Chapter XLII: SMOOTH WOODSIA, Woodsia glabella, 207 (3)

_Fronds._--Oblong-lance-shaped, rough with rusty hairs,
twice-pinnate; _pinnæ_ rather distant, triangular-ovate,
cut into oblong, more or less incised pinnules;
_fruit-dots_ roundish; _indusium_ formed by the reflexed
margins of the lobes which are pushed back by the matured
sporangia.

Till a few years ago the most northern station for the Hairy Lip Fern was supposed to be within the limits of New York City. The plant was discovered, in 1866 or 1867, on Manhattan Island, near Fort Tryon, growing on rocks with an eastern exposure. If one should visit this station to-day he would find himself at 196th Street, in the city of New York, some two hundred and thirty-three yards west of the Kingsbridge road, and I fear there would be no trace of this to us rare fern.

Since then the plant has been discovered close to the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie.

Its narrowly oblong, dull-green fronds, more or less covered with red-brown hairs, which give it a somewhat rusty appearance, spring from the clefts and ledges of rocks.

HAIRY LIP FERN

_a_ A fruiting pinnule]

23. HAY-SCENTED FERN

_Dicksonia pilosiuscula_ (_D. punctilobula_)

Two to three feet high; hill-sides, meadows, and thickets
from Canada to Tennessee.

_Fronds._--Ovate-lance-shaped, long-tapering, pale-green,
thin and very delicate in texture, slightly glandular and
hairy, usually thrice-pinnatifid; _pinnæ_ lance-shaped,
pointed, repeating in miniature outline of frond;
_pinnules_ cut again into short and obtuse lobes or
segments; _fruit-dots_ each on an elevated globular
receptacle on a _recurved toothlet_; _indusium_ cup-shaped,
open at the top.

In parts of the country, especially from Connecticut southward, the Hay-scented Fern is one of the abundant plants. Though not essentially a rock-loving plant, it rejoices in such rocky, upland pastures as crown many of our lower mountain ranges, "great stretches of grayish or sage-green fields in which every bowlder and outcrop of rock is marked by masses of the bright-green fronds of _Dicksonia_, over which the air moves lazily, heavy with the peculiar fragrance of this interesting fern." Its singularly delicate, tapering, pale-green fronds, curving gracefully in every direction, rank it among our most beautiful and noticeable ferns. Often along the roadsides it forms great masses of feathery foliage, tempting the weary pedestrian or bicycler to fling himself upon a couch sufficiently soft and luxurious in appearance to satisfy a sybarite. But I can testify that the Hay-scented Fern does not make so good a bed as it promises.

HAY-SCENTED FERN

_a_ Early stage of fruiting pinnule]

Two years ago, during a memorably hot August, an afternoon drive over an unused mountain road brought us to a picturesque spot where the clear stream tumbled into a rock-paved basin, suggesting so vividly the joy of

"---- the cool silver shock
Of the plunge in a pool's living water,"

that then and there we resolved soon to pitch our tent upon its banks. In all respects it was not a suitable camp site. There were no balsams or evergreens of any kind available for bedding in the neighborhood, so when, a few days later, we had taken up our quarters just above the rock-paved pool, we went into our temporary back-yard where the _Dicksonia_ grew abundantly with its usual soft and seductive appearance, and gathered great armfuls for the night's rest. I must frankly own that I never slept on so hard a bed. Since then I have been more than ever inclined to believe that ferns inhabit the earth chiefly for decorative ends. In the present age they do not lend themselves as once they did to medicinal purposes. Usually they are without culinary value. So far as I know animals refuse to eat them on account of their acrid juices. And experience proves that when used as a bed they do not

"---- medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday."

The Hay-scented Fern is very sensitive, withering with the early frosts. Sometimes in the fall it bleaches almost white. Then its slender fronds seem like beautiful wraiths of their former selves.

The _Dicksonia_, as he always calls it, is Thoreau's favorite among the ferns. Its fronds are sweet-scented when crushed or in drying, and to their fragrance he was peculiarly sensitive:

"Going along this old Carlisle road ... road where all
wild things and fruits abound, where there are countless
rocks to jar those who venture in wagons; road which leads
to and through a great but not famous garden, zoölogical
and botanical, at whose gate you never arrive--as I was
going along there, I perceived the grateful scent of the
Dicksonia fern now partly decayed. It reminds me of all up
country, with its springy mountain-sides and unexhausted
vigor. Is there any essence of Dicksonia fern, I wonder?
Surely that giant, who my neighbor expects is to bound up
the Alleghenies, will have his handkerchief scented with
that. The sweet fragrance of decay! When I wade through by
narrow cow-paths, it is as if I had strayed into an ancient
and decayed herb garden. Nature perfumes her garments with
this essence now especially. She gives it to those who go
a-barberrying and on dark autumnal walks. The very scent of
it, if you have a decayed frond in your chamber, will take
you far up country in a twinkling. You would think you had
gone after the cows there, or were lost on the mountains."

Again:

"Why can we not oftener refresh one another with original
thoughts? If the fragrance of the Dicksonia fern is so
grateful and suggestive to us, how much more refreshing
and encouraging, recreating, would be fresh and fragrant
thoughts communicated to us from a man's experience? I want
none of his pity nor sympathy in the common sense, but
that he should emit and communicate to me his essential
fragrance ... going a-huckleberrying in the fields of
thought, and enriching all the world with his vision and
his joys."

In connection with this fern Thoreau indulges in one of those whimsical, enchanting disquisitions with the spirit of which you are in complete accord, even though you may seem to contradict the letter:

"It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin
to know. I do not get nearer by a hair's-breadth to any
natural object, so long as I presume that I have an
introduction to it from some learned man. To conceive of it
with a total apprehension, I must for the thousandth time
approach it as something totally strange. If you would make
acquaintance with the ferns, you must forget your botany.
Not a single scientific term or distinction is the least
to the purpose. You would fain perceive something, and you
must approach the object totally unprejudiced. You must
be aware that nothing is what you have taken it to be. In
what book is this world and its beauty described? Who has
plotted the steps toward the discovery of beauty? You must
be in a different state from common. Your greatest success
will be simply to perceive that such things are, and you
will have no communication to make to the Royal Society. 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."

