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Title: The Fern Lover's Companion
A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada
Author: George Henry Tilton
Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11365]
Language: English
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[Illustration: A Fern Lover]
The Fern Lover's Companion
A Guide for the Northeastern States
and Canada
BY
GEORGE HENRY TILTON, A.M.
"This world's no blot for us
Nor blank; it means intensely and it means good
To find its meaning is my meat and drink."
[Illustration]
DEDICATION
To Alice D. Clark, engraver of these illustrations, who has spared no pains
to promote the artistic excellence of this work, and to encourage its
progress, these pages are dedicated with the high regards of THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
Key to Genera
Classification of Ferns
The Polypodies
The Bracken Group:
Bracken
Cliff Brakes
Rock Brake
The Lip Ferns (_Cheilanthes_)
The Cloak Fern (_Notholæna_)
The Chain Ferns
The Spleenworts:
The Rock Spleenworts. _Asplenium_
The Large Spleenworts. _Athyrium_
Hart's Tongue and Walking Leaf
The Shield Ferns:
Christmas and Holly Fern
Marsh Fern Tribe
The Beech Ferns
The Fragrant Fern
The Wood Ferns
The Bladder Ferns
The Woodsias
The Boulder Fern (_Dennstædtia_)
Sensitive and Ostrich Ferns
The Flowering Ferns (_Osmunda_)
Curly Grass and Climbing Fern
Adder's Tongue
The Grape Ferns:
Key to the Grape Fern
Moonwort
Little Grape Fern
Lance-leaved Grape Fern
Matricary Fern
Common Grape Fern
Rattlesnake Fern
Filmy Fern
Noted Fern Authors
Fern Literature
Time List for Fruiting of Ferns
Glossary
Note: Meaning of Genus and Species
Checklist
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A Fern Lover
Prothallium Diagram
Pinnate Frond
Bipinnate Frond
Pinnatifid Frond
Spore Cases
Linen Tester
Curly Grass. _Schizæa_
Cinnamon Fern. _Osmunda cinnamomea_
Sensitive Fern. _Onoclea sensibilis_
Ostrich Fern. _Onoclea Struthiopteris_
Interrupted Fern. _Osmunda Claytoniana_
Climbing Fern. _Lygodium_
Flowering Fern. _Osmunda regalis spectabilis_
Adder's Tongue. _Ophioglossum_
Grape Fern. _Botrychium_
Polypody. _Polypodium_
Beech Fern. _Phegopteris_
Cloak Fern. _Notholæna_
Filmy Fern. _Trichomanes_
Bracken. _Pteris_
Maidenhair. _Adiantum_
Cliff Brake. _Pellæa_
Lip Fern. _Cheilanthes_
Rock Brake. _Cryptogramma_
Chain Fern. _Woodwardia_
Shield Fern. _Polystichum_
Wood Fern. _Aspidium_
Bladder Fern. _Cystopteris_
Woodsia
Hayscented Fern. _Dennstædtia_
Hart's Tongue. _Scolopendrium_
Walking Fern. _Camptosorus_
Asplenium Type
Athyrium Type
Sporangia of the Five Families
Indusium
Common Polypody. _Polypodium vulgare_
Sori of Polypody
Polypody in mass (Greenwood)
Gray Polypody. _Polypodium incanum_
Brake. Bracken. Sterile Frond
Bracken. Fertile Frond
Bracken, var. _pseudocaudata_
Spray of Maidenhair
Sori of Maidenhair
Maidenhair. _Adiantum pedatum_
Alpine Maidenhair
Venus-Hair Fern. _Adiantum capillus-veneris_
Purple Cliff Brake. _Pellæa atropurpurea_
Dense Cliff Brake. _Cryptogramma densa_
Slender Cliff Brake. _Cryptogramma Stelleri_
Parsley Fern. _Cryptogramma acrostichoides_
Alabama Lip Fern. _Cheilanthes alabamensis_
Hairy Lip Fern. _Cheilanthes lanosa_
Slender Lip Fern. _Cheilanthes Féei_
Pinnæ of Slender Lip Fern
Powdery Cloak Fern. _Notholæna dealbata_
Common Chain Fern. _Woodwardia virginica_
Net-veined Chain Fern. _Woodwardia areolata_
The Spleenworts
Pinnatifid Spleenwort. _Asplenium pinnatifidum_
Scott's Spleenwort. _Asplenium ebenoides_
Green Spleenwort. _Asplenium viride_
Maidenhair Spleenwort. _Asplenium Trichomanes_
Maidenhair Spleenwort. _Asplenium Trichomanes_ (Fernery)
Ebony Spleenwort. _Asplenium platyneuron_
Bradley's Spleenwort. _Asplenium Bradleyi_
Mountain Spleenwort. _Asplenium montanum_
Rue Spleenwort. _Asplenium Ruta-muraria_
Rootstock of Lady Fern (Two parts)
Sori of Lady Fern. _Athyrium angustum_
Varieties of Lady Fern
Lowland Lady Fern. _Athyrium asplenioides_
Silvery Spleenwort. _Athyrium acrostichoides_
Narrow-leaved Spleenwort. _Athyrium angustifolium_
Pinnæ and Sori of _Athyrium angustifolium_
Sori of _Scolopendrium vulgare_
Hart's Tongue. _Scolopendrium vulgare_
Walking Fern. _Camptosorus rhizophyllus_
Christmas Fern. _Polystichum acrostichoides_
Varieties of Christmas Fern
Braun's Holly Fern. _Polystichum Braunii_
Holly Fern. _Polystichum Lonchitis_
Marsh Fern. _Aspidium Thelypteris_
Marsh Fern, in the mass
Massachusetts Fern. _Aspidium simulatum_
New York Fern. _Aspidium noveboracense_
Sori of _Aspidium noveboracense_
Pinnæ and Sori of _Aspidium noveboracense_
Oak Fern. _Phegopteris Dryopteris_
Northern Oak Fern. _Phegopteris Robertiana_
Broad Beech Fern. _Aspidium hexagonoptera_
Long Beech Fern. _Aspidium polypedioides_
Fragrant Fern. _Aspidium fragrans_
Marginal Shield Fern. _Aspidium marginale_
Crown of Fronds of _Aspidium marginale_
Sori of _Aspidium marginale_
Male Fern. _Aspidium Filix-mas_
_Aspidium Filix-mas_ and details
Goldie's Shield Fern. _Aspidium Goldianum_
_Aspidium Goldianum_, in the mass
Crested Shield Fern. _Aspidium cristatum_
Crested Shield Fern. _Aspidium cristatum_ (No. 2)
Clinton's Shield Fern. _Aspidium cristatum_ var. _Clintonianum_
Crested Marginal Fern. _Aspidium cristatum × marginale_
_Aspidium cristatum × marginale_, in the mass
Boott's Shield Fern. _Aspidium Boottii_
Spinulose Shield Fern. _Aspidium spinulosum_
_Aspidium spinulosum_ var. _intermedium_
_Aspidium spinulosum_ var. _americanum_
Bulblet Bladder Fern. _Cystopteris bulbifera_
_Cystopteris bulbifera_ with sprouting bulb
Fragile Bladder Fern. _Cystopteris fragilis_
Rusty Woodsia. _Woodsia ilvensis_
Northern Woodsia. _Woodsia alpina_
Details of Alpine Woodsia
Blunt-lobed Woodsia. _Woodsia obtusa_
Smooth Woodsia. _Woodsia glabella_
Hayscented Fern. _Dennstædtia punctilobula_
Forked variety of _Dennstædtia punctilobula_
Field View of _Dennstædtia punctilobula_
Pinnæ and Sori of _Dennstædtia punctilobula_
Meadow View of Sensitive Fern
Obtusilobata Forms of Sensitive Fern, Leaf to Fruit
Sori of Sensitive Fern
Sensitive Fern. _Onoclea sensibilis_
Sensitive Fern, Fertile and Sterile Fronds on Same Plant
Ostrich Fern. _Onoclea Struthiopteris_. Fertile Fronds
Ostrich Fern. Sterile Fronds
Sori and Sporangia of Ostrich Fern
Royal Fern. _Osmunda regalis spectabilis_
Sori of Royal Fern
Interrupted Fern. _Osmunda Claytoniana_
Interrupted Fern. Fertile Pinnules Spread Open
Cinnamon Fern. _Osmunda cinnamomea_
Cinnamon Fern. Leaf Gradations
Two Varieties of Cinnamon Fern
_Osmunda cinnamomea glandulosa_
Curly Grass. _Schizæa pusilla_
Sporangia of Curly Grass
Climbing Fern. _Lygodium palmatum_
Adder's Tongue. _Ophioglossum vulgatum_
Moonwort. _Botrychium Lunaria_
Moonwort, Details
Little Grape Fern. _Botrychium simplex_
Lance-leaved Grape Fern. _Botrychium lanceolatum_
Matricary Grape Fern. _Botrychium ramosum_
Common Grape Fern. _Botrychium obliquum_
_Botrychium obliquum_ var. _dissectum_
_Botrychium obliquum_ var. _oneidense_
Ternate Grape Fern. _Botrychium ternatum_ var. _intermedium_
Ternate Grape Fern. _B. ternatum_ var. _intermedium_
Rattlesnake Fern. _Botrychium virginianum_
Filmy Fern. _Trichomanes Boschianum_
Fruiting Pinnules of Filmy Fern
Crosiers
Noted Fern Authors
Spray of the Bulblet Bladder Fern
PREFACE
A lover of nature feels the fascination of the ferns though he may know
little of their names and habits. Beholding them in their native haunts,
adorning the rugged cliffs, gracefully fringing the water-courses, or
waving their stately fronds on the borders of woodlands, he feels their
call to a closer acquaintance. Happy would he be to receive instruction
from a living teacher: His next preference would be the companionship of a
good fern book. Such a help we aim to give him in this manual. If he will
con it diligently, consulting its glossary for the meaning of terms while
he quickens his powers of observation by studying real specimens, he may
hope to learn the names and chief qualities of our most common ferns in a
single season.
Our most productive period in fern literature was between 1878, when
Williamson published his "Ferns of Kentucky," and 1905, when Clute
issued, "Our Ferns in Their Haunts." Between these flourished D.C. Eaton,
Davenport, Waters, Dodge, Parsons, Eastman, Underwood, A.A. Eaton, Slosson,
and others. All their works are now out of print except Clute's just
mentioned and Mrs. Parsons' "How to Know the Ferns." Both of these
are valuable handbooks and amply illustrated. Clute's is larger, more
scholarly, and more inclusive of rare species, with an illustrated key to
the genera; while Mrs. Parsons' is more simple and popular, with a naive
charm that creates for it a constant demand.
We trust there is room also for this unpretentious, but progressive,
handbook, designed to stimulate interest in the ferns and to aid the
average student in learning their names and meaning. Its geographical
limits include the northeastern states and Canada. Its nomenclature follows
in the main the seventh edition of Gray's Manual, while the emendations
set forth in _Rhodora_, of October, 1919, and also a few terms of later
adoption are embodied, either as synonyms or substitutes for the more
familiar Latin names of the Manual, and are indicated by a different type.
In every case the student has before him both the older and the more recent
terms from which to choose. However, since the book is written primarily
for lovers of Nature, many of whom are unfamiliar with scientific terms,
the common English names are everywhere given prominence, and strange to
say are less subject to change and controversy than the Latin. There is
no doubt what species is meant when one speaks of the Christmas fern, the
ostrich fern, the long beech fern, the interrupted fern, etc. The use of
the common names will lead to the knowledge and enjoyment of the scientific
terms.
A friend unfamiliar with Latin has asked for pointers to aid in pronouncing
the scientific names of ferns. Following Gray, Wood, and others we have
marked each accented syllable with either the grave (`) or acute (´)
accent, the former showing that the vowel over which it stands has its long
sound, while the latter indicates the short or modified sound. Let it be
remembered that any syllable with either of these marks over it is the
accented syllable, whose sound will be long or short according to the slant
of the mark.
We have appropriated from many sources such material as suited our purpose.
Our interest in ferns dates back to our college days at Amherst, when we
collected our first specimens in a rough, bushy swamp in Hadley. We found
here a fine colony of the climbing fern (_Lygodium_). We recall the slender
fronds climbing over the low bushes, unique twiners, charming, indeed, in
their native habitat. We have since collected and studied specimens of
nearly every New England fern, and have carefully examined most of the
other species mentioned in this book. By courtesy of the librarian, Mr.
William P. Rich, we have made large use of the famous Davenport herbarium
in the Massachusetts Horticultural library, and through the kindness of
the daughter, Miss Mary E. Davenport, we have freely consulted the larger
unmounted collection of ferns at the Davenport homestead, at Medford,[1]
finding here a very large and fine assortment of _Botrychiums_, including a
real _B. ternatum_ from Japan.
[Footnote 1: Recently donated to the Gray Herbarium.]
For numerous facts and suggestions we are indebted to the twenty volumes of
the _Fern Bulletin_, and also to its able editor, Mr. Willard N. Clute. To
him we are greatly obligated for the use of photographs and plates, and
especially for helpful counsel on many items. We appreciate the helpfulness
of the _American Fern Journal_ and its obliging editor, Mr. E.J. Winslow.
To our friend, Mr. C.H. Knowlton, our thanks are due for the revision of
the checklist and for much helpful advice, and we are grateful to Mr.
S.N.F. Sanford, of the Boston Society of Natural History, for numerous
courtesies; but more especially to Mr. C.A. Weatherby for his expert and
helpful inspection of the entire manuscript.
The illustrations have been carefully selected; many of them from original
negatives bequeathed to the author by his friend, Henry Lincoln Clapp,
pioneer and chief promoter of school gardens in America. Some have been
photographed from the author's herbarium, and from living ferns. A few
are from the choice herbarium of Mr. George E. Davenport, and also a few
reprints have been made from fern books, for which due credit is given. The
Scott's spleenwort, on the dedication page, is reprinted from Clute's "Our
Ferns in Their Haunts."
INTRODUCTION
Thoreau tells us, "Nature made a fern for pure leaves." Fern leaves are in
the highest order of cryptogams. Like those of flowering plants they are
reinforced by woody fibres running through their stems, keeping them erect
while permitting graceful curves. Their exquisite symmetry of form, their
frequent finely cut borders, and their rich shades of green combine to make
them objects of rare beauty; while their unique vernation and method of
fruiting along with their wonderful mystery of reproduction invest them
with marked scientific interest affording stimulus and culture to the
thoughtful mind. By peculiar enchantments these charming plants allure the
ardent Nature-lover to observe their haunts and habits.
"Oh, then most gracefully they wave
In the forest, like a sea,
And dear as they are beautiful
Are these fern leaves to me."
As a rule the larger and coarser ferns grow in moist, shady situations, as
swamps, ravines, and damp woods; while the smaller ones are more apt to be
found along mountain ranges in some dry and even exposed locality. A tiny
crevice in some high cliff is not infrequently chosen by these fascinating
little plants, which protect themselves from drought by assuming a mantle
of light wool, or of hair and chaff, with, perhaps, a covering of white
powder as in some cloak ferns--thus keeping a layer of moist air next to
the surface of the leaf, and checking transpiration.
Some of the rock-loving ferns in dry places are known as "resurrection"
ferns, reviving after their leaves have turned sere and brown. A touch of
rain, and lo! they are green and flourishing.
Ferns vary in height from the diminutive filmy fern of less than an inch
to the vast tree ferns of the tropics, reaching a height of sixty feet or
more.
REPRODUCTION
Ferns are propagated in various ways. A frequent method is by perennial
rootstocks, which often creep beneath the surface, sending up, it may be,
single fronds, as in the common bracken, or graceful leaf-crowns, as in the
cinnamon fern. The bladder fern is propagated in part from its bulblets,
while the walking leaf bends over to the earth and roots at the tip.
[Illustration: MALE SHIELD FERN. Fern Reproduction by the Prothallium]
Ferns are also reproduced by spores, a process mysterious and marvellous as
a fairy tale. Instead of seeds the fern produces spores, which are little
one-celled bodies without an embryo and may be likened to buds. A
spore falls upon damp soil and germinates, producing a small, green,
shield-shaped patch much smaller than a dime, which is called a prothállium
(or prothallus). On its under surface delicate root hairs grow to give it
stability and nutriment; also two sorts of reproductive organs known as
antherídia and archegònia, the male and female growths analogous to the
stamens and pistils in flowers. From the former spring small, active,
spiral bodies called ántherozòids, which lash about in the moisture of
the prothállium until they find the archegònia, the cells of which are so
arranged in each case as to form a tube around the central cell, which is
called the òösphere, or egg-cell, the point to be fertilized. When one
of the entering ántherozòids reaches this point the desired change is
effected, and the canal of the archegònium closes. The empty òösphere
becomes the quickened òösphore whose newly begotten plant germ unfolds
normally by the multiplication of cells that become, in turn, root, stem,
first leaf, etc., while the prothállium no longer needed to sustain its
offspring withers away.[1]
[Footnote 1: In the accompanying illustration, it should be remembered that
the reproductive parts of a fern are microscopic and cannot be seen by the
naked eye.]
Fern plants have been known to spring directly from the prothállus by a
budding process apart from the organs of fertilization, showing that Nature
"fulfills herself in many ways."[2]
[Footnote 2: The scientific term for this method of reproduction is apógamy
(apart from marriage). Sometimes the prothallus itself buds directly from
the frond without spores, for which process the term apóspory is used.
(Meaning, literally, without spores.)]
VERNATION
All true ferns come out of the ground head foremost, coiled up like a
watch-spring, and are designated as "fiddle-heads," or crosiers. (A real
crosier is a bishop's staff.) Some of these odd young growths are covered
with "fern wool," which birds often use in lining their nests. This wool
usually disappears later as the crosier unfolds into the broad green blade.
The development of plant shoots from the bud is called vernation (Latin,
_ver_ meaning spring), and this unique uncoiling of ferns, "circinnate
vernation."
VEINS
The veins of a fern are free, when, branching from the mid-vein, they do
not connect with each other, and simple when they do not fork. When
the veins intersect they are said to anastomose (Greek, an opening, or
network), and their meshes are called arèolæ or áreoles (Latin, _areola_, a
little open space).
EXPLANATION OF TERMS
A frond is said to be pinnate (Latin, _pinna_, a feather), when its primary
divisions extend to the rachis, as in the Christmas fern (Fig. 1). A frond
is bipinnate (Latin, _bis_, twice) when the lobes of the pinnæ extend to
the midvein as in the royal fern (Fig. 2). These divisions of the pinnæ are
called pinnules. When a frond is tripínnate the last complete divisions are
called ultimate pinnules or segments. A frond is pinnátifid when its lobes
extend halfway or more to the rachis or midvein as in the middle lobes
of the pinnátifid spleenwort (Fig. 3). The pinnæ of a frond are often
pinnátifid when the frond itself is pinnate; and a frond may be pinnate
in its lower part and become pinnátifid higher up as in the pinnátifid
spleenwort just mentioned (Fig. 3).
[Illustration: Fig. 1]
[Illustration: Fig. 2]
[Illustration: Fig. 3]
The divisions of a pinnátifid leaf are called segments; of a bipinnátifid
or tripinnátifid leaf, ultimate segments.
