Chapter XLII: SMOOTH WOODSIA, Woodsia glabella, 207 (2)

Close to preceding species, rather tall, fronds once-pinnate, with pinnatifid pinnæ little or not at all narrowed at base, veins not forked, margin of fertile frond slightly revolute. In wooded swamps. P. 164.

CHRISTMAS FERN

_Aspidium acrostichoides_

[See No. 17]

40. SPINULOSE WOOD FERN

_Aspidium spinulosum var. intermedium_

Very common, usually but not always large, fronds oblong-ovate, 2-3 pinnate, lowest pinnæ unequally triangular-ovate, lobes of pinnæ thorny-toothed. In woods everywhere. P. 166.

41. BOOTT'S SHIELD FERN

_Aspidium Boottii_

From one and a half to more than three feet high. Sterile fronds smaller and simpler than the fertile, nearly or quite twice-pinnate, the lowest pinnæ triangular-ovate, upper longer and narrower, pinnules oblong-ovate, sharply thorny-toothed. In moist woods. P. 168.

42. CRESTED SHIELD FERN

_Aspidium cristatum_

Usually rather large, fronds linear-oblong or lanceolate, once pinnate with pinnatifid pinnæ, linear-oblong, fruit-dots between midvein and margin. In swamps. P. 170.

43. CLINTON'S WOOD FERN

_Aspidium cristatum, var. Clintonianum_

In every way larger than preceding species, fronds usually twice-pinnate, pinnæ _broadest at base_, fruit-dots near the midvein. In swampy woods. P. 172.

44. GOLDIE'S FERN

_Aspidium Goldianum_

Large, fronds broadly ovate or the fertile ovate-oblong, once-pinnate with pinnatifid pinnæ, pinnæ _broadest in the middle_, fruit-dots very near the midvein. In rich woods. P. 175.

45. EVERGREEN WOOD FERN

_Aspidium marginale_

Very common, usually rather large, smooth, somewhat leathery, fronds ovate oblong, 1-2 pinnate, fruit-dots large, distinct, close to the margin. In rocky woods. P. 176.

46. FRAGRANT SHIELD FERN

_Aspidium fragrans_

Small, fragrant, fronds once-pinnate, with pinnatifid pinnæ, stalk and rachis chaffy, fruit-dots large. On rocks northward, especially near waterfalls. P. 178.

47. BRAUN'S HOLLY FERN

_Aspidium aculeatum var. Braunii_

Rather large, fronds oblong-lanceolate, twice-pinnate, pinnules sharply toothed, covered with long, soft hairs, fruit-dots small. In deep, rocky woods. P. 182.

48. COMMON POLYPODY

_Polypodium vulgare_

Usually small, fronds somewhat leathery, narrowly oblong, fruit-dots large, round, uncovered, half-way between midvein and margin. On rocks. P. 184.

HAY-SCENTED FERN

_Dicksonia pilosiuscula_

[See No. 23]

49. LONG BEECH FERN

_Phegopteris polypodioides_

Medium-sized, fronds downy, triangular, longer than broad, once-pinnate, pinnæ pinnatifid; lowest pair deflexed and standing forward. In moist woods and on the banks of streams. P. 187.

50. BROAD BEECH FERN

_Phegopteris hexagonoptera_

Larger than the preceding species, fronds triangular, as broad or broader than long, once-pinnate, pinnæ pinnatifid, lowest pair very large, basal segments of pinnæ forming a continuous, many-angled wing along the rachis. In dry woods and on hill-sides. P. 188.

51. OAK FERN

_Phegopteris Dryopteris_

Medium-sized, fronds thin and delicate, broadly triangular, spreading, ternate, the three divisions stalked, each division pinnate, pinnæ pinnatifid. In moist woods. P. 190.

52. BULBLET BLADDER FERN

_Cystopteris bulbifera_

Fronds delicate, elongated, tapering above from a broad base, 2-3 pinnate or pinnatifid, bearing fleshy bulblets beneath. On wet rocks, preferring limestone. P. 194.

53. COMMON BLADDER FERN

_Cystopteris fragilis_

Medium-sized, fronds thin, oblong-lanceolate, 2-3 pinnate or pinnatifid. On rocks and in moist woods. P. 198.

54. RUSTY WOODSIA

_Woodsia Ilvensis_

Small, more or less covered with rusty hairs, fronds lanceolate, once-pinnate, pinnæ pinnatifid. On exposed rocks. P. 200.

55. BLUNT-LOBED WOODSIA

_Woodsia obtusa_

Small, slightly downy, fronds broadly lanceolate, nearly twice-pinnate. On rocks. P. 202.

56. NORTHERN WOODSIA

_Woodsia hyperborea_

Very small, smooth or nearly so, fronds narrowly oblong-lanceolate, once-pinnate, pinnæ cordate-ovate or triangular-ovate, 5-7 lobed. On moist rocks. P. 203.

57. SMOOTH WOODSIA

_Woodsia glabella_

Very small, smooth throughout and delicate, fronds linear, once-pinnate, pinnæ roundish ovate, lobed. On moist rocks. P. 206.

FERN DESCRIPTIONS

"Nature made a fern for pure leaves."--_Thoreau_

GROUP I

STERILE AND FERTILE FRONDS TOTALLY UNLIKE; FERTILE FRONDS NOT LEAF-LIKE IN APPEARANCE

1. SENSITIVE FERN

_Onoclea sensibilis_

Newfoundland to Florida, in wet meadows.

_Sterile fronds._--One or two inches to three feet high,
broadly triangular, deeply cut into somewhat oblong,
wavy-toothed divisions, the lower ones almost reaching the
midrib, the upper ones less deeply cut; _stalk_ long.

_Fertile fronds._--Quite unlike the sterile fronds and
shorter, erect, rigid, contracted; _pinnules_ rolled
up into dark-green, berry-like bodies which hold the
spore-cases; appearing in June or July.

This is one of our commonest ferns, growing in masses along the roadside and in wet meadows. Perfectly formed sterile fronds are found of the tiniest dimensions. Again the plant holds its own among the largest and most effective ferns. From its creeping rootstock rise the scattered fronds which at times wear very light and delicate shades of green. There is nothing, however, specially fragile in the plant's appearance, and one is struck by the inappropriateness of its title. It is probable that this arose from its sensitiveness to early frosts.