GROUP V

FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND SIMILAR; SPORANGIA IN LINEAR OR OBLONG FRUIT-DOTS

24. LADY FERN

_Asplenium Filix-fœmina_

A wood and roadside fern, growing in all parts of the
country and presenting many varying forms. One to three
feet high, with tufted, straw-colored, reddish, or brownish
stalks.

_Fronds._--Broadly lance-shaped, tapering toward the
apex, twice-pinnate; _pinnæ_ lance-shaped; _pinnules_
oblong-lanceolate, toothed or incised; _fruit-dots_ short,
curved; _indusium_ delicate, curved, sometimes shaped like
a horseshoe.

The Lady Fern is found in all parts of the country. Sometimes it forms a part of the tangle of wild, graceful things which grow close to the roadside fence. Again, in company with the Silvery Spleenwort, the Evergreen Wood Fern and the Spinulose Shield Fern, forming perhaps a background for the brilliant scarlet clusters of the wild bergamot, it fringes the banks of some amber-colored brook which surprises us with its swift, noiseless flow as we stroll through the woods.

LADY FERN

_a_ Fruiting pinnule _b_ Portion of same]

The earliest fronds uncurl in May. In June the plant is very graceful and pleasing. When growing in shaded places it is often conspicuous by reason of its bright pink or reddish stalks, which contrast effectively with the delicate green of the foliage. But in later summer, judging by my own experience, the Lady Fern loses much of its delicacy. Many of its fronds become disfigured and present a rather blotched and coarse appearance.

This seems strange in view of the fact that the plant is called by Lowe, a well-known English writer, the "Queen of Ferns," and that it is one of the few ferns to which we find reference in literature. Scott pays it the compliment, rarely bestowed upon ferns, of mentioning it by name:

"Where the copse wood is the greenest,
Where the fountain glistens sheenest,
Where the morning dew lies longest,
There the Lady Fern grows strongest."

In English works devoted to ferns I find at least two poems, more remarkable for enthusiasm than for poetic inspiration, in its honor. I quote a portion of the one which occurs in Miss Pratt's "Ferns of Great Britain and Their Allies":

"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;
When up and clambering all about,
The Traveller's Joy flings forth
Its snowy awns, that in and out
Like feathers strew the earth:
Fair are the tufts of meadow-sweet
That haply blossom nigh;
Fair are the whirls of violet
Prunella shows hard by;
But nor by burn in wood, or vale,
Grows anything so fair
As the plumy crest of emerald pale,
That waves in the wind, and soughs in the gale,
Of the Lady Fern, when the sunbeams turn
To gold her delicate hair."

The other, which I give in full, on account of its quaintness, appeared in the _Botanical Looker-out_ of Edwin Lees:

"When in splendor and beauty all nature is crown'd,
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.

"Polypodium indented stands stiff on the rock,
With his sori exposed to the tempest's rough shock;
On the wide, chilly heath Aquilina stands stern,
Not once to be named with the sweet Lady Fern.

"Filix-mas in a circle lifts up his green fronds
And the Heath Fern delights by the bogs and the ponds;
Through their shadowy tufts though with pleasure I turn,
The palm must still rest with the fair 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.

"Noon burns up the mountain; but here by the fall
The Lady Fern flourishes graceful and tall.
Hours speed as thoughts rise, without any concern,
And float like the spray gliding past the green Fern."

25. SILVERY SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium thelypteroides_ (_A. acrostichoides_)

Canada to Alabama and westward, in rich woods. One to three
feet high.

_Fronds._--Lance-shaped, tapering both ways from the
middle, once-pinnate; _pinnæ_ linear-lanceolate, deeply
cut into obtuse segments; _fruit-dots_ oblong; _indusium_
silvery when young.

The Silvery Spleenwort grows in company with its kinsman, the Narrow-leaved Spleenwort, and also with many of the Aspidiums, such as the Spinulose Shield Fern, the Evergreen Wood Fern, the Christmas and Goldie's Fern. I find it growing in large patches in the rich woods, often near water, either in boggy ground or on the very edge of the clear, brown brook. Sometimes it is difficult to detect a single fertile frond in a group of plants covering many square feet of ground. This is probably owing to the deeply shaded situations which it favors, as in sunny exposures I have noticed an abundance of fertile fronds.

_a_ Upper part of fertile frond of Silvery Spleenwort _b_ Portion of fruiting pinna _c_ Portion of pinna showing double fruit-dots]

Its color is a dull green, the silvery indusia on the lower surfaces of the pinnæ giving the plant its English title. Although usually its fronds are larger, their outline, tapering as it does both ways from the middle, somewhat suggests that of the New York Fern. It is readily identified, as the oblong or linear fruit-dots at once proclaim it a Spleenwort, and no other member of this tribe has fronds of the same shape.

Although it cannot be classed among the rare ferns, it is absent from many promising localities, and is associated in my mind with especially successful expeditions.

26. RUE SPLEENWORT. WALL RUE

_Asplenium Ruta-muraria_

A small rock fern, growing on limestone, Vermont to
Michigan and southward. Four to seven inches long, with
green, slender, tufted stalks.

_Fronds._--Triangular-ovate, smooth, evergreen, twice or
thrice-pinnate below; _pinnæ_ cut into stalked pinnules;
_fruit-dots_ confluent at maturity, covering nearly the
whole lower surface of pinnules; _indusium_ delicate.

My first acquaintance with the little Rue Spleenwort in its own home dates back to the memorable day when we discovered the new station for the Hart's Tongue.

RUE SPLEENWORT]

As I have already mentioned in my description of the Purple Cliff Brake, on a chance morning call I learned that twenty-five years before the Rue Spleenwort and the Purple Cliff Brake had been found on certain cliffs which overhung some neighboring falls.

On these very cliffs a quarter of a century later we found a few specimens of each plant. The tiny fronds of the Rue Spleenwort grew from small fissures in the cliffs, flattening themselves against their rocky background.

