rived from the branching rootstock, but another deriva- tion is given in an old English book which speaks of our plant as the " foot-shaped Canadian maiden hair." Some of the pinnules are certainly not very unlike the MAIDENHAIR FERN, Adianium pedatum. ' On moist shaded slopes and in low woods." CHEILANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. 245 human foot in outline. The name of maidenhair was originally applied to Adiaiitum Capillus- Veneris and is said to be in allusion to the slender black stalks. Some, however, would derive the name from the colour and appearance of the roots. Our plant has some repute as a pectoral and Kalm is authority for the statement that the Indians of eastern America commonly used it in all cases of difficult breath- ing. The fronds have also been much used as an ingredi- ent in " Syrup of Capillare," for compounding which the following recipe is given. Maidenhair Leaves, 5 oz. Liquorice root, peeled, 2 " Boiling water, 5 pints. Let stand six hours and then add Loaf sugar, 1 3 lbs. Orange water, i pint. The maidenhair is found from Canada to the northern portions of the Gulf States and as far west as Arkansas. It is also found in Utah, California and northward near the coast to Alaska, and again appears in eastern Asia. In British Columbia a form is found with deeply cleft, longer stalked and more erect pinnules. It is not ,, , J r ,1 , , ATRUITING PINNULE. very well known and further study may result in its being made a separate species. At present it is called the variety rangiferinuni. Our plant takes readily to cultivation and may be propag'ated with- out any difficulty. If the branches of the rootstock are separated and planted by themselves, they will soon form strong clumps. 246 CHEILANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. The Venus-hair Fern. The Venus-hair fern {Adiantum Capillus-Veiieris) encir- cles the world in the Tropics and in both Hemispheres spreads toward the Poles as far as it finds suitable dwell- ing places. In the Old World it extends to Great Britain and in North America to Virginia, Kentucky, Mis- souri, Utah and California. It de- lights in moist and sheltered situa- tions and in the northern parts of its range should be looked for in ra- vines. It may be distinguished from the common maidenhair by its dark, wiry undivided rachis and fan- shaped, drooping pinnules on ex- ceedingly slender black stalks. The rachis gives off alternate branches and the pinnules are also arranged alternately. The blade is usually twice pinnate below and simply pin- nate above and the pinnules are not one sided as in many species of Adi- antum. Their outer edges are rounded, rather deeply notched and serrate. There is great variation in the form of both pinnules and fronds. When the pinnules die, they drop from the rachis which remains erect for some time longer. Nearly every frond is fertile. The sori scarcely differ from \\\q'!,& oi A. pcdatttni. Specimens have been reported in which the spores gave rise to young plants while still on the frond. VEMUS-HAIR p-ERN. Adiantuvi Capillus-Veneris, CHEILANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. 247 All sorts of medicinal virtues were once ascribed to this plant, but at present, little or no use is made of it. It is slightly astringent and is the species originally used in making " Syrup of Capillare." In 1898 a large colony of this fern was found along a stream fed by hot sjtrings, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Its occurrence in this place, at so great a dis- tance beyond its ordinary limits, is no doubt to be ex- plained by the fact that the warmth of the water modifies the temperature of the region in winter rendering it similar to that which prevails in the stations further south. The species has also been reported from New York and Pennsylvania, but the evidence is hardly con- vincing. The name Adiantuin is from two Greek words mean- ing without wet, and has reference to the fact that the fronds of most of the species are so smooth that water runs off without wetting them. There are about seventy- five species, mostly in the American Tropics. Some of these are among the handsomest of ferns, and no species in the genus is unattractive. THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS. And there the full broad river runs. And many a fount wells fresh and sweet. To cool thee when the mid -day suns Have made thee faint beneath their heat." — Bryant. THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS. OTANISTS have always been divided in opinion as to whether the ostrich and sen- sitive ferns should be con- sidered members of the same family. They have an un- mistakable likeness and must be considered as cousins if not of nearer kinship. The princi- pal differences are that one has a running rootstock, scattered fronds and anastomosing veins, while the other has an upright rootstock, fronds in crowns and free veins. The first is the type of Onoclea, the second of Struthiopteris. Onoclea is named from two Greek words meaning a vessel and to close, in allusion to the berry-like, fruiting pinnules. Struthiopteris is also from the Greek and may be literally translated as ostrich fern. As modern botanists view them, there is but a single species of Onoclea in the world, and but two of Struthiopteris. The Sensitive Fern. The sensitive fern [Onoclea sensibilis) is one of our most abundant species. Wherever the soil is moist, in woodland, thicket and the open field, it is likely to occur, 254 THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS. while it forms a more or less continuous border to all our streams and ponds. Very few of those who pass it or wade through it have any idea that it is a fern, for its broad coarse fronds are far from the common conceptio'n of fern leaves. The rootstock is as thick as a pencil and creeps just at the surface of the earth, frequently branching. In addi- tion to the fronds, it produces, here and there, append- ages exactly like the bases of the stipes but which end in a point and never become more than two or three inches long. The fronds are produced all summer but the young crosiers are most noticeable early in the year when they push up in such numbers in all low grounds as to make their tawny pink hue the prevailing one for some days. Seen in the mass, tlie young fronds can scarcely be called beautiful, but a single one taken just as the pin- nules are unrolling and viewed from base to apex in the plane of the blade will show such a succession of scrolls and arches as to suggest a miniature of the interior of some old cathedral. When the sterile fronds are fully spread they are, to most eyes, coarse and ugly. They are ovate in outline, pinnate below and pinnatifid toward the apex. The pinnules are linear-lanceolate, the upper nearly entire, the lower sinuate-toothed or lobed. The fronds are borne on long stipes and often reach a height of more than two feet. About midsummer the fertile fronds ap- pear. They are shorter than the sterile, bipinnate, and the pinnules resemble rows of little green berries strung along the midribs. Many suppose each berry to be a sort of sporecase like those of the rattlesnake fern, but it is easy to see that they are simply closely rolled pinnules enclosing the sori. Each sorus has an indusium but it i SENSITIVE FERN, Onoclea sensibilis. Youtig- Fronds. THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS. 255 is so very fugacious tliat it is seldom seen by any save the inquisitive scientist. It is liood-shaped, somewhat like that of Cystopteris, and attached to the frond' on the inferior side of the " blackberry-like " sorus. It can be found only in the youngest fronds. Part of a fertile frond is shown in the Key. At the approach of cold weather, the sterile fronds wither but the fertile remain erect all winter. The latter are most noticeable against a background of snow-clad earth, but would never be taken for a fern by the ordi- nary rambler. The berries remain tightly closed through the winter and the sporecases commonly do not release their spores until spring. Even then the fronds do not fall. It is easy to find plants with fertile fronds of three seasons still in place. The spores promptly germinate in spring. The origin of the common name is involved in some obscurity, and several ingenious theories have been ad- vanced to account for it. One suggests that it has refer- ence to the fact that the frond withers so soon after being cut ; another that it is because the fronds are sensitive to autumn frosts. Eaton says that the young fronds are oc- casionally cut down by late spring frosts, but this is not a common occurrence. There is still another theory which accounts for the name by the assumption that the grow- ing fronds wither if touched by the human hand, but