Though one hesitates to differ from Dr. Eaton, who described the fertile fronds as "nearly black in color" and said that they were "not very common," and that a young botanist might "search in vain for them for a long time," my own experience has been that the fresh ones are very evidently green and neither scarce nor specially inconspicuous.

I have found these fertile fronds apparently full-grown in June, though usually they are assigned to a much later date. They remain standing, brown and dry, long after they have sown their spores, side by side with the fresh fronds of the following summer.

Detail _a_ in Plate I represents the so-called _var. obtusilobata_. This is a form midway between the fruiting and the non-fruiting fronds. It may be looked for in situations where the fern has suffered some injury or deprivation.

2. OSTRICH FERN

_Onoclea Struthiopteris_

Nova Scotia to New Jersey, along streams and in moist
woods. Growing in a crown, two to ten feet high.

_Sterile fronds._--Broadly lance-shaped, once-pinnate;
_pinnæ_ divided into narrowly oblong segments which do not
reach the midvein; stalk short, deeply channelled in front.

_Fertile fronds._--Quite unlike the sterile fronds, growing
in the centre of the crown formed by the sterile fronds,
shorter, erect, rigid, with green, necklace-like pinnæ
which hold the spore-cases; appearing in July.

I first found this plant at its best on the shore of the Hoosick River in Rensselaer County, N. Y. We had crossed a field dotted with fragrant heaps of hay and blazing in the midsummer sun, and had entered the cool shade of the trees which border the river, when suddenly I saw before me a group of ferns of tropical beauty and luxuriance. Great plume-like fronds of a rich green arched above my head. From the midst of the circle which they formed sprang the shorter, dark, rigid fruit-clusters. I was fairly startled by the unexpected beauty and regal bearing of the Ostrich Fern.

SENSITIVE FERN

_a._ Var. obtusilobata]

This magnificent plant luxuriates especially in the low, rich soil which is subject to an annual overflow from our northern rivers. Its vase-like masses of foliage somewhat suggest the Cinnamon Fern, but the fertile fronds of the Ostrich Fern mature in July, some weeks later than those of its rival. They are dark-green, while those of the Cinnamon Fern are golden-brown. Should there be no fruiting fronds upon the plant, the Ostrich Fern can be distinguished by the free veins with simple veinlets (Plate II, _a_) of its pinnæ, the veins of the Cinnamon Fern being free and its veinlets forking (Pl. III, _a_), and by the absence of the tuft of rusty wool at the base of the pinnæ on the under side of the frond.

The Ostrich Fern does so well under cultivation that there is danger lest it crowd out its less aggressive neighbors. It propagates chiefly by means of underground runners. Mr. Robinson describes a specimen which he had planted in his out-door fernery that crawled under a tight board fence and reappeared in the garden of his neighbor, who was greatly astonished and equally delighted so unexpectedly to become the owner of the superb plant.

OSTRICH FERN

_a_ Portion of sterile frond _b_ Fertile frond _c_ Detail, showing free veins with simple veinlets]

The Ostrich Fern, like its kinsman the Sensitive Fern, occasionally gives birth to fronds which are midway between its fruiting and its non-fruiting forms. This is specially liable to occur when some injury has befallen the plant.

3. CINNAMON FERN

_Osmunda cinnamomea_

Nova Scotia to Florida, in swampy places. Growing in a
crown, one to five feet high.

_Sterile fronds._--Broadly lance-shaped, once-pinnate;
_pinnæ_ cut into broadly oblong divisions that do not reach
the midvein, each pinna with a tuft of rusty wool at its
base beneath.

_Fertile fronds._--Quite unlike the sterile fronds, growing
in the centre of the crown formed by the sterile fronds and
usually about the same height; erect, with cinnamon-colored
spore-cases.

In the form of little croziers, protected from the cold by wrappings of rusty wool, the fertile fronds of the Cinnamon Fern appear everywhere in our swamps and wet woods during the month of May. These fertile fronds, first dark-green, later cinnamon-brown, are quickly followed and encircled by the sterile ones, which grow in a tall, graceful crown. The fertile fronds soon wither, and, during the summer, may be found either clinging to the stalks of the sterile fronds or lying on the ground.

CINNAMON FERN

_a_ Showing tuft of wool at base of pinna, also free veins with forking veinlets]

The Cinnamon Fern is often confused with the Ostrich Fern. When either plant is in fruit there is no excuse for this mistake, as the cinnamon-colored spore-cases of the former appear in May, while the dark-green fertile fronds of the latter do not ripen till July. When the fruiting fronds are absent the forked veinlets (Plate III, _a_) of the Cinnamon Fern contrast with the simple veinlets of the other plant (Plate II, _a_). Then, too, the pinnæ of the Cinnamon Fern bear tufts of rusty wool at the base beneath, the remnants of the woolly garments worn by the young fronds.

The plant is a superb one when seen at its best. Its tall sterile fronds curve gracefully outward, while the slender fruit-clusters erect themselves in the centre of the rich crown. In unfavorable conditions, when growing in dry meadows, for instance, like all the Osmundas, and indeed like most growing things, it is quite a different plant. Its green fronds become stiff and stunted, losing all their graceful curves, and its fruit-clusters huddle among them as if anxious to keep out of sight.

_Var. frondosa_ is an occasional form in which some of the fruiting fronds have green, leaf-like pinnæ below. These abnormal fronds are most abundant on land which has been burned over.

The Cinnamon Fern is a member of the group of Osmundas, or "flowering ferns," as they are sometimes called, not of course because they really flower, but because their fruiting fronds are somewhat flower-like in appearance. There are three species of _Osmunda_: the Cinnamon Fern, _O. cinnamomea_; the Royal Fern, _O. regalis_; and the Interrupted Fern, _O. Claytoniana_. All three are beautiful and striking plants, producing their spores in May or June, and conspicuous by reason of their luxuriant growth and flower-like fruit clusters.

The Osmundas are easily cultivated, and group themselves effectively in shaded corners of the garden. They need plenty of water, and thrive best in a mixture of swamp-muck and fine loam.

4. CURLY GRASS

_Schizæa pusilia_

Pine barrens of New Jersey.

_Sterile fronds._--Hardly an inch long, linear, slender,
flattened, curly.

_Fertile fronds._--Taller than the sterile fronds (three
or four inches in height), slender, with from four to six
pairs of fruit-bearing pinnæ in September.