About a month later we returned to the spot for the purpose of securing photographs of the natural gallery where the plants grew. The seamed, overhanging rocks, the neighboring stream plunging nearly two hundred feet to the ravine below, the bold opposite cliffs showing here and there through their cloak of trees, and above and beyond the smiling upland pastures, the wood-crowned hills, and the haze-softened valley, had left a picture in the mind that we hoped to reproduce, however inadequately, by means of the camera.

This morning we had approached the cliffs from an opposite direction. In climbing a gradual ascent from the bed of the stream, we found a plant of the Rue Spleenwort which was more vigorous and thrifty than any we had previously seen. In the single tuft, about as large as the palm of one's hand, we counted forty-five green fronds. Their lower surfaces, in many cases, were covered with confluent fruit-dots. The plant had much the effect of a rather small specimen of the Mountain Spleenwort. The short, broad fronds were somewhat leathery, with only a few pinnæ. Considering its lack of size, the little cluster, springing from the bare rock, made so definite and interesting a picture that we tried to photograph it as it grew. But after some time spent in striving to secure a foothold for the tripod, and at the same time for the photographer, we gave up the attempt as hopeless.

In England the Rue Spleenwort is found growing on old walls, specially on their northern sides, also on church-towers, bridges, and ruins. It is said to be difficult to cultivate.

Formerly this fern yielded a decoction which was supposed to be beneficial in attacks of pleurisy and of jaundice.

27. MOUNTAIN SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium montanum_

Connecticut and New York to Georgia. A small rock fern from
two to eight inches long, with stalks brown at base.

_Fronds._--Ovate-lanceolate in outline, somewhat leathery,
cut into oblong pinnæ, the lower ones of which are cut
again into more or less oblong, toothed divisions, the
upper ones less and less divided; _rachis_ green, broad,
flat; _fruit-dots_ linear, short; _indusium_ thin, hidden
at length by the sporangia, which mature in July.

With us this plant is decidedly rare. New York and Connecticut are given as its northern limits. I have found it only in one locality, in the neighborhood of a mountain lake in Ulster County, N. Y. Though growing here somewhat abundantly, the fern is so small that, unless your eyes are trained to search every cranny in the hope of some new find, you are not likely to notice it. Even with trained eyes you may readily fancy that the narrow chinks in the cliffs which rise sheerly from the lake are merely patched with moss. But when you have pulled your boat close under the shelving rocks, and have secured a hold that enables you to stand up and examine at leisure the suspicious patches, your heart bounds with delight as you get a near view of the fringe of blue-green, leathery fronds which flatten themselves against the gray cliffs. Apparently only the plants that grow under specially favorable conditions are able to develop fronds that attain a length of five or six inches. Only in what must have been almost constant shadow, under the shelving rocks, directly above the lake and refreshed always by its moisture, did I find these really attractive, thrifty-looking plants. The specimens, which were located at some distance from the lake, growing in one instance on top of a mountain, again in the shaded crevices of a cliff, were tiny, indefinite-looking plants with nothing to recommend them to any eyes save those of the fern collector. In every instance they grew from fissures in the rocks, rooting apparently in a mere pinch of earth, yet with such tenacity that it would have been very difficult to extract a plant unharmed. In almost every case they were shielded much of the time from exposure to the sun.

MOUNTAIN SPLEENWORT

_a_ A fertile frond _b_ A pinna of fertile frond]

The large plants in the immediate vicinity of the lake were noticeably bluish-green in color.

It is to be hoped that the few known haunts of the Mountain Spleenwort will be respected in order that this rare little plant may be preserved.

28. EBONY SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium ebeneum_ (_A. platyneuron_)

Maine to Florida and westward, on rocks and hill-sides.
Nine to eighteen inches high, with blackish and shining
stalks.

_Fronds._--Upright, narrowly oblanceolate, fertile fronds
much the taller, once-pinnate; _pinnæ_ usually alternate,
oblong, finely toothed, the base auricled on the upper or
on both sides; _fruit-dots_ many, oblong, nearer midvein
than margin; _indusium_ silvery till maturity.

The slender fronds of the Ebony Spleenwort hold themselves with a sort of rigid grace which suggests a combination of delicacy and endurance.

It is an attractive plant with an elusiveness of habit which serves, perhaps, to increase its charm. Its range is from Maine to Florida and westward; it is said to prefer limestone soil, and my past experience has proved it a fairly common plant, yet so far this summer, in many expeditions in a part of the country rich in limestone, I have found only one specimen, while last year along the roadsides of Long Island I found its black-stemmed fronds standing erect and slim in crowded ranks under groups of red cedars. In other years it has abounded in localities of a different character, sometimes following its little relative, the Maidenhair Spleenwort, into moist ravines or along the shelves of shaded rocks, again climbing exposed hill-sides, where its fresh beauty is always a surprise.

EBONY SPLEENWORT]

The fronds of the Ebony Spleenwort usually face the sun, even if so doing necessitates the twisting of its stalk.

29. MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium Trichomanes_

Almost throughout North America. A small rock fern, four
to twelve inches long, with purplish-brown and shining,
thread-like stalks.

_Fronds._--Linear in outline, somewhat rigid, once-pinnate;
_pinnæ_ roundish or oval, unequal-sided, attached to rachis
by a narrow point, entire or toothed; _fruit-dots_ short,
oblong, narrowed at the ends, three to six on each side of
the midrib; _sporangia_ dark-brown when ripe; _indusium_
delicate.

In childhood the delicate little fronds and dark, glistening, thread-like stalks of the Maidenhair Spleenwort seemed to me a token of the mysterious, ecstatic presence of the deeper woods, of woods where dark hemlocks arched across the rock-broken stream, where the spongy ground was carpeted with low, nameless plants with white-veined or shining leaves and coral-like berries, where precious red-cupped mosses covered the fallen tree-trunks and strange birds sang unknown songs.

Perhaps because in those days it was a rare plant to be met with on rare occasions, in a spirit of breathless exultation, I almost begrudge finding it now on shaded cliffs close to the highway.