SPORÁNGIA AND FRUIT DOTS
Fern spores are formed in little sacs known as spore-cases or sporángia
(Fig. 4). They are usually clustered in dots or lines on the back or margin
of a frond, either on or at the end of a small vein, or in spike-like
racemes on separate stalks. Sori (singular _sorus_, a heap), or fruit dots
may be naked as in the polypody, but are usually covered with a thin,
delicate membrane, known as the indusium (Greek, a dress, or mantle). The
family or genus of a fern is often determined by the shape of its indusium;
e.g., the indusium of the woodsias is star-shaped; of the Dicksonias,
cup-shaped; of the aspleniums, linear; of the wood ferns, kidney-shaped,
etc.
[Illustration: Fig. 4]
In many ferns the sporangia are surrounded in whole or in part by a
vertical, elastic ring (annulus) reminding one of a small, brown worm
closely coiled (Fig. 4). As the spores mature, the ring contracts and
bursts with considerable force, scattering the spores. The spores of the
different genera mature at different times from May to September. A good
time to collect ferns is just before the fruiting season. (For times of
fruiting see individual descriptions or chronological chart on page 220.)
HELPFUL HINTS
The following hints may be helpful to the young collector:
1. A good lens with needles for dissecting is very helpful in examining the
sori, veins, glands, etc., as an accurate knowledge of any one of these
items may aid in identifying a given specimen. Bausch and Lomb make a
convenient two-bladed pocket glass for about two dollars.[1]
[Footnote 1: In the linen tester here figured (cost $1.50) the lens is
mounted in a brass frame which holds it in position, enabling the dissector
to use both hands. A tripod lens will also be found cheap and serviceable.]
[Illustration]
2. Do not exterminate or weaken a fern colony by taking more plants than it
can spare. In small colonies of rare ferns take a few and leave the rest to
grow. It is decidedly ill-bred to rob a locality of its precious plants.
Pick your fern leaf down close to the root-stock, including a portion of
that also, if it can be spared. Place your fronds between newspaper sheets
and lay "dryers" over them (blotting paper or other absorbent paper). Cover
with a board or slat frame, and lay on this a weight of several pounds,
leaving it for twenty-four hours; if the specimens are not then cured,
change the dryers. Mount the prepared specimens on white mounting sheets.
The regulation size is 16-1/2 by 11-1/2 inches. The labels are usually
3-3/4 by 1-3/4 inches. A sample will suggest the proper inscription.
HERBARIUM OF JOHN DOE
_Ophioglóssum vulgatum_, L.
(Adder's Tongue)
Willoughby Lake, Vt.
August 19, 1911. Wet meadow.
Coll. X.Y.Z. Rather common
but often overlooked
Place the label at the lower right-hand corner of the sheet, which is now
ready to be laid in the genus cover, usually of manila paper 16-1/2 by 12
inches.
It is well to jot down important memoranda at the time of collecting. This
is the method in use at the Gray Herbarium in Cambridge. It can, of course,
be modified to suit one's own taste or convenience. The young collector can
begin by simply pressing his specimens between the leaves of a book,
the older and coarser the better; and he can mount them in a blank book
designed for the purpose, or if he has only a common blank book, he can cut
out some of the leaves, alternately with others left in place, as is often
done with a scrap book, that when the book is full it may not be crowded at
the back. Or he can use sheets of blank paper of any uniform size and mount
the specimens on these with gummed strips, and then group them, placing
those of the same genus together. Such an extemporized herbarium, though
crude, will serve for a beginning, while stimulating his interest, and
advancing his knowledge of the ferns. Let him collect, press, and mount
as many varieties as possible, giving the name with date and place of
collecting, etc. Such a first attempt may be kept as a reminder of pleasant
hours spent in learning the rudiments of a delightful study.
We cannot insist too strongly upon the necessity of handling and studying
the living plant. Every student needs to observe for himself the haunts,
habits, and structure of real ferns. We would say to the young student,
while familiarizing yourself with the English names of the ferns, do not
neglect the scientific names, which often hold the key to their meaning.
Repeat over and over the name of each genus in soliloquy and in
conversation until your mind instantly associates each fern with its family
name--"_Adiantum_," "_Polystichum_," "_Asplenium_," and all the rest. Fix
them in the memory for a permanent asset. With hard study and growing
knowledge will come growing attachment. How our great expert, Mr.
Davenport, loved the ferns! He would handle them with gentle touch, fondly
stroke their leaves, and devoutly study their structure, as if inspired by
the All-wise Interpreter.
"Move along these shades
In gentleness of heart: with gentle hand
Touch--for there is a spirit in the woods."
KEY TO THE GENERA
This key, in illustrating each genus, follows the method of Clute in "Our
Ferns in Their Haunts," but substitutes other and larger specimens. Five of
these are from Waters' "Ferns" by permission of Henry Holt & Co.
As the indusium, which often determines the name of a fern, is apt in some
species to wither early, it is important to secure for study not only a
fertile frond, but one in as good condition as possible. For convenience
the ferns may be considered in two classes.
I
THOSE WHICH HAVE THE FRUITING PORTION IN GREENISH, BERRY-LIKE STRUCTURES
AND NOT ON THE BACK OF FRONDS
A. FRUITING FRONDS WHOLLY FERTILE
(Fertile and sterile fronds entirely unlike)
[Illustration]
1. Fruit in a one-sided spike in two ranks; plants very small; sterile
fronds thread-like and tortuous.
Curly Grass. _Schizæa_.
[Illustration]
2. Fruit in a club-shaped, brown or cinnamon-colored spike loaded with
sporangia; fruit in early spring.
Cinnamon Fern. _Osmunda cinnamomea_.
[Illustration]
3. Fruit in berry-like, greenish structures in a twice pinnate spike, which
comes up much later than the broad and coarse pinnátifid sterile fronds.
Wet ground. Sensitive Fern. _Onoclea_.
[Illustration]
4. Fruit in pod-like or necklace-like pinnæ; fertile frond pinnate; sterile
frond tall, pinnátifid; fruit late.
Ostrich Fern. _Onoclea struthiopteris_.
B. FRUITING FRONDS PARTLY STERILE
[Illustration]
1. Fruiting portion in the middle of the frond; two to four pairs of
fertile pinnæ.
Interrupted Fern. _Osmunda Claytoniana_.
[Illustration]
2. Fruiting portion at the apex of the frond. Sterile pinnæ palmate; rachis
twining.
Climbing Fern. _Lygodium_.
[Illustration]
Sterile pinnæ pinnate; fronds large, fertile portion green, turning brown,
forming a panicle at the top.
Royal Fern. _Osmunda regalis_.
[Illustration]
3. Fruiting portion seemingly on a separate stock a few inches above the
sterile.
Sterile part an entire, ovate, green leaf near the middle; fertile part a
spike.
Adder's Tongue. _Ophioglossum_.
[Illustration]
Sterile portion more or less divided; fruit in racemes or panicles, rarely
in spikes.
Grape Ferns. Moonwort. _Botrychium_.
II
THOSE WHICH HAVE THE FRUITING PORTION ON THE BACK OR MARGIN OF FRONDS
A. INDUSIUM WANTING
[Illustration]
1. Fruit-dots large, roundish; fronds evergreen. Rock species.
Polypody. _Polypodium_.
[Illustration]
2. Fruit-dots small, roundish; fronds triangular.
Beech Ferns. _Phegopteris_.
[Illustration]
3. Fruit in lines on the margin of the pinnules; under surface of the
fronds covered with whitish powder.
Cloak Ferns. _Notholæna_.
B. INDUSIUM PRESENT
[Illustration]
1. Sori on the edge of a pinnule terminating a vein; sporangia at the base
of a long, bristle-like receptacle surrounded by a cup-shaped indusium.
Filmy Fern. _Trichomanes_.
[Illustration]
2. Indusium formed by the reflexed margin of the pinnules.
(1) Sporangia on a continuous line; fronds large, ternate; indusium narrow.
Bracken. Brake. _Pteris_.
[Illustration]
(2) Sporangia in oblong sori under a reflexed tooth of a pinnule; indusium
broad; rachis dark and shining. Maidenhair. _Adiantum_.
[Illustration]
(3) Sori in roundish or elongated masses.
Indusium broad, nearly continuous, fronds mostly smooth, somewhat leathery,
pinnate. Rock species. Cliff brakes. _Pellæa_.
[Illustration]
Indusium narrow, seldom continuous, formed by the margin of separate lobes
or of the whole pinnules; often inconspicuous, fronds usually hairy. Lip
Ferns. _Cheilanthes_.
[Illustration]
Indusium of the reflexed edges, at first reaching to the midrib, or nearly
so; later opening out nearly flat; fruiting pinnules pod-like; sterile
fronds broad. Rock brakes. _Cryptogramma_.
[Illustration]
3. Indusium never formed of the margin of the frond. Sori various.
(1) Fruit-dots oblong, parallel with the midrib, somewhat sunken in the
tissues of the frond. Water-loving species. Chain Ferns. _Woodwardia_.
[Illustration]
(2) Fruit-dots and indusium roundish.
Indusium shield-shaped, fixed by the center. Evergreen glossy ferns in
rocky woods. Shield Ferns. _Polystichum_.
[Illustration]
Indusium cordate, fixed by the sinus. Wood Ferns. _Aspidium_.
[Illustration]
Indusium hood-shaped, fixed centrally behind the sorus and arching over it,
soon withering, often illusive. Fronds two to three pinnate, very graceful.
Moisture-loving species. Bladder Ferns. _Cystopteris_.
[Illustration]
Indusium star-shaped, of a few irregular segments fixed beneath the sorus,
often obscure. Mostly small, rock-loving plants, usually rather chaffy, at
least at the base, and growing in tufts. _Woodsia_.
[Illustration]
Indusium cup-shaped, fixed beneath the sorus, supported by the tooth of a
leaf; sporangia borne in an elevated, globular receptacle open at the top.
Fronds finely cut. Hayscented Fern. _Dennstædtia_.
[Illustration]
(3) Fruit-dots and indusium linear. (But see _Athyrium_.)
Very long, nearly at right angles to the midrib, double; blade thick
oblong-lanceolate, entire; heart-shaped at the base. Hart's Tongue.
_Scolopendrium_.
[Illustration]
Shorter and irregularly scattered on the under side of the frond, some
parallel to the midrib, others oblique to it, and often in pairs or joined
at the ends; blade tapering to a slender tip. Walking Fern. _Camptosorus_.
[Illustration]
Short, straight, mostly oblique to the midrib. Indusium rather narrow,
opening toward the midrib, fronds lobed or variously divided. Spleenworts.
_Asplenium_.
[Illustration]
Short, indusium usually more or less curved and frequently crossing a vein.
The large spleenworts including Lady Fern. _Athyrium_.
DESCRIPTIVE TEXT OF THE FERNS
In this manual our native ferns are grouped scientifically under five
distinct families. By far the largest of these groups, and the first to be
treated, is that of the _real ferns (Polypodiàceæ)_ with sixty species and
several chief varieties. Then follow the _flowering ferns (Osmundàceæ)_
with three species; the _curly grass_ and _climbing ferns (Schizæàceæ)_
with two species; the _adder's tongue_ and _grape ferns (Ophioglossàceæ)_
with seven species; and the _filmy ferns (Hymenophyllàceæ)_ with one
species.
Corresponding with these five families, the sporangia or spore cases of
ferns have five quite distinct forms on which the families are founded.
[Illustration: Fig. 1]
[Illustration: Fig. 2]
[Illustration: Fig. 3]
[Illustration: Fig. 4]
1. The Fern Family proper (_Polypodiàceæ_) has the spore cases stalked and
bound by a vertical, elastic ring (Fig. 1). The clusters of fruit-dots
containing the spore cases may be open and naked as in polypody (Fig. 2),
or covered by an indusium, as in the shield ferns (Fig. 3).
2. The Royal Fern Family (_Osmunda_) has the spore cases stalked with only
a rudimentary ring on one side, which opens longitudinally (Fig. 4).
3. The Climbing Fern Family (_Lygodium, Schizæa_) has the spore cases
sessile in rows; they are small, nut-like bodies with the elastic ring
around the upper portion (Fig. 5).[1]
[Footnote 1: These figures are enlarged.]
4. The Adder's Tongue Family (_Ophioglóssum, Botrýchium_) has simple spore
cases without a ring, and discharges its spores through a transverse slit
(Fig. 6).
5. The Filmy Fern Family (_Trichómanes_) has the spore cases along
a bristle-like receptacle and surrounded by an urn-shaped, slightly
two-lipped involucre; ring transverse and opening vertically (Fig. 7).
[Illustration: Fig. 5]
[Illustration: Fig. 6]
[Illustration: Fig. 7]
THE FERN FAMILY PROPER OR REAL FERNS
_POLYPODIÀCEÆ_
Green, leafy plants whose spores are borne in spore-cases (sporangia),
which are collected in dots or clusters (fruit-dots or sori) on the back
of the frond or form lines along the edge of its divisions. Sporangia
surrounded by vertical, elastic rings bursting transversely and scattering
the spores. Fruit-dots (sori) often covered, at least when young, by a
membrane called the indusium. Spores brown.
THE POLYPODIES
1. POLYPODY. _Polypodium_
(From the Greek meaning many-footed, alluding to the branching rootstocks.)
Simple ferns with stipes articulated to the creeping rootstocks, which are
covered with brown, chaffy scales. Fruit-dots round, naked, arranged on the
back of the frond in one or more rows each side of the midrib. Sporangia
pedicelled, provided with a vertical ring which bursts transversely. A
large genus with about 350 species, widely distributed, mostly in tropical
regions.
(1) COMMON POLYPODY. _Polypodium vulgare_
Fronds somewhat leathery in texture, evergreen, four to ten inches tall,
smooth, oblong, and nearly pinnate. The large fruit-dots nearly midway
between the midrib and the margin, but nearer the margin.
[Illustration: Common Polypody. _Polypodium vulgare_]
Common everywhere on cliffs, usually in half shade, and may at times spring
out of decaying logs or the trunks of trees. As the jointed stipes, harking
back to some ancient mode of fern growth, fall away from the rootstocks
after their year of greenness, they leave behind a scar as in Solomon's
seal. The polypody is a gregarious plant. By intertwining its roots the
fronds cling together in "cheerful community," and a friendly eye discovers
their beauty a long way off. August. Abounds in every clime, including
Europe and Japan.
In transplanting, sections should be cut, not pulled from the matted mass.
Var. _cambricum_ has segments broader and more or less strongly toothed.
Var. _cristatum_ has the segments forked at the ends.
Several other forms are also found.
[Illustration: Fruited Frond]
[Illustration: The Common Polypody. _Polypodium vulgare_ (Photographed by
Miles Greenwood, Melrose, Mass.)]
(2) GRAY OR HOARY POLYPODY
_Polypodium incànum. P. polypodiòides_
Fronds oblong, two to seven inches long, deeply pinnátifid, gray and scurfy
underneath with peltate scales having a dark center. Fruit-dots rather
small, near the margin and obscured by the chaff.
[Illustration: Gray or Hoary Polypody. _Polypodium incanum_]
In appearance the gray polypody is much like the common species, as the
Greek ending _oides_ (like) implies. In Florida and neighboring states it
often grows on trees; farther north mostly on rocks. Reported as far north
as Staten Island. It is one of the "resurrection" ferns, reviving quickly
by moisture after seeming to be dead from long drouth. July to September.
Widely distributed in tropical America. Often called Tree-Polypody.
THE BRACKEN GROUP
Sporangia near or on the margin of the segments, the reflexed portions of
which serve as indusia.
1. BRACKEN OR BRAKE
_Ptèris aquilina_. PTERÍDIUM LATIÚSCULUM[1]
[Footnote 1: The use of small capitals in the scientific names indicates in
part the newer nomenclature which many botanists are inclined to adopt.]
Fronds broadly triangular, ternate, one to three feet high or more, the
widely spreading branches twice pinnate, the lower pinnules more or less
pinnátifid. Sporangia borne in a continuous line along the lower margin
of the ultimate divisions whose reflexed edges form the indusium. (Greek,
_pteron_, a wing, the feathery fronds suggesting the wings of a bird.)
[Illustration: Common Bracken or Brake, a Sterile Frond. _Pteris aquilina_
(Providence County, R.I.)]
[Illustration: A Fertile Frond of Common Bracken. _Pteris aquilina_
(Suffolk County, Mass.)]
"The heath this night must be my bed,
The bracken curtain for my head."
SCOTT.
The outlines of the young bracken resemble the little oak fern. It
flourishes in thickets and open pastures, often with poor soil and scant
shade. It is found in all parts of the world, and is said to be the most
common of all our North American ferns. In a cross section of the mature
stipe superstition sees "the devil's hoof" and "King Charles in the oak,"
and any one may see or think he sees the outlines of an oak tree. It was
the bracken, or eagle fern, as some call it, which was supposed to bear the
mysterious "fern seed," but only on midsummer eve (St. John's eve).
"But on St. John's mysterious night,
Confest the mystic fern seed fell."
This enabled its possessor to walk invisible.
"We have the receipt for fern-seed,
We walk invisible."
SHAKESPEARE.
The word brake or bracken is one of the many plant names from which some of
our English surnames are derived, as Brack, Breck, Brackenridge, etc.,
and fern (meaning the bracken) is seen in Fern, Fearns, Fernham, Fernel,
Fernside, Farnsworth, etc. Also, in names of places as Ferney, Ferndale,
Fernwood, and others. Although the bracken is coarse and common, it makes a
desirable background for rockeries, or other fern masses. The young ferns
should be transplanted in early spring with as much of the long, running
rootstock as possible.
Var. _pseudocaudàta_ has longer, narrower and more distant pinnules, and is
a common southern form.
[Illustration: Var. _pseudocaudata_]
2. MAIDENHAIR. _Adiantum_
Ferns with much divided leaves and short, marginal sori borne at the ends
of free-forking veins, on the under side of the reflexed and altered
portion of the pinnules, which serves as an indusium. Stipes and branches
of the leaves very slender and polished.
(Greek, unwetted, because drops of water roll off without wetting the
leaves.)
(1) COMMON MAIDENHAIR. _Adiantum pedatum_
A graceful fern of shady glen and rocky woodland, nine to eighteen inches
high, the black, shining stalks forked at the top into two equal,
recurved branches, the pinnæ all springing from the upper side. Pinnules
triangular-oblong, bearing short sori on their inwardly reflexed margins
which form the indusium.
[Illustration: A Spray of Maidenhair]
[Illustration: Fruiting Pinnæ of Maidenhair]
The maidenhair has a superficial resemblance to the meadow rue, which also
sheds water, but it may be known at once by its black, shining stalks with
their divisions all borne on one side. It is indeed a most delicate fern,
known and admired by every one. The term maidenhair may have been suggested
by the black, wiry roots growing from the slender rootstock, or by the
dark, polished stems, or, as Clute explains it, "because the black roots,
like hair, were supposed, according to the 'doctrine of signatures' to be
good for falling hair, and the plant was actually used in the 'syrup of
capillaire'[A] (_Am. Botanist_, November, 1921). While the maidenhair is
not very common, it is widely distributed, being found throughout our
section, westward to California, and northward to the British Provinces.
"Though the maidenhair has a wide range, and grows abundantly in many
localities, it possesses a quality of aloofness which adds to its charm.
Its chosen haunts are dim, moist hollows in the woods, or shaded hillsides
sloping to the river. In such retreats you find the feathery fronds
tremulous on their glistening stalks, and in their neighborhood you find,
also, the very spirit of the woods."
MRS. PARSONS.
[Footnote A: It may be stated that capillaire syrup besides the use here
indicated was highly esteemed as a pectoral for the relief of difficult
breathing.]