Save in the herbarium I have never seen this very local little plant, which is found in certain parts of New Jersey. Gray assigns it to "low grounds, pine barrens," while Dr. Eaton attributes it to the "drier parts of sphagnous swamps among white cedars."

CURLY GRASS]

In my lack of personal knowledge of _Schizæa_, I venture to quote from that excellent little quarterly, the _Fern Bulletin_, the following passage from an article by Mr. C. F. Saunders on _Schizæa pusilla_ at home:

"S. pusilla was first collected early in this century
at Quaker Bridge, N. J., about thirty-five miles east
of Philadelphia. The spot is a desolate-looking place
in the wildest of the 'pine barrens,' where a branch of
the Atsion River flows through marshy lowlands and cedar
swamps. Here, amid sedge-grasses, mosses, Lycopodiums,
Droseras, and wild cranberry vines, the little treasure
has been collected; but, though I have hunted for it more
than once, my eyes have never been sharp enough to detect
its fronds in that locality. In October of last year,
however, a friend guided me to another place in New Jersey
where he knew it to be growing, and there we found it. It
was a small open spot in the pine barrens, low and damp.
In the white sand grew patches of low grasses, mosses,
Lycopodium Carolinianum, L. inundatum, and Pyxidanthera
barbulata, besides several smaller ericaceous plants and
some larger shrubs, such as scrub-oaks, sumacs, etc.
Close by was a little stream, and just beyond that a bog.
Although we knew that the Schizæa grew within a few feet of
the path in which we stood, it required the closest sort
of a search, with eyes at the level of our knees, before
a specimen was detected. The sterile fronds (curled like
corkscrews) grew in little tufts, and were more readily
visible than the fertile spikes, which were less numerous,
and, together with the slender stipes, were of a brown
color, hardly distinguishable from the capsules of the
mosses, and the maturing stems of the grasses which grew
all about. Lying flat on the earth, with face within a few
inches of the ground, was found the most satisfactory plan
of search. Down there all the individual plants looked
bigger, and a sidelong glance brought the fertile clusters
more prominently into view. When the sight got accustomed
to the miniature jungle quite a number of specimens were
found, but the fern could hardly be said to be plentiful,
and all that we gathered were within a radius of a couple
of yards. This seems, indeed, to be one of those plants
whose whereabouts is oftenest revealed by what we are wont
to term a 'happy accident,' as, for instance, when we are
lying stretched on the ground resting, or as we stoop at
lunch to crack an egg on the toe of our shoe. I know of
one excellent collector who spent a whole day looking for
it diligently in what he thought to be a likely spot,
but without success, when finally, just before the time
for return came, as he was half crouching on the ground,
scarcely thinking now of Schizæa, its fronds suddenly
flashed upon his sight, right at his feet. The sterile
fronds of Schizæa pusilla are evergreen, so that the
collector may, perhaps, most readily detect it in winter,
selecting days for his search when the earth is pretty
clear of snow. The surrounding vegetation being at that
time dead, the little corkscrew-like fronds stand out more
prominently."

GROUP II

FERTILE FRONDS PARTIALLY LEAF-LIKE, THE FERTILE PORTION UNLIKE THE REST OF THE FROND

5. ROYAL FERN. FLOWERING FERN

_Osmunda regalis_

New Brunswick to Florida, in swampy places. Two to five feet high, occasionally taller.

_Sterile fronds._--Twice-pinnate, _pinnæ_ cut into oblong
pinnules.

_Fertile fronds._--Leaf-like below, _sporangia_ forming
bright-brown clusters at their summits.

Perhaps this Royal or Flowering Fern is the most beautiful member of a singularly beautiful group. When its smooth, pale-green sterile fronds, grown to their full height, form a graceful crown which encircles the fertile fronds, it is truly a regal-looking plant. These fertile fronds are leaf-like below, and are tipped above with their flower-like fruit-clusters.

Like its kinsmen, the Royal Fern appears in May in our wet woods and fields. The delicate little croziers uncurl with dainty grace, the plants which grow in the open among the yellow stars of the early crow-foot, and the white clusters of the spring cress being so tinged with red that they suffuse the meadows with warm color.

Though one of our tallest ferns, with us it never reaches the ten or eleven feet with which it is credited in Great Britain. The tallest plants I have found fall short of six feet. Occasionally we see large tracts of land covered with mature plants that lack a foot or more of the two feet given as the minimum height. This tendency to depauperization one notices especially in dry marshes near the sea.

ROYAL FERN

_a_ Pinnule of Royal Fern _b_ Showing veining]

To the Royal Fern the old herbalists attributed many valuable qualities. One old writer, who calls it the "Water Fern," says: "This hath all the virtues mentioned in other ferns, and is much more effective than they both for inward and outward griefs, and is accounted good for wounds, bruises, and the like."

The title "flowering fern" sometimes misleads those who are so unfamiliar with the habits of ferns as to imagine that they ever flower. That it really is descriptive was proved to me only a few weeks ago when I received a pressed specimen of a fertile frond accompanied by the request to inform the writer as to the name of the flower inclosed, which seemed to him to belong to the Sumach family.

The origin of the generic name _Osmunda_ seems somewhat obscure. It is said to be derived from Osmunder, the Saxon Thor. In his Herbal Gerarde tells us that _Osmunda regalis_ was formerly called "Osmund, the Waterman," in allusion, perhaps, to its liking for a home in the marshes. One legend claims that a certain Osmund, living at Loch Tyne, saved his wife and child from the inimical Danes by hiding them upon an island among masses of flowering ferns, and that in after years the child so shielded named the stately plants after her father.

The following lines from Wordsworth point to still another origin of the generic name:

"--often, trifling with a privilege
Alike indulged to all, we paused, one now,
And now the other, to point out, perchance
To pluck, some flower, or water-weed, too fair
Either to be divided from the place
On which it grew, or to be left alone
To its own beauty. Many such there are,
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, or Lady of the Mere,
Sole-sitting by the shores of old romance."

The Royal Fern may be cultivated easily in deep mounds of rich soil shielded somewhat from the sun.

6. INTERRUPTED FERN

_Osmunda Claytoniana_

Newfoundland to North Carolina, in swampy places. Two to
four feet high.

_Sterile fronds._--Oblong-lanceolate, once-pinnate, _pinnæ_
cut into oblong, obtuse divisions, _without_ a tuft of wool
at the base of each pinna.