Certainly it seems lovelier when it holds itself somewhat aloof from the beaten paths. One of its favorite haunts is a mossy cliff which forms part of a ravine of singular beauty. Along the base of this cliff foams a rushing stream on its way to the valley. Overhead stretch branches of hemlock, cedar, and basswood. On the broader shelves the mountain maple, the silver birch, and the hobble-bush secure a precarious foothold. Below rare sunbeams bring out rich patches of color on the smooth, muscular trunks of the beeches. Close to the water, perhaps, wheel a pair of spotted sand-pipers, now lighting on the rocks in order to secure some insect, now tilting backward and forward with the comical motion peculiar to them, now gliding swiftly along the pebbly shore till their brown and gray and white coats are lost in the brown and gray and white of shore, rock, and water.

In such a retreat as this ravine the Maidenhair Spleenwort seems peculiarly at home. Its tufted fronds have a fresh greenness that is a delight to the eye as they spring from little pockets or crannies too shallow, we would suppose, for the necessary moisture and nourishment. Its near companions are the Walking Fern, whose tapering, leaf-like, blue-green fronds leap along the shelving ledge above, and the Bulblet Bladder Fern, which seems to gush from every crevice of the cliff.

30. GREEN SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium viride_

Northern New England, west and northward, on shaded rocks.
A few inches to nearly a foot long, with tufted stalks,
brownish below, green above.

_Fronds._--Linear-lanceolate, once-pinnate, pale green;
_pinnæ_ ovate, toothed, midvein indistinct and forking;
_fruit-dots_ oblong; _indusium_ straight or curved.

GREEN SPLEENWORT]

The Green Spleenwort in general appearance resembles the Maidenhair Spleenwort. Perhaps its most distinguishing feature is its stalk, which, though brown below, becomes green above, while that of its little relative is dark and shining throughout. Its discovery on Mt. Mansfield, Vt., by Mr. Pringle gave it a place in the flora of the United States, as is shown in the following passage from Mr. Pringle's address before the Vermont Botanical Club:

"On this first visit to Mt. Mansfield my work was
restricted to the crest of the great mountain. About the
cool and shaded cliffs in front of the Summit House were
then first brought to my view _Aspidium fragrans_ ... and
_Asplenium viride_, ... for I was still on my fern hunt.
The finding of the former added a species to the Vermont
catalogue; the latter was an addition to the flora of the
United States. Such little discoveries gave joy to the
young collector."

31. SCOTT'S SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium ebenoides_

Connecticut to the Mississippi and southward to Alabama, on
limestone. Four to twelve inches long, with blackish and
shining stalks.

_Fronds._--Lanceolate, tapering to a long, narrow apex,
generally pinnate below, pinnatifid above; _fruit-dots_
straight or slightly curved; _indusium_ narrow.

SCOTT'S SPLEENWORT]

The known stations of this curious little plant are usually in the immediate neighborhood of the Walking Leaf and the Ebony Spleenwort, of which ferns it is supposed to be a hybrid. The long, narrow apex occasionally forming a new plant, and the irregular fruit-dots remind one of the Walking Leaf, while the lustrous black stalk, the free veins, and the pinnate portions of the fronds suggest the Ebony Spleenwort.

Scott's Spleenwort matures in August. It is rare and local, except in Alabama. The fact, however, that it has been discovered in widely distant localities east of the Mississippi should lend excitement to fern expeditions in any of our limestone neighborhoods where we see its chosen associates, the Walking Leaf and the Ebony Spleenwort. To find a new station for this interesting little fern, even if it consisted of one or two plants only, as is said to have been the case at Canaan, Conn., would well repay the fatigue of the longest tramp.

32. PINNATIFID SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium pinnatifidum_

New Jersey and Pennsylvania to Illinois, and southward to
Alabama and Arkansas, on rocks. Four to fourteen inches
long, with polished stalks, blackish below, green above,
when young somewhat chaffy below.

_Fronds._--Broadly lance-shaped, tapering to a long,
slender point, pinnatifid or pinnate below; _pinnæ_ rounded
or the lowest tapering to a point, _fruit-dots_ straight or
somewhat curved; _indusium_ straight or curved.

PINNATIFID SPLEENWORT]

This plant resembles the Walking Leaf to such an extent that formerly it was not considered a separate species. The long, slender apex of its frond, which, it is said, sometimes takes root, as in the Walking Leaf, gave ground for its confusion with that fern. But the tapering apex of the frond of the Pinnatifid Spleenwort is not so long and the veins of the frond are free.

The Pinnatifid Spleenwort grows on rocks. Its usual companions are the Mountain Spleenwort and the Maidenhair Spleenwort. Williamson tells us that, though it is quite common in Kentucky, he has never found a frond which rooted at the apex. Eaton, however, speaks of "one or two instances of a slight enlargement of the apex, as if there were an attempt to form a proliferous bud."

33. BRADLEY'S SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium Bradleyi_

New York to Georgia and Alabama, westward to Arkansas, on
rocks preferring limestone. Six to ten inches long, with
slender, chestnut-brown stalks.

_Fronds._--Oblong-lanceolate or oblong, tapering to a
point, pinnate; _pinnæ_ oblong-ovate, lobed or pinnatifid;
_fruit-dots_ short, near the midrib; _indusium_ delicate.

To my knowledge the only place in the northeastern States where this rare and local species has been collected is near Newburg, N. Y., where Dr. Eaton found a plant growing on lime rock in 1864.

BRADLEY'S SPLEENWORT

_a_ Fertile pinna]

34. WALKING FERN. WALKING LEAF

_Camptosorus rhizophyllus_

Canada to North Carolina and westward, on shaded rocks,
preferring limestone. Four to eighteen inches long, with
light-green stalks.

_Fronds._--Simple, lanceolate, long-tapering toward the
apex, usually heart-shaped at base, the apex often rooting
and forming a new plant; _fruit-dots_ oblong or linear,
irregularly scattered on the lower surface of the frond;
_indusium_ thin.

To its unusual and suggestive title this plant undoubtedly owes much of the interest which it seems to arouse in the minds of those who do not profess to be fern-lovers. A friend tells me that as a child, eagerly on the lookout for this apparently active little plant, he was so much influenced by its title that he thought it might be advantageous to secure a butterfly-net as an aid in its capture. I find that older people as well are tempted to unwonted energy if promised a glimpse of the Walking Fern. Then, too, the scarcity of the plant in many localities, or, indeed, its entire absence from certain parts of the country, gives it a reputation for rarity which is one of the most certain roads to fame.