withstand the touch of other bodies. The German botanist, Sprengel, is quoted as having proved this by numerous experiments, and in Britten's " European Ferns " we read that " the barren fronds are so thin and delicate in texture that they will wither, even when grow- ing, if drawn once or twice through the hand." Those who are acquainted with our plant, will no doubt wonder 2S6 THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS. where this author obtained his specimens. In the fourth edition of Amos Eaton's botany published in 1834, the author says : " The leaflets slowly ap- proach each other on squeezing the stem in the hand." Many observers will testify that they cannot be made to do so in these degenerate days. The species is some- times called oak fern or oak-leaved fern. In some ancient botanical works it is mentioned as " dragon's bridges," though for what reason, no one seems to know. The sensitive fern is abundant in nearly all the territory from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and west to the Mississippi. Scattered colonies occur as far west as Wyoming, and the same species is again noticed in Japan. In Montana, this species, or one exceed- ingly like it, has been found as a fossil. Growing with normal fronds, there is often found a form half-way between fertile and sterile. It was once considered to be a permanent type and given the varietal name of obtusilobata, but it is now known to be due merely to the destruction of the early sterile fronds. It usually contains less leaf surface than the ordinary sterile frond and in cutting resembles the twice pinnate fertile one. Commonly it bears a few abortive sori, all of which show it to be a partially transformed fertile frond. Prof. Geo. F. Atkinson, who made extensive experiments with this plant, found that he was able to produce the variety at will, by , , o«»r/<-a«««* ,7/, simply cutting off the early sterile fronds. oitusilobata. ■.*" ■' ^•••k i. SENSITIVE FERN. Onoclea sensibilis. Fertile and Sterile Fronds. THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS. 257 "The Ostrich Fern. The ostrich fern {Struthiopteris Germanicd) is the tallest of eastern American ferns and by many regarded as the handsomest. It is at its best in the wet, sandy soil of a half-shaded island or river shore and in such situations puts up magnificent crowns of fronds that often reach a length of seven feet. In the northern United States, there are many jungle-like thickets of this species in which a man of ordinary height may stand and be com- pletely hidden. The rootstock is thick and erect, usually projecting slightly above the surface. During winter the crosiers are covered with an abundance of coarse brown scales, but when they begin to grow these are soon thrown off. They develop very rapidly, offen lengthening six inches in a day. The fronds rise in circular crowns and spread gracefully outward in shuttlecock fashion after the manner of the cinnamon fern, which this species, in general appearance, greatly resembles. They are ob- lanceolate, broadest toward the apex and gradually re- duced downward to the short stipes. They are pinnate with very many pairs of long narrow pinnse which are again cut nearly to the midrib into close, short, slightly falcate, acute or obtuse lobes. The lowest pinnae are often less than an inch long, while the longest often exceed eight inches. The early fronds are always sterile. About July the fertile fronds come up in their midst. They are quite short, stiff and simply pinnate, and look so much like stunted sterile fronds as frequently to deceive the am- ateur cultivator. The fruiting pinnae are necklace-like 258 THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS. in shape, and upon examination prove to be much like the sterile pinnse, except that each edge is tightly rolled over to the midrib, forming two parallel chambers in which the sori are enclosed. Cut across the end, a pinna reminds one of two tiny gun-barrels and the likeness is heightened by the black, powdery spores that sift out. The books are either silent in regard to the indusium, or assert that this species has none, but according to Eaton there is a scale-like indusium at the base of each sorus. This is only to be seen in very young fronds and resembles that of Onoclea. Fronds intermediate be- tween fertile and sterile are occasionally found, and may be produced artificially by cutting off the sterile fronds early in the year. The sterile fronds die in au- tumn but the fertile, like those of the sensitive fern, survive the winter, although to all appearances dead. The spores are not released until spring, when they readily germinate. Since they contain chlorophyll they are not able to retain their vitality for much longer than a year. When the ostrich fern gains a foothold in a locality, it spreads rapidly by means of stolons. These are de- veloped from adventitious buds on the rootstock at the bases of the old fronds. Large numbers of them remain dormant but a few usually develop into slender runners that wander a-bout in the earth and finally throw up a new crown of fronds from the tip at some distance from the parent plant. The common name is due to an imagined likeness of the fronds to an ostrich feather. It is sometimes known as ostrich-feather fern. In Europe it has been called two-ranked fern because its fertile fronds have two rows of fruiting pinnules. The name of shuttlecock fern is " In the wet, sandy soil of a half-shaded island." THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS. 259 most appropriate, but is seldom heard. A section of the fertile frond is shown in the Key. The ostrich fern is a lover of the North. In America its southern hmit is the state of Virginia. From thence it ranges to Alaska becoming common in most of the northern states. In Europe it frequently grows within the Arctic Circle. It may occasionally be found in swamps, but is most likely to grow along the larger streams or on the borders of lakes and ponds. It is highly valued for decorative planting out of doors. In some of the northern cities, venders go about the streets in spring with wagon loads of it, which they are able to dispose of at good prices. In the general mutation of fern names this species has not escaped. If placed with Onoclea, as it frequently has been, it would be 0. Strut kiopter is. Recent writers incline to place it in still another genus as Mat- teuccia Struthiopteris. The American plant differs slightly from that of Europe, having taller fronds and longer stipes, and is frequently called the variety Penn- sylvanica, especially in the Old World. If the name Matteuccia should ultimately prevail, it is not unlikely that our plant may yet be known as Matteuccia Struthi- opteris Pennsylvanica. The genus has been known as Struthiopteris for so long, however, that it will probably remain unchanged. OSTRICH FERN. Struthiopteris Germanica, Fertile and Sterile Fronds. THE WALKING FERN AND THE HART'S-TONGUE. " The thick and rich-looking yet leathery texture of the fronds of the Hart's-tongue, with their deep and shining green colour, make them look exquisitely cool and refreshing, rising up out of the dark hedge-bank as they do, in thick and clustering tufts — sometimes almost erect, at other times gracefully bending backward their shin- ing leathery tips. . . . You will find it growing almost everywhere in Devonshire : on the tops and at the sides of walls ; hanging from old ruins ; growing out from the sides of cliffs and deserted quarries ; and dropping down its long green fronds into the cool and limpid water of roadside wells hewn out of the rock."