_Fertile fronds._--Taller than the sterile, leaf-like above
and below, some of the middle pinnæ fruit-bearing.

The Interrupted Fern makes its appearance in the woods and meadows and along the roadsides in May. It fruits as it unfolds.

At first the fruiting pinnæ are almost black. Later they become golden-green, and after the spores are discharged they turn brown. They are noticeable all summer, and serve to identify the plant at once.

In the absence of the fertile fronds it is often difficult to distinguish between the Cinnamon Fern and the Interrupted Fern.

The sterile fronds of the Interrupted Fern are usually less erect, curving outward much more noticeably than those of the Cinnamon Fern. Then, too, its pinnæ are cut into segments that are more obtuse, and the whole effect of the frond is more stubby.

But the most distinguishing feature of all is the tuft of rusty wool which clings to the base of each pinna of the sterile fronds of the Cinnamon Fern. These tufts we do not find in the Interrupted Fern, though both plants come into the world warmly wrapped in wool.

INTERRUPTED FERN

_a_ Clusters of sporangia _b_ Showing veining]

The Interrupted Fern is a peculiarly graceful plant. Its fertile fronds, standing quite erect below but curving outward above the fruiting pinnæ, are set in a somewhat shallow vase formed by the sterile fronds, which fall away in every direction.

In the fall the fronds turn yellow, and at times are so brilliant that they flood the woods with golden light.

Like the other Osmundas, the Interrupted Fern is easily cultivated.

7. CLIMBING FERN. CREEPING FERN. HARTFORD FERN

_Lygodium palmatum_

Massachusetts and southward, in moist thickets and open
woods. Stalks slender and twining.

_Fronds._--Climbing and twining, one to three feet long,
divided into lobed, rounded, heart-shaped, short-stalked
segments; _fruit-clusters_, growing at the summit of the
frond, ripening in September.

The Climbing Fern is still found occasionally in moist thickets and open woods from Massachusetts southward, but at one time it was picked so recklessly for decorative purposes that it was almost exterminated.

In 1869 the legislature of Connecticut passed for its protection a special law which was embodied in the revision of the statutes of 1875, "perhaps the only instance in statute law," Dr. Eaton remarks, "where a plant has received special legal protection solely on account of its beauty."

I have never seen the plant growing, but remember that when a child my home in New York was abundantly decorated with the pressed fronds which had been brought from Hartford for the purpose. Even in that lifeless condition their grace and beauty made a deep impression on my mind.

Mr. Saunders has described it as he found it growing in company with _Schizæa_, in the New Jersey pine barrens:

"Lygodium palmatum ... is one of the loveliest of American
plants, with twining stem adorned with palmate leaflets,
bearing small resemblance to the popular idea of a fern. It
loves the shaded, mossy banks of the quiet streams whose
cool, clear, amber waters, murmuring over beds of pure
white sand, are so characteristic of the pine country.
There the graceful fronds are to be found, sometimes
clambering a yard high over the bushes and cat-briers;
sometimes trailing down the bank until their tips touch the
surface of the water.

"The Lygodium is reckoned among the rare plants of the
region--though often growing in good-sized patches when
found at all--and is getting rarer. Many of the localities
which knew it once now know it no more, both because of the
depredations of ruthless collectors, and, to some extent,
probably, the ravages of fire. The plant is in its prime in
early fall, but may be looked for up to the time of killing
frosts."

8. ADDER'S TONGUE

_Ophioglossum vulgatum_

Canada to New Jersey and Kentucky, in moist meadows. Two
inches to one foot high.

_Sterile portion._--An ovate, fleshy leaf.

_Fertile portion._--A simple spike, usually long-stalked.

The unprofessional fern collector is likely to agree with Gray in considering the Adder's Tongue "not common." Many botanists, however, believe the plant to be "overlooked rather than rare." In an article on _O. vulgatum_, which appeared some years ago in the _Fern Bulletin_, Mr. A. A. Eaton writes:

"Previous to 1895 Ophioglossum vulgatum was unknown to
me, and was considered very rare, only two localities
being known in Essex County, Mass. Early in the year a
friend gave me two specimens. From these I got an idea
of how the thing looked. On the 11th of last July, while
collecting Habenaria lacera in a 'bound-out' mowing field,
I was delighted to notice a spike of fruit in the grass. A
search revealed about sixty, just right to collect, with
many unfruitful specimens. A few days later, while raking
in a similar locality, I found several, within a stone's
throw of the house, demonstrating again the well-known fact
that a thing once seen is easily discovered again. On the
23d of last August, while riding on my bicycle, I noticed
a field that appeared to be the right locality, and an
investigation showed an abundance of them. I subsequently
found it in another place. This year, on May 28th, I found
it in another locality just as it was coming up, and I have
since found three others. I consider it abundant here, only
appearing rare because growing hidden in fine grass in old
mowing fields, after the red top and timothy have died out,
and the finer species of Carex are coming in. A good index
plant is the Habenaria quoted. I have never found it except
when associated with this plant, on a cold, heavy soil. The
leaf is usually hidden, or, if not, is easily passed by for
Maianthemum or Pogonia."

In the "Grete Herbal" of Gerarde we read that "the leaves of Adder's Tongue stamped in a stone mortar, and boiled in oyle olive unto the consumption of the juice, and until the herbs be dried and parched and then strained, will yeelde most excellent greene oyle or rather a balsame for greene wounds comparable to oyle of St. John's-wort if it do not farre surpasse it."

It is said that "Adder's Spear Ointment," made from the fresh fronds of this plant is still used for wounds in English villages.

ADDER'S TONGUE]

The Adder's Tongue was believed formerly to have poisonous qualities, which not only injured the cattle that fed upon it, but destroyed the grass in which it grew.

9. RATTLESNAKE FERN. VIRGINIA GRAPE FERN

_Botrychium Virginianum_

Nova Scotia to Florida, in rich woods. One or two feet
high, at times much smaller, when it becomes _B. gracile_.

_Sterile portion._--Usually broader than long, spreading,
with three main divisions which are cut into many smaller
segments, thin, set close to the stem about half way up.

_Fertile portion._--Long-stalked, more than once-pinnate.