For many years I was unable to track it to any of its haunts. During a summer spent in Rensselaer County, N. Y., the Walking Leaf was the object of various expeditions. I recall one drive of twenty-five miles devoted to hunting up a rumored station. At the end of the day, which turned out cold and rainy, and fruitless so far as its special object was concerned, I felt inclined to believe that the plant had justified its title and had walked out of the neighborhood. Yet, after all, no such expedition, even with wind and weather against one, as in this case, is really fruitless. The sharp watch along the roadside, the many little expeditions into inviting pastures, up promising cliffs, over moss-grown bowlders, down to the rocky border of the brook, are sure to result in discoveries of value or in moments of delight. A flower yet unnamed, a butterfly beautiful as a gem, an unfamiliar bird-song traced to its source, a new, suggestive outlook over the well-known valley, and, later, "a sleep pleasant with all the influences of long hours in the open air"--any or all of these results may be ours, and go to make the day count.

Finally, one September afternoon, shortly before leaving the neighborhood, we resolved upon a last search, in quite a new direction. Several miles from home, at a fork in the road, standing in a partially wooded pasture, we noticed just such a large, shaded rock, with mossy ledges, as had filled us with vain hopes many times. J. suggested a closer examination, which I discouraged, remembering previous disappointments. But something in the look of the great bowlder provoked his curiosity, so over the fence and up the ledges he scrambled. Almost his first resting-place was a projecting shelf which was carpeted with a mat of bluish-green foliage. It needed only a moment's investigation to identify the leathery, tapering fronds of the Walking Fern. No one who has not spent hours in some such search as this can sympathize with the delight of those moments. We fairly gloated over the quaint little plants, following with our fingers the slender tips of the fronds till they rooted in the moss, starting another generation on its life journey, and earning for itself the title of Walking Leaf or Walking Fern.

Although since then I have found the Walking Leaf frequently, and in great abundance, I do not remember ever to have seen it make so fine a display. The plants were unusually large and vigorous, and the aspect of the matted tufts was uncommonly luxuriant. To be sure, some allowance must be made for the glamour of a first meeting.

The Walking Leaf grows usually on limestone rocks, though it has been found on sandstone, shale, and conglomerate as well. I have also seen it on the stumps of decaying trees near limestone cliffs in Central New York, where it is a common plant, creeping along the shaded, mossy ledges above star-like tufts of the Maidenhair Spleenwort and fragile clusters of the Slender Cliff Brake, venturing to the brook's edge with sprays of the Bulblet Bladder Fern, and climbing the turreted summits of the hills close to the Purple Cliff Brake.

Although without the grace of the Maidenhair, the delicacy of certain of the Spleenworts, or the stately beauty of the Shield Ferns, the oddity and sturdiness of this little plant are bound to make it a favorite everywhere.

Occasionally a plant is found which will keep up its connection with two or three generations; that is, a frond will root at the apex, forming a new plant (the second generation). This will also send out a rooting frond which gives birth to a new plant (the third generation) before the two first fronds have decayed at their tips so as to sever the connection.

At times forking fronds are found, these forks also rooting occasionally at their tips.

35. HART'S TONGUE

_Scolopendrium vulgare_ (_S. scolopendrium_)

Shaded ravines under limestone cliffs in Central New York
and near South Pittsburg, Tenn. A few inches to nearly two
feet long, with stalks which are chaffy below and sometimes
to the base of the leaf.

_Fronds._--Narrowly oblong, undivided, from a somewhat
heart-shaped base, bright-green; _fruit-dots_ linear,
elongated, a row on either side of the midrib and at right
angles to it; _indusium_ appearing to be double.

When Gray describes a fern as "very rare" and Dr. Britton limits it to two small stations in neighboring counties in the whole northern United States, the fern lover looks forward with a sense of eager anticipation to seeing it for the first time.

During a week spent at Cazenovia, N. Y., a few years ago, I learned that the rare Hart's Tongue grew at Chittenango Falls, only four miles away. But my time was limited, and on a single brief visit to the picturesque spot where the broad Chittenango stream dashes over cliffs one hundred and fifty feet high, losing itself in the wild, wooded glen below on its journey to the distant valley, I did little more than revel in the beauty of the foaming mass which for many days "haunted me like a passion." I saw no signs of the plant which has done almost as much as "the sounding cataract" to make the spot famous.

The combined recollection of the beautiful falls and the for me undiscovered fern, joined to the fact that Madison and the adjoining Onondaga County are favorite hunting grounds for the fern lover on account of the many species which they harbor, drew us to Cazenovia for the summer two years later.

Guided by the explicit directions of Mr. J. H. Ten Eyck Burr, a fern enthusiast who is always ready to share with others, of whose good faith he is assured, his enjoyment of the hiding-places of his favorites, we found at last the Hart's Tongue in its own home.

If Mr. Burr's kindness in sending me some fine pressed specimens, and the illustrations I had seen in various books, had not already made me familiar with the general look of the plant, the long, undivided, tongue-like fronds, so different from one's preconceived notion of a fern, would have been a great surprise. Even now, although I have visited many times its hidden retreats, and have noted with delight every detail of its glossy, vigorous growth, it seems to me always as rare and unusual as it did the first day I found it.

At Chittenango Falls the Hart's Tongue grows a few yards from the base of bold, overhanging limestone cliffs, the tops of which are fringed by pendent roots of the red cedar. Nearly always it is caught beneath moss-grown fragments of the fallen limestone, the bright-green, undulating, glossy leaves either standing almost erect (curving outward slightly above) or else falling over toward the slope of the land so as to present a nearly prostrate appearance. At times these fronds are very numerous, as many as fifty to a plant, forming great clumps of foliage. Again we find a plant with only half a dozen or even fewer green fronds. At maturity the linear, bright-brown fruit-dots, a row on either side the midrib, are conspicuous on the lower surfaces of the fronds.