[Illustration: Common Maidenhair. _Adiantum pedatum_ (Reading, Mass.,
Kingman)]
[Illustration: Alpine Maidenhair. _Adiantum pedatum_, Var. _aleuticum_
(Fernald and Collins, Gaspé County, Quebec, 1906) (From the Gray
Herbarium)]
The fern is not hard to cultivate if allowed sufficient moisture and shade.
Along with the ostrich fern it makes a most excellent combination in a fern
border.
Var. ALEUTICUM, or Alpine Maidenhair. A beautiful northern form especially
abundant on the high tableland of the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec, where it is
said to cover hundreds of acres. In the east it is often dwarfed--six
to ten inches high, growing in tufts with stout rootstocks, having the
pinnules finely toothed instead of rounded and the indusia often lunate,
rarely twice as long as broad. (Fernald in _Rhodora_, November, 1905.) Also
found in northern Vermont, and to the northwestward.
(2) THE VENUS-HAIR FERN. _Adiantum Capíllus-Veneris_
Fronds with a continuous main rachis, ovate-lanceolate, twice pinnate
below. Pinnules, fan-shaped on slender, black stalks, long, deeply and
irregularly incised. Veins extending from the base of the pinnules like the
ribs of a fan.
[Illustration: Venus Hair Fern. _Adiantum Capillus-Veneris_]
While our common maidenhair is a northern fern, the Venus-hair Fern is
confined to the southern states. It is rarely found as far north as
Virginia, where it meets, but scarcely overlaps its sister fern. The
medicinal properties of _Adiantum pedatum_ were earlier ascribed to the
more southern species, which is common in Great Britain, but, like many
another old remedy, "the syrup of capillaire" is long since defunct.
3. CLIFF BRAKES. _Pellàea_
Sporangia borne on the upper part of the free veins inside the margins, in
dot-like masses, but may run together, as in the continuous fruiting line
of the bracken. Indusium formed of the reflexed margins of the fertile
segments which are more or less membranous. (Pellæa, from the Greek
_pellos_, meaning dusky, in allusion to the dark stipes.)
(1) PURPLE CLIFF BRAKE. _Pellæa atropurpùrea_
Stipes dark purple or reddish-brown, polished and decidedly hairy and
harsh to the touch, at least on one side. Fronds coriaceous, pale, simply
pinnate, or bipinnate below; the divisions broadly linear or oblong, or
the sterile sometimes oval, chiefly entire, somewhat heart-shaped, or
else truncate at the stalked base. Veins about twice forked. Basal scales
extending into long, slender tips, colorless or yellow.
[Illustration: Purple Cliff Brake. _Pellæa atropurpurea_]
Another name is "the winter brake," as its fronds remain green throughout
the winter, especially in its more southern ranges. It grows on rocky
ledges with a preference for limestone, and often in full sun. In large and
mature fronds its pinnæ are apt to be extremely irregular. While its stipes
are purplish, its leaves are bluish-green, and its scales light-brown or
yellow. Strange to say, this brake of the cliffs thrives in cultivation.
Woolson says of it, "This fern is interesting and valuable. It is not only
beautiful in design, but unique in color, a dark blue-green emphasizing
all the varying tints about it--a first-class fern for indoor winter
cultivation. It is a rapid grower, flourishing but a few feet from coal
fire or radiator, in a north or south window. It quickly forgives neglect,
and if allowed to dry up out of doors or indoors, recovers in due time when
put in a moist atmosphere. It makes but one imperative demand, and that is
the privilege of standing still. Overzealous culturists usually like to
turn things around, but revolving cliffs are not in the natural order of
things. The slender black stipes are very susceptible to changes of light
and warped and twisted fronds result."
Dry, calcareous rocks, southern New England and westward. Rare. Var.
_cristata_ has forked pinnæ somewhat crowded toward the summit of the
frond. Missouri.
(2) SMOOTH CLIFF BRAKE
_Pellàea glabella. Pellàea atropurpùrea_, var. _Bushii_
Naked with a few, scattered, spreading hairs, smooth surface and dark
polished stipes. Rhizome short with membranous, orange or brown scales
having a few bluntish teeth on each edge. Pinnæ sub-opposite, divergent,
narrowly oblong, obtuse; base truncate, cordate or clasping, occasionally
auricled; lower pinnæ often with orbicular or cordate pinnules. Sterile
pinnæ broader, bluish or greenish glaucous above, often crowded to
overlapping. The smooth cliff brake has a decidedly northern range, growing
from northern Vermont to Missouri, and northwestward, but found rarely, if
at all, in southern New England.
[Illustration: Dense Cliff Brake. _Cryptogramma densa_ (From Waters's
"Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
(3) DENSE CLIFF BRAKE
_Cryptográmma densa. Pellaèa densa_
Modern botanists are inclined to place the dense cliff brake and the
slender cliff brake under the genus _Cryptográmma_, which is so nearly like
_Pellaea_ that one hesitates to choose between them. The word Cryptográmma
means in Greek a _hidden line_, alluding to the line of sporangia hidden
beneath the reflexed margin.
The dense cliff brake may be described as follows:
Stipes three to nine inches tall, blades one to three inches,
triangular-ovate, pinnate at the summit, and tripinnate below. Segments
linear, sharp-pointed, mostly fertile, having the margins entire and
recurved, giving the sori the appearance of half-open pods. Sterile
fronds sharply serrate. Stipes in dense tufts ("_densa_") slender, wiry,
light-brown.
This rare little fern is a northern species and springs from tiny crevices
in rocks, preferring limestone. Like many other rock-loving species, it
produces spores in abundance, having no other effective means of spreading,
and its fertile fronds are much more numerous than the sterile ones, and
begin to fruit when very small. Gaspé and Mt. Albert in the Province of
Quebec, Grey County, Ontario, and in the far west.
(4) SLENDER CLIFF BRAKE
_Cryptográmma Stellèri. Pellaèa grácilis_
Fronds (including stipes) three to six inches long, thin and slender with
few pinnæ. The lower pinnæ pinnately parted into three to five divisions,
those of the fertile fronds oblong or linear-oblong; those of the sterile,
obovate or ovate, crenulate, decurrent at the base. Confined to limestone
rocks. Quebec and New Brunswick, to Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and
to the northwest.
[Illustration: Slender Cliff Brake. _Cryptogramma Stelleri_]
We have collected this dainty and attractive little fern on the limestone
cliffs of Mt. Horr, near Willoughby Lake, Vt. It grew in a rocky grotto
whose sides were kept moist by dripping water. How we liked to linger near
its charming abode high on the cliff! And we liked also to speak of it by
its pleasing, simple name, "Pellæa gracilis," now changed for scientific
reasons, but we still like the old name better.
(5) THE ROCK BRAKE. PARSLEY FERN
_Cryptográmma acrostichòides_
Sterile and fertile fronds very dissimilar; segments of the fertile, linear
and pod-like; of the sterile, ovate-oblong, obtuse, and toothed. The plants
spring from crevices of rocks and are from six to eight inches high. Stipes
of the fertile fronds are about twice as long as the sterile, making two
tiers of fronds.
[Illustration: Parsley Fern or Rock Brake. _Cryptogramma acrostichoides_
(California and Oregon) (Herbarium of Geo. E. Davenport)]
The parsley fern is the typical species of the genus _Cryptográmma_. The
indusium is formed of the altered margin of the pinnule, at first reflexed
to the midrib, giving it a pod-like appearance, but at length opening out
flat and exposing the sporangia. Clute, speaking of this fern as "the rock
brake," calls it a border species, as its home is in the far north--Arctic
America to Lake Huron, Lake Superior, Colorado and California.
4. LIP FERNS. _Cheilánthes_
Mostly small southern ferns growing on rocks, pubescent or tomentose with
much divided leaves. Sori at the end of the veins at first small and
roundish, but afterwards more or less confluent. The indusium whitish and
sometimes herbaceous, formed of the reflexed margin of the lobes or of the
whole pinnule. Veins free, but often obscure. Most of the ferns of this
genus grow in dry, exposed situations, where rain is sometimes absent for
weeks and months. For this reason they protect themselves by a covering
of hairs, scales or wool, which hinders the evaporation of water from the
plant by holding a layer of more or less saturated air near the surface of
the frond. (In Greek the word means _lip flower_, alluding to the lip-like
indusia.)
(1) ALABAMA LIP FERN. _Cheilánthes alabaménsis_
Fronds smooth, two to ten inches long, lanceolate, bipinnate. Pinnæ
numerous, oblong-lanceolate, the lower usually smaller than those above.
Pinnules triangular-oblong, mostly acute, often auricular or lobed at the
base. Indusia pale, membranous and continuous except between the lobes.
Stipes black, slender and tomentose at the base.
[Illustration: Alabama Lip Fern. _Cheilanthes alabamensis_ (From Waters's
"Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
This species of lip fern may be distinguished from all the others within
our limits by its smooth pinnæ. On rocks--mountains of Virginia to
Kentucky, and Alabama, and westward to Arizona.
(2) HAIRY LIP FERN. _Cheilánthes lanòsa, C. véstita_
[Illustration: Hairy Lip Fern]
Fronds twice pinnate, lanceolate with oblong, pinnátifid pinnules; seven
to fifteen inches tall, slender and rough with rusty, jointed hairs. Pinnæ
triangular-ovate, usually distant, the ends of the rounded lobes reflexed
and forming separate involucres which are pushed back by the ripening
sporangia.
This species like the other lip ferns is fond of rocks, springing from
clefts and ledges. While hairy it is much less tomentose than the two
following species. Unlike most of the rock-loving ferns this species is not
partial to limestone, but grows on other rocks as well. It has been found
as far north as New Haven, Conn., also near New York, and in New Jersey,
Georgia, and westward to Wyoming and southward.
(3) WOOLLY LIP FERN. _Cheilánthes tomentòsa_
Fronds eight to eighteen inches long, lanceolate-oblong, tripinnate. Pinnæ
and pinnules ovate-oblong, densely woolly especially beneath, with slender,
whitish, obscurely jointed hairs. Of the ultimate segments the terminal
one is twice as long as the others. Pinnules distant, the reflexed, narrow
margin forming a continuous, membranous indusium. Stipe stout, dark brown,
densely woolly.
By donning its thick coat of wool this species is prepared to grow in
the most exposed situations of the arid southwest. It is said to be the
"rarest, tallest and handsomest of the lip ferns."
Mountains of Virginia and Kentucky to Georgia, and west to Missouri, Texas
and Arizona.
(4) SLENDER LIP FERN
_Cheilánthes Féei, C. lanuginòsa_
Stipes densely tufted, slender, at first hairy, dark brown, shining. Fronds
three to eight inches long, ovate-lanceolate, with thickish, distinctly
articulated hairs, twice or thrice pinnate. Pinnæ ovate, the lowest
deltoid. Pinnules divided into minute, densely crowded segments, the
herbaceous margin recurved and forming an almost continuous indusium.
[Illustration: Slender Lip Fern]
The slender lip fern, known also as Fée's fern, is much the smallest of the
lip ferns, averaging, Clute tells us, "but two inches high." This is only
one-third as tall as the woolly lip fern and need not be mistaken for it.
The fronds form tangled mats difficult to unravel. It grows on dry rocks
and cliffs--Illinois and Minnesota to British Columbia, and south to Texas,
New Mexico and Arizona.
[Illustration: Pinnæ of Slender Lip Fern. _Cheilanthes Féei_ (From Waters's
"Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
5. CLOAK FERN. _Notholàena_
Small ferns with fruit-dots borne beneath the revolute margin of the
pinnules, at first roundish, but soon confluent into a narrow band without
indusium. Veins free. Fronds one to several times pinnate, the lower
surface hairy, or tomentose or powdery. Includes about forty species,
mostly American, but only one within our limits. (Greek name means
_spurious cloak_, alluding to the rudimentary or counterfeit indusium.)
(1) POWDERY CLOAK FERN. _Notholàena dealbàta_
Fronds two to six inches long, triangular-ovate, acute, broadest at the
base, tripinnate. Stalks tufted, wiry, shining, dark brown. Upper surface
of the very small segments green, smooth, the lower densely coated with
a pure, white powder; hence, the specific name _dealbata_, which means
whitened. Sori brown at length; veins free.
There are several species of cloak ferns, but only one within our limits.
The dry, white powder which covers them doubtless is designed to protect
them from too rapid evaporation of moisture, as they all inhabit dry and
sunny places. This delicate rock-loving fern is found in the clefts of dry
limestone rocks in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and southwestward.
THE CHAIN FERNS. _Woodwardia_
Large and somewhat coarse ferns of swampy woods with pinnate or nearly
two-pinnate fronds, and oblong or linear fruit-dots, arranged in one or
more chain-like rows, parallel to and near the midribs. Indusium fixed by
its outer margin to a veinlet and opening on the inner side. In our
section there are two species. (Named for Thomas J. Woodward, an English
botanist.)
[Illustration: Powdery Cloak Fern. _Notholaena
dealbata_ (Kansas) (G.E. Davenport)]
[Illustration: The Common Chain Fern.
_Woodwardia virginica_]
(1) THE COMMON CHAIN FERN. _Woodwardia virgínica_
Sterile and fertile fronds similar in outline, two to four feet high, once
pinnate, the pinnæ deeply incised with oblong segments. Fruit-dots oblong
in chain-like rows along the midrib both of the pinnæ and the lobes,
confluent when ripe. Veins forming narrow rows of net-like spaces (areoles)
beneath the fruit-dots, thence free to the margin. The spores ripen in
July.
The sterile fronds resemble those of the cinnamon fern, but the latter grow
in crowns, with a single frond in the center, while the fronds of the
chain fern rise singly from the creeping rootstock, which sends them up at
intervals all summer. The sori are borne on the backs of fertile fronds.
There are usually more sterile than fertile blades, especially in dense
shade. We have waded repeatedly through a miry swamp in Melrose, Mass.,
where the wild calla flourishes along with the blueberry and other swamp
bushes, and have found the chain fern in several shaded spots, but every
frond was sterile. It is said that when exposed to the sun it always faces
the south. Swamps, Maine to Florida, especially along the Atlantic Coast,
and often in company with the narrow-leaved species.
[Illustration: Net-Veined Chain Fern. _Woodwardia areolata_ (Stratford,
Conn.)]
(2) NET-VEINED CHAIN FERN
NARROW-LEAVED CHAIN FERN
_Woodwardia areolàta. W. angustifòlia_
Root stocks creeping and chaffy. Sterile and fertile fronds unlike; sterile
ones nine to twelve inches tall, deltoid-ovate. Broadest at the base, with
lanceolate, serrulate divisions united by a broad wing. Veins areolate;
fertile fronds taller, twelve to twenty inches high with narrowly linear
divisions, the areoles and fruit-dots in a single row each side of the
secondary midrib, the latter sunk in the tissues.
This species is less common than the Virginia fern, but they often grow
near each other. We have collected both in the Blue Hill reservation near
Boston, and both have been found in Hingham, Medford, and Reading, and
doubtless in other towns along the coast. Mrs. Parsons speaks of finding
them in the flat, sandy country near Buzzard's Bay. The net-veined species
has some resemblance to the sensitive fern, but in the latter the spore
cases are shut up in small pods formed by the contracting and rolling up of
the lobes, whereas the chain fern bears its sori on the under side of long,
narrow pinnæ. Besides, the sterile fronds of the latter have serrulate
segments. As in the sensitive fern there are many curious gradations
between the fertile and sterile fronds, both in shape and fruitfulness.
Waters calls them the "_obtusilobàta_ form."
[Illustration: The Spleenworts 1. Narrow-leaved 2. Ebony 3. Rue 4. Scott's
5. Maidenhair 6. Green 7. Mountain]
THE SPLEENWORTS
A. THE ROCK SPLEENWORTS. _Asplènium_
Small, evergreen ferns. Fruit-dots oblong or linear, oblique, separate when
young. Indusium straight or rarely curved, fixed lengthwise on the upper
side of a fertile veinlet, opening toward the midrib. Veins free. Scales of
rhizome and stipes narrow, of firm texture and with thick-walled cells.
(1) PINNÁTIFID SPLEENWORT. _Asplenium pinnatífídum_
Fronds four to six inches long, lanceolate, pinnátifid or pinnate near the
base, tapering above into a slender prolongation. Lobes roundish-ovate, or
the lower pair acuminate. Fruit-dots irregular, numerous. Stipes tufted,
two to four inches long, brownish beneath, green above.
Although this fern, like all the small spleenworts, is heavily fruited,
it is extremely rare. It is found as far north as Sharon, Conn., thence
southward to Georgia, to Arkansas and Missouri. On cliffs and rocks.
Resembles the walking fern, and its tip sometimes takes root.
(2) SCOTT'S SPLEENWORT. _Asplenium ebenòides_
Fronds four to ten inches long, broadly lanceolate, pinnátifid or pinnate
below, tapering to a prolonged and slender apex. Divisions lanceolate from
a broad base. Fruit-dots straight or slightly curved. Stipe and rachis
brown.
[Illustration: Pinnatifid Spleenwort. _Asplenium pinnatifidum_ a, Small
Plants from Harper's Ferry; b, Sori on Young Fronds (From Waters's "Ferns,"
Henry Holt & Co.)]
[Illustration: Scott's Spleenwort. _Asplenium ebenoides_ a, from Virginia;
b, from Alabama; c, from Maryland (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt &
Co.)]
Resembles the last, and like that has been known to root at the tip. It is
a hybrid between the walking fern and the ebony spleenwort, as proved by
Miss Margaret Slosson, and may be looked for in the immediate vicinity of
its parents. It was discovered by R.R. Scott, in 1862, at Manayunk, Pa., a
suburb of Philadelphia, and described by him in the Gardener's Monthly of
September, 1865. Vermont to Alabama, Missouri, and southward. Rare, but
said to be plentiful in a deep ravine near Havana, Ala.
[Illustration: Green Spleenwort. _Asplenium víride_]
(3) GREEN SPLEENWORT. _Asplenium víride_
Fronds two to ten inches long, linear, pinnate, pale green. Pinnæ
roundish-ovate, crenate, with indistinct and forking midveins. Stalks
tufted, short, brownish below, green above. Rachis green.
Discovered at Smuggler's Notch, Mt. Mansfield, Vt., by C.G. Pringle in
1876. Found sparingly at Willoughby Lake, high on the cliffs of Mt. Horr.
This rare and delicate little plant bears a rather close resemblance to the
maidenhair spleenwort, which, however, has dark stipes instead of green.
Northern New England, west and northwest on shaded limestone rocks.
[Illustration: Maidenhair Spleenwort. _Asplenium Trichomanes_]
(4) MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT. _Asplenium Trichómanes_
Stipes densely tufted, purple-brown, shining. Fronds three to eight inches
long, linear, dark green, rather rigid. Pinnæ roundish-oblong or oval,
entire or finely crenate, attached at the base by a narrow point. Midveins
forking and evanescent.
Not very common, but distributed almost throughout North America. May be
looked for wherever there are ledges, as it does not require limestone.
July.
[Illustration: Maidenhair Spleenwort. _Asplenium Trichomanes_ (From
Woolson's "Ferns," Doubleday, Page & Co.)]
(5) SMALL SPLEENWORT
_Asplenium párvulum. A. resíliens_
Fronds four to ten inches tall, narrowly linear, rather firm, erect. Pinnæ
opposite, oblong, entire or finely crenate, and auricled at the base.
Stipes and rachis black and shining. Midveins continuous.