On our rambles through the woods we are more likely to encounter the Rattlesnake Fern than any other member of the _Botrychium_ group. It fruits in early summer, but the withered fertile portion may be found upon the plant much later in the year. Its frequent companions are the Spinulose Shield Fern, the Christmas Fern, the Silvery Spleenwort, and the Maidenhair.

10. TERNATE GRAPE FERN

_Botrychium ternatum_ or _dissectum_

Nova Scotia to Florida, in moist meadows. A few inches to
more than a foot high.

_Sterile portion._--Broadly triangular, the three main
divisions cut again into many segments, on a separate stalk
from near the base of the plant, fleshy.

_Fertile portion._--Erect, usually considerably taller than
non-fruiting segment, more than once-pinnate.

Of late some doubt has existed as to whether _B. ternatum_ has been actually found in this country, although the standard Floras give no evidence of this uncertainty. Dr. Underwood is convinced that the true _B. ternatum_ is found only in Japan and China, and that our species is really _B. dissectum_, a species, not a variety. He says that this species is very common in the vicinity of New York City, and thence southward and westward; that it is also found in various parts of New England; that it reaches its fullest development in moist, shady woods; that in mossy meadows of New England and Central New York the plant assumes a more contracted habit. He believes its segments are more apt to be divided in shady situations than in open, sunny ground.

The Ternate Grape Fern fruits in the fall.

TERNATE GRAPE FERN]

11. LITTLE GRAPE FERN

_Botrychium simplex_

Canada to Maryland, in moist woods and in fields. Two to
four inches high, rarely a little taller.

_Sterile portion._--Somewhat oblong, more or less lobed,
occasionally 3-7 divided, usually short-stalked from near
the middle of the plant, thick and fleshy.

_Fertile portion._--Either simple or once or twice-pinnate,
taller than the sterile portion.

This little plant is sufficiently rare to rejoice the heart of the fern hunter who is so fortunate as to stumble upon it by chance or to trace it to its chosen haunts.

It is generally considered an inhabitant of moist woods and meadows, though Mr. Pringle describes it as "abundantly scattered over Vermont, its habitat usually poor soil, especially knolls of hill pastures," and Mr. Dodge assigns it to "dry fields." It fruits in May or June.

12. MOONWORT

_Botrychium Lunaria_

Newfoundland to Connecticut and Central New York, in dry
pastures. Three inches to nearly one foot high. A very
fleshy plant.

_Sterile portion._--Oblong, cut into several fan-shaped
fleshy divisions, growing close to the stem about the
middle of the plant.

_Fertile portion._--Branching, long-stalked, usually the
same height as or taller than the sterile portion.

The Moonwort is another of our rare little plants. It grows usually in dry pastures, fruiting in July.

Formerly it was accredited with various magic powers. Gathered by moonlight, it was said to "do wonders." The English poet Drayton refers to the Moonwort as "Lunary":

"Then sprinkled she the juice of rue
With nine drops of the midnight dew
From Lunary distilling."

MOONWORT

LANCE LEAVED GRAPE FERN]

Gerarde mentions its use by alchemists, who called it Martagon. In the work of Coles, an early writer on plants, we read: "It is said, yea, and believed by many that Moonwort will open the locks wherewith dwelling-houses are made fast, if it be put into the keyhole; as also that it will loosen ... shoes from those horses' feet that go on the places where it grows."

It is to the Moonwort that Withers alludes in the following lines:

"There is an herb, some say, whose vertue's such
It in the pasture, only with a touch
Unshoes the new-shod steed."

13. MATRICARY GRAPE FERN

_Botrychium matricariæfolium_

Nova Scotia to New Jersey, in woods and wet meadows. Two
inches to one foot high.

_Sterile portion._--Once or twice divided, sometimes very
fleshy, growing high up on the stem.

_Fertile portion._--With several branched pinnæ.

This plant is found, often in the companionship of _B. Virginianum_, in woods and wet meadows, not farther south than New Jersey. It fruits in summer.

14. LANCE-LEAVED GRAPE FERN

_Botrychium lanceolatum_

Nova Scotia to New Jersey, in woods and meadows. Two to
nine inches high.

_Sterile portion._--Triangular, twice-pinnatifid, with
somewhat lance-shaped segments, hardly fleshy, set close to
the top of the common stalk.

_Fertile portion._--Branching.

Like the Matricary Grape Fern, this plant is found in the woods and wet meadows from Nova Scotia to New Jersey. It fruits also in summer.

GROUP III

FERTILE FRONDS UNIFORMLY SOMEWHAT LEAF-LIKE IN APPEARANCE, YET DIFFERING NOTICEABLY FROM STERILE FRONDS

15. SLENDER CLIFF BRAKE

_Pellæa gracilis (P. Stelleri)_

Labrador to Pennsylvania, usually on sheltered rocks,
preferring limestone. Two to five inches long, with
straw-colored or pale-brown stalks, slightly chaffy below.

_Fronds._--Delicate, with few pinnæ; _pinnæ_, the lower
ones once or twice parted into 3-5 divisions, those of
the fertile frond oblong or linear-oblong, sparingly
incised, of the sterile frond ovate or obovate, toothed or
incised; _sporangia_ bordering the pinnæ of the fertile
frond, covered by a broad and usually continuous general
_indusium_, formed by the reflexed margin of the _pinnule_.

The first time I found the Slender Cliff Brake was one July day in Central New York, under the kind guidance of an enthusiastic fern collector. A rather perilous climb along the sides of a thickly wooded glen brought us to a spot where our only security lay in clinging to the trees, which, like ourselves, had obtained doubtful standing-room. In a pocket in the limestone just above us I was shown a very brown and withered little plant which only the closest scrutiny in combination with a certain amount of foreknowledge could identify as the Slender Cliff Brake. The season had been a dry one and the plant had perished, I fancy, for lack of water, in spite of the stream which plunged from the top of the cliffs close by, almost near enough, it seemed to me, to moisten with its spray our hot cheeks.

Later in the season I found more promising though not altogether satisfactory specimens of this plant growing in other rocky crevices of the same deep glen, in the neighborhood of the Maidenhair Spleenwort, the Walking Leaf, and the Bulblet Bladder Fern.