- — Francis. THE WALKING FERN AND HARTS- TONGUE. NE of the good points about the study of ferns is that the subject can never be quite exhausted. There is always something more to be learned or a species yet un- discovered in the locality to search for. Some plants have the faculty of eluding one for years and then appearing in some out-of-the-vifay nook, while others must be made the objects of special expeditions if one vifould obtain them. In the latter category may be placed the two plants to be discussed in this chapter. In addition to being uncommon or rare, their peculiar forms make them easily overlooked unless the collector has once seen them growing. The TFalMng Fern. The very name of the walking fern {Camptosorus rhiz- ophylliis) sounds sufificiently attractive to arouse interest in those who ordinarily are not fern collectors. Com- paratively few, however, have seen it growing and the majority are inclined to hold curious ideas regarding it. One collector told the writer that he fully expected to 266 THE WALKING FERN AND HART'S-TONGUE. see the plant moving about, when he went to collect it for the first time. The odd little fronds, spreading about in circular tufts from a small black rootstock, and seldom rising far above the surface of the mossy rock, present a picture that will linger long in the memory. At base the fronds are heartshaped or eared, and above taper to a long slender tip. Sometimes they may reach a length of four- teen inches, though they perhaps never appear as long to the eye as they really are, owing to its failure to make proper allowance for the prolonged apex. The sporan- gia are borne in oblong or linear sori, mostly on the broad basal portion of the frond. Some of these are parallel to the midrib and others oblique to it. Those near the midrib are usually single but the outer ones are likely to be double or to connect with others at the ends, forming curious patterns, apparently without .order, but which upon examination are found to follow the veins. The early fronds are short, blunt-ended and usually do not bear sori, being devoted to purely vegetative functions. The most interesting characteristic of this species is found in the way in which its fronds arch over until they touch the earth where they root and form new plants. Some of our other ferns occasionally produce plants in this way, but in this species it is a settled habit. The new plants grow up, repeating the process of walking and soon the original plant is surrounded by quite a colony of its offspring produced without the intervention of spores. The connections between them are slow to die, and it is not unusual to find three or four generations linked to- gether. Occasionally, also, the basal lobes are elongated like the tips and may produce plants in the same way. The walking fern ranges from the far north to Georgia 'It carpets the face of the gray rock w aa ilo jnaciiiy ironds.' THE WALKING FERN AND HART'S-TONGUE. 267 and Kansas. It was once regarded as being closely restricted to limestone rocks, and, indeed, shows a preference for them, growing where the soil is soft and thin and its roots can come in contact with the stone ; but it is now known to grow also upon sandstone, shale, gneiss, quartzite and granite. The books unite in calling it a rare species but this is due more to its local distribu- tion than to any lack of the plants themselves. It certainly is not rare with the rareness of the hart's-tongue or Asplenium ebenoides or even the lit- tle curly grass. On the dryish ledges of shaded cliffs it frequently spreads a carpet of its interlacing fronds that may be pulled off in large sheets. Its fondness for horizontal shelves and the tops of rocks is especially noticeable. Miss S. F. Price notes in the Fern Bul- letin that in parts of Kentucky the plant is called wall link. The leathery, dark green and glossy fronds endure the winter unharmed and last for some time the following year. There is some belief that they may occa- sionally last through two winters. On ac- count of its interesting features, it is a desirable plant for the fern garden. It will grow and thrive in any garden soil if given deep shade, but it does much better in the chinks of a rockery made of lime- stone or other calcareous material. A FRUITING FROND. 268 THE WALKING FERN AND HART'S-TONGUE. A form called intermedia has been described from Iowa. In this the fronds are without ears at base and taper to the stipes, in which characteristic they resemble the Old World species, C. Sibericus. This latter inhabits northern Asia and Japan and is the only other species in the genus. The word Camptosorus is derived from two Greek words meaning bent and fruit-dot and refers to the lines of crooked sori. The Hari' s- Tongue. There can be no difference of opinion as to which is the rarest fern in Northeastern America. This distinc- tion is well known to belong to the hart's-tongue [Scolopen- driitm vulgare). So far as known, two limited regions in the United States and two in Canada are the only ones in the Western Hemisphere in which it grows. On the other side of the world, however, it is abundant and Shirley Hibberd includes it among the four commonest species about London. It was first discovered in America near Syracuse, N. Y., by Frederick Pursh who writes that he found it " In shady woods in the western part of New York, on the planta- tion of J. Geddes, Esq." It was afterward found in greater abundance at Chittenango Falls and this place is frequently named as the original station, but the re- cent rediscovery of Pursh's station for it has set the question at rest. At Chittenango Falls, the plants are plentiful, growing on the talus at the base of a limestone cliff, where the atmosphere is constantly moist from the spray of a nearby waterfall. The fronds spread outward in a circular tuft and are about half erect. They are dark, glossy green above, somewhat lighter beneath, and very thick and leathery. THE WALKING FERN AND HART'S-TONGUE. 269 The stipes are short and the entire frond seldom reaches a length of more than twenty inches or a width of two inches. It is narrowest at the eared and heart- shaped base and gradually widens to be- yond the middle, and then tapers to the acute apex. The margins are entire but with such an abundance of tissue that they present a ruffled appearance in the living frond. Much of this appearance is lost when it is pressed for the herbarium. The spores are not ripe until Sep- tember. They are borne towards the apical half of the frond in long lines reaching nearly from midvein to margin. Occasionally the sori reach quite to the margin and over on the upper side. They are in pairs, one on each side of the vein and opening toward it. The fruit is very abundant and the fertile fronds are noticeably heavier than sterile ones. This species is noted for the frequency with which it produces forked fronds. It is as if it has exerted its utmost to be fine and delicate like the rest. At Chit- tenango Falls we found plenty of such fronds without searching for them. One was forked seven times. The fronds also occasionally root at the tip and Lowe mentions a plant found wild in Ireland which had the upper surface scattered over with young plants. The hart's-tongue has several common m i*^ HARTS-TONGUE. Scolopendrium vulgare. 270 THE WALKING FERN AND HART'S-TONGUE. names. Hound's-tongueand seaweed fern have reference to the shape of the fronds, while caterpillar fern and but- tonholes are doubtless in allusion to the appearance of the sori. When the sporangia are just pushing aside the white indusia their likeness to buttonholes is not difficult to imagine. The plant once had some repute as a remedy for burns and eruptions of the skin and was called burnt-weed. Britten says it is known as Christ's hair in the Isle of Guernsey in allusion to the black vas- cular bundles in the stipe. The plant is mucilaginous to the taste and in France it is said to be infused with milk for the sake of the slight but pleasant flavour v/hich it imparts to it. The hart's-tongue has been reported from several stations in the vicinity of Syracuse, N. Y., and from one locality in Tennessee. It is also found in New Brunswick and at Owen's Sound in Canada. In the latter locality it is said to be fairly abundant. In the Old World it is found in Europe, the Azores, Japan, etc. The plant is easily cultivated and forms fine clumps which afford a pleasing contrast to the divided foliage of other ferns. Single plants have been known to have as many as thirty fronds at one time. Under cultivation it produces numerous varieties. Nearly a hundred are known. According to Moore, the fleshy bases of the stipes per- sist for some time after the fronds have perished. If these are cut apart retaining a part of the "rind of the caudex " on each, and planted like root-cuttings, they will soon bud from the cut edges and form new plants. Our illustration was made from specimens collected at Chittenango Falls by the author. Scolopendrium is from the Greek for centipede, in allusion to the parallel lines of sporangia, which suggest I m > en O THE WALKING FERN AND HART'S-TONGUE. 