This small fern is a southern species half way between the maidenhair and
ebony spleenworts, but rather more like the latter from which it differs in
being smaller and thicker, and in having the fertile and sterile fronds of
the same size. Mountains of Virginia to Kansas and southward.
(6) EBONY SPLEENWORT
_Asplenium platynèuron. A. ebèneum_
Fronds upright, eight to eighteen inches high, linear-lanceolate, the
fertile ones much taller, and pinnate. Pinnæ scarcely an inch long, the
lower ones very much shorter, alternate, spreading, finely serrate or
incised, the base auricled. Sori numerous, rather near the midvein, stipe
and rachis lustrous brown. ("Ebony.")
This rigidly upright but graceful fern flourishes in rocky, open woods, and
on rich, moist banks, often in the neighborhood of red cedars. Having come
upon it many times in our rambles, we should say it was not uncommon.
A lightly incised form of the pinnæ has been described as var. _serratum_.
A handsome form discovered in Vermont in 1900 by Mrs. Horton and named
_Hortonæ_ (also called _incisum_) has plume-like fronds with the pinnæ cut
into oblique lobes, which are coarsely serrate.
[Illustration: Ebony Spleenwort. _Asplenium platyneuron_ (Melrose, Mass.,
G.E. Davenport)]
[Illustration: Bradley's Spleenwort. _Asplenium Bradleyi_ a, from Maryland;
b, from Kentucky (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
(7) BRADLEY'S SPLEENWORT. _Asplenium Brádleyi_
Fronds oblong-lanceolate, pinnate, three to ten inches long. Pinnæ
oblong-ovate, obtuse, incised or pinnátifid into oblong, toothed lobes.
The basal pinnæ have broad bases, and blunt tips and are slightly stalked.
Stipes and rachis dark brown and the sori short, near the midrib.
A rare and beautiful fern growing on rocks preferring limestone and
confined mostly to the southern states. Newburg, N.Y., to Kentucky and
Alabama, westward to Arkansas.
(8) MOUNTAIN SPLEENWORT. _Asplenium montanum_
Fronds ovate-lanceolate from a broad base, two to eight inches long,
somewhat leathery, pinnate. Pinnæ ovate-oblong, the lowest pinnately cleft
into oblong or ovate cut-toothed lobes, the upper ones less and less
divided. Rachis green, broad, and flat.
[Illustration: Mountain Spleenwort (From the "Fern Bulletin")]
Small evergreen ferns of a bluish-green color, growing in the crevices of
rocks and cliffs. Connecticut to Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas and southwest.
July. Rare. Williams, in his "Ferns of Kentucky," says of this species,
"Common on all sandstone cliffs and specimens are large on sheltered rocks
by the banks of streams."
(9) RUE SPLEENWORT. _Asplenium Ruta-murària_
Fronds evergreen, small, two to seven inches long, deltoid-ovate, two to
three pinnate below, simply pinnate above, rather leathery in texture.
Divisions few, stalked, from cuneate to roundish-ovate, toothed or incised
at the apex. Veins forking. Rachis and stipe green. Sori few, soon
confluent.
[Illustration: The Rue Spleenwort. _A. Ruta-muraria_ (Top, Lake
Huron--Lower Left, Mt. Toby, Mass.--Lower Right, Vermont) (From Herbarium
of Geo. E. Davenport)]
This tiny fern grows from small fissures in the limestone cliffs, and
is rather rare in this country; but in Great Britain it is very common,
growing everywhere on walls and ruins. From Mt. Toby, Mass., and Willoughby
Mountain, Vt., to Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky and southward.
B. THE LARGE SPLEENWORTS. _Athýrium_
The following species, which are often two to three feet high and grow in
rich soil, are quite different in appearance and habits from the small rock
spleenworts just described. Some botanists have kept them in the genus
_Asplenium_ because their sori are usually rather straight or only slightly
curved, but others are inclined to follow the practice of the British
botanists and put them into a separate group under _Athýrium_. Nearly all
agree that the lady fern, with its variously curved sori, should be placed
here, and many others would place the silvery spleenwort in the same genus,
partly because of its frequently doubled sori. In regard to the last member
of the group, the narrow-leaved spleenwort, there is more doubt. The sori
taken separately would place it with the _Aspleniums_, but considering its
size, structure, habits of growth and all, it seems more closely allied to
the two larger ferns than to the little rock species. We shall group the
three together as the large spleenworts, or for the sake of being more
definite adopt Clute's felicitous phrase.
THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN
1. THE LADY FERNS
Fronds one to three feet high, broadly lanceolate, or ovate-oblong,
tapering towards the apex, bipinnate. Pinnæ lanceolate, numerous. Pinnules
oblong-lanceolate, cut-toothed or incised. Fruit-dots short, variously
curved. Indusium delicate, often reniform, or shaped like a horseshoe, in
some forms confluent at maturity.
Widely distributed, common and varying greatly in outline. The newer
nomenclature separates the lady fern of our section into two distinct
species, which should be carefully studied.[A]
[Footnote A: See monograph by F.K. Butters in _Rhodora_ of September,
1917.]
(1) THE UPLAND LADY FERN. ATHÝRIUM ANGÚSTUM
_Asplènium Fìlix-femina_
The rootstock or rhizome of the Upland Lady Fern here pictured shows how
the thick, fleshy bases of the old fronds conceal the rootstock itself. In
the Lowland Lady Fern the rootstock is but slightly concealed by old stipe
bases, and so may be distinguished from its sister fern.
One design of such rootstocks is to store up food (mostly starch), during
the summer to nourish the young plants as they shoot forth the next spring.
The undecayed bases of the old stipes are also packed with starch for the
same purpose.
[Illustration: Rootstock of the Upland Lady Fern]
[Illustration: The same split lengthwise (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt
& Co.)]
[Illustration: Sori of Lady Fern. _Athyrium angustum_]
Rootstocks horizontal, quite concealed by the thick, fleshy bases of old
fronds. Scales of the long, tufted stipes dark brown. Indusium curved,
often horseshoe-shaped, usually toothed or fringed with fine hairs, but
without glands. Fronds bipinnate, one to three feet high, widest near the
middle.
This is the common species of northern New England and the Canadian
Provinces. The fronds differ very widely in form and a great many varieties
have been pointed out, but the fern student, having first learned to
identify the species, will gradually master the few leading varieties as he
meets them.
Those growing in warm, sunny places where the fruit-dots when mature
incline to cover the whole back of the frond are called "sun forms." These
are varieties TÝPICUM and ELÀTIUS, both with the pinnæ obliquely ascending
(including variety _angustum_ of D.C. Eaton), but the latter has broader
fronds with the pinnules of the sterile fronds oblong-lanceolate, somewhat
acute and strongly toothed or pinnatifid.
[Illustration: Varieties of Lady Fern Left to right--1st and 2nd, Var.
_typicum; 3d, elatius; 4th, rubellum; 5th, uncertain, perhaps confertum_]
Var. RUBÉLLUM has the sori distinct even when mature; its pinnules stand
at a wide angle from the rachis of the pinna and are strongly toothed
or pinnatifid with obtuse teeth. This variety favors regions with cool
summers, or dense shade in warmer regions. The term RUBÉLLUM alludes to
the reddish stems so often seen but this sign alone may not determine the
variety. It occurs throughout the range of the species, being a common
New England fern. Fernald remarks that this is also a common form of the
species in southern Nova Scotia.
Among other varieties named by Butters are CONFÉRTUM, having the pinnules
irregularly lobed and toothed; joined by a membranous wing, the lobes of
the pinnules broad and overlapping, giving the fern a compact appearance;
LACINIÀTUM with pinnules very irregular in size and shape, with many long,
acute teeth, which project in various directions. "An abnormal form which
looks as if it had been nibbled when young."
These varieties are represented in the Gray Herbarium.
(2) THE LOWLAND LADY FERN
ATHÝRIUM ASPLENIÒIDES
Rootstocks creeping, not densely covered with the persistent bases of the
fronds. Stipes about as long as the blade. Scales of the stipe very few,
seldom persistent, rarely over 3-16 of an inch long. Fronds narrowly
deltoid, lanceolate, widest near the base, the second pair of pinnæ
commonly longest. Indusia ciliate, the cilia (hairs) ending in glands.
Spores dark, netted or wrinkled.
[Illustration: Lowland Lady Fern. ATHYRIUM ASPLENIOIDES (From the Gray
Herbarium)]
The following two forms are named by Butters:
F. TÝPICUM. The usual form frequent in eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, and Missouri.
F. SUBTRIPINNÀTUM. An unusually large and rare form with triangular,
lanceolate, and pinnatifid pinnules, having blunt, oblong segments. Wet
situations in half shade. Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Virginia.
Our lowland or southern lady fern flourishes in the southern states, comes
up the Atlantic Coast until it meets the upland or northern species in
Pennsylvania and southern New England, and their identification can hardly
fail to awaken in the student a keen interest.
Our American botanists are inclined to think that the real _Athýrium
fìlix-fémina_ is not to be found in the northeastern United States, but
is rather a western species, with its habitat in California and the Rocky
Mountain region and identical with _Athýrium cyclosòrum_.
But whatever changes may occur in the scientific name of the old _Athýrium
fìlix-fémina_, the name lady fern will not change, but everywhere within
our limits it will hold its own as a familiar term.
Underwood, writing of the lady fern under the genus _Asplenium_, mentions
the form "_exìle_, small, starved specimens growing in very dry situations
and often fruiting when only a few inches high." He also mentions Eaton's
"_angústum_," and alludes to the "Remaining sixty-three varieties equally
unimportant that have been described of this species."
The lady fern is common in moist woods, by walls and roadsides, and at its
best is a truly handsome species, although, like Mrs. Parsons, we have
noticed that in the late summer it loses much of its delicacy. "Many of
its forms become disfigured and present a rather blotched and coarse
appearance." The lady fern has inspired several poems, which have been
quoted more or less fully in the fern books. The following lines are from
the pen of Calder Campbell:
"But not by burne in wood or dale
Grows anything so fair
As the palmy crest of emerald pale
Of the lady fern when the sunbeams turn
To gold her delicate hair."
Referring, perhaps, to the fair colors of the unfolding crosiers revealing
stipes of a clear wine color in striking contrast with the delicate green
of the foliage.
In identifying this fern the novice should bear in mind the tendency of the
curved sori of youth to become straightened and even confluent with age,
although such changes are rather unreliable. Possibly the suggestion of the
poetic Davenport may be helpful to some that there is "An indefinable charm
about the various forms of the lady fern, which soon enables one to know it
from its peculiarly graceful motion by merely gently swaying a frond in the
hand." Spores ripen in August.
The lady fern is very easy to cultivate and when once established is apt to
crowd aside its neighbors.
(3) SILVERY SPLEENWORT. ATHÝRIUM ACROSTICHÒIDES
_Asplènium acrostichòides. Asplènium thelypteròides_
Fronds two to four feet tall, pinnate, tapering both ways from the middle.
Pinnæ deeply pinnatifid, linear-lanceolate, acuminate. Lobes oblong,
obtuse, minutely toothed, each bearing two rows of oblong or linear
fruit-dots. Indusium silvery when young.
[Illustration: Silvery Spleenwort. _Athyrium acrostichoides_]
[Illustration: Silvery Spleenwort. Athyrium acrostichoides]
The sterile fronds come up first and the taller, fertile ones do not appear
until late in June. Where there are no fruit-dots the hairs on the upper
surface of the fronds will help to distinguish it from specimens of the
Marsh fern tribe, which it somewhat resembles. The regular rows of nearly
straight, clear-cut sori of the fertile fronds are very attractive, and
the lower ones, as well as those at the slender tips of the pinnæ, are
frequently double.
Rich woods and moist, shady banks, New England to Kentucky and westward.
Generally distributed but hardly common.
(4) NARROW-LEAVED SPLEENWORT
ATHÝRIUM ANGUSTIFÒLIUM. _Asplenium angustifòlium_
Fronds one to four feet tall, pinnate. Pinnæ numerous, thin, short-stalked,
linear-lanceolate, acuminate, those of the fertile fronds narrower.
Fruit-dots linear. Indusium slightly convex.
[Illustration: Narrow-leaved Spleenwort. _Athyrium angustifolium_ (Vermont)
(Geo. E. Davenport)]
In rich woods from southern Canada and New Hampshire to Minnesota and
southward. September. Not common. Mt. Toby, Mass., Berlin and Meriden,
Conn., and Danville, Vt. Can be cultivated but should not be exposed to
severe weather, as its thin and delicate fronds are easily injured. Woolson
writes of it, "There is nothing in the fern kingdom which looks so cool and
refreshing on a hot day as a mass of this clear-cut, delicately made-up
fern."
[Illustration: Pinnæ and Sori of _Athyrium angustifolium_]
HART'S TONGUE
_Scolopéndrium_. PHYLLÌTIS
Sori linear, a row on either side of the midvein, and at right angles to
it, the indusium appearing to be double. (_Scolopendrium_ is the Greek for
centipede, whose feet the sori were thought to resemble. _Phyllitis_ is the
ancient Greek name for a fern.) Only one species in the United States.
[Illustration: Sori of _Scolopendrium vulgare_]
(1) _Scolopendrium vulgàre_
PHYLLÌTIS SCOLOPÉNDRIUM
Fronds thick and leathery, oblong-lanceolate from an auricled, heart-shaped
base, ten to twenty inches long and one to two inches wide. Margin entire,
bright green.
In shaded ravines under limestone cliffs. Chittenango Falls, and
Scolopendrium Lake, central New York, and Tennessee. Also, locally in
Ontario and New Brunswick. One of the rarest of our native ferns, although
very common in Great Britain. This plant is said to be easily cultivated,
and to produce numerous varieties. According to Woolson, "No rockery is
complete without the Hart's Tongue, the long, glossy, undulating fronds
of which are sufficiently unique to distinguish any collection." In
cultivation it "needs light protection through the winter in northern New
England."
[Illustration: Hart's Tongue. _Scolopendrium vulgare_ (Base of calcareous
rocks, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada)]
WALKING FERN. WALKING LEAF
_Camptosòrus_
Fruit-dots oblong or linear as in _Asplènium_, but irregularly scattered on
either side of the reticulated veins of the simple frond, the outer ones
sometimes confluent at their ends, forming crooked lines (hence, the name
from the Greek meaning crooked sori). Only one species within our limits.
_Camptosòrus rhizophyllus_
Fronds evergreen, leathery, four to eighteen inches long, heart-shaped at
the base, but tapering towards the apex, which often roots and forms a
new plant. Veins reticulated. The auricles of this species are sometimes
elongated and may even take root.
This curious and interesting fern is one of the finest for rockeries, the
tips taking root in rock-fissures. Shaded limestone, or sometimes other
rocks. Shapleigh and Winthrop, Me., rarely in New Hampshire (Lebanon),
and Connecticut, Mt. Toby, Mass., and western New England; also Canada to
Georgia and westward.
[Illustration: Walking Fern. _Camptosorus rhizophyllus_]
THE SHIELD FERNS
THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS
_Polýstichum_
These have been grouped with the wood ferns, but are now usually placed
under the genus _Polýstichum_, which has the sori round and covered with
a circular indusium fixed to the frond by its depressed center. The wood
ferns, on the other hand, have a kidney-shaped indusium attached to the
fronds by the sinus. (_Polýstichum_ is the Greek for many rows, the sori of
some species being in many ranks.)
(1) THE CHRISTMAS FERN
_Polýstichum acrostichòides. Aspídium acrostichòides_
Stipes clothed with pale, brown scales. Frond rigid and evergreen, one to
two feet long, lanceolate, pinnate. Pinnæ linear-lanceolate, scythe-shaped,
auricled on the upper side, and with bristly teeth; fertile pinnæ
contracted toward the top, bearing two rows of sori, which soon become
confluent and cover the entire surface. Indusium orbicular, fixed by its
depressed center.
_F. incìsum_ is a form in which the pinnæ are much incised.
_F. críspum_ has the edges of its pinnæ crisped and ruffled. The name
Christmas fern, due to John Robinson, of Salem, Mass., suggests its fitness
for winter decoration. Its deep green and glossy fronds insure it a welcome
at Christmas time. "Its mission is to cheer the winter months and enhance
the beauty of the other ferns by contrast." In transplanting, a generous
mass of earth should be included and its roots should not be disturbed.
[Illustration: Christmas Fern. _Polystichum acrostichoides_]
[Illustration: Christmas Fern. _Polystichum acrostichoides_]
[Illustration: Christmas Fern. _Polystichum acrostichoides_ Top, Forked
Form; Bottom, Incised Form (Maine)]
(2) BRAUN'S HOLLY FERN
_Polystichum Bráunii. Aspídium aculeàtum Bráunii_
Fronds thick, rigid, one to two feet long, spreading, lanceolate,
tapering both ways, bipinnate. Pinnules ovate or oblong, truncate, nearly
rectangular at the base, sharply toothed and covered beneath with chaff and
hairs. Fruit-dots small and near the mid veins. Indusium orbicular, entire.
Stipes chaffy with brown scales.
[Illustration: Braun's Holly Fern. _Polystichum Braunii_ (Willoughby
Mountain, Vt.) (Herbarium of G.H.T.)]
This handsome fern is rather common in northern New England. We have
collected it in the Willoughby Lake region, Vt., and it is found at Mt.
Mansfield, Randolph, and elsewhere in that state; also at Gorham, N.H.,
and Fernald reports it as common in northern Maine. It also grows in the
mountains of New York and Pennsylvania, and westward. It was formerly
thought to be a variety of the prickly shield fern (_P. aculeàtum_), which
has a very wide range and numerous varieties. The fronds remain green
through the winter but the stipes weaken and fall over.
(3) HOLLY FERN. _Polystichum Lonchìtis_
Fronds linear-lanceolate, short-stalked and rigid, eight to fifteen inches
long. Pinnæ broadly lanceolate-falcate or the lowest triangular, strongly
auricled on the upper side, densely spinulose-toothed. Sori midway between
the margin and midrib.
[Illustration: Holly Fern. Polystichum Lonchitis (Nottawasaga, Canada,
West, Right, Alaska, Left) (Herbarium of C.E. Davenport)]
The name holly fern suggests its resemblance to holly leaves with their
bristle-tipped teeth. The specific name lonchìtis (like a spear) refers to
its sharp teeth. A northern species growing in rocky woods from Labrador
to Alaska, and south to Niagara Falls, Lake Superior and westward. Its
southern limits nearly coincide with the northern limits of the Christmas
fern.
THE MARSH FERN TRIBE
Under this designation Clute has grouped three of the shield ferns, which
have a close family resemblance, and has thus distinguished them from the
wood ferns, which also belong to the shield fern family.
(1) THE MARSH FERN
_Aspídium thelýpteris_. THELÝPTERIS PALÚSTRIS
_Dryópteris thelýpteris. Nephròdium thelýpteris_
[Illustration: The Marsh Fern]
These are all good names and each one is worthy to be chosen. _Aspídium_,
Greek for shield, in use for a century, adopted in all the seven editions
of Gray's Manual, is still the most familiar and pleasing term to its
friends. _Dryópteris_, Greek for oak fern, has been chosen by Underwood
and Britton and Brown and has grown in favor. _Nephròdium_, meaning
kidney-like, favored by Davenport, Waters and, of late, Clute, is a most
fitting name. THELÝPTERIS, meaning lady fern, is found to be the earliest
name in use and according to rule the correct one.
[Illustration: The Marsh Fern. _Aspidium Thelypteris_]
Fronds pinnate, lanceolate, slightly or not at all narrowed at the base.