My sister tells me that late in August on the cliffs which border the St. Lawrence River, refreshed by the myriad streams which leap or trickle down their sides, under the hanging roots of trees, close to clusters of quivering harebells and pale tufts of the Brittle Bladder Fern, the Slender Cliff Brake grows in profusion, its delicate fronds rippling over one another so closely that at times they give the effect of a long, luxuriant moss. On most occasions, in these soft beds of foliage, she found the fertile fronds, which are far more slender and unusual looking than the sterile, largely predominating, though at times a patch would be made up chiefly of the sterile fronds. These somewhat resemble the Brittle Bladder Fern in whose company they are seen so often.

16. PURPLE CLIFF BRAKE

_Pellæa atropurpurea_

Canada to Georgia and westward, usually on limestone
cliffs; with wiry purplish stalks.

_Fertile fronds._--Six to twenty inches high, leathery,
bluish-green, pale underneath, once, or below twice,
pinnate; _pinnæ_, upper ones long and narrow, lower
ones usually with one to four pairs of broadly linear
_pinnules_; _sporangia_ bordering the pinnæ, bright brown
at maturity; _indusium_ formed by the reflexed margin of
the frond.

_Sterile fronds._--Usually much smaller than the fertile
and less abundant; _pinnæ_ oblong, entire, or slightly
toothed.

The Purple Cliff Brake is one of the plants that rejoice in un-get-at-able and perilous situations. Although its range is wider than that of many ferns, this choice of inconvenient localities, joined to the fact that it is not a common plant, renders it likely that unless you pay it the compliment of a special expedition in its honor you will never add it to the list of your fern acquaintances.

But when all is said we are inestimably in debt to the plants so rare or so exclusive as to entice us out of our usual haunts into theirs. Not only do they draw us away from our books, out of our houses, but off the well-known road and the trodden path into unfamiliar woods which stand ready to reveal fresh treasures, across distant pastures where the fragrant wind blows away the memory of small anxieties, up into the hills from whose summits we get new views.

PURPLE CLIFF BRAKE _a_ Portion of fertile frond]

Although the Purple Cliff Brake grows, I believe within fifteen miles of my home in Albany, I never saw the plant until this summer some hundred miles nearer the centre of the State. During a morning call I chanced to mention that I was anxious to find two or three ferns which were said to grow in the neighborhood. My hostess told me that twenty-five years before, on some limestone cliffs about eight miles away, she had found two unknown ferns which had been classified and labelled by a botanical friend. Excusing herself she left me and soon returned with carefully pressed specimens of the Purple Cliff Brake and the little Rue Spleenwort, the two ferns I was most eager to find. Such moments as I experienced then of long-deferred but peculiar satisfaction go far toward making one an apostle of hobbies. My pleasure was increased by the kind offer to guide me to the spot which had yielded the specimens.

One morning soon after we were set down at the little railway station from which we purposed to walk to the already-mentioned cliffs. We were not without misgivings as we followed an indefinite path across some limestone quarries, for a plant may easily disappear from a given station in the course of twenty-five years. In a few moments the so-called path disappeared in a fringe of bushes which evidently marked the beginning of a precipitous descent. Cautiously clinging to whatever we could lay hold of, bushes, roots of trees or imbedded rocks, we climbed over the cliff's side, still following the semblance of a path. On our left a stream plunged nearly two hundred feet into the ravine below. For some distance the eye could follow its silver course, then it disappeared beneath the arching trees. On our right, many miles beyond, through the blue haze which hung over the distant valley, we could see the lake to which the stream was hurrying.

We could not surrender ourselves with comfort to the beauty of the outlook, as our surroundings were not such as to put us altogether at ease. Overhead hung great rocks, so cracked and seamed and shattered as to threaten a complete downfall, while beneath our feet the path which led along the face of the cliff crumbled away, so that it was difficult in places to obtain any foothold. Having passed the more perilous spots, however, we became accustomed to the situation and turned our attention to the unpromising wall of rock which rose beside us. From its crevices hung graceful festoons of Bulblet Bladder Fern, and apparently nothing but Bulblet Bladder Fern. But soon one of the party gave a cry and pointed in triumph to a bluish-green cluster of foliage which sprang from a shallow pocket overhead. Even though one had not seen the plant before, there was no mistaking the wiry purplish stalks, the leathery, pinnately parted, blue-green fronds, and, above all, the marginal rows of bright brown sporangia peculiar to the Purple Cliff Brake. Soon after we found several other plants, all of them decidedly scraggly in appearance, with but few green fronds and many leafless stalks. Occasionally a small sterile frond, with broader, more oblong pinnæ, could be seen, but these were in the minority. A number of very young plants, with little, heart-shaped leaves altogether unlike the mature fronds, were wedged in neighboring crannies.

As our eyes grew more accustomed to the contour and coloring of the cliffs, the success of the day was completed by the discovery of several specimens of the little Rue Spleenwort with tiny fronds flattened against the rock.

When next I saw the Purple Cliff Brake it seemed to me quite a different fern from the rather awkward plant, the mere sight of which I had welcomed so eagerly that any unfavorable criticism of its appearance seems ungrateful.

Again it sprang from limestone cliffs, even more remote and inaccessible though less dangerous than those where I saw it first. These cliffs were so shattered in places that the broken fragments lay in heaps at their base and on the projecting ledges. Here and there a great shaft of rock had broken away and stood like the turret of a castle or the bastion of a fort. Among the shattered fragments high up on the cliff's side the Purple Cliff Brake grew in a luxuriant profusion that was amazing in view of the surroundings. The rigid, erect fronds formed large tufts of greenish-gray foliage that, at a little distance, so blended with their rocky background as to be almost indistinguishable. The fronds usually were much more compound than those I had seen a few weeks before. The separate plants had a vigorous, bushy appearance that did not suggest the same species. Many of the pinnæ were so turned as to display the ripe sporangia, which formed a bright-brown border to the pale, slender divisions. Here, too, the small sterile fronds were very rare.

Sterile frond]

Growing from the broken rocks in among the Purple Cliff Brake were thrifty little tufts of the Maidenhair Spleenwort. This tiny plant seemed to have forgotten its shyness and to have forsworn its love for moist, shaded, mossy rocks. It ventured boldly out upon these barren cliffs, exposing itself to the fierce glare of the sun and to every blast of wind, and holding itself upright with a saucy self-assurance that seemed strangely at variance with its nature.

Near by a single patch of the Walking Leaf climbed up the face of the cliff while, perhaps strangest of all, from the decaying trunk of a tree, which lay prostrate among the rocks, sprang a single small but perfect plant of the Ebony Spleenwort, a fern which was a complete stranger in this locality, so far as I could learn.