271 the legs of that animal. There are about half a dozen species. The scientific name of our plant has been frequently changed. It was long known as Scolopen- driuni vulgare or S. officinaruin; later it was called .S. Scolopendrium, and still later Phyllitis Scolopendrium. Those who are interested in the plant rather than its name will prefer to call it by its best known title, as we have done, until the makers of nomenclature decide upon a name that shall not be changed; THE CURLY GRASS AND THE CLIMBING FERN. " Here are old trees, tall oaks and gnarled pines, That stream with gray-green mosses : here the ground Was never trenched by spade, and flowers spring up Unsown and die ungathered. It is sweet To linger here among the flitting birds. And leaping squirrels, wandering brooks and winds That shake the leaves, and scatter, as they pass A fragrance from the cedars, thickly set With pale blue berries." — Bryant. THE CURLY GRASS AND THE CLIMBING FERN. EOPLE who are not fern students can usually distinguish between ferns ''»^,^ and flowering plants although they do •Js sometimes include the feathery leaves of certain flowering plants, like yarrow, among the former. In the case of the two species here mentioned, however, it would not be surprising if they did not recognise them as ferns. There is very little that is fern-like in their forms, and scientists, drawing a nice distinction from the structure of their sporangia, place them in a separate family known as the Schizseacese. The Curly Grass. To see the curly grass (SchizcBa pusilla) in its haunts, one must visit the southern part of New Jersey where it is fairly common on the border of many sandy cranberry bogs. For a long time this small state con- tained all the known stations for the plant, and it is still the only section in which it is plentiful. Although never found far from the sea-coast, this is a 278 THE CURLY GRASS AND THE CLIMBING FERN. plant of the fresh water swamps and bogs. When full grown it seldom attains a height of si.v inches and the slender fronds present so little surface for the eye to rest upon that it is one of the most difficult of our ferns to distinguish from its surroundings. It is only in mid- summer or later, when the spikes show a glint of brown, or in a mild winter when the absence of vegetation renders the sterile fronds conspicuous, that one can search for the plant with much hope of finding it. Even then one must often get down on hands and knees to see it. The sterile fronds are an inch or more long and scarcely wider than pencil marks. They are twisted or half coiled in loose open spirals and spread about as if trying to lay hold upon the vegetation near. In July the fertile fronds push up on thread-like stems. They are quite as inconspicuous and have no greater likeness to fern leaves than have the sterile ones. At the top of the stipe are four or more pairs of finger-like pinna: enclosing the sporangia. The lowest pair are longest and all are set closely together in a little brown spike that resembles a tiny fist. The fruiting fronds remain on the plant during the winter and occasionally until the middle of the following year. Possibly they do not release their spores until spring. Sometime after the curly grass was discovered in New Jersey, a few plants were found in Nova Scotia by Mrs. E. G. Britton and still later, in 1896, specimens were col- lected in Newfoundland by Rev. Arthur Waghorne. This is not the first record for Newfoundland, however. In the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, are specimens col- lected long ago by De la Pylaie and labelled Newfound- land, but until the fern was rediscovered there, they were Schizcea pusilla. THE CURLY GRASS AND THE CLIMBING FERN. 279 believed to have come from New Jersey and to have been wrongly labelled. In parts of New Jersey, this plant may be said to be fairly common, and new stations for it are frequently discovered. It delights to grow in wet open places in the midst of sphagnum and cranberry vines, v/ithtLj/co- podiuin Carolinianum, L. alopecuroides and the sundews for companions. Usually there are cedar swamps in the vicinity. When all these platnts are present, one may have great hope of finding the fern. New stations for it have been predicted from a distance by means of its com- panion plants, and the prediction subsequeintly verified by the finding of specimens. New stations, however, are most frequently found by accident. The one at Tom's River is said to have been discovered by a botanist who, in placing his open press on the ground to put in some plants, found Schiscsa peeping up between the sides. Besides the name of curly grass given it from the form of the sterile fronds, it is sometimes called one-sided fern because the fertile pinnjE appear to be all on one side of the rachis. Lawson, in his " Fern Flora of Canada," gives it the fanciful name of Atlantis fern, but this, like most manufactured names, has not come into general use. At present, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are the only places outside of New Jersey in which this fern is known to grow, if indeed, it is now found in Nova Scotia at all. The station, which was a small one, is said to have been destroyed by fire. In the vast stretches of country between Newfoundland and New Jersey there are bogs with many variations of soil and temperature, some of which should be suitable to its growth, and it is not unlikely that our plant may yet be found at other 2So THE CURLY GRASS AND THE CLIMBING FERN. points. It would scarcely surprise botanists to hear that it had been found on Long Island where there are many spots that exactly duplicate its favourite New Jersey bogs. The name of the genus is from the Greek, meaning to split. It seems unmeaning enough, applied to our species, but the fact that foreign members of the group have fronds that appear as if divided to the midrib with some sharp instrument makes the name very appropriate. There are fifteen species in warmer climes. Our species has the distinction of growing nearer to the Pole than any other member of the family. Our illustration is made from a specimen collected by the author at Forked River, N. J. The Climbing Fern. The slender twining fronds of the climbing fern (Lygodiuni palmatiiiii) may seem an anomaly among ferns to American collectors, but in warmer regions climbing ferns are common and are found in several different families. The family to which our plant belongs, how- ever, is the true climbing fern family, for all of its twenty- five or more species are climbing. Indeed, the generic name means flexible and alludes to the scandent stems. One species in the West Indies sometimes reaches a length of thirty or forty feet, having perhaps the longest frond of any living fern. The fronds of our species seldom exceed a length of three feet. They are scattered on a slender, cordlike rootstock that creeps along just beneath the surface of the earth. The stipe is dark, shining brown and con- tinues through the frond as the rachis. A few inches above the soil, it begins to give off short, alternate '/,;■ . I'-i- a 'A CLIMBING FERN. Lygodium palmatum. THE CURLY GRASS AND THE CLIMBING FERN. 281 A FRUITING PINNA. branches, each of which is forked with a pair of frondlets at the end. These are about semi- circular in outline, and cut halfway or more toward the base into from five to seven ovate or oblong leaflets. The basal ones are eared on the lower side making each frondlet somewhat heart- shaped at base. In fertile fronds, the frondlets toward the apex are suddenly reduced to a panicle of many short nar- row segments, but with a general re- semblance in their form to the sterile ones. On the underside of these segments, there is a double row of alternating, scale-like indusia each covering an egg-shaped sporecase. After the spores are ripe, the fertile portion dies, but the sterile frondlets remain green through the winter and until the young crosiers begin to develop in spring. In autumn the fronds are offered for sale for decorative purposes in many of our southern and eastern cities, and the great demand for it has nearly caused its extinction in some sections. In Connecticut the legislature once passed a law imposing a penalty upon any person who should uproot or carry away from the land of another, specimens of this fern. This is probably the only fern thus distinguished. This species is also called creeping fern, snake-tongue fern, Hartford fern and Windsor fern, the last two names referring to localities where it was once common. It ranges from Massachusetts to Florida, mostly near the coast, and has also been found in Kentucky and Ten- nessee, but not in the intervening territory. It grows in low thickets and on the banks of streams, twining over 2X2 THE CURLY GRASS AND THE CLIMBING FERN. weeds and small bushes. Possibly it may be found at a few more stations inland, but it is likely to remain rare in such places. In cultivation it forms a most attractive feature of the fernery, whether out of doors or in the house. BORDER SPECIES. i-f '•| con. e fi-m haunt.- o^'cooi. and fi.