Pinnæ horizontal or slightly recurved, linear-lanceolate and deeply
pinnatifid. Lobes obtuse, but appear acute when their margins are reflexed
over the sori. Veins once forked. Indusium minute. Stipes tall, lifting the
blades ten to fifteen inches above the mud, whence they spring.
The fronds of the marsh fern are apt to be sterile in deep shade. It may be
readily distinguished from the New York fern by its broad base, instead of
tapering to very small pinnæ; by its long stalk, lifting the blade up into
the sunlight, and by the revolute margins of the fertile fronds, which have
suggested for it the name of "snuff-box" fern. It is separated from
the Massachusetts fern by its forked veins. Common in marshes and damp
woodlands; Canada to Florida and westward. While the marsh fern loves
moisture and shade it is sometimes found in dry, open fields. Miss Lilian
A. Cole, of Union, Me., reports a colony as growing on land above the swale
in which Twayblade and Adder's Tongue are found, "around rock heaps in
open sunlight on clay soil, but homely and twisted," as if a former woodsy
environment had been long since cleared away while the deserted ferns
persisted.
(2) MASSACHUSETTS FERN
_Aspidium simulàtum_. THELÝPTERIS SIMULÀTA
_Dryópteris simulata. Nephròdium simulàtum_
Fronds pinnate, one to three feet long, oblong-lanceolate, somewhat
narrowed at the base. Pinnæ lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid, the lower most
often turned inward. Veins simple. Indusium glandular. Sori rather large.
Resembles the marsh fern, of which it was once thought to be a variety.
In some respects it is also like the New York fern, and is in fact
intermediate between the two.
[Illustration: Massachusetts Fern. _Aspidium simulatum_ 1. Sterile Frond.
2. A Fruiting Pinnule. 3. Pinnule enlarged showing venation (From the "Fern
Bulletin")]
That it is a distinct species was first pointed out by Raynal Dodge in
1880, and it later was named _simulàtum_ by Geo. E. Davenport because of
its similarity to a form of the lady fern. It may be identified by its
thin texture and particularly by its simple veins. On account of its close
resemblance to the marsh fern, Clute would call it "The lance-leaved Marsh
Fern," instead of the irrelevant name of Massachusetts Fern. Woodland
swamps usually in deep shade, New England to Maryland and westward. Often
found growing with the marsh fern.
(3) NEW YORK FERN
_Aspidium noveboracénse_. THELÝPTERIS NOVEBORACÉNSIS
_Dryópteris noveboracénsis. Nephròdium noveboracénse_
Fronds pinnate, tapering both ways from the middle. Pinnæ lanceolate,
pinnatifid, the lowest pairs gradually shorter and deflexed. Veins simple.
Indusium minute and beset with glands.
[Illustration: New York Fern. _Aspidium noveboracense_]
Very common in woodlands, preferring a dryer soil than the marsh fern.
August. The fronds are pale green, delicate and hairy beneath along the
midrib and veins.
[Illustration: Sori of New York Fern (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt &
Co.)]
[Illustration: New York Fern. _Aspidium noveboracense_]
When bruised its resinous glands give out a pleasing, ferny odor. This
species can be distinguished from every other by the greatly reduced pinnæ
at its base. Throughout North America east of the Mississippi.
THE BEECH FERNS
The beech ferns are often classed with the polypodies, because, like them,
they have no indusium; but in other ways they are more akin to the wood
ferns. Their stipes are not jointed to the root stock, nor are their sori
at the ends of the veins as in the polypodies. We here place them with
the wood ferns, retaining the familiar name _Phegópteris_ but giving
THELÝPTERIS as a synonym. The fruit-dots are small, round and naked,
borne on the back of the veins below the apex. Stipe continuous with the
rootstock. Veins free. (The name _Phegópteris_ in Greek means oak or beech
fern.)
(1) OAK FERN
_Phegópteris dryópteris_. THELÝPTERIS DRYÓPTERIS
Fronds glabrous, broadly triangular, ternate, four to seven inches broad,
the divisions widely spreading, each division pinnate at the base. Segments
oblong, obtuse, entire or toothed. Fruit-dots near the margin. Rootstock
slender and creeping from which fronds are produced all summer, in
appearance like the small, ternate divisions of the bracken.
This dainty fern has fronds of a delicate yellow-green, "the greenest of
all green things growing." Its ternate character is shown even in the
uncoiling of the fronds, the three round balls suggesting the sign of the
pawnbroker. The parts of the oak fern develop with great regularity, each
pinna, pinnule and lobe having another exactly opposite to it nearly
always. In rocky woods, common northward; also in Virginia, Kansas and
Colorado. A fine species for cultivation at the base of the artificial
rockery.
[Illustration: Oak Fern. _Phegopteris Dryopteris_]
(2) THE NORTHERN OAK FERN
_Phegopteris Robertiana. Phegopteris calcàrea_
THELÝPTERIS ROBERTIÀNA
Resembles the oak fern, but with fronds rather larger, especially the
terminal segment; also more rigid and coarser in appearance. Stalks and
fronds minutely glandular beneath. Lower pinnules of the lateral divisions
scarcely longer than the others. Often called "Limestone Polypody," the
beech ferns having formerly been classed with the polypodies. Britton and
Brown designate it as the "Scented Oak Fern." Canada and the northwestern
states. Rare.
[Illustration: Northern Oak Fern. _Phegopteris Robertiana_ (From Water's
"Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
[Illustration: BROAD BEECH FERN. Phegopteris hexagonoptera]
(3) BROAD BEECH FERN
_Phegopteris hexagonóptera_
THELÝPTERIS HEXAGONÓPTERA
Fronds triangular, broader than long, seven to twelve inches broad,
spreading more or less horizontally at the summit of the stipe; pubescent
and often glandular beneath; pinnæ fragrant, lanceolate, the lowest pair
usually much larger than those above, having the segments elongated and cut
into lobes. Basal segments decurrent and forming a many-angled wing along
the main rachis. Fruit-dots small, near the margin.
The broad beech fern is usually larger than its sister, the long beech
fern, and extends farther south, ranging from New England to Minnesota
and southward to Florida. It is sometimes called "six-angled polypody."
According to Dodge it is most common in Rhode Island and Connecticut. It
prefers rather dry, open woods. It is said to have a pleasant, ferny odor
when bruised. August.
(4) LONG BEECH FERN
_Phegopteris polypodiòides_. THELÝPTERIS PHEGÓPTERIS
Fronds triangular, longer than broad, four to six inches long, twice
pinnatifid. Pinnæ lanceolate, acuminate, the lowest pair deflexed and
standing forward; cut into oblong, obtuse segments. Fruit-dots near the
margin.
Compared with the broad beech fern this is the more northern species. While
usually quite distinct in structure, it sometimes approaches its sister
fern rather closely.
It prefers deep woods and shaded banks. Newfoundland to Alaska and
southward to the mountains of Virginia. July.
[Illustration: Long Beech Fern. _Phegopteris polypodioides_]
[Illustration: The Long Beech Fern]
THE FRAGRANT FERN
_Aspídium fràgrans. Nephròdium fràgrans_
THELÝPTERIS FRÀGRANS. _Dryópteris fràgrans_
Fronds four to twelve inches high, glandular-aromatic, narrowly lanceolate
and twice pinnate or nearly so. Pinnæ oblong-lanceolate, pinnate or deeply
pinnatifid. Pinnules toothed or entire nearly covered beneath with the
large, thin, imbricated indusia which are orbicular with a narrow sinus,
having the margins ragged and sparingly glanduliferous. Stipe short and
chaffy.
The fragrant fern grows on high cliffs among the mountains of northern New
England. It is reported from scattered stations in northern Maine, from
north of the White Mountains and from Sunapee Lake in New Hampshire, and
in the Green Mountains south to central Vermont, New Brunswick and to
Minnesota. Found also in Alaska and Greenland. This much-coveted fern has a
singularly sweet and lasting fragrance, compared by some to strawberries,
by others to new-mown hay and sweet brier leaves. We have seen herbarium
specimens that were mildly and pleasantly odorous after several years. When
growing the fern may be tested "by its fragrance, its stickiness and its
beautiful brown curls." Evergreen. Spores ripen the middle of August.
[Illustration: Fragrant Fern. _Aspidium fragrans_ (Mt. Mansfield. Vt.)]
KEY TO THE WOOD FERNS
ASPIDIUM
Fronds pinnate, the pinnæ pinnatifid;
Blade soft and thin, not evergreen;
Lower pinnæ reduced to mere lobes
New York Fern
Lower pinnæ but slightly reduced;
Veins simple......................Massachusetts Fern
Veins forked..............................Marsh Fern
Blade rather thick (subcoreaceous) mostly evergreen;
Fronds small, narrow, glandular, rock species
Fragrant Fern
Fronds large, two or more feet high;
Lower pinnæ short, broadly triangular
Crested Shield Fern
Lower pinnæ longer;
Sori close to the margin.... Marginal Shield Fern
Sori nearer the midvein;
Frond lanceolate....................Male Fern
Frond ovate..............Goldie's Shield Fern
Fronds twice pinnate with the lower pinnules pinnatifid
Boott's Shield Fern
Fronds nearly thrice pinnate................Spinulose Shield Fern
[Illustration: Marginal Shield Fern. _Aspidium marginale_]
THE WOOD FERNS
The ferns of this group, not counting the small fragrant fern, prefer the
woods or at least shady places. Although the genus _Polýstichum_ represents
the true shield ferns, the wood ferns are also thus designated, as their
indusia have nearly the shape of small, roundish shields. The old generic
name for them all was _Aspídium_ (meaning shield), first published in 1800.
For a long time its chief rival was _Nephròdium_ (kidney-like), 1803. Many
modern botanists have preferred the earlier name _Dryópteris_ (1763),
meaning oak fern, alluding, perhaps, to its forest-loving habits.
THELÝPTERIS, still earlier (1762), may supersede the others.
[Illustration: Marginal Shield Fern. Aspidium marginale (From Woolson's
"Ferns," Doubleday, Page & Co.)]
[Illustration: Sori of Marginal Shield Fern]
(1) MARGINAL SHIELD FERN, EVERGREEN WOOD FERN
_Aspídium marginàle_. THELÝPTERIS MARGINÀLIS
_Dryópteris marginàlis. Nephròdium marginàle_
Fronds from a few inches to three feet long, ovate-oblong, somewhat
leathery, smooth, twice pinnate. Pinnæ lanceolate, acuminate, broadest just
above the base. Pinnules oblong, often slightly falcate, entire or toothed.
Fruit-dots large, round, close to the margin. Rocky hillsides in rich
woods, rather common throughout our area. The heavy rootstock rises
slightly above the ground and is clothed at the crown with shaggy, brown
scales. Its rising caudex, often creeping for several inches over bare
rocks, suggests the habit of a tree fern. In early spring it sends up a
graceful circle of large, handsome, bluish-green blades. The stipes are
short and densely chaffy. No other wood fern endures the winter so well.
The fronds burdened with snow lop over among the withered leaves and
continue green until the new ones shoot up in the spring. It is the most
valuable of all the wood ferns for cultivation.
(2) THE MALE FERN
_Aspídium Fìlix-mas_. THELÝPTERIS FÌLIX-MAS
_Dryópteris Fìlix-mas. Nephròdium Fìlix-mas_
Fronds lanceolate, pinnate, one to three feet high growing in a crown from
a shaggy rootstock. Pinnæ lanceolate, tapering from base to apex. Pinnules
oblong, obtuse, serrate at the apex, obscurely so at the sides, the basal
incisely lobed, distant, the upper confluent. Fruit-dots large, nearer the
mid vein than the margin, mostly on the lower half of each fertile segment.
The male fern resembles the marginal shield fern in outline, but the fronds
are thinner, are not evergreen, and the sori are near the midvein. Its use
in medicine is of long standing. Its rootstock produces the well-known
_fìlix-mas_ of the pharmacist. This has tonic and astringent properties,
but is mainly prescribed as a vermifuge, which is one of the names given to
it. In Europe it is regarded as the typical fern, being oftener mentioned
and figured than any other. In rocky woods, Canada, Northfield, Vt., and
northwest to the great lakes, also in many parts of the world.
[Illustration: The Male Fern. _Aspidium Filix-mas_ (Vermont)]
[Illustration: FIG. 33G. _Aspidium filix mas_ 1, Illustration
exhibiting general habit; a, young leaves: 2, transverse section of
rhizome showing the conducting bundles a: 3, portion of the leaf bearing
sori; a indusium b, sporangia; 4, longitudinal; 5, transverse section of a
soris; a, leaf; b, indusium; c, sporangia: 6, a single sporangium; a,
stalk; c, annulus; d, spores. (After WOSSIDLO OFFICINAL) From a German
print, giving details]
(3) GOLDIE'S FERN
_Aspidium Goldiànum_. THELYPTERIS GOLDIÀNA
_Dryopteris Goldiàna. Nephrodium Goldiànum_
Fronds two to four feet high and often one foot broad, pinnate, broadly
ovate, especially the sterile ones. Pinnæ deeply pinnatifid, broadest
in the middle. The divisions (eighteen or twenty pairs) oblong-linear,
slightly toothed. Fruit-dots very near the midvein. Indusium large,
orbicular, with a deep, narrow sinus. Scales dark brown to nearly black
with a peculiar silky lustre.
A magnificent species, the tallest and largest of the wood ferns. It
delights in rich woodlands where there is limestone. Its range is from
Canada to Kentucky. While not common, there are numerous colonies in New
England. It is reported from Fairfield, Me., Spencer and Mt. Toby, Mass.,
and frequently west of the Connecticut River. We have often admired a large
and beautiful colony of it on the west side of Willoughby Mountain in
Vermont. It is easily cultivated and adds grace and dignity to a fern
garden.
[Illustration: Goldie's Shield Fern. _Aspidium Goldianum_ (Vermont, 1874.
C.G. Pringle) (Herbarium of G.E. Davenport)]
[Illustration: Goldie's Fern (From Woolson's "Ferns," Doubleday, Page &
Co.)]
(4) THE CRESTED FERN
_Aspidium cristàtum_. THELÝPTERIS CRISTÀTA
_Dryopteris cristàta. Nephrodium cristàtum_
Fronds one to two feet long, linear-oblong or lanceolate, pinnate, acute.
Pinnæ two to three inches long, broadest at the base, triangular-oblong,
or the lowest triangular. Divisions oblong, obtuse, finely serrate or
cut-toothed, those nearest the rachis sometimes separate. Fruit-dots large,
round, half way between the midvein and the margin. Indusium smooth, naked,
with a shallow sinus.
The short sterile fronds, though spreading out gracefully, are conspicuous
only in winter; while the fertile fronds, tall, narrow and erect, are found
only in summer.
It is one of our handsomest evergreen ferns and even the large sori, with
their dark spore cases and white indusia, are very attractive. The fertile
pinnæ have a way of turning their faces upward toward the apex of the frond
for more light. In moist land, Canada to Kentucky.
Var. _Clintoniànum_. Clinton's Wood Fern. Resembles the type, but is in
every way larger. Divisions eight to sixteen pairs. Fruit-dots near the
midvein, the sides of the sinus often overlapping. South central Maine to
New York and westward. "Rare in New England attaining its best development
in western sections." (Dodge.) Mt. Toby, Mass., Hanover, N.H. July. Fine
for cultivation.
[Illustration: Crested Shield Fern. _Aspidium cristatum_ (Reading, Mass.,
Kingman)]
[Illustration: The Crested Shield Fern. _Aspidium cristatum_]
[Illustration: Clinton's Wood Fern. _Aspidium cristatum_, var.
_Clintonianum_ (Gray Herbarium)]
CRESTED MARGINAL FERN
_Aspídium cristàtum X marginàle_
Both the crested fern and Clinton's fern appear to hybridize with the
marginal shield fern with the result that the upper part of the frond is
like _marginale_ and the lower like _cristàtum_, including the veining and
texture.
This form was discovered by Raynal Dodge, verified by Margaret Slosson and
described by Geo. E. Davenport, who had a small colony under cultivation in
his fern garden at Medford, Mass., and to him the writer and other friends
are indebted for specimens.
Found occasionally throughout New England and New Jersey. Other supposed
hybrids have been found between the marginal shield and the spinulose fern
and its variety _intermèdium_, and with Goldie's fern; also between the
crested fern, including Clinton's variety and each of the others mentioned;
and, in fact, between almost all pairs of species of the wood ferns,
although we do not think they have been positively verified. Still other
species of ferns are known to hybridize more or less, as we saw in the case
of Scott's spleenwort.
[Illustration: Crested Marginal Fern. A Hybrid. _Aspidium Cristatum X
marginale_ (Fernery of Geo. E. Davenport)]
[Illustration: _Aspidium cristatum X marginale_ One of the very best for
cultivation]
(5) BOOTT'S SHIELD FERN
_Aspidium Boottii_. THELÝPTERIS BOOTTII
_Dryopteris Boottii. Nephrodium Boottii_
Fronds one to three feet high, oblong-lanceolate, bipinnate, the upper
pinnæ lanceolate, the lower triangular with spinulose teeth. Sori in rows
each side of the midvein, one to each tooth and often scattering on the
lower pinules. Indusium large, minutely glandular, variable.
This fern has been thought to be a hybrid between the crested and spinulose
ferns, but is now regarded as distinct. Like the crested fern its fertile
fronds wither in autumn, while its sterile blades remain green throughout
the winter. It differs from it, however, by being twice pinnate below, and
from the typical spinulose fern by its glandular indusium; but from the
intermediate variety it is more difficult to separate it, as that also has
indusiate glands. The collector needs to study authentic specimens and
have in mind the type, with its rather long, narrow blade as an aid to the
verbal description, and even then he will often find it an interesting
puzzle. Shaded swamps throughout our area.
[Illustration: _Aspidium Boottii_]
(6) SPINULOSE SHIELD FERN
_Aspidium spinulòsum. THELÝPTERIS SPINULÒSA
Dryopteris spinulòsa. Nephrodium spinulòsum_
Stipes with a few pale brown deciduous scales. Fronds one to two and
one-half feet long, ovate-lanceolate, twice pinnate. Pinnæ oblique to
the rachis, the lower ones broadly triangular, the upper ones elongated.
Pinnules on the inferior side of the pinnæ often elongated, especially the
lower pair, the pinnule nearest the rachis being usually the longest, at
least in the lowest pinnæ. Pinnules variously cut into spinulose-toothed
segments. Indusium smooth, without marginal glands.
The common European type, but in this country far less common than its
varieties. They all prefer rich, damp woods, and because of their
graceful outline and spiny-toothed lobes are very attractive. They can be
transplanted without great difficulty, and the fern garden depends upon
them for its most effective lacework.
Var. _intermèdium_ has the scales of the stipe brown with darker center.
Fronds ovate-oblong, often tripinnate. Pinnæ spreading, oblong-lanceolate.
Pinnules pinnately cleft, the oblong lobes spinulose-toothed at the apex.
Margin of the indusium denticulate and beset with minute, stalked glands.
In woods nearly everywhere--our most common form. Millions of fronds of
this variety are gathered in our northern woods, placed in cold storage and
sent to florists to be used in decorations.[A] As long as the roots are not
disturbed the crop is renewed from year to year, and no great harm seems to
result. Canada to Kentucky and westward.
[Footnote A: _Horticulture_ reports that twenty-eight million fern leaves
have been shipped from Bennington, Vt., in a single season; and that nearly
$100,000 were paid out in wages.]