17. CHRISTMAS FERN

_Aspidium acrostichoides_ (_Dryopteris acrostichoides_)

New Brunswick to Florida, in rocky woods. One to two and a
half feet high, with very chaffy stalks.

_Fronds._--Lance-shaped, once-pinnate, fertile fronds
contracted toward the summit; _pinnæ_ narrowly
lance-shaped, half halberd-shaped at the slightly stalked
base, bristly-toothed, the upper ones on the fertile
fronds contracted and smaller; _fruit-dots_ round, close,
confluent with age, nearly covering the under surface of
the fertile pinnæ; _indusium_ orbicular, fixed by the
depressed centre.

Of our evergreen ferns this is the best fitted to serve as a decoration in winter. No other fern has such deep-green, highly polished fronds. They need only a mixture of red berries to become a close rival to the holly at Christmas-time.

Wrapped in a garment of brown scales, the young fronds of the Christmas Fern are sent into the world early in the spring. When we go to the woods in April to look for arbutus, or to listen to the first songs of the robin and the bluebird, we notice that last year's fronds are still fresh and green. Low down among them, curled up like tawny caterpillars, are the young fronds. The arbutus will have made way for pink and blue and white hepaticas, for starry bloodroot, and for tremulous anemones; thrushes and orioles will have joined the robins and the bluebirds before these new-comers present much of an appearance. When the tender, delicately green fronds are first unrolled they contrast strongly with their polished, dark-green, leathery companions.

In this plant the difference is quite conspicuous between the fertile and the sterile fronds. The sterile ones are shorter and apparently broader, while the fertile are tall, slender, and noticeably contracted by the abundantly fruiting pinnæ near the apex.

18. NARROW-LEAVED SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium angustifolium_

Canada to Kentucky, in moist woods. Two to four feet high.

_Sterile fronds._--Thin, smooth, lance-shaped, perishable,
once-pinnate.

_Fertile fronds._--Taller, narrower, longer-stalked;
_pinnæ_ more narrowly lance-shaped than on sterile fronds;
_fruit-dots_ linear, a row on each side the midvein;
_indusium_ slightly convex.

If we make an expedition to the woods early in July we may, perhaps, find some plants of the Narrow-leaved Spleenwort. At this season they are specially attractive, with smooth, delicate, pale-green fronds, so recently unfolded as to be full of little undulations, which they lose more or less at maturity, and which are as indicative of youth as the curves and dimples of a baby.

NARROW-LEAVED SPLEENWORT

_a_ Magnified pinna of fertile frond]

Late in August the plant has reached a stately height, perhaps of three or four feet. The fronds are still smooth and delicate to a degree unusual even in ferns. But they wear a deeper green, and their texture seems a trifle more substantial. Occasionally, though rarely in the deeper woods, we find a frond which is conspicuously longer-stalked, taller, narrower than the others, with pinnæ more distant and more contracted. A glance at its lower surface discovers double rows of brown, linear fruit-dots.

Though one of the largest of its tribe, the Narrow-leaved Spleenwort suggests greater fragility, a keener sensitiveness to uncongenial conditions, than any other of our native ferns. A storm which leaves the other inhabitants of the forest almost untouched beats down its fronds, tender and perishable even in maturity.

This very fragility, accompanied as it is with beauty of form and color, in the midst of the somewhat coarse and hardy growth of the August woods, lends the plant a peculiar charm.

I find it growing beneath great basswoods, lichen-spotted beeches, and sugar maples with trunks branchless for fifty feet, soaring like huge shipmasts into the blue above.

Almost the only flowers in its neighborhood, for in midsummer wood-flowers are rare, are the tiny pink blossoms of the herb Robert, that invincible little plant which never wearies in well-doing, but persists in flowering from June till October, the violet-blue heads of the almost equally untiring self-heal and the yellow pitchers of the pale touch-me-not or jewel-weed. This plant, a close relative of the more southern and better known spotted touch-me-not, grows in great patches almost in the heart of the woods. The lack of flowers is somewhat atoned for by the coral clusters of the red baneberry and the black-spotted, china-like fruit of the white baneberry.

But ferns chiefly abound in these woods. Everywhere I notice the thin, spreading frond and withered fruit-cluster of the Rattlesnake Fern, in my experience the most ubiquitous member of the _Botrychium_ group. More or less frequent are graceful crowns of the Spinulose Shield Fern, slender shining fronds of Christmas Fern, dull-green groups of Silvery Spleenwort and stately plumes of Goldie's Fern. As we draw near the wood's border, where the yellow sunlit fields of grain shine between the tall maple shafts, we push aside umbrella-like Brakes. At the very limits of the woods, close against the rails, grows the sweet-scented _Dicksonia_.

19. NET-VEINED CHAIN FERN

_Woodwardia angustifolia_

Swampy places from Maine to Florida, in wet woods near the
coast.

_Sterile fronds._--Twelve to eighteen inches high,
pinnatifid with minutely toothed divisions united by a
broad wing.

_Fertile fronds._--Taller than the sterile, once-pinnate;
_pinnæ_ much contracted; _fruit-dots_ in a single row each
side of the secondary midribs; _indusium_ fixed by its
outer margin, opening on the side next the midrib.

The Woodwardias are associated in my mind with sea-air, pine-trees, and the flat, sandy country near Buzzard's Bay, Mass. Both species were met with in one walk not far from the shore.

A little stream, scarcely more than a ditch, divided an open, sunny meadow from a bit of evergreen wood, and on the steep banks of this runlet grew the bright fronds of _Woodwardia angustifolia_, giving at first glance somewhat the impression of _Onoclea sensibilis_. The fronds of both are described as pinnatifid, and in this _Woodwardia_ we find the divisions minutely toothed (_a_), giving them a rough outline which is wanting in _Onoclea sensibilis_. These are the sterile fronds. Among them and taller than they are the fertile fronds with very narrow divisions, covered on the lower side with the chains of fruit-dots (_b_).

NET-VEINED CHAIN FERN]

It is a handsome fern and very satisfactory to the novice in fern hunting, because, taking fertile and sterile fronds together, it cannot be confused with any other species.