-rr>, A.T»"i sparkle out ann'ngf the («-»•«, X«» Ijickei- dosvn »va.lley." BORDER SPECIES. ESIDES the truly representative spe- cies of eastern America, there are a few whose centre of distribution is beyond our limits but which stray far enough over the borders to make some mention of them desirable. T'he Rock Brake. One of the most interesting of the border species is the rock brake {Cryptogramma -acrostichoides) which inhabits the far North. In the East it reaches to Labrador and the country north of Lakes Huron and Superior, but in the West it is found in Colorado and California and extends from thence to the Arctic Circle. It is an inhabitant of rocky places, growing in the chinks between the stones, often in dense patches. The plants are usually from six to eight inches high. The stipes of the fertile fronds are about twice as long as those of the sterile, so that there are usually two tiers of fronds. Both are ovate-oblong in shape, the sterile rather thin and twice pinnate with ovate pinnae and toothed or lobed rounded pinnules, while the fertile are three times pinnate, with long, narrow, podlike pin- nules, due to the edges being rolled back to the midrib. The sporangia are borne in roundish sori near the mar- gins' which are slightly altered to form the indusium. 286 BORDER SPECIES. At maturity the pinnules partly unroll and become more less flattened. Specimens intergrading between fer- tile and sterile fronds are someti-fnes found. There are but two species of Crypto- gramtna in the world. The second species inhabits the northern and elevated portions of the Eastern Hemisphere. The two are very much alike and our species was formerly con- sidered a variety of the other. A few botanists now incline to add the slender cliff brake to this genus, which shows among other things, that the lines dividing certain genera are very slight indeed. The generic name is in allusion to the way in which the plant fruits. From the appearance of the sterile fronds it is frequently called the parsley fern. Nothoicena dealbata. Our single representative of the genus Notlwlana extends no further east than Missouri and Kansas where it grows in the clefts of calcareous rocks. South- ward it extends to Texas and Arizona. Beyond its range, westward, there are up- wards of a dozen species and of the thirty or more that compose the genus, a large majority are American. In the south- western part of its range our plant meets ROCK BRAKE. ., . nr ■ r i • i ■-. Cryptogrnmma another species, N. nivca, of which it was once considered to be a variety. The fronds seldom reach a length of six inches and BORDER SPECIES. 287 grow in tufts from a small rootstock. They have dark, shining stipes and rachids and are three or four times pinnate. The blades are triangular ovate and the pinnae ovate and mostly stalked. The ultimate pinnules are very small and covered beneath with a whitish waxy powder. This powder or farina is very common in other species of this group and ap- pears to serve as a protection from too great an evaporation of moisture, since the species pos- sessing it are all inhabitants of dry and sunny places. The sporangia are without indusium and are borne in lines near the margins of the pinnules by which they are commonly half enfolded when young. The generic name Notholcsna is derived from two words mean- ing a spurious cloak. By some this is be- lieved to refer to the rudimentary indusia; by others to the woolly covering of the original species. From the generic name is derived the common name of cloak fern, occasionally applied to this species. An illustration of a fruited pinnule will be found in the Key. The Killarney Fern. The group to which the Killarney fern {Trichomanes radicans) belongs, dif- fers from our common ferns in their manner of fruiting as well as in a few other matters, and botanists have there- fore placed them in a separate order as killarney fern. . t -r 1 11 1 - 1 J Trichovzaties radicans. the Hymenophyllaceae, equal m rank to 288 BORDER SPECIES. the polypody, osmunda, adder's-tongue and climbing fern families. Our species is one of the most widely distributed of its tribe. It is found in the Tropics of both Hemispheres and in many parts of the Temperate Zones. In America it grows from Kentucky to Florida, inhabiting wet rocks. The rootstock is slender, cordlike, covered with dark hairlike scales and often creeps extensively. In the warmer parts of the earth it ascends trees to heights of several feet. There is considerable variation in the fronds from different regions. In specimens from Ken- tucky and Alabama the blades are long and narrow and an inch or more wide at base, tapering upward to the slender apex. They are pinnate, with ovate, deeply cut, blunt pinnae or are often twice pinnate in the lower part. The lobes of the pinnules are fre- quently toothed, especially at the ends, and the rachis is green and nar- rowly winged. The sori are borne on the lobes of the pinnules, usually on the outer basal lobe. The sporangia are clus- tered around a slender bristle which is a prolongation of a vein and are surrounded by a vase-like, slightly two-lipped involucre. In old fronds the bristles become long exserted and quite conspicuous and have obtained for the plant the name of bristle fern. It is called Killarney fern from the fact that it is found about the Lakes of Killarney. All the species belonging to the Hymenophyllacea; have very thin and delicate fronds and are commonly called filmy ferns. Frequently the blades consist of a single layer of cells. Although so delicate, the fronds A FRUITING PINNULE. BORDER SPECIES. 289 of our species last for several years, and commonly do not fruit until more than a year old. Instead of produc- ing fresh sori yearly, the bristles simply elongate and bear new crops of sporangia at their bases. In the northern parts of its range the Killarney fern is usually found beneath overhanging ledges where there is unfailing moisture. Our illustration is from specimens collected at Havanna, Alabama, by Prof. Underwood. Trichomanes Petersii. This, the most diminutive of North American ferns, is found only in a small area in northern Alabama where it grows on the sides of dripping sandstone cliffs. It is so small that a silver quarter of a dollar will cover a whole colony. The rootstock is creeping, very small and threadlike, and the fronds, on the slenderest of stipes, seldom grow to be three-quarters of an inch long. They are about obovate with usually entire margins. The sori are borne on the apex of the fronds and surrounded by a slightly two-lipped involucre. The bristle-like re- ceptacle is not exserted as in radicans. Our illustra- tion is from specimens collected by Prof. Underwood. There are nearly two hun- dred species of filmy ferns in the world about evenly divided between the two Trichomanes Petersii. g e H e i; a Trtckomanes and Natural size. _._. , . 77 )fl«<« cally ; rootstock creeping; fronds very delicate often but one cell thick. G ENUS — TricJwmanes. CONCERNING NOMENCLATURE. ■ 295 POLYPODIACE/E. Sporangia stalked, borne on the back or margin of the frond, opening transversely ; ^ ^s ring vertical and elastic ; rootstock short J J or extensively creeping ; fronds scattered ^^^ .^w., or clustered ; prothallia green, not subter- Poi^rHy"" ranean. Tribes and Genera. Tribe I. — Polypodies. Gf.nus. Polypodium. Tribe II. — Grammitides. Genus. Notholcena. Tribe III.— Pterides. Genera. Adiaiihun, Pteris, Chei- lanthes, Pellcea, Cryptogramnia. Tribe IV. — Blechnes. Genus. Woodwardia. Tribe V.— Asplenies. Genera. Asplenittm, Athyrium, Scolo- pendrium, Camptosorus. Tribe VI. — Aspidies. Genera. Phegopteris, Aspidium, Poly- stichum, Cystopteris, Onoclea, Struthiopieris. Tribe VII.— Woodsies. Genus. Woodsia. Tribe VIII. — Dicksonie^e. Genus. Bicksom'a. In the early days of botany, plants were named in a very loose and haphazard manner and several more or less descriptive words were usually combined to form the name of each species. These cumbersome titles were in common use until the time of Linnaeus, but that acute naturalist perceiving the advantage of shorter and more exact names originated a system of naming both animals and plants in which the name of each kind consists of but two words; the first or group name standing for the family and the second or individual name standing for the species. LinnEeus was not the first to have a clear conception of genera and species, nor yet the first to give a double 296 CONCERNING NOMENCLATURE. name to a plant, but since he was the first to recognise the utility of a binomial system of nomenclature, and to establish such a system upon a sound basis, botanists have unanimously agreed to begin their nomenclature with the publication of his " Species Plantarum " in 1753. In this work was included every species of plant known to Linnaius and the names he there gave them are the ones botanists are supposed to use. One thing, how- ever, has conspired to make a large number of changes in these names not only permissible but necessary. This is the broad view of genera taken by Linnaeus. He placed all the ferns in a very small number of genera. Inhis genus Pofypodhun, for example, were placed species that are now found in Cystopteris, Aspidmin, Polysticliiiiii diWdi Phegoptcris. Subsequent study convinced botanists that many of these species were distinct enough to be placed in separate genera and this was accordingly done, the generic name, of course, having to be changed in the process. Unfortunately for nomenclature, these botanists, working remote from one another, frequently made different genera for the same species without knowing it. Thus the rusty Woodsia was known to Linnaeus as Acrostic/mm Ilvcnse, to Swartz as Polypodiiim Ilvense, to Michaux as Ncphrodiuni rjcfiduhtm and to Willdenow as Aspidmin rufidithim. Since we are sup- posed to always use the earliest name, it often becomes a nice question to decide which is first. Not only this, but different authors sometimes gave the same name to different plants unaware that it had been used before. Under these circumstances it has become necessary in exact science to add the name of the author to each com- bination of generic and specific names to show which species is meant. CONCERNING NOMENCLATURE. 