This haunt of the Hart's Tongue is shaded by a growth of tall basswoods and maples, of sturdy oaks and hemlocks. The neighboring cliffs are draped with the slender fronds of the Bulblet Bladder Fern. On every side rise the tall crowns of the omnipresent Evergreen Wood Fern. Lower down, close to the rushing stream which we see mistily through the green branches, its roar always in our ears, grow the Walking Leaf and the Maidenhair. The little Polypody climbs over the rocks and perches contentedly on the spreading roots of trees, while a few fragile plants of the Slender Cliff Brake, something of a rarity in these parts, are fastened to the mossy ledges.

The other published northern station of the Hart's Tongue is at Jamesville, some fifteen miles from Chittenango Falls, near a small sheet of water known commonly as Green Pond, christened botanically Scolopendrium Lake. Here also it grows among the talus at the foot of limestone cliffs. The plants which I found in this locality were less luxuriant than those at Chittenango Falls. They grow in more exposed, less shaded spots.

Scolopendrium Lake has become somewhat famous in the world of fern students by reason of Mr. Underwood's claim that in its immediate vicinity, within a radius of fifty rods from the water's edge (the lake being a mere pond), grow twenty-seven different kinds of ferns, while within a circle whose diameter is not over three miles thirty-four species have been found. During this one day we gave to the neighborhood, we could not hope to find so great a number, the result, perhaps, of many days' investigation, and were forced to content ourselves with the twenty-one species we did find. In his list Mr. Underwood marks the Purple Cliff Brake as found but once, so I judge he did not discover the station on the turreted cliffs close by where it grows in extravagant profusion, producing fronds not only much longer and finer than I had seen elsewhere, but superior to those pictured in the illustrated books.

During the same summer, on an expedition to Perryville Falls, which we had planned for the express purpose of finding the Rue Spleenwort and the Purple Cliff Brake, a new station was discovered for the Hart's Tongue. To Miss Murray Ledyard, of Cazenovia, belongs the honor of finding the first plants in this locality. We had been successful in the original object of our journey, and had crossed the stream in order to examine the opposite cliffs. J. and I, curious to study the wet wall of rock close to the sheer white veil of water, which fell more than one hundred feet, finally secured an unsubstantial foothold among graceful tufts of the greenish, lily-like flowers, which ought to receive a more homely and appropriate title than _Zygadenus elegans_. Having satisfied ourselves that the mossy crevices harbored no plants of the Slender Cliff Brake, now the immediate object of our search, we followed the natural path beneath the overhanging rock and above the sheer descent to the ravine, examining the cliffs as we cautiously picked our way. Miss Ledyard had remained below, and suddenly we heard her give a triumphant shout, followed by the joyful announcement that she had found the Hart's Tongue. The station being previously quite unknown, this was a most interesting discovery. On entering the ravine we had discussed its possibility, but I had fancied that any hope of it would be unfounded, as I supposed the ground had been thoroughly canvassed by the many botanists who had visited the neighborhood.

The plants were still young, but large and vigorous, growing in a partial opening among the basswoods, maples, and beeches, on a steep slope covered with fragments of limestone, some thirty or forty feet from the base of the cliffs. We must have found from twenty to thirty plants within a radius of as many feet.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, the discovery found its way to the columns of the local paper, and on our return to the station, some weeks later our eager expectation of seeing the young plants in the splendor of maturity was crushed by finding that the spot had been ruthlessly invaded and a number of the finest plants had disappeared. Before long it will be necessary for botanists to form a secret society, with vows of silence as to fern localities and some sort of lynch law for the punishment of vandals.

This fern, so rare with us, is a common plant in Europe, its fronds attaining at times a length of two or three feet. In Ireland and the Channel Islands it is especially abundant. In Devonshire, England, it is described as growing "on the tops and at the sides of walls; hanging from old ruins ... dropping down its long, green fronds into the cool and limpid water of roadside wells hewn out of the rock; often exposed to the full blaze of the sun, but always in such cases dwindled down to a tiny size" ("The Fern Paradise").

The Hart's Tongue has been known as the Caterpillar Fern and the Seaweed Fern.

36. VIRGINIA CHAIN FERN

_Woodwardia Virginica_

Swampy places, often in deep water, from Maine to Florida.
Two to more than three feet high.

_Fronds._--Once-pinnate; _pinnæ_ pinnatifid, with oblong
segments; _fruit-dots_ oblong, in chain-like rows along the
midrib both of the pinnæ and of the lobes, confluent when
ripe; _indusium_ fixed by its outer margin, opening on the
side next the midrib.

Emerging from the shade and silence of a little wood upon the rolling downs where one has glimpses of the blue bay, our attention is attracted by a tall fern beside the path, growing among a tangle of shrubs and vines. It does not grow in symmetrical crowns or tufts like an _Osmunda_, but its fronds are almost as handsome, the divisions being wider apart and more scattered. Turning over two or three of the rather glossy fronds, we find a rusty-backed, fertile frond, covered on one side with the regular chain-like rows of fruit-dots which make its name of Chain Fern seem very appropriate and descriptive.

UPPER PART OF FROND OF VIRGINIA CHAIN FERN

_a_ Portion of fertile pinna _b_ Tip of fertile pinna]

In the low, damp ground near the coast one may expect to find this fern; its haunts, where the narrow path winds between tall masses of sweet-pepper bush and wet meadows where pogonia and calopogon delight us in July, and the white-fringed orchids may be found in later summer, are among the most beautiful of the many beautiful kinds of country that the fern and flower lover knows, to which his feet stray inevitably in the season of green things, and which are the solace of his "inward eye" when that season is past.

GROUP VI

FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND USUALLY SIMILAR, FRUIT-DOTS ROUND

37. NEW YORK FERN

_Aspidium Noveboracense_ (_Dryopteris Noveboracensis_)

Newfoundland to South Carolina, in woods and open meadows.
One to more than two feet high, with stalks shorter than
the fronds.

_Fronds._--Lance-shaped, tapering both ways from the middle
pinnate; _pinnæ_ lance-shaped, the lowest pairs shorter and
deflexed, divided into flat, oblong lobes which are not
reflexed over the fruit-dots; _fruit-dots_ round, distinct,
near the margin; _indusium_ minute.