Crossing the tiny stream, a path dim with the shade of low, dense evergreens and soft and elastic underfoot from their fallen leaves, leads through the woods. Here among the partridge-vine that runs over the rocks, growing from the soft, spongy soil, are groups of the sterile fronds only of this _Woodwardia_, charming little clumps of fresh green that invite one to dig them up and plant them in boxes or baskets for decorative purposes.

GROUP IV

FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND SIMILAR; SPORANGIA ON OR BENEATH A REFLEXED PORTION OF THE MARGIN

20. BRAKE. BRACKEN. EAGLE FERN

_Pteris aquilina_

Almost throughout North America, in dry, somewhat open
places. One to two feet high ordinarily, occasionally much
higher.

_Fronds._--Solitary, one to two feet wide, cut into three
primary divisions which are twice-pinnate, widely spreading
at the summit of an erect, stout stalk; _sporangia_ borne
in a continuous line along the lower margin of the frond;
_indusium_ formed by the reflexed edge of the frond.

Of all ferns the Brake is the most widely distributed. It occurs in one form or another in all parts of the world. With us it grows commonly from one to two feet high, occasionally higher. In Oregon it attains a height of six or seven feet, in the Andes of fourteen feet.

It is a vigorous and often a beautiful and striking plant, growing abundantly on sunny hill-sides and in open woods.

In the spring or early summer its solitary spreading frond, light-green and delicate in color, might almost be confused with the Oak Fern. Later its green takes on a dark, dull shade, and its general aspect becomes more hardy than that of any other fern.

The Brake is believed to be the "fearn" of the early Saxons and to have given this prefix to many English towns and villages, such as Fearnhow or Farnhow, Farningham, etc.

It is one of the few ferns mentioned by name in general literature. In the "Lady of the Lake" it is alluded to in the song of the heir of Armandave:

"The heath this night must be my bed,
The Bracken curtain for my head."

_Pteris esculenta_, a variety of our Brake, is said to have been one of the chief articles of food in New Zealand. It was called "fern-root," and in Dr. Thompson's "Story of New Zealand" is spoken of as follows: "This food is celebrated in song, and the young women, in laying before travellers baskets of cooked fern-root, chant: 'What shall be our food? Shall shellfish and fern-root? That is the root of the earth; that is the food to satisfy a man; the tongues grow by reason of the licking, as if it were the tongue of a dog.'"

The titles Brake and Bracken are not always confined to their lawful owner. Frequently they are applied to any large ferns, such as the Osmundas, or even to such superficially fern-like plants as _Myrica asplenifolia_, the so-called sweet fern.

There is a difference of opinion as to the origin of the plant's scientific name, which signifies eagle wing. Some suppose it to be derived from the outline of the heraldic eagle which has been seen by the imaginative in a cross-section of the young stalk. It seems more likely that a resemblance has been fancied between the spreading frond and the plumage of an eagle.

The Brake turns brown in autumn, but does not wither away till the following year.

21. MAIDENHAIR

_Adiantum pedatum_

Nova Scotia to British Columbia, south to Georgia and
Arkansas, in moist woods. Ten to eighteen inches high.

_Fronds._--Forked at the summit of the slender black and
polished stalk, the recurved branches bearing on one side
several slender, spreading pinnate divisions; _pinnules_
obliquely triangular-oblong; _sporangia_ in short
fruit-dots on the under margin of a lobe of the frond;
_indusium_ formed by the reflexed lobe or tooth of the
frond.

For purposes of identification it would seem almost superfluous to describe the Maidenhair, a plant which probably is more generally appreciated than all the rest of the ferns together. Yet, strangely enough, it is confused constantly with other plants and with plants which are not ferns.

Perhaps the early meadow rue is the plant most commonly mistaken for the Maidenhair. While it does not suggest strikingly our eastern fern, its lobed and rounded leaflets bear a likeness to certain species native to other parts of the country, notably to _A. Capillus-Veneris_, the Venus-hair Fern of the southern States.

But it is not easy to convince a friend that he has made a mistake in this regard. You chance to be driving by a bank overgrown with the early meadow rue when he calls your attention to the unusual abundance of Maidenhair in the neighborhood. To his rather indignant surprise you suggest that the plant he saw was not Maidenhair, but the early meadow rue. If he have the least reverence for your botanical attainments he grudgingly admits that possibly it was not the ordinary Maidenhair, but maintains stoutly that it was a more uncommon species which abounds in his especial neighborhood. If truly diplomatic you hold your peace and change the subject, but if possessed by a tormenting love of truth which is always getting you into trouble, you state sadly but firmly that our northeastern States have but one species of Maidenhair, and that it is more than improbable that the favored neighborhood of his home (for it is always an unusually rich locality) offers another. The result of this discussion is that mentally you are pronounced both conceited and pig-headed. For a few weeks the plants in question are passed without comment, but by another summer the rich growth of Maidenhair is again proudly exhibited. Only in one way can you save your reputation and possibly convince your friend. When correcting him, if you glibly remark that _Adiantum pedatum_, our northeastern Maidenhair, is the only species which has been found in this part of the country, that _A. Capillus-Veneris_, the Maidenhair which somewhat resembles the early meadow rue, can hardly be found north of Virginia, while _A. tenerum_ is found only in Florida, and _A. emarginatum_ is confined to the Pacific coast, you will have redeemed yourself, not from the stigma of conceit, far from it, but from that of error. The glib utterance of Latin names is attended with a strange power of silencing your opponent and filling him with a sort of grudging belief in your scientific attainments.

The truth is that the average layman who takes an interest in plants is as sensitive regarding the Maidenhair as he is about his recognition of an orchid. By way of warning what more need be said?

Though the Maidenhair has a wide range and grows abundantly in many localities, it possesses a quality of aloofness which adds to its charm. Even in neighborhoods where it grows profusely, it rarely crowds to the roadside or becomes the companion of your daily walks. Its chosen haunts are dim, moist hollows in the woods or shaded hill-sides sloping to the river. In such retreats you find the feathery fronds tremulous on their black, glistening stalks, and in their neighborhood you find also the very spirit of the woods.

Despite its apparent fragility, the Maidenhair is not difficult to cultivate if provided with sufficient shade and moisture.

22. HAIRY LIP FERN

_Cheilanthes vestita_ (_C. lanosa_)

Growing on rocks, Southern New York to Georgia. Six to
fifteen inches high, with brown and shining stalks.