297 While the generic name of a plant must necessarily be changed when it is transferred to another genus, there is no need of a change in the specific name unless the new genus should already possess a species of the same name. There cannot, of course, be two species of the same name in any genus. It has frequently hap- pened, however, that botanists in transferring species have assumed the right to make new specific names. These names some botanists would discard for the oldest specific names without regard to the circumstances under which they were given, but there is a large body of students who look upon a plant as not named until it is placed in the right genus and hold that the first correct combination of generic and specific names is the proper name for the plant no matter by what other specific names it has been known. The name of the botanist who made the correct combination is then written after it. This is essentially the system that has been adopted in the nomenclature of the Check-List following the Keys to the Species in this volume. When a plant originally described in one genus is transferred to another, it is the practice of many bota- ists to place in parenthesis after the specific name, the authority for that name, and to follow it with the name of the botanist who made the correct combination. Thus in the case of the rusty woodsia which is now cited as Woodsia Ilvensis (L.) R. Br., we are to under- stand that Linnaeus gave the specific name Ilvensis to the plant, and that Robert Brown was the first to make the correct combination of generic and specific names. The fern collector, interested in learning the names of his plants, pays little attention to the Orders. He is concerned with genera and species. Almost at once he 298 CONCERNING NOMENCLATURE. will be able to recognise the Order to which a given species belongs and later will seldom have to consult the Key for the genera, so noticeable do the family charac- teristics become. The advanced student can nearly always identify the growing fronds at a glance even when they are sterile, but the beginner will usually need good fruiting specimens to be sure of his species. It is best to collect the fertile fronds rather early, before the thin indusia have been disarranged or obliterated by the growing sporangia and if the sterile fronds differ notice- ably from the fertile, they too should be collected. The rootstock, when not too large, should also be included. With good specimens in hand, the beginner should be able to locate any of our ferns in the proper genus at once by carefully following the Key. To show its work- ings, let us suppose that the collector has found a speci- men with rounded sori covered by a reniform indusium, which he wislies to identify. Turning to the Key he will observe that it branches somewhat like the veins of the ferns themselves, dividing again and again and each time more closely limiting the groups of species. It is first divided into two sections numbered I. and II. In one of these his species will be found. The first sec- tion contains only ferns with " sporangia in spikes, pani- cles or berry-like structures." His plant does not answer this description so he passes on to section II. with " spo- rangia on the under side of the frond." In this section are two lesser divisions each marked with two stars (**). The first contains only species without indusium and is passed by for the section with " indusium present." Here he finds several divisions all marked 4 and after reading them he decides that his plant belongs to the one that does not have its indusia " formed by the margin of the CONCERNING NOMENCLATURE. 299 frond." From the groups under this division marked d the one with roundish sori is selected and the division under it, witli reniform indusium, shows his plant to be an Aspidiuin. Had the indusium been hood-shaped it would have been Cystopteris, if star-shaped, Woodsia, and so on. A simple magnifier costing from fifty cents to one dollar will be found exceedingly useful in making out the nature of the indusium and in examining other mi- nute parts of the ferns. The majority of our fern genera contain so few species that keys to them would be quite superfluous. For the larger genera. Keys have been given by which the species may be traced, just as the genera are in the large Key. Few who get really interested in ferns can resist the temptation to make an herbarium. Upon this point the author's papers on "The Making of an Herbarium " may be consulted with advantage. To the student of ferns the herbarium is indispensable. It gives him material for study at times when it cannot be procured afield, and remain's as a permanent record of much that would be lost if merely entrusted to the memory. In collecting for the herbarium or the* fern garden, care should be taken not to carry away all of any rare species. No one is held in greater contempt by the true student than the vandal who ruthlessly destroys a station for a rare plant. It is well to remember the old rule "Of a little, take a little, and leave a little." KEY TO THE GENERA. " If it were required to know the position of the fruit-dots or the character of the indusium nothing could be easier than to ascertain it : but if it is required that you be affected by ferns, that they amount to anything, signify anything to you, that they be another sacred scripture and revelation to you, helping to redeem your life, this end is not so easily accomplished." — Thoreau. KEY TO THE GENERA. The most prominent characteristics are italicised. SECTION I. (Sporangia in spikes, panicles or berry-like structures.) * FRUITING FRONDS WHOLLY FERTILE. ouiizaQa dtrutluopteru 1. Fruit in a one-sided spike ; plants very small ; sterile frond thread like^ Curly grass. SCHiz^A. 277 y 1, Fruit in a club-shaped, thrice pin- nate, woolly, brown spike ; fronds bipinnatifid ; fruit in early spring. Flowering fern. OSMUNDA. 25 Fruit in berry-like green structures, in a twice pinnate spike ; fronds broad and coarse ; rootstock creep- ing. Fruit in late summer. Sen- sitive fern. Onoclea. 253 Fruit in nearly cylindrical slightly notched pinnae ; fertile frood pin- nate ; sterile tall, bipinnatifid ; rootstock erect, fruit late. Ostrich fern. Struthiopteris. 257 3o6 KEY TO THE GENERA. Lvgod» " FRUITING FRONDS PARTLY STERILE. 2. Fcuiting portion z'« /Ae tniddle of the frond. Interrupted fern. OSMUNDA. 30 2. Fruiting portion at the apex of the frond. a. Sterile pinnae palmate ; rachis twining. Climbing fern. LyGODIUM. 280 OpViio^louunv a. Sterile pinnae pinnate ; fronds large ; fertile portion green, soon turning brown. Royal fern. OSMUNDA. 32 Fruiting portion apparently on a sep- arate stalk, above the sterile. 6. Sterile portion entire, thick ; fer- tile, a simple spike. Adder's tongue. Ophioglossum. 45 JBcitr^ciiium 6. Sterile portion more or less di- vided ; fruit in racemes 01 panicles occasionally in spikes. Moonwort : Grape ferns. BOTRYCHIUM. KEY TO THE GENERA. 307 SECTION 11. (Sporangia on the under side of the fronds.) ** INDUSIUM WANTING. Ph.g"p«™ Fruit-dot roundish, large; evergreen, rock species. Polypody. POLYPODIUM. 196 .3. Fruit-dots roundish, small ; fronds iriangtilar.. aetch ferns. Phegopteris. 200 Fruit in lines on the margins of the pinnules ; under surface of the fronds covered with 'whitish pow- der. . . NOTHOLyENA. 288 Trichomanes INDUSIUM PRESENT. Sort on the edge of the pinnule ; spor- angia sessile at the base of a long bristle-like receptacle and sur- rounded by 3l funnel form, slightly two-lipped involucre. Filmy fern. Trichomanes. 289 3o8 KEY TO THE GENERA. Sori near the margins. Indusia formed by the reflexed edges of the pinnules. c. Sporangia in a continuous \\nit\ fronds large, lernate ; indusium narrow. Bracken. Pteris. 69 0^=== r.