At times the pale-green fronds of the New York Fern throng to the roadside, which is flanked by a tangled thicket of Osmundas, wild roses, and elder bushes.

Again, they stay quietly at home in the open marsh or in the shadow of the hemlocks and cedars, where they have fragrant pyrola and pipsissewa for company, and where the long, melancholy note of the peewee breaks the silence.

This plant is easily distinguished from the Marsh Fern by the noticeable tapering at both ends of its frond, and by the flat instead of reflexed margins to the lobes of the fertile pinnæ.

NEW YORK FERN

_a_ Portion of fertile pinna _b_ Tip of pinna showing veining]

38. MARSH FERN

_Aspidium Thelypteris_ (_Dryopteris Thelypteris_)

New Brunswick to Florida, in wet woods and swamps. One to
nearly three feet high.

_Fronds._--Lance-shaped, slightly downy, once-pinnate,
fertile fronds longer-stalked than the sterile; _pinnæ_,
the lower ones hardly smaller than the others, cut into
oblong, entire lobes, which are obtuse in the sterile
fronds, but appear acute in the fertile ones from the
strongly revolute margins; veins once or twice forked;
_fruit-dots_ small, round, half-way between midvein and
margin, or nearer margin, soon confluent; _indusium_ small.

In our wet woods and open swamps, and occasionally in dry pastures, the erect, fresh-green fronds of the Marsh Fern grow abundantly. The lowest pinnæ are set so high on the long slender stem as to give the fern the appearance of trying to keep dry, daintily holding its skirts out of the mud as it were.

The plant's range is wide. As I pick my way through marshy inland woods, using as bridges the fallen trunks and interlacing roots of trees, its bright fronds standing nearly three feet high, crowd about me. Close by, securing, like myself, a firmer foothold by the aid of the trees' roots, I notice the flat, mottled green and white rosettes and the slender wands of flowers of the rattlesnake orchid. In the open swamps beyond the fern's companion is another orchid, the ladies' tresses, with braided spikes of white, and in this case deliciously fragrant flowers.

In open marshes near the sea I find this plant associating itself with the violet-scented adder's mouth, with glistening sundew, and with gaudy Turk's-cap lilies.

From the New York Fern it may be distinguished easily by the somewhat abrupt instead of tapering base of the frond, by the strongly revolute margins of the fertile frond, and by its long stalk.

MARSH FERN

Fertile frond Sterile frond]

From the Massachusetts Fern it may be distinguished by its forked veins, the less revolute margins of the fertile frond, and by its thicker texture and deeper green.

39. MASSACHUSETTS FERN

_Aspidium simulatum_ (_Dryopteris simulata_)

New Hampshire to the Indian Territory, in wooded swamps.
One to more than three feet high.

_Fronds._--Oblong-lance-shaped, little or not at all
narrowed at the base, rather thin, pinnate; _pinnæ_
lance-shaped, cut into oblong, obtuse segments, which are
slightly reflexed in the fertile fronds, veins not forked;
_fruit-dots_ rather large, somewhat distant; _indusium_
"withering-persistent."

This species closely resembles the Marsh Fern. The less revolute margins of the fertile frond, the simple veins, its thinner texture, and its more distant fruit-dots aid in its identification. It is found in woodland swamps from New Hampshire to the Indian Territory.

SPINULOSE WOOD FERN

Aspidium spinulosum, var. intermedium

_a_ Portion of fertile pinnule]

40. SPINULOSE WOOD FERN

_Aspidium spinulosum_ (_Dryopteris spinulosa_)

Newfoundland to Kentucky. The common European type, rare in
North America. One to two and a half feet high, with stalks
having a few pale-brown deciduous scales.

_Fronds._--Lance-ovate, twice-pinnate; _pinnæ_ oblique to
the rachis, elongated-triangular, the lower ones broadly
triangular; _pinnules_ oblique to the midrib, connected
by a narrow wing, cut into thorny-toothed segments;
_fruit-dots_ round; _indusium_ smooth, without marginal
glands, soon withering.

To my knowledge I have only seen this fern in the herbarium, it being rare in this country. It is found, I have been told, chiefly toward the tops of mountains. Its pinnæ are noticeably ascending.

_Var. intermedium_ (_D. spinulosa intermedia_)

Labrador to North Carolina, in woods almost everywhere.
Usually large, with somewhat chaffy stalks, having brown,
dark-centred scales.

_Fronds._--Oblong-ovate, 2-3 pinnate; _pinnæ_
oblong-lance-shaped, spreading, rather distant, the lowest
unequally triangular, the pinnules on the lower side longer
than those on the upper side; _pinnules_ ovate-oblong,
spreading, with oblong lobes thorny-toothed at the apex;
_fruit-dots_ round; _indusium_ delicate, beset with tiny
stalked glands.

This is the form of the species that abounds in our woods. Perhaps no one plant does more for their beauty than this stately fern, whose rich-green, outward-curving fronds spring in circles from fallen trees and decaying stumps as well as from the ground.

BOOTT'S SHIELD FERN

_a_ Tip of fertile pinna]

The plant varies greatly in height, breadth, and way of holding itself. Sometimes the fronds stand three feet high, and are broad and spreading. Again, they are tall, slender, and somewhat erect. Again, they are not more than a foot high.

At its best it grows with almost tropical luxuriance and is a plant of rare beauty, its fronds having a certain featheriness of aspect uncommon in the Aspidiums.

_Var. dilatatum_ (_D. spinulosa dilatata_)

Newfoundland to North Carolina, chiefly in the mountains.

_Fronds._--Usually large, broader at base than in either of
the preceding species, ovate or triangular-ovate, oftenest
thrice-pinnate; _pinnules_ lance-oblong, the lowest often
much elongated; _fruit-dots_ round; _indusium_ smooth.

This form of the Spinulose Wood Fern is distinguished chiefly by its broader fronds and by the smooth indusia. As these indusia can be seen satisfactorily only by the aid of a magnifying-glass, there is frequently some difficulty in distinguishing this variety. Occasionally it occurs in a dwarf state, fruiting when only a few inches high.