[Illustration: Spinulose Shield Fern. _Aspidium spinulosum_ (Maine, 1877,
Herbarium of Geo. E. Davenport)]
[Illustration: _Aspidium spinulosum_, var. _intermedium_]
[Illustration: _Aspidium spinulosum_, var. AMERICANUM]
A tripinnate form of this variety discovered at Concord, Mass., by Henry
Purdie, has been named var. CONCORDIÀNUM. It has small, elliptical,
denticulate pinnules and a glandular-pubescent indusium.
Var. AMERICÀNUM (=_dilatàtum_, syn.). Fronds broader, ovate or
triangular-ovate in outline. A more highly developed form of the typical
plant, the lower pinnæ being often very broad, and the fronds tripinnate.
Inferior pinnules on the lower pair of pinnæ conspicuously elongated. A
variety preferring upland woods; northern New England, Greenland to the
mountains of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and northward.
THE BLADDER FERNS. _Cystópteris_
"Mark ye the ferns that clothe these dripping rocks,
Their hair-like stalks, though trembling 'neath the shock
Of falling spraydrops, rooted firmly there."
The bladder ferns are a dainty, rock-loving family partial to a limestone
soil. (The Greek name _cystópteris_ means bladder fern, so called in
allusion to the hood-shaped indusium.)
(1) THE BULBLET BLADDER FERN
_Cystópteris bulbífera. Fìlix bulbífera_
Fronds lanceolate, elongated, one to three feet long, twice pinnate. Pinnæ
lanceolate-oblong, pointed, horizontal, the lowest pair longest. Rachis and
pinnæ often bearing bulblets beneath. Pinnules toothed or deeply lobed.
Indusium short, truncate on the free side. Stipe short.
[Illustration: Bulblet Bladder Fern. _Cystopteris bulbifera_ (Willoughby,
Vt., 1904, G.H.T.)]
[Illustration: Bulblet Bladder Fern. _Cystopteris bulbifera_]
One of the most graceful and attractive of our native ferns; an object of
beauty, whether standing alone or massed with other growths. It is very
easily cultivated and one of the best for draping. "We may drape our homes
by the yard," says Woolson, "with the most graceful and filmy of our common
ferns, the bladder fern." This fern and the maidenhair were introduced into
Europe in 1628 by John Tradescant, the first from America.
It delights in shaded ravines and dripping hillsides in limestone
districts. While producing spores freely it seems to propagate its species
mainly by bulblets, which, falling into a moist soil, at once send out a
pair of growing roots, while a tiny frond starts to uncoil from the heart
of the bulb. Mt. Toby, Mass., Willoughby Mountain, Vt., calcareous regions
in Maine, and west of the Connecticut River, Newfoundland to Manitoba,
Wisconsin and Iowa; south to northern Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas.
(2) THE COMMON BLADDER FERN
_Cystopteris frágilis. Filix frágilis_
Stipe long and brittle. Fronds oblong-lanceolate, five to twelve
inches long, twice pinnate, the pinnæ often pinnatifid or cut-toothed,
ovate-lanceolate, decurrent on the winged rachis. Indusium appearing acute
at the free end. Very variable in the cutting of the pinnules.
The fragile bladder fern, as it is often called, and which the name
_frágilis_ suggests, is the earliest to appear in the spring, and the
first to disappear, as by the end of July it has discharged its spores and
withered away. Often, however, a new crop springs up by the last of August,
as if Nature were renewing her youth. In outline the fragile bladder fern
suggests the blunt-lobed Woodsia, but in the latter the pinnæ and pinnules
are usually broader and blunter, and its indusium splits into jagged lobes.
Rather common in damp, shady places where rocks abound. In one form or
another, found nearly throughout the world though only on mountains in the
tropics.
[Illustration: Fragile Bladder Fern, Fruited Portion]
[Illustration: Fragile Bladder Fern. _Cystopteris fragilis_ (Wakefield,
Mass.)]
KEY TO THE WOODSIAS
Stipes not jointed:
Indusium ample, segments broad, frond without hairs.
Obtuse Woodsia.
Pinnæ hispidulous, with white jointed hairs beneath.
Rocky Mountain Woodsia.
Fronds bright green, pinnæ glabrous, oblong.
Oregon Woodsia.
Fronds dull green, lanceolate, glandular beneath.
Cathcart's Woodsia.
Stipes obscurely jointed near the base:
Fronds more or less chaffy, pinnæ oblong to ovate,
crowded. Rusty Woodsia.
Fronds linear, smooth, pinnæ deltoid or orbicular.
Smooth Woodsia.
Fronds lanceolate, a few white scales beneath; pinnæ
deltoid-ovate. Alpine Woodsia.
THE WOODSIAS
Small, tufted, pinnately divided ferns. Fruit-dots borne on the back of
simply forked, free veins. Indusium fixed beneath the sori, thin and often
evanescent, either small and open, or early bursting at the top into
irregular pieces or lobes. (Named for James Woods, an English botanist.)
(1) RUSTY WOODSIA. _Woódsia ilvénsis_
Fronds oblong-lanceolate, three to ten inches high, rather smooth above,
thickly clothed underneath with rusty, bristle-like chaff. Pinnate, the
pinnæ crowded, sessile, cut into oblong segments. Fruit-dots near the
margin often confluent at maturity. Indusium divided nearly in the center
into slender hairs which are curled over the sporangia. Stipes jointed an
inch or so above the rootstock.
[Illustration: Rusty Woodsia, _Woodsia ilvensis_]
The rusty Woodsia is decidedly a rock-loving fern, and often grows on
high cliffs exposed to the sun; its rootstock and fronds are covered with
silver-white, hair-like scales, especially underneath. These scales turn
brown in age, whence the name, rusty. As the short stipes separate at the
joints from the rootstock, they leave at the base a thick stubble, which
serves to identify the fern. Exposed rocks, Labrador to North Carolina and
westward. Rather common in New England. Said to be very abundant on the
trap rock hillocks about Little Falls, N.J., where it grows in dense tufts.
(2) NORTHERN WOODSIA. ALPINE WOODSIA
_Woodsia alpìna. Woodsia hyperbòrea_
Fronds narrowly lanceolate, two to six inches long, smooth above, somewhat
hairy beneath, pinnate. Pinnæ triangular-ovate, obtuse, lobed, the lobes
few and nearly entire. Fruit-dots rarely confluent. Indusium as in _Woodsia
ilvensis_.
[Illustration: Details of Northern Woodsia. _Woodsia alpina_]
Thought by some botanists to be a smooth form of _Woodsia ilvensis_. It
was discovered in the United States by Horace Mann, in 1863, at Willoughby
Lake, Vt. Twenty years or more later it was collected by C.H. Peck in the
Adirondacks, who supposed it to be _Woodsia_ _glabélla_. In 1897 it was
rediscovered at Willoughby Lake by C.H. Pringle. New York, Vermont, Maine,
and British America. Rare.
[Illustration: Northern Woodsia, _Woodsia alpina_ (From Waters' "Ferns,"
Henry Holt & Co.)]
(3) BLUNT-LOBED WOODSIA. _Woodsia obtùsa_
Fronds broadly lanceolate, ten to eighteen inches long, nearly twice
pinnate, often minutely glandular. Pinnæ rather remote, triangular-ovate
or oblong, pinnately parted into obtuse, oblong, toothed segments.
Veins forked. Fruit-dots on or near the margin of the lobes. Indusium
conspicuous, at length splitting into several spreading, jagged lobes.
[Illustration: Blunt-lobed Woodsia. _Woodsia obtusa_]
This is our most common species of Woodsia and it has a wider range than
the others, extending from Maine and Nova Scotia to Georgia and westward.
On rocky banks and cliffs. The sori of this species have a peculiar beauty
on account of the star-shaped indusium, as it splits into fragments. Var.
_angústa_ is a form with very narrow fronds and pinnæ. Highlands, New York.
The type grows in Middlesex County, Mass., but is rare.
(4) SMOOTH WOODSIA. _Woodsia glabélla_
Fronds two to five inches high, very delicate, linear, pinnate. Pinnæ
remote at the base, roundish-ovate, very obtuse with a few crenate lobes.
Stipes jointed, straw-colored. Hairs of the indusium few and minute.
[Illustration: Smooth Woodsia. _Woodsia glabella_ (Willoughhy Mountain, Vt.
G.H.T.)]
On moist, mossy, mostly calcareous rocks, northern New England, Mount
Mansfield, Willoughby, and Bakersfield Ledge, Vt., Gorham, N.H., also
Newfoundland, New York, and far to the northwest. Not very common. It
differs from the alpine species by the absence of scales above the joint.
As the name implies, the plant is smooth, except for the chaffy scales at
or near the rootstock, which mark all the Woodsias, and many other ferns,
and which serve as a protective covering against sudden changes in extremes
of heat and cold.
(5) OREGON WOODSIA. _Woódsia oregàna_
Fronds two to ten inches high, smooth, bright green, glandular beneath,
narrowly lance-oblong, bipinnatifid. Pinnse triangular-oblong, obtuse,
pinnatifid. Segments ovate or oblong, obtuse, crenate, the teeth or margin
nearly always reflexed. Indusium minute, concealed beneath the sorus,
divided into a few beaded hairs.
Like the obtuse Woodsia this fern has no joint near the base of the stipe,
but is much smaller and has several points of difference. Limestone cliffs,
Gaspé Peninsula, southern shore of Lake Superior, Colorado, Oregon to the
northwest. Its eastern limit is northern Michigan.
(6) ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOODSIA. _Woódsia scopulìna_
Fronds six to fifteen inches long [smooth], lanceolate, pinnatifid. Pinnæ
triangular-ovate, the lowest pair shortened. Under surface of the whole
frond hispidulous with minute, white hairs and stalked glands. Indusium
hidden beneath the sporangia, consisting mostly of a few hair-like
divisions.
In crevices of rocks, mountains of West Virginia, Gaspé Peninsula, Rocky
Mountains, and westward to Oregon and California.
(7) CATHCART'S WOODSIA. _Woodsia Cathcartiàna_
Fronds eight to twelve inches high, lanceolate, bipinnatifid, finely
glandular-puberulent. Pinnse oblong; the lower distant segments oblong,
denticulate, separated by wide sinuses.
Rocky river banks, west Michigan to northeast Minnesota.
DENNSTAÉDTIA. _Dicksònia_
Fruit-dots small, globular, marginal, each on the apex of a vein or fork.
Sporangia borne on an elevated, globular receptacle in a membranous,
cup-shaped indusium which is open at the top.
(Named in honor of August Wilhelm Dennstaed.)
HAYSCENTED FERN. BOULDER FERN
DENNSTAÉDTIA PUNCTILÓBULA[A]
_Dicksònia punctilóbula. Dicksònia pilosiúscula_
[Footnote A: We again remind our readers that the Latin names in small
capitals represent the newer nomenclature.]
Fronds one to three feet high, minutely glandular and hairy,
ovate-lanceolate, pale green, very thin and mostly bipinnate. Primary
pinnæ in outline like the frond; the secondary, pinnatifid into oblong and
obtuse, cut-toothed lobes. Fruit-dots minute, each on a recurved toothlet,
usually one at the upper margin of each lobe. Indusium fixed under the
sporangia, appearing like a tiny green cup filled with spore cases.
[Illustration: Hayscented Fern. _Dennstædtia punctilobula_ (Sudbury, Mass.
G.E.D.)]
[Illustration: Forked Variety of Hayscented Fern]
[Illustration: Hayscented Fern. _Dennstædtia punctilobula_]
While _Dennstaédtia_ is the approved scientific name of this species, the
name _Dicksònia_ has come to be used almost as commonly as hay scented fern
or boulder fern. It is one of our most graceful and delicate species, its
long-tapering outline suggesting the bulblet bladder fern. It delights to
cluster around rocks and boulders in upland fields and pastures and in the
margin of rocky woods. It is sweet-scented in drying. A fine species for
the fernery and one of the most decorative of the entire fern family.
The effect of the shimmering fronds, so delicately wrought, flanked by
evergreens, is highly artistic. Fine-haired mountain fern, pasture fern,
and hairy _Dicksònia_ are other names. Canada to Tennessee and westward.
Var. _cristata_ has the fronds more or less forked at the top.
[Illustration: Pinnule and Sori]
[Illustration: Mass of Sensitive Fern]
THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS
_Onoclèa_. PTERÉTIS. _Mattèuccia_. _Struthiópteris_
(Last three names applied to Ostrich Fern only.)
It is a question whether the sensitive and ostrich fern should be included
in the same genus. They are similar in many respects, but not in all. The
sensitive fern has a running rootstock, scattered fronds, and netted veins;
while the ostrich fern has an upright rootstock, fronds in crowns, and
free veins.
[Illustration: Sensitive Fern. Gradations from Leaf to Fruit.
_Obtusilobata_ Form]
(1) SENSITIVE FERN. _Onoclèa sensíbilis_
Fronds one to three feet high, scattered along a creeping rootstock,
broadly triangular, deeply pinnatifid, with segments sinuately lobed or
nearly entire. Veins reticulated with fine meshes. The fertile fronds
shorter, closely bipinnate with the pinnules rolled up into berry-like
structures which contain the spore cases. (The name in Greek means a closed
vessel, in allusion to the berry-like fertile segments.) The sensitive
fern is so called from its being very sensitive to frost. The sterile and
fertile fronds are totally unlike, the latter not coming out of the ground
until about July, when they appear like rows of small, green grapes or
berries, but soon turn dark and remain erect all winter, and often do not
discharge their spores until the following spring. The little berry-like
structures of the fertile frond represent pinnules, bearing fruit-dots,
around which they are closely rolled. As Waters remarks, "Most ferns hold
the sori in the open hand, but the sensitive fern grasps them tightly in
the clenched fist."
Var. _obtusilobatà_ is an abortive form with the fertile segments only
partially developed. The illustration shows several intermediate forms.
[Illustration: Sori of Sensitive Fern]
[Illustration: Sensitive Fern. _Onoclea sensibilis_]
[Illustration: Sensitive Fern, Fertile and Sterile Fronds on one
Stock _Onoclea sensibilis_ (From the collection of Mr. and Mrs. L.P.
Breckenridge)]
[Illustration: Ostrich Fern. _Onoclea Struthiopteris_. Fertile Fronds]
(2) OSTRICH FERN
_Onoclea struthiópteris_. PTERETIS NODULOSA
_Struthiópteris Germánica_. _Matteùccia struthiópteris_
Fronds two to eight feet high, growing in a crown; broadly lanceolate,
pinnate, the numerous pinnæ deeply pinnatifid, narrowed toward the
channeled stipe. Fertile fronds shorter, pinnate with margins of the pinnæ
revolute into a necklace form containing the sori.
[Illustration: Ostrich Fern. Sterile Fronds (New Hampshire)]
The rootstocks send out slender, underground stolons which bear fronds the
next year. Sterile fronds appear throughout the summer, fertile ones in
July. Seen from a distance its graceful leaf-crowns resemble those of the
cinnamon fern. An intermediate form between the fertile and sterile fronds
is sometimes found, as in the sensitive fern. This handsome species
thrives under cultivation. For grace and dignity it is unrivaled, and for
aggressiveness it is, perhaps, equaled only by the lady fern. For the
climax of beauty it should be combined with the maidenhair. The ostrich
fern is fairly common in alluvial soil over the United States and Canada.
[Illustration: Sori and sporangia of Ostrich Fern]
II
THE FLOWERING FERN FAMILY
_OSMUNDÀCEAE_
This family is represented in North America by three species, all of which
belong to the single genus.
OSMÚNDA
The _osmundas_ are tall swamp ferns growing in large crowns from strong,
thickened rootstocks; the fruiting portion of the fertile frond much
contracted and quite unlike the sterile. Sporangia large, globular,
short-stalked, borne on the margin of the divisions and opening into two
valves by a longitudinal slit. Ring obscure. (From Osmunder, a name of the
god Thor.)
(1) FLOWERING FERN, ROYAL FERN
_Osmúnda regàlis. Osmunda regàlis_, var. SPECTÁBILIS
Fronds pale green, one to six feet high; sterile part bipinnate, each pinna
having numerous pairs of lance-oblong, serrulate pinnules alternate along
the midrib. Fruiting panicle of the frond six to twelve inches long, brown
when mature and sometimes leafy.
A magnificent fern, universally admired. Well named by the great
Linnæus, _regalis_, royal, indeed, in its type of queenly beauty. The
wine-colored stipes of the uncoiling fronds shooting up in early spring,
lifting gracefully their pink pinnæ and pretty panicles of bright green
spore cases, throw an indescribable charm over the meadows and clothe even
the wet, stagnant swamps with beauty nor is the attraction less when the
showy fronds expand in summer and the green sporangia are turned to brown.
The stout rootstocks are often erect, rising several inches to a foot
above the ground, as if in imitation of a tree fern. The poet Wordworth
hints at somewhat different origin of the name from that given here.
"Fair ferns and flowers and chiefly that tall fern
So stately of the Queen Osmanda named."
[Illustration: Royal or Flowering Fern _Osmunda regalis_]
The royal fern may be transplanted with success if given good soil,
sufficient shade and plenty of water. Common in swamps and damp places.
Newfoundland to Virginia and northwestward.
[Illustration: Sori of _Osmunda regalis_ (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt
& Co.)]
(2) INTERRUPTED FERN. CLAYTON'S FERN
Osmunda Claytoniàna
Fronds pinnate, one to five feet high. Pinnæ cut into oblong, obtuse lobes.
Fertile fronds taller than the sterile, having from one to five pairs of
intermediate pinnæ contracted and bearing sporangia.
[Illustration: Interrupted Fern. _Osmunda Claytoniàna_]
The fronds have a bluish-green tint; they mature their spores about the
last of May. The sterile fronds may be distinguished from those of the
cinnamon fern by not having retained, like those, a tuft of wool at the
base of each pinna. Besides, in Clayton's fern the fronds are broader,
blunter and thinner in texture, and the segments more rounded; the fronds
are also more inclined to curve outwards. They turn yellow in the fall, at
times "flooding the woods with golden light," but soon smitten by the early
frosts they wither and disappear. The interrupted fern is rather common in
damp, rocky woods and pastures; Newfoundland to Minnesota, south to North
Carolina and Missouri. Although fond of moisture it is easily cultivated
and its graceful outlines make it worthy of a prominent place in the
fern garden. Var. _dubia_ has the pinnules of the sterile frond widely
separated, and the upper-middle ones much elongated. Southern Vermont.
[Illustration: Interrupted Fern with the Fertile Pinnules Spread Open]
(3) CINNAMON FERN. BRAKES
_Osmunda cinnamomea_
Fronds one to six feet long, pinnate. Pinnæ lanceolate, pinnatifid with
oblong, obtuse divisions. Fertile pinnæ on separate fronds, which are
contracted and covered with brown sporangia.
[Illustration: Cinnamon Fern. Leaf Gradations]
[Illustration: Cinnamon Fern. Gradations from Sterile to Fertile Fronds]
[Illustration: Cinnamon Fern, var. _frondosa_]
Each fertile frond springs up at first outside the sterile ones, but is
soon surrounded and overtopped by them and finds itself in the center of
a charming circle of green leaves curving gracefully outwards. In a short
time, however, it withers and hangs down or falls to the ground. The large,
conspicuous clusters of cinnamon ferns give picturesqueness to many a
moist, hillside pasture and swampy woodyard. In its crosier stage it is
wrapped in wool, which falls away as the fronds expand, but leaves, at the
base of each pinna, a tiny tuft, as if to mark its identity.