-^ c. Sporangia in oblong or lunate sori, under a reflexed tooth of the pinnule ; indusium broad ; stipe and rachis dark and shining. iVlaiden- hair. . . Adiantum. c. Sporangia in roimdish masses. t Indusium broad, nearly coniitiu- oiis : fronds smooth ; stipes usually dark ; rock species. Cliff brakes. Pell^a, 242 as- ^3 C^nptogram t Indusium narroiuer, seldom con- tinuous, often inco7ispicuous , fronds usually hairy. Cheilanthes. 237 t Indusium of the reflexed edges, at first reaching nearly to the mid- rib, later nearly flat ; fruiting pin- nules, long, podlike ; sterile fronds broad ; stipes pale. Rock brakes. Cryptogramma. 2S7 KEY TO THE GENERA. 3°9 VToodwaiHlla Cyatoptcris 'ilji^^tl. \ Sori various ; indusium never formed of the margin of the frond. d. Sori and indusium oblong, par- allel with the midrib, somewhat sunken in the tissues of the frond ; indusium opening toward the mid- dle of the pinnules ; water-loving species. Chain ferns. WOODWARDIA. d. Sori and indusium roundish. t t Indusium peltate, fixed by the centre ; evergreen species in rocky woods. Shield ferns. POLYSTICHUM. 2l6 1 06 t t Indusium reniform or cordate, fixed by the sinus ; large, mostly woodland species. Wood ferns. ASPIDIUM. 117 1 1 Indusium hood-shaped, attached to the frond by its broad base,. below the sorus and arching over it, soon withering ; moisture loving species. Bladder ferns. Cystopteris. 209 1 1 Indusium star-shaped, of a few irregular broad or narrow seg- ments fixed beneath the sorus and enclosing it when young. Not easily seen in most species. Rock- loving plants usually somewhat chaffy. WOODSIA. 93 KEY TO THE GENERA. Qat^' Dickfiorua t t Indusium cup-shaped, fixed be- neath the sorus ; sori minute on a tooth of the ultimate pinnules ; fronds very finely cut. Boulder fern. . . . Dicksonia. 229 Campti cl. Sori and indusiura li7iear. 1 1 1 Several times longer ^ than wide, double ; indusia opening toward each other ; blade thick linear, entire. Hart's-tongue. SCOLOPENDRIUM. 268 1 1 1 Shorter, some parallel to the midrib, others oblique to it, often in pairs or joined at the ends, irregu- larly scattered on the underside of the frond ; blade tapering to a slender tip. Walking fern. Camptosorus. t 1 1 Short, straight mostly oblique to the midrib, indusium usually ri'arrow, opening toward the mid- rib , fronds lobed or variously divided. Spleenworts. ASPLENIUM. 1 1 1 Short ; indusium more or less curved on the side attached to the frond, and when young usually ex- tending across a vein , robust species. Lady fern. Athyrium. 265 155 180 KEY TO THE GENERA. 311 KEY TO THE GRAPE FERNS. (Botrychium) PAGE. Plant large, fruiting in spring, sterile portion much divided B. Virginianum. 42 Plant smaller. .....•• Fruiting in autumn, sterile portion long stalked, triangular B. obliquum. 54 Fruiting in summer ....•• Plant very fleshy, sterile portion with mostly lunate seg- ments. . . . . ■ B. Lunaria. 51 Plant less fleshy. ...... Sterile portion short stalked, above the middle of the stem. . . . B. matricari(Efolhini. 60 Sterile portion stalked usually below the middle of the stem. . . . . . B. simplex. 58 Sterile portion sessile near the top of the stem B. lanceolatum. 59 KEY TO THE WOOD FERNS. i^Aspidium.') Fronds pinnate, the pinnae pinnatifid. Blade thin, deciduous. Lower pinnae reduced to mere lobes A. Noveboracense. 120 Lower pinnae not or little reduced. Veins simple . . A. simidatiim. 123 Veins forked . . A. Thelypteris. 117 Blade rather thick, evergreen. Fronds small, narrow, rock species A. fragrciis. 147 Fronds large, two or more feet high. Lower pinnje, nearly triangular A. cristahtm. 139 Lower pinnae longer. Sori close to the margin. A. marginale. 135 Sori nearer the midvein. Frond lanceolate . A. filix-mas. 136 Frond ovate . A. Goldieanum. 137 Fronds twice pinnate with lower pinnules pinnatifid. A. Boottii. 141 Fronds nearly thrice pinnate . . A. spinnlosum. 143 312 KEY TO THE GENERA. KEY TO THE SPLEENWORTS. (Asplenium.) Fronds piflnatifid or pinnate below, apex long tapering. Blade thick, lobes rounded Blade thin, lobes pointed Fronds pinnate. Rachis green or straw-coloured. Less than six inches high. Taller, pinnae long pointed Rachis dark. Pinnules not eared at base Pinnules eared at base. Mostly opposite Mostly alternate Fronds more than once pinnate. Stipes green, blades inclining to triangular pinnules fan-shaped. A. ruta-muraria. Stipes darker below, blade longer and narrower . . . A. m07itanum. Stipes and rachis dark. A. Bradleyi. (See, also, Athyritim) A. pinnatifidum. 167 A. ebenoides. 169 A. viride. 158 A. angtistifotimii. 188 A. TricIiomanes_ 155 A. parvuliirn. 159 A. ebeneum. 160 162 164 166 KEY TO.CHEILANTHES. Fronds nearly smooth . . . C. Alabamensis. 242 Fronds hairy, twice pinnate . . . C. vesiita. 237 Fronds tomentose, thrice pinnate. Very small species, stipe nearly smooth. C. lanuginosa. lifi Larger, stipes tomentose . . C. tomentosa. 239 KEY TO WOODSIA. Stipe not jointed. .... ^V. obtusa. 96 Stipe obscurely jointed near the base. Frond more or less chaffy . . IV. Ilvensis. 93 Fronds smooth or smoothish. Pinna; ovate, deeply pinnatifid ]V. glabella. 99 Pinna; rounded ovate, 5-7 lobed. \]\ hyperborea. 98 v/ \^ CHECKLIST OF THE FERNS OF NORTHEASTERN AMERICA. (NORTH OF THE GULF STATES AND EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.) ADIANTUM L. 1. Adtantum Capillus- Veiieyis L. 2. Ailiantuni pedatuiii, L. ASPIDIUM Sw. 3. Aspidium Boottii Tuckerm. Dryopteris Boottii Underw. 4. Anpidiani cristatum Sw. Dryopteris cristata A. Gray. 5. Aspldliim, vHstutum Cli ntonianum D. C. Eaton. Dryopteris cristata Clijtioniana Underw. 6. Aspid'uim crintutiini sr- 3Iarginale Dav. 7. Aspidium Jifi.r-iiias Sw. Dryopteris filix-mas Schott. 8. Aspidium fragraiis Sw. Dryopteris fragrans Schott. Aspidium Goldieanum Hook. Dryopteris Goldieana A. Gray. Aspidium Goldieanum f. celsum Palmer. Aspidium marginale Sw. Dryopteris marginalis A. Gray. Aspiditun Noveboracense Sw. Dryopteris Nmeboracensis A. Gray. Aspidium JSfoveboracense f. fra(jran» Peck. Aspidiinii simnlatam, Dav. Dryopteris simithUa Dav. V 314 CHECKLIST OF THE FERNS. \\/ 13- Asindium sinnulosum Sw. Dryopterti spitiulosa Kuntze. 14. Asptdium sjnuulosuin intermedium D. C. Eaton. Dryopteris spinulosa intermedia Underw. 15. Aspldiiim, spinulosum dilatatum Hornemann. Dryopteris spinulosa dilatata Underw. 16. Aspidiuiii Thelypteris Sw. Dryopteris Thelypteris A. Gray. ASPLENIUM L. , 17. Asplenitim angustifoliam Michx. 18. Asplenitim Bradleijl D. C. Eaton. 19. Asplenimn ebeneum Ait. Asplenitim platyneiiron Oakes. Aspleniam ebeneum f. sevfiitum A. Gray. 20. Aspleiiiiini ebenoides Scott. 21. Asplenium monfanum Willd. 22. Asjileni am j^arrulum Mart. & Gal. 23. Aspleni inn liinnatifldii in Nutt, 24. Aspleiiium ruta-muraria L. / 25. Asjjleniiim Trichomanes L. Asplenium Tricliomanes f. incisam Moore. 26. Asplenimn viride Huds. ATHYRIUM Roth. I^x 27. Athijrium tlielypteroides Desv. Asplenium acrostichoides Sw. Asplenium thelypteroides Michx. y- 23. Athijrium filix-fwiniiia Roth. Asplenitim filix-fmmina Bernh. Asplenium filix-fcemina Michaiixii Mett. BOTRYCHIUM Sw. 29. Botrijihinm lanceolatum Angs. 30. Hotrijchiiim LniKiria Sw. V CHECKLIST OF THK FERNS. 3'5 31. Botrychluni mat Hcari(B folium A. Br. Botrychiiun neglectum Wood. 32. Sotrycliiuni tnatncarieefoUuia tenebrosum. Botrychium tenebrosum A. A. Eaton. 33. liotrychium obliquum Muhl. Botrychium ternatum obliquum Milde. Botrychium obliquum f. intermedium D. C. Eaton. 34. Botrychium, obliquum dissectum. Botrychium ternatum dissectum Milde. Botrychium dissectum Sprengel. 35. Botrychium simplex Hitchcock. 36. Botrychium VirqiiUanum Sw. Botrychium Virginianum f. gracile Pursh. CAMPTOSORUS Link. 37. Camptosorus rhizophyfliis Link. ^ Camptosorus rhimophyllus f, intermedins Arthur. CHEILANTFIES Sw. 38. Cheilanthes Alabamensis Kunze. 39. Cheilanthes lanuginosa Nutt. Cheilanthes Feci Moore. Cheilanthes gracilis Mett. 40. Cheilanthes vestita Sw. Cheilanthes lanosa Watt. 41. Cheilanthes tomentosa Link. CRYPTOGRAMMA R. Br. 42. Cryptogramma acrostichoides R. Br. CYSTOPTERIS Bernh. 43. Cystopteris bulbifera Bernh. Filix bulbifera Underw. 44. Cystopteris fragilis B&mh. Filix fragilis Underw. Cystopteris fragilis f, dentata Hook. 3i6 CHECKLIST OF THE FERNS. 45. Cystopterls iiiontana Berah. Filix montana Underw. DICKSONIA L'Her. 46. Dicksonta pilosiuscula Willd. Dicksonia punctilobula A. Gray. Dennstcedtia punctilobula Moore. Diclisoniu j)ilosini<<;ala f. cristuta Dav. LYGODIUM Sw. 47. Lygodium x>alniatu7n S^. NOTHOL^NA R. Br. 48. Nothol(Bna dealbata Kunze. Notholana ntvea dealbata Dav. ' ONOCLEA L. 49. Onoclea sensibilis L. Ouoclea sensibilis f. obtiisilobata Torr. OPHIOGLOSSUM L. 50. OpTiioglossuui viilgatum L. Ophioglossitni valgatinii f. arenarium. Ophioglossuin arenarium E. G. Britton. Ophioglossimi ralgatu»i f. Engelmanni. Ophioglossuin Eiigelmanni Prantl. OSMUNDA L. 51. Osmimda clnnamoinca L. Osmunda cinnamoiiieu f. frondosa A. Gray. 52. Osinutida Claijtonlana L. 53. Osmunda regalis L. PELL.EA Link. 54. PelUea atroi)nrpufva Link. 55. Pella'a densa Hook. 56. Pelhea gracilis Hook. Pellaa Stelleri Watt. Cryptogramma Stelleri PrantL CHECKLIST OF THE FERNS. 