41. BOOTT'S SHIELD FERN

_Aspidium Boottii_ (_Dryopteris Boottii_)

Nova Scotia to Maryland, about ponds and in wet places.
One and a half to more than three feet high, with somewhat
chaffy stalks which have pale-brown scales.

_Fronds._--Long lance-shaped, somewhat narrowed at base,
nearly or quite twice-pinnate; _pinnæ_, the lowest
triangular-ovate, upper longer and narrower; _pinnules_
oblong-ovate, sharply thorny-toothed, somewhat pinnatifid
below; _fruit-dots_ round; _indusium_ slightly glandular.

CRESTED SHIELD FERN

_a_ A pinna _b_ Portion of fertile pinna]

Boott's Shield Fern is found in moist woods and near ponds. It is distinguished by its long, narrow fronds and minutely glandular indusium.

42. CRESTED SHIELD FERN

_Aspidium cristatum_ (_Dryopteris cristata_)

Newfoundland to Kentucky, in swamps. One to more than three
feet high, with stalks which are chaffy, especially below,
and which have light-brown scales, stalks of sterile fronds
much shorter than those of fertile fronds.

_Fronds._--Linear-oblong or lance-shaped, nearly
twice-pinnate, fertile ones taller and longer stalked
than the sterile; _pinnæ_ (of the fertile frond, turning
their faces toward the apex of the frond) rather short,
lance-shaped or triangular-oblong, deeply impressed with
veins, cut deeply into oblong, obtuse, finely toothed
divisions; _fruit-dots_ large, round, half-way between
midvein and margin; _indusium_ large, flat.

In wet woods, growing either from the ground or from the trunks of fallen trees, and also in open meadows, we notice the tall, slender, dark-green, somewhat lustrous fronds of the Crested Shield Fern, usually distinguished easily from its kinsmen by the noticeably upward-turning pinnæ of the fertile fronds, and by the deep impression made by the veins on their upper surfaces.

The sterile fronds are much shorter than the fertile ones. They are evergreen, lasting through the winter after the fertile fronds have perished.

Near the Crested Shield Fern we find often many of its kinsmen, broad, feathery fronds of the Spinulose Wood Fern, more slender ones of Boott's Shield Fern, great tufts made by the magnificent bright-green fronds of Goldie's Fern, symmetrical circles of vigorous Evergreen Wood Fern, and shining clusters of the Christmas Fern. All these plants, belonging to the one tribe, seek the same moist, shaded retreats, and form a group of singular beauty and vigor.

Part of CLINTON'S WOOD FERN

_a_ Portion of fertile pinna]

43. CLINTON'S WOOD FERN

_Aspidium cristatum, var. Clintonianum_ (_Dryopteris
cristata Clintoniana_)

Maine to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in swampy woods. Two
and a half to four feet high.

_Fronds._--Larger in every way than those of the Crested
Shield Fern, nearly twice-pinnate; _pinnæ broadest
at base_, cut into from eight to sixteen pairs of
linear-oblong, obtuse, obscurely toothed divisions;
_fruit-dots_ large, round, near the midvein; _indusium_
orbicular, smooth.

This is a much larger and more showy plant than the Crested Shield Fern. Its tall, broad, hardy-looking fronds are found in our moist woods. While not rare it is exclusive in its habits, and cannot be classed with such every-day finds as its kinsmen, the Marsh, Spinulose, Evergreen, and Christmas Ferns.

Part of fertile frond of Goldie's Fern

_a_ Portion of a fertile pinna]

44. GOLDIE'S FERN

_Aspidium Goldianum_ (_Dryopteris Goldieana_)

New Brunswick to North Carolina and Tennessee, in rich
woods. Two to more than four feet high, with stalks which
are chaffy near the base.

_Fronds._--Broadly ovate, the early sterile ones much
broader in proportion and smaller, usually a foot or more
wide, once-pinnate; _pinnæ_ pinnatifid; _broadest in the
middle_ (the distinction from Clinton's Wood Fern), the
divisions, about twenty pairs, oblong-linear, slightly
toothed; _fruit-dots_ very near the midvein; _indusium_
very large, orbicular.

In the golden twilight of the deeper woods this stately plant unfurls its tall, broad, bright-green fronds, studded on their backs with the round fruit-dots which are so noticeable in this _Aspidium_, adding much to their attractiveness by the suggestion of fertility.

This plant ranks with the Osmundas and with the Ostrich Fern in size and vigorous beauty. Its retiring habits give it a reputation for rarity or at least for exclusiveness.

EVERGREEN WOOD FERN

_a_ Tip of fertile pinna _b_ Magnified fruit-dot, showing indusium and sporangia]

45. EVERGREEN WOOD FERN. MARGINAL SHIELD FERN

_Aspidium marginale_ (_Dryopteris marginalis_)

Canada to Alabama, in rocky woods. A few inches to three
feet high, with more or less chaffy stalks having shining
scales.

_Fronds._--Ovate-oblong, smooth, thick, somewhat
leathery, once or twice-pinnate; _pinnæ_ lance-shaped or
triangular-ovate, tapering at the end, cut into pinnules;
_pinnules_ oblong, entire, or toothed; _fruit-dots_ large,
round, close to the margin; _indusium_ large, convex,
persistent.

Above the black leaf-mould in our rocky northern woods rise the firm, graceful crowns formed by the blue-green fronds of the Evergreen Wood Fern. The plant bears a family likeness to the Crested Shield Fern, but its conspicuously marginal fruit-dots identify it at sight.

It is interesting to read that it comes "nearer being a tree-fern than any other of our species, the caudex covered by the bases of fronds of previous seasons, sometimes resting on bare rocks for four or five inches without roots or fronds" (see Eaton, p. 70). This peculiarity in the plant's growth is often striking and certainly suggests the tree-ferns of the green-house.

Frequently in this species I notice what is more or less common to nearly all ferns, the exquisite contrast in the different shades of green worn by the younger and older fronds and the charming effect produced when the deep green of the centre of a frond shades away in the most delicate manner toward its apex and the tips of its pinnules.