[Illustration: Cinnamon Fern, var. _incisa_ (Maine)]
Many people in the country call the cinnamon fern the "buckhorn brake," and
eat with relish the tender part which they find deep within the crown at
the base of the unfolding fronds. This is known as the "heart of Osmund."
The fern, itself, with its tall, recurving leaves makes a beautiful
ornament for the shady lawn, and like the interrupted fern is easy to
cultivate. The spores of all the _osmundas_ are green, and need to
germinate quickly or they lose their vitality. Common in low and swampy
grounds in eastern North America and South America and Japan. May. Some
think it was this species which was coupled with the serpent in the old
rhyme,
"Break the first brake you see,
Kill the first snake you see,
And you will conquer every enemy."
[Illustration: Osmunda cinnamomea, var. _glandulosa_ (From Waters's
"Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
Var. _frondòsa_ has its fronds partly sterile below and irregularly fertile
towards the summit.
Var. _incìsa_ has the inner pinnules of some of the pinnæ more or less
cut-toothed.
Var. _glandulòsa_ has glandular hairs on the pinnæ, rachis and even the
stipes of the sterile frond. This is known only on the coastal plain from
Rhode Island to Maryland.
III
CURLY GRASS FAMILY
SCHIZÆÀCEÆ
CURLY GRASS. _Schizàea pusílla_
Small, slender ferns with linear or thready leaves, the sterile, one to
two inches high and tortuous or "curled like corkscrews"; fertile fronds
longer, three to five inches, and bearing at the top about five pairs of
minute, fruited pinnæ. Sporangia large, ovoid, sessile in a double row
along the single vein of the narrow divisions of the fertile leaves, and
provided with a complete apical ring. (_Schizæa_, from a Greek root meaning
to split, alluding to the cleft leaves of foreign species.)
[Illustration: Curly Grass. _Schizæa pusilla_]
The curly grass is so minute that it is difficult to distinguish it when
growing amid its companion plants, the grasses, mosses, sundews, club
mosses, etc. The sterile leaves are evergreen. Pine barrens of New Jersey,
Grand Lake, Nova Scotia, and in New Brunswick. Several new stations for the
curly grass have recently been discovered in the southwest counties of Nova
Scotia by the Gray Herbarium expedition, mostly in bogs and hollows of
sandy peat or sphagnum.
[Illustration: Sporangia of Curly Grass]
CLIMBING FERN. HARTFORD FERN
_Lygòdium palmàtum_
"And where upon the meadow's breast
The shadow of the thicket lies."
BRYANT.
Fronds slender, climbing or twining, three to five feet long. The lower
pinnæ (frondlets) sterile, roundish, five to seven lobed, distant in pairs
with simple veins; the upper fertile, contracted, several times forked,
forming a terminal panicle; the ultimate segments crowded, and bearing
the sporangia, which are similar to those of curly grass, and fixed to a
veinlet by the inner side next the base, one or rarely two covered by each
indusium. (From the Greek meaning like a willow twig [pliant], alluding to
the flexible stipes.)
[Illustration: Climbing Fern. _Lygodium palmatum_]
Fifty years ago this beautiful fern was more common than at present. There
was a considerable colony in a low, alluvial meadow thicket at North
Hadley, Mass., not far from Mt. Toby, where we collected it freely in 1872.
Many used to decorate their homes with its handsome sprays, draping it
gracefully over mirrors and pictures. It was known locally as the Hartford
fern. Greedy spoilers ruthlessly robbed its colonies and it became scarce,
at least in the Mt. Toby region. In Connecticut a law was enacted in 1867
for its protection and with good results. But as Mr. C.A. Weatherby states
in the American Fern Journal (Vol. II, No. 4), the encroachments of tillage
(mainly of tobacco, which likes the same soil), are forcing it from its
cherished haunts, thus jeopardizing its survival. Doubtless an aggressive
agriculture is in part responsible for its scarcity in the more northern
locality. It is still found here and there in New England, New York and New
Jersey; also in Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida, but is nowhere common.
The fertile portion dies when the spores mature, but the sterile frondlets
remain green through the winter. A handsome species for the fernery in the
house or out of doors.
IV
ADDER'S TONGUE FAMILY
_OPHIOGLOSSÀCEÆ_
Plants more or less fern-like consisting of a stem with a single leaf. In
_Ophioglóssum_ the leaf or sterile segment is entire, the veins reticulated
and the sporangia in a simple spike. In _Botrýchium_ the sterile segment is
more or less incised, the veins free, and the sori in a panicle or compound
or rarely simple spike. Sporangia naked, opening by a transverse slit.
Spores copious, sulphur-yellow.
ADDER'S TONGUE. _Ophioglóssum vulgàtum_
Rootstock erect, fleshy. Stem simple, two to ten inches high, bearing
one smooth, entire leaf about midway, and a terminal spike embracing the
sporangia, coherent in two ranks on its edges. (Generic name from the Greek
meaning the tongue of a snake, in allusion to the narrow spike of the
sporangia.)
In moist meadows or rarely on dry slopes. "Overlooked rather than rare."
New England states and in general widely distributed. July. Often grows
in company with the ragged orchis. The ancient ointment known as "adder's
speare ointment" had the adder's tongue leaves as a chief ingredient, and
is said to be still used for wounds in English villages.
"For them that are with newts or snakes or adders stung,
He seeketh out a herb that's called adder's tongue."
[Illustration: Adder's Tongue. _Ophioglossum vulgatum_]
Var. _minus_, smaller; fronds often in pairs. The sterile segment
yellowish-green, attached usually much below the middle of the plant. Sandy
ground, New Hampshire to New Jersey.
Var. _Engelmánni_. (Given specific rank in Gray.) Has the sterile segment
thicker and cuspidate, the stipe slender and the secondary veins forming
a fine network within the meshes of the principal ones. Virginia and
westward.
Var. _arenàrium_. (From the Latin, _arèna_, meaning sand, being found in
a sandy soil.) Probably a depauperate form of _Ophióglossum vulgàtum_ and
about half as large. A colony of these ferns was discovered growing in poor
soil at Holly Beach, New Jersey.
KEY TO THE GRAPE FERNS
(_Botrýchium_)
Plant large, fruiting in June, sterile part much divided:
Rattlesnake Fern.
Plant smaller:
Fruiting in autumn, sterile part long-stalked, triangular.
Common Grape Fern.
Fruiting in summer:
Plant fleshy, sterile part mostly with lunate segments.
Moonwort.
Plant less fleshy, segments not lunate:
Sterile part short-stalked above the middle of the stem.
Matricary Fern.
Sterile part stalked usually below middle of stem.
Little Grape Fern.
Sterile part sessile near the top of the stem.
Lance-leaved Grape Fern.
GRAPE FERNS
_Botrýchium_
Rootstock very short, erect with clustered fleshy roots; the base of the
sheathed stalk containing the bud for the next year's frond. Fertile frond
one to three pinnate, the contracted divisions bearing a double row of
sessile, naked, globular sporangia, opening transversely into two valves.
Sterile segment of the frond ternately or pinnately divided or compound.
Veins free. Spores copious, sulphur yellow. (The name in Greek means a
cluster of grapes, alluding to the grape-like clusters of the sporangia.)
(1) MOONWORT. _Botrýchium Lunària_
Very fleshy, three to ten inches high, sterile segment subsessile, borne
near the middle of the plant, oblong, simple pinnate with three to eight
pairs of lunate or fan-shaped divisions, obtusely crenate, the veins
repeatedly forking; fertile segment panicled, two to three pinnate.
[Illustration: Moonwort _Botrychium Lunaria_]
[Illustration: Moonwort. _Botrychium Lunaria_. Details]
The moonwort was formerly associated with many superstitions and was
reputed to open all locks at a mere touch, and to unshoe all horses that
trod upon it. "Unshoe the horse" was one of the names given to it by the
country people.
"Horses that feeding on the grassy hills,
Tread upon moonwort with their hollow heels,
Though lately shod, at night go barefoot home
Their maister musing where their shoes be gone."
In dry pastures, Lake Superior and northward, but rare in the United
States. Willoughby, Vt., where the author found a single plant in 1904, and
St. Johnsbury, Vt. Also New York, Michigan and westward.
In England said to be local rather than rare. Sometimes called Lunary.
"Then sprinkled she the juice of rue
With nine drops of the midnight dew
From Lunary distilling."
DRAYTON.
(2) LITTLE GRAPE FERN. _Botrychium símplex_
Fronds two to four inches high, very variable. Sterile segment
short-petioled, usually near the middle, simple and roundish or pinnately
three to seven lobed. Veins all forking from the base. Fertile segments
simple or one to two pinnate, apex of both segments erect in the bud.
In moist woods and fields, Canada to Maryland and westward; Conway and
Plainfield, Mass., Berlin and Litchfield, Conn. Rare. According to Pringle
it is "abundantly scattered over Vermont, its habitat usually poor soil,
especially knolls of hill pastures." May or June.
(3) LANCE-LEAVED GRAPE FERN
_Botrychium lanceolàtum_
BOTRÝCHIUM ANGUSTISEGMÉNTUM
Frond two to nine inches high, both sterile and fertile segments at the
top of the common stalk. Sterile segment triangular, twice pinnatifid, the
acute lobes lanceolate, incised or toothed, scarcely fleshy, resembling
a very small specimen of the rattlesnake fern. Fertile segment slightly
overtopping the sterile, two to three pinnate and spreading.
One of the constant companions of the rattlesnake fern. New England to Lake
Superior. July.
[Illustration: Little Grape Fern _Botrychium simplex_]
[Illustration: Lance-leaved Grape Fern _Botrychium lanceolatum Botrychium
angustisegmentum_]
(4) MATRICARY FERN
_Botrychium ramòsum. Botrychium matricariæfòlium_
Fronds small, one to twelve inches high. Sterile segment above the middle,
usually much divided. Fertile segment twice or thrice pinnate. Apex of both
segments turned down in the bud, the sterile overtopping and clasping the
fertile one.
[Illustration: The Matricary Fern _Botrychium ramòsum_]
The matricary fern differs from the preceding in ripening its spores about
a month earlier, in having its sterile frond stalked, besides being a
taller and fleshier plant. It may also be noted that in the lance-leaved
species the midveins of the larger lobes are continuous, running to the
tip; whereas in the matricary fern the midveins fork repeatedly and are
soon indistinguishable from the veinlets. The two are apt to grow near each
other, with the rattlesnake fern as a near neighbor. June.
NOTE. In 1897 A.A. Eaton discovered certain _Botrychia_ in a sphagnum
swamp in New Hampshire, to which he gave the specific name of _Botrychium
tenebròsum_. The plants were very small, not averaging above two or three
inches high, with the sterile blade sessile or slightly stalked. Many
botanists prefer to place this fern as a variety of the matricary, but
others regard it as a form of _Botrychium símplex_. Borders of maple
swamps, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York.
(5) COMMON GRAPE FERN
_Botrychium oblìquum_. _Botrychium ternàtum_, var.
_oblìquum_
BOTRYCHIUM DISSÉCTUM, var. OBLÌQUUM
Rootstock short, its base including the buds of succeeding years. Fronds
two to twelve inches or more high. Leafy or sterile segment triangular,
ternate, long-petioled, springing from near the base of the plant, and
spreading horizontally. From the main leafstock grow several pairs of
stalked pinnæ, with the divisions ovate-oblong, acutish, crenate-serrulate,
obliquely cordate or subcordate. Fertile segment taller, erect, about three
times pinnate, maturing its fruit in autumn. Occasionally two or three
fertile spikes grow on the same plant. In vernation the apex of each
segment is bent down with a slight curve inward.
[Illustration: Common Grape Fern. _Botrychium obliquum_]
New England to Virginia, westward to Minnesota and southward.
_Botrychium obliquum_, var. _dissectum_. Similar to the type, but with
the divisions very finely dissected or incisely many-toothed, the most
beautiful of all the grape ferns. There is considerable variety in the
cutting of the fronds. Maine to Florida and westward.
_Botrychium oblìquum_, var. _oneidénse_. Ultimate segments oblong, rounded
at the apex, crenulate-serrate, less divided than any of the others and,
perhaps, less common. Vermont to Central New York.
_Botrychium oblìquum_, var. _elongàtum_. Divisions lanceolate, elongated,
acute.
[Illustration: _Botrychium obliquum_ var. _oneidense_]
Note: A Botrychium not uncommon in Georgia and Alabama, named by Swartz
B. lunarioides, deserves careful study. It is known as the "Southern
Botrychium."
[Illustration: _Botrychium obliquum, var. dissectum_]
(6) TERNATE GRAPE FERN
_Botrýchium ternàtum_, var. _intermèdium_
_Botrýchium oblìquum_, var. _intermèdium_
Leaf more divided than in _oblìquum_ and the numerous segments not so
long and pointed, but large, fleshy, ovate or obovate (including var.
_austràle_), crenulate, and more or less toothed.
Sandy soil, pastures and open woods. More northerly in its range--New
England and New York. Var. _rutaefòlium_. More slender, rarely over six or
seven inches high; sterile segment about two inches broad, its divisions
few, broadly ovate, the lowest sublunate. The first variety passes
insensibly into the second.
[Illustration: Ternate Grape Fern _Botrychium ternatum_ var. _intermedium_
(Reduced)]
[Illustration: Ternate Grape Fern _Botrychium ternatum_ var. _intermedium_
(Two stocks, reduced)]
(7) RATTLESNAKE FERN. _Botrychium virginiànum_
Fronds six inches to two feet high. Sterile segment sessile above the
middle of the plant, broadly triangular, thin, membranaceous, ternate.
Pinnules lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid; ultimate segments oblong or
lanceolate and scarcely or not at all spatulate. Fertile part long-stalked,
two to three pinnate, its ultimate segments narrow and thick, nearly
opaque in dried specimens. Mature sporangia varying from dark yellow-brown
to almost black. Open sporangia close again and are flattened or of a
lenticular form. In rich, deciduous woods, rather common and widely
distributed.
[Illustration: Rattlesnake Fern. _Botrychium virginianum_ (From Waters's
"Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
Prince Edward Island, Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas, and north to
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Var. _grácilis_. A form much reduced in size.
Var. LAURENTIÀNUM. A conspicuous variety having thick and heavy sterile
fronds less finely divided than the type, with the segments crowded to
overlapping. Pinnules shorter than the type, tending to be ovate, outer
segments strongly spatulate. Fertile spike relatively short and stout,
strongly paniculate when well developed. Ultimate segments flat, folaceous,
one mm. wide. Mostly confined to the limestone district near the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, Labrador, Newfoundland, Quebec, Maine, and Michigan.
Var. INTERMEDIUM. Segments of sterile fronds ultimately much spatulate,
previously ovate, not overlapping. Segments of fertile fronds ultimately
narrowly flattened. (For this and the other varieties see Rhodora of
September, 1919.) Nova Scotia, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
northern New York, Illinois, and Missouri.
Var. EUROPÀEUM. Fertile frond less finely dissected than in type. Ultimate
segments more obtuse than in type; has but very slight tendency towards the
spatulate form of the two previous varieties. Pinnules lanceolate, strongly
decurrent so that the pinnæ are merely pinnatifid. In coniferous forests
of Canada, and confined to calcareous regions. Quebec, New Brunswick, New
Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Ontario, Montana, and British Columbia. Said
to be rare even in Europe.
V
THE FILMY FERN FAMILY
_HYMENOPHYLLÀCEÆ_
The filmy ferns are small, delicate plants with membranaceous, finely
dissected fronds from slender, creeping rootstocks. Sporangia sessile on
a bristle-like receptacle. There are about one hundred species, mostly
tropical, only one of which grows as far north as Kentucky.
[Illustration: Filmy Fern _Trichomanes Boschianum_ (From Waters' "Ferns",
Henry Holt & Co.)]
FILMY FERN. BRISTLE FERN
_Trichómanes Boschiànum. Trichómanes rádicans_
Rootstocks creeping, filiform, stipes ascending, one to three inches
long, thin, very delicate, pellucid, much divided, oblong-lanceolate,
bipinnatifid. Rachis narrowly winged. Sporangia clustered around the
slender bristle, which is the prolongation of a vein, and surrounded by a
vase-like, slightly two-lipped involucre.
On moist, dripping sandstone cliffs, Kentucky to Alabama. Often called the
"Killarney fern," as it grows about the lakes of Killarney in Ireland.
[Illustration: Fruiting Pinnules of Filmy Fern (From Waters's "Ferns."
Henry Holt & Co.)]
[Illustration: Ostrich Fern]
[Illustration: Cinnamon Fern]
[Illustration: Marginal Shield Fern]
[Illustration: Lady Fern Crosiers]
[Illustration: Fiddleheads or Crosiers of Christmas Fern]
NOTED FERN AUTHORS
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
[The works of these authors are listed under "Fern Literature" in the
following pages.]
EATON, DANIEL CADY. Born at Gratiot, Mich., September 12, 1834. His
grandfather was Amos Eaton, noted botanist and author. Studied botany under
his friend, Prof. Asa Gray, who had studied with Prof. John Torrey, who in
turn was a pupil of Amos Eaton. Daniel C. was professor of botany in
Yale College, for more than thirty years. A man of graceful and winsome
personality, an authority on ferns, and widely known by his writings. His
masterpiece was "The Ferns of North America" in two large, quarto volumes,
beautifully illustrated. He died June 29, 1895.
CLUTE, WILLARD NELSON. Born at Painted Post, N.Y., February 26, 1869.
Education informal; common schools, university lectures and private study.
Manifested early a keen interest in birds and flowers. Was founder and
first president of the American Fern Society. Collected in Jamaica more
than three hundred species of ferns. Has written extensively on the ferns
and their allies, besides publishing several standard volumes. His great
distinction is in founding and editing the _Fern Bulletin_ through its
twenty volumes, when he combined this publication with _The American
Botanist_, which is now on its twenty-eighth volume, the whole a prodigious
achievement of great scientific value.
[Illustration: Noted Writers on Ferns W.N. CLUTE, D.C. EATON, F.T. PARSONS,
G. DAVENPORT, J. WILLIAMSON, L.M. UNDERWOOD, W.R MAXON, A.A. EATON, C.E.
WATERS, R. DODGE]
UNDERWOOD, LUCIUS MARCUS. Born at New Woodstock, N.Y., October 26, 1853.
Spent early life on a farm. Was graduated from Syracuse University in 1877.
After teaching several years in his alma mater and elsewhere, he became
Professor of Botany in Columbia University. He contributed numerous
articles to the _Torrey Bulletin_, _Fern Bulletin_, and other scientific
journals. His scholarly book, "Our Native Ferns and Their Allies,"
continued unexcelled through six editions. He died November 16, 1907.
DAVENPORT, GEO. EDWARD. Born in Boston, August 3, 1833. A promoter and
officer of the Middlesex Institute. An accurate and diligent student of the
ferns, his numerous articles were published in the _Fern Bulletin_, in the
_Torrey Bulletin_, _Rhodora_, and in separate monographs. He was a leading
authority on the pteridophyta, and collected a large and choice herbarium
of the native ferns, which he donated to the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society. By his gentle manners and kindly spirit he won many friends, all
of whom were proud to recognize his distinguished ability. He cultivated
many of our rare native ferns in his Fellsway home, at Medford, Mass., and
freely gave specimens to his friends. He died suddenly of heart failure,
November 29, 1907.