317 PHEGOPTERIS Fee. 57. Phegopteris Dryopterts Fee. Phegopteris Dryopteris Jtobertiana Dav. Phegopteris Calcarea Fee. 58. Phegopteris hexagonoptera Fee. 59. Phegopteris jiolypodioides Fee. Phegopteris Phegopteris Underw. POLYPODIUM L. 60. Polypodium iacunum Sw. Poly podium polypodioides H itchcock. 61. Polypodium vtdgare L. Polypodium vulgare f. Cambriciim Willd. Polypodium vulgare f. biserrnfinii Millspaugh. Polypodium vulgare oreophilum Maxon. Polypodium vulgare deceptum Maxon. POLYSTICHUM Roth. 62. Polystichuni acrostichoides Schott. Aspidium acrostichoides Sw. Dryopteris acrostichoides Kuntze. Polystiehmn acrostichoides f. incisiim Underw. Polystichnm acrostichoides f. crlspum Clule. 63. Pohjsttchum Braiinii Lawson. Aspidium aculeatum Braunii Doell. Dryopteris Braunii Underw. 64. Polystichuni lonchltis Roth. Aspidium lonchitis Sw. Dryopteris lonchitis Kuntze. PTERIS L. 65. Pteris aquilina L. Pteridium aquilinwn Kuhn. 66. Pteris aquilina psetidocaudata Clute. Pteris aquilina caudata Hook. 3i8 CHECKLIST OF THE FERNS. SCHIZ^A J. E. Smith. 67. Schizcea pusilla Pursh. SCOLOPENDRIUM Adans. 68. Scolopendriuni vulgare J. E. Smith. Scolopendrium Scolupendrium Karst. Phyllitis ScolopendriiuH Newman. STRUTHIOPTERIS Wilid. 69. Strnthiopteris Gevinanica Willd. Onoclea Striithiopieris Hoffm. Matteuccia Striithiopteris Todaro. Struthiopteris Germanica Pennsylvanica Lawson. TRICHOMANES L. . 70. Trichomanes PetersH A. Gray. 71. Trichomanes recdicans Sw. 72, 73 74- 75 76, 77 WOODSIA R. Br. Woodsia glaheUa R. Br. Woodsla hyperborea R. Br. Woodsza alpina S. F. Gray. Woodsia Ilvensis R. Br. Woodsia obtiisa Torr. Woodsia ohtiisa f. f/laitdnlosa D. C. Eaton. Woodsia Oregnna D. C. Eaton. Woodsia scopiUina D. C. Eaton. WOODWARDIA J. E. Smith. 78. Woodivardia angiistifolia J. E. Smith. Woodwardia areolata Moore. 79. Woodwardia Virginica J. E. Smith. CHECKLIST OF THE FERNS. 319 List of Abbreviations used in the Checklist of Ferns. A. Br. A. Bi-aun. Adans. M. Adanson. Ait. W. Aiton. Angs. J. Angstroem. Bernh. J. J. Bernhardi. R. Br. Robert Brown. Dav, Geo. E. Davenport. Desv. N. A. Desvaux. Hoffm. G. F. Hoffman. Hook. W. J. Hooker. Huds. W. Hudson. Karst. Karsten. Willd. L'Her. C. L. L'Heritier. L. Linnaeus. Mart. & Gal. Martens & Galeotti. Mett. G. Mettenius. Michx. A. Michaux. Muhl. G. H. E. Mulilenberg. Nutt. T. Nuttali. Sm. J. E. Smith. Sw. O. Swartz, Torr. J. Torrey. Undervv. L. M. Underwood. Tuckerm. E. Tuckerman. K. S. Willdenow. Index to the Common Names. Adder's fern, 197. Adder's-spear, 48. Adder's-spit, 48. Adder's-tongue, 45. Alpine Woodsia, 98. Atlantis fern, 279. Baby fern, 157. Back-ache fern, 185. Basket fern, 137. Bear's-paw, 123. Beaver-meadow fern, 120. Beech fern, 200. Beech-fern, broad, 202. Berry-bearing fern, 214. Black-stemmed spleenwort, 157. Blasting-root, 52. Blue fern, 85. Bog fern, 220 Boss fern, 133. Boulder fern, 229. Bracken, 69. Brake, 29, 70, 72, 185. Brake, hOg, 29. Brake, buckhorn, 34. Brake, rock, 285. Brake, stone, 197. Brake, sweet, 137. Brake, winter, 84. Braun's holly fern, no. Bristle fern, 288. Brittle bladder fern, 2H. Broad beech fern, 202. Buckhorn brake, 34. Buckler fern, 133. Bulbiferous bladder fern, 212. Burnt-weed, 270. Buttonholes, 270. Caterpillar fern, 270. Christmas fern, 106. Christ's hair, 270. Cinnamon fern, 25. Clayton's fern, 32. Climbing fern, 280. Common bladder fern, 209. Common chain fern, 219. Common grape fern, 54. Common polypody, 196. Creeping fern, 281. Creeping water fern, 120. Crested fern, 139. Cup fern, 211. Curly grass, 277. Dense cliff-brake, 87. Ditch fern, 34. Dragon's bridges, 256. Dwarf spleenwort, 157. Eagle fern, 72. Ebony spleenwort, 160. English maidenhair, 157. Erne fern, 72. Evergreen wood-fern, 136. Female fern, 74, 183, Fern seed, 74, 183. Fiddle-heads, 26. Filix-mas, 137. Filmy ferns, 288. Fine-haired mountain fern, 231. 32C INDEX TO THE COMMON NAMES Flowering fern, 32. Foot-shaped Canadian maiden- hair, 244. Fragrant fern, 147. French bracken, 34. GOLDEN-IOCKS, I97. Golden polypody, 197. Goldie's shield fern, 137. Gossamer fern, 231. Grape, fern common, 54. Grape, lance-leaved, 59. Grape, little, 58. Grape, matricary, 60. Gray polypody, 198. Green maidenhair, 159. Green spleenwort, 158. Ground fern, 120. Hair fern, 96. Hairy Dicksonia, 231. Hairy lip-fern, 239. Hairy Woodsia, 96. Hartford fern, 281. Hart's tongue, 269. Hay-scented fern, 231. Heart of Osmund, 26. Hemlock-leaved moonwort, 44. Hoary polypody, 199. Hog brake, 29. Holly fern, 108. Holly fern, Braun's, no. Hound's tongue, 270. Indicator, 44. Interrupted fern, 30. Kidney fern, 189. Killarney fern, 287. King Charles in the Oak, 73. King fern, 34. Knotty brake fern, 137. Lady fern, 119, 179. Lance-leaved grape fern, 59. Little ebony spleenwort, 160. Little grape fern, 58. Maidenhair fern, 242. Maidenhair, English, 157. Maidenhair, foot-shaped, Cana- diauj 244. Maidenhair, green, 159. Maidenhair, white, 163. Maidenhair spleenwort, 155. Male fern, 136. Marginal shield fern, 134. Marsh fern, 117. Massachusetts shield fern, 126. Matricary grape fern, 60. Moonwort, 51. Moonwort, hemlock-leaved, 44. Moonwort, royal, 34. Moonwort, Virginia, 44. Moss fern, 197. Mountain bladder fern, 214. Mountain spleenwort, 164. Narrow-Leaved chain fern, 22 Narrow-leaved spleenwort, 187. New York fern, 120. Oak fern 73, 203, 256. Oak-leaved fern, 256. Oblong Woodsia, 96. Obtuse Woodsia, 96. One-sided fern, 279. Ostrich-feather fern, 258. Ostrich fern, 258. Parsley fern, 288. Pinnatifid spleenwort, 167. Polypody, common, 196. Polypody, golden, 197. Polypody, gray, 198. Polypody, hoary, 199. Polypody, scaly, 199. INDEX TO THE COMMON NAMES. 329 Polypody, six-angled, 203. Polypody sweet, 148. Purple-stemmed cliff-brake, 85. Quill fern, 120. Rattlesnake fern, 41. Regal fern, 34. Resurrection fern, igg. Rock brake, 285. Rock fern, 136. Royal fern, 34. Royal moonwort, 34. Royal Osmund, 34. Rusty Woodsia, 93. Scaly polypody, igg. Screw fern, 162. Seaweed fern, 270. Sensitive fern, 253. Shield fern, Massachusetts, 126. Shield, marginal, 134. Shield, spinulose, 143. Shuttlecock fern, 258. Silvery spleenwort, 185. Six-angled polypody, 203. Slender cliff -brake, 85. Small spleenwort, I59'. Smooth Woodsia, 99. Snake brake, 39. Snake-tongue fern, 281. Snuff-box fern, 120. Spinulose shield fern, 143. Spleenwort, black-stemmed, 157. Spleenwort, dwarf, 157. Spleenwort, ebony, l6o. Spleenwort, green, 158. Spleenwort, maidenhair, 155. Spleenwort, mountain, 164. Spleenwort, little ebony, 160. Spleenwort, narrow-leaved, 187. Spleenwort, pinnatifid, 167. Spleenwort, silvery, 185. Spleenwort, small, 159. Spleenwort, swamp, 189. Spleenwort, wall, 157. Spring wurzel, 52. St. Christopher's herb, 34 St. John's hands, 137. Stone brake, 197. Stone fern, 163, 197. Swamp spleenwort, 189. Sweet brake, 137. Sweet polypody, 148. Sun fern, 201. Tent-Wort, 163. Tree fern, 33, 199. Two-ranked fern, 258. Turkey-foot fern, 71. Umbrella fern, 73. Unshoe-the-horse, 53. Upland fern, 73. Venus-Hair fern, 246. Vermifuge 137. Virginia moonwort, 44. Water fern, 33. Waterwort fern, 157. Walking fern, 265. Wall fern, 197. Wall link, 267. Wall rue, 162. Wall spleenwort, 157. White maidenhair, 163. White-oak fern, 2ti. Windsor fern, 2S1. Winter brake, 84. Woodsia, alpine, 98. Woodsia, oblong, 96. Woodsia, obtuse, 96. Woodsia, rusty, 93. Woodsia, smooth, 99. Woolly lip-fern, 240. Index to the Scientific Names. Synonyms and exotic species are italicised. Adiantum, 247. Canadense, 244. Capillus-Veneris, 246. pedatum, 242. pedatum rangiferutm, 245, AsPIDIUM, 105, 117, 126, 133. Boottii, 141. cristatura, 139. cristatum Clintoniamim, 141. cristatum x marginale, 141, filix-mas, 136. fragrans, 147. Goldieainim, 138. £. celsuiii, 138. marginale, 134. NevadensL\ 123. Noveboracense, 120. f. fragrans, 122, oreoptcris, 121. siniulatum, 123. spinulosum, 143. spinulosum dilatatum, 145. spinulosum intermedium, 145. Thelypteris. 112. ASPLENIUM, 173, 179. acroslichoidcs^ 187. angustifolium, 188. Bradleyi, 166. ebenum, 160. f. inci'sum, 162. f. serratum, 162. ebenoides, 169. Jilix-f(smina, 179. fonianuvi, 172. niariiiiim^ 172, montanum, 164. parvulum, 159. pinnatifidum, 167. platyneuron, 162. ruta-muraria, 162. Trichomanes, 155, £. iiicisum, 157. viride, 15S. Athyrium, 179, 189. cyclosorum, 185. filix-fcemina, i8o. filix-fcemina MU-hauxii^ 185. Michaiixii, 185. thelypteroides, 185. BOTRYCHIUM, 51, 69. lanceolatum, 59. Lunaria, 51. matricaricB^ 57. matricaria;foliuni, 60. matricariaefolium tenebro- sum, 60. neglccltiin, 61. obliquum, 54. f. dissectum, 57. £. intermedium, 57. simplex, 58. tenebrosuniy 61. Virginianum, 42. Camptosorus, 368. rhizopliyllus, 265. £. intermedins, 26S.