WATERS, CAMPBELL EASTER. Born in Baltimore County, Md., September 14, 1872.
Was graduated at Johns Hopkins University in 1895. Ph.D. in 1899. Was for
a time a close student of ferns, and issued his notable book, "Ferns," in
1903, containing his "Analytical Key Based on the Stipes." A chemist by
profession, he has pursued that branch of science for the last eighteen
years. His address is Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C.
MAXON, WILLIAM RALPH. Born at Oneida, N.Y., February 27, 1877. Was
graduated at Syracuse University in 1898. Began as aid in cryptogamic
botany, United States National Herbarium, 1899, and is now associate
curator of the same. Has specialized in scientific work on the
pteridophyta, distinguishing himself by the excellence as well as by the
large number of his publications, the more important being "Studies of
Tropical American Ferns," Nos. 1 to 6. The _Fern Bulletin_, _Torrey
Bulletin_, _American Fern Journal_, _Fernwort Papers_, et al., have
profited from his expert and up-to-date knowledge. He is president of the
American Fern Society.
PARSONS, FRANCES THEODORA. Born in New York, December 5, 1861. _Née_ Smith.
Married Commander William Starr Dana of the United States Navy, who was
lost at sea. As Mrs. Dana, she published, "How to Know the Wild Flowers,"
in 1893, and within ten years more than seventy thousand copies of the book
had been sold. "According to Season" appeared in 1894. In February, 1896,
she married Prof. James Russell Parsons, treasurer of the University of
the State of New York. In 1899 she published, "How to Know the Ferns." She
combined a thorough knowledge of her subject with an easy and graceful
style.
DODGE, RAYNAL. Born at Newburyport, Mass., September 9, 1844. Civil War
veteran. Wounded at Port Hudson, June 28, 1863. A machinist by trade. A
careful observer and student of nature, he discovered _Aspidium simulatum_
at Follymill, Seabrook, N.H., in 1880. (Whittier's "My Playmate," verse
9.) He discovered also the hybrid _Aspidium cristatum × Marginale_. He
published his little book, "Ferns and Fern Allies of New England," in 1896.
Died October 20, 1918.
EATON, ALVAH AUGUSTUS. Born at Seabrook, N.H., November 20, 1865. Studied
at the Putnam School in Newburyport, but was largely self-educated. He
took up teaching for several years, spending three years in California.
Returning East, he became a florist and began to write for various fern
journals, giving special attention to the fern allies. He prepared the
genera _Equisetum_ and _Isoetes_ for the seventh edition of "Gray's
Manual." He proved the keenness of his observing powers by discovering
several ferns new to the United States. Died at his home in North Easton,
Mass., September 29, 1908.
WILLIAMSON, JOHN. Born in Abernathy, Scotland, about the year 1838. He came
to Louisville, Ky., to live in 1866. A wood-carver by trade, he could work
skillfully in wood or metal, and after a time established a brass foundry.
His friend, George E. Davenport, writes of him: "He caught as by some
divine gift or inspiration the innermost life and feelings of the wild
flowers and ferns, and his marvelously accurate needle transfixed them with
revivifying power on paper or metal." His "Ferns of Kentucky," issued in
1878, was the first handbook on ferns published in the United States. He
died June 17, 1884, in the mountains of West Virginia, whither he had gone
for his health.
FERN LITERATURE
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL. 1910. The American Fern Society. (Annual
subscription, $1.25.)
BELAIRS, NONA. Hardy Ferns. Smith, Elder and Co. London, 1865.
BRITISH FERN GAZETTE.
BRITTEN, JAMES. European Ferns. Colored Plates. Cassell & Co. London.
Quarto.
BUTTERS, F.K. Athyrium. Study of the American Lady Ferns. Rhodora,
September, 1917.
CAMPBELL, D.H. Structure and Development of the Mosses and Ferns. Macmillan
& Co. 1905. Ed. 2.
CLUTE, WILLARD N. Our Ferns in Their Haunts. Frederick A. Stokes Co. New
York, 1901.
Fern Collector's Guide. Frederick A. Stokes Co. New York, 1902.
The Fern Allies. Frederick A. Stokes Co. New York, 1905.
The Fern Bulletin. Founder and Editor. 20 vols. 1893-1912.
Combined with The American Botanist. Joliet, Ill. 1912.
CONARD, HENRY S. Structure and History of Hayscented Fern. Washington,
1908.
COOK, M.C. Fern-book for Everybody. E. Warne & Co. London.
DAVENPORT, GEO. E. Catalog of Davenport Herbarium, Massachusetts
Horticultural Society. 1879. Numerous Monographs and Notes on New England
ferns in Torrey Bulletin, Fern Bulletin, and Rhodora. The following
monographs are in single booklets by Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
Aspidium cristatum × marginale, Aspidium simulatum, Aspidium spinulosum and
its Varieties, Botrychium ternatum and its Varieties, Notes on Botrychium
simplex.
DODGE, RAYNAL. The Ferns and Fern Allies of New England--very small volume,
now out of print. W.N. Clute & Co. 1904.
DRUERY, CHARLES T. British Ferns and Their Varieties. Routledge & Son.
London.
EASTMAN, HELEN. New England Ferns and Their Common Allies. Houghton Mifflin
& Co. Boston, 1904. Out of print.
EATON, DANIEL C. The Ferns of North America. 2 vols. 1879-80. S.E. Cassino,
Salem. Drawings by J.H. Emerton and C.E. Faxon.
EATON, A.A. Specialist in Fern Allies. Prepared Equisetum and Isoetes for
Gray's Manual, 7th ed. 1908.
GILBERT, BENJ. D. List of North American Pteridophytes. 1901. Utica, N.Y.
HERVEY, ALPHAEUS B. Wayside Flowers and Ferns. Page & Co. Boston, 1899.
HEMSLEY, ALFRED. Book of Fern Culture. John Lane. London, 1908.
HIBBARD, SHIRLEY. The Fern Garden. Groombridge & Sons. 5 Paternoster Row,
London. 1869.
HOOKER, SIR W.J. Genera Filicum. Large 8vo. London, 1842. Contains fine
plates which include all American genera. Costs about $25.
Species Filicum. 5 vols. 8vo. London, 1846-64. Vol. II contains seventeen
and Vol. Ill contains two plates of American ferns with descriptions of
more species. Cost about $50.
HOOKER, SIR W.J., & BAKER. Synopsis Filicum 2d ed. 1874. 8vo. Describes
all ferns then known, including the American species. Has also figures
illustrating each genus. Costs about $10.
LOWE, EDWARD J. Ferns British and Exotic. 9 vols. 8vo. Bell & Daldy.
London, 1868. 550 plates, some very poor. Some American ferns are
represented. "The descriptions," says John Robinson, "are worthless, and
the synonymy is often incorrect."
MAXON, WILLIAM R. A List of Ferns and Fern Allies of North America, north
of Mexico, etc. National Museum, 23:619-651. 1901.
Numerous Monographs and Notes on American Ferns in current magazines.
Studies of Tropical American Ferns. United States National Herbarium,
17:541+.
Pteridophyta (excepting Equisitaceæ and Isoetaceæ) of the northern
United States, Canada and the British Possessions. In Britton and Brown,
Illustrated Flora, etc., ed. 2, pp. 1-54. 1913. New York.
MEEHAN, THOMAS. Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States. Boston,
1878-9.
MOORE, THOMAS. Nature-printed British Ferns. 2 vols. London, 1859.
PARSONS, FRANCES T. How to Know the Ferns. Charles Scribner's Sons. New
York, 1899.
PRATT, ANNE. The Ferns of Great Britain and Their Allies. F. Warne & Co.
London. No date.
REDFIELD, JOHN. Geographical Distribution of the Ferns of North America.
Torrey Bulletin, VI, 1-7. (1875).
RHODORA. Journal of the New England Botanical Club. January, 1899, to date.
ROBINSON, JOHN. Ferns in Their Homes and Ours. S.E. Cassino. Salem, 1878.
Out of print.
SACHS, JULIUS. Text Book of Botany. (Translated.) Macmillan & Co. London.
8vo.
SLOSSON, MARGARET. How Ferns Grow. Henry Holt & Co. New York. 1906. Out of
print.
SMALL, JOHN K. Ferns of Tropical Florida. New York, 1918.
SMITH, JOHN. Historia Filicum. London, 1875. Amply illustrated, reliable.
STEP, EDWARD. Wayside and Woodland Ferns. F. Warne & Co. London, 1908.
TIDESTROM, IVAR. Elysium Marianum. Washington, D.C.
UNDERWOOD, LUCIEN M. Our Native Ferns and Their Allies. Henry Holt & Co.
Edition 6. 1900. Valuable. Out of print.
WATERS, CAMPBELL E. Ferns. Henry Holt & Co. 1903. Out of print. Scarce.
WEATHERBY, C.A. Changes in the Nomenclature of the Gray's Manual of Ferns.
Important article in the Rhodora of October, 1919.
WILLIAMSON, JOHN. Ferns of Kentucky. J.P. Morton & Co. Louisville, Ky.
1878.
Fern Etchings. J.P. Morton & Co. 1879. Both out of print.
WOOLSON, GRACE A. Ferns and How to Grow Them. Doubleday, Page & Co. New
York, 1909.
WRIGHT, MABEL O. Flowers and Ferns in Their Haunts. Macmillan & Co. New
York, 1901.
[Illustration:
"Fringing the stream at every turn,
Swung low the waving fronds of fern."
WHITTIER.]
TIMES OF THE FRUITING OF FERNS
"Ah! well I mind the calendar
Faithful through a thousand years
Of the painted race of flowers."--EMERSON.
Compiled from Dodge's "Ferns and Fern Allies of New England"
May 25. Little Grape Fern. Interrupted Fern.
May 30. Cinnamon Fern.
June 5. Ostrich Fern.
June 10. Frondosa variety of Cinnamon Fern.
June 15. Matricary Grape Fern.
June 20. Royal Fern. Interrupted Fern.
June 25. Rattlesnake Fern.
June 30. Oak Fern. Spinulose Wood Fern and Varieties.
July 5. Fragile Bladder Fern. Christmas Fern.
July 10. Long Beech Fern. Crested Shield Fern. Boott's
Shield Fern.
July 15. Moonwort. Virginia Chain Fern. Adder's
Tongue. Crested Marginal Shield Fern.
July 20. Slender Cliff Brake. Blunt-Lobed Woodsia.
July 25. Purple Cliff Brake. Bulblet Bladder Fern.
Mountain Spleen wort.
July 30. Goldie's Shield Fern. Marginal Shield Fern.
Clinton's Wood Fern.
August 5. Wall Rue. Walking Fern. Lady Fern.
August 10. Alpine Woodsia. Smooth Woodsia. Common
Polypody. Maidenhair Fern. Fragrant
Shield Fern. Scott's Spleenwort. Braun's
Holly Fern.
August 15. Rusty Woodsia. Silvery Spleen wort. Lance-leaved
Grape Fern.
August 20. Ebony and Maidenhair Spleenworts. Hayscented
Fern. New York Fern.
August 25. Broad Beech Fern.
August 30. Marsh Fern.
September 5. Bracken or Brake.
September 10. Climbing Fern. Narrow-leaved Spleenwort.
September 15. Massachusetts Fern. Green Spleenwort. Sensitive
Fern. Ternate Grape Fern.
September 30. Narrow-leaved Chain Fern.
GLOSSARY
ACÙMINATE. Gradually tapering to a point.
ACÙLEATE. Prickly. Beset with prickles.
ACUTE. Sharp pointed, but not tapering.
ADVENTÍTIOUS. Irregular, incidental. Growing out
of the usual or normal position.
ANÁSTOMOSING. Connected by cross veins and forming
a network as in the Sensitive
ferns.
ÁNNULUS. A jointed, elastic ring surrounding
the spore cases in most ferns.
ANTHERÍDIA. The male organs on a prothallium.
APEX The top or pointed end of leaf or frond.
(plu. APICES).
ARCHEGÒNIA. The female organs on a prothallium.
ARÈOLA. A space formed by intersecting
veins; a mesh.
AURICLE. An ear-shaped lobe at the base.
ARTÍCULATE. Jointed; having a joint or node.
AXIL. The angle formed by a leaf or
branch with the stem.
BI (Latin, Two, twice, doubly.
_bis_,
twice).
BLADE. The expanded, leafy portion of a frond.
BULBLET. A small bulb, borne on a leaf or in
its axil.
CAUDATE. With a slender, tail-like appendage.
CAUDEX. A trunk or stock of a plant; especially
of a tree fern.
CHAFF. Thin, dry scales of a yellowish-brown
color.
CHLÒROPHYLL. The green coloring matter of plants.
CÍLIATE. Fringed with fine hairs.
CÍRCINATE. Coiled downward from the apex, as
in the young fronds of a fern.
CLAVATE. Club-shaped.
COMPOUND. Divided into two or more parts.
CONFLUENT. Blended together.
CORDATE. Heart-shaped.
CRENATE. Scalloped with rounded teeth; said of margins.
CRÒSIER. An uncoiling frond.
CÙNEATE. Wedge-shaped.
CÚSPIDATE. Hard pointed, tipped with a cusp.
DECIDUOUS. Falling away when done growing--not evergreen.
DECOMPOUND. More than once compounded or divided.
DECURRENT. Running down the stem below the
point of insertion, as the bases of some pinnæ.
DECUMBENT. Not erect; trailing, bending along
the ground, but with the apex ascending.
DEFLEXED. Bent or turned abruptly downward.
DENTATE. Toothed. Having the teeth of a
margin directed outward.
DICHÓTOMOUS. Forking regularly in pairs.
DIMÓRPHOUS. Of two forms; said of ferns whose
fertile fronds are unlike the sterile.
EMÁRGINATE. Notched at the apex.
ENTIRE. Without divisions, lobes, or teeth.
FALCATE. Scythe-shaped, slightly curved upward.
FERTILE. Bearing spores.
FÍLIFORM. Thread-like; long, slender, and terete.
FILMY. Having a thin membrane; gauzy;
said of the filmy fern fronds.
FLABELLATE. Fan-shaped; broad and rounded at
the summit and narrow at the base.
FROND. A fern leaf or blade; may include
both stipe and blade, or only the
latter--called also lamina.
GLABROUS. Smooth; not rough or hairy.
GLAND. A small secreting organ, globular or
pear-shaped; it is often stalked.
GLAUCOUS. Covered with a fine bloom, bluish-white
and powdery, in appearance
like a plum.
HASTATE. Like an arrowhead with the lobes
spreading.
IMBRICATE. Overlapping, like shingles on a roof.
INCÌSED. Cut irregularly into sharp lobes.
INDÙSIUM. The thin membrane covering the
sori in some ferns.
INVOLUCRE. In ferns, an indusium; in filmy
ferns, cup-shaped growths encircling
the sporangia.
LÁMINA. A blade; the leafy portion of a fern.
LACÍNIATE. Slashed; cut into narrow, irregular
lobes.
LANCEOLATE. Lance-shaped; broadest above the
base and tapering to the apex.
LOBE. A small rounded segment of a frond.
MIDRIB. The main rib or vein of a segment,
pinnule, pinna, or frond; a midvein.
MÙCRONATE. Ending abruptly in a short, sharp
point.
OBLONG. From two to four times longer than
broad and with sides nearly parallel.
OBTUSE. Blunt or rounded at the end.
OÌDES. A Greek ending, meaning _like_, or
_like to_, as polypodioides--like to a
polypody.
ÒÖSPHERE. The egg-cell in fern reproduction--becoming
the oöspore when fertilized.
OVATE. Egg-shaped with the broader end
downward.
PALMATE. Having lobes radiating like the
fingers of a hand.
PANICLE. A loose compound cluster of flowers
or sporangia with irregular stems.
PEDICEL. A tiny stalk, especially the stalk of
the sporangia.
PELLUCID. Clear, transparent.
PERSISTENT. Remaining on the plant for a long
time, as leaves through the winter.
PÉTIOLE. The same as stalk or stipe.
PINNA. One of the primary divisions of a frond.
PINNATE. Feather-like; with the divisions of
the frond extending fully to the rachis.
PINNÁTIFID. Having the divisions of the frond
extend halfway or more to the
rachis or mid vein.
PINNULE. A secondary pinna. In a bipinnate
frond one of the smaller divisions
extending to the secondary midvein.
PROCUMBENT. Lying on the ground.
PROTHÁLLIUM. (Or prothállus.) A delicate, cellular,
leaf-like structure produced
from a fern spore, and bearing the
sexual organs.
PTERIDÓPHYTA. A group of flowerless plants embracing
ferns, horsetails, club mosses, etc.
PUBESCENT. Covered with fine, soft hairs; downy.
RÀCHIS. The continuation of the stipe
through the blade or leafy portion
of the fern.
REFLEXED. Bent abruptly downward or backward.
RENIFORM. Kidney-shaped.
REVOLUTE. Rolled backward from the margin or apex.
ROOTSTOCK. (Or rhizome.) An underground
stem, from which the fronds are produced.
SCAPE. A naked stem rising from the ground.
SEGMENT. One of the smaller divisions of a
pinnatifid frond.
SERRATE. Having the margin sharply cut into
teeth pointing forward.
SÉRRULATE. The same only with smaller teeth.
SESSILE. Without a stalk.
SINUS. A cleft or rounded curve between two lobes.
SÍNUATE. With strongly wavy margins.
SORUS A cluster of sporangia; a fruit dot.
(plu. SORI).
SPÁTULATE. Shaped like a druggist's spatula or
a flattened spoon.
SPIKE. An elongated cluster of sessile sporangia.
SPÍNULOSE. Spiny; set with small, sharp spines.
SPORANGE (plu. A spore case. A tiny globe in which
SPORANGIA). the spores are produced.
STIPE. The stem of a fern from the ground
up to the leafy portion; the leaf stalk.
STOLON. An underground branch or runner.
SÚBULATE. Awl-shaped.
TÉRNATE. With three nearly equal divisions.
TRUNCATE. Ending abruptly as if cut off.
TUFT. Things flexible, closely grouped into
a bunch or cluster.
VENATION. The veining of a frond or leaf.
VERNATION. The arrangement of leaves in the bud.
WHORL. A circle of leaves around a stem.
WINGED. Margined by a thin expansion of the rachis.
NOTE
The student should have some idea of the terms _genus_, _species_ and
_variety_, although they are not capable of exact definition.
A _species_, or kind, is in botany the unit of classification. It embraces
all such individuals as may have originated in a common stock. Such
individuals bear an essential resemblance to each other, as well as to
their common parent in all their parts. E.g., the Cinnamon fern is a kind
or species of fern with the fronds evidently of one kind, and of a common
origin, and all producing individuals of their own kind by their spores or
rootstocks. When such individuals differ perceptibly from the type in the
shape of the pinnæ, or the cutting of the fronds, we have _varieties_ as
_frondòsum_, _incìsum_, etc. Or if the difference is less striking the
word _form_ is used instead of variety, but in any given case opinions may
differ in respect to the more fitting term.
A _genus_ is an assemblage of species closely related to each other, and
having more points of resemblance than of difference; e.g., the royal fern,
the cinnamon fern, and the interrupted fern are alike in having similar
spore cases borne in a somewhat similar manner on the fronds, and forming
the genus _Osmunda_. In like manner certain members of the clover
group--red, white, yellow, etc., make up the genus _Trifolium_.
Thus individuals are grouped into species and species are associated into
genera, and the two groups are united to give each fern or plant its true
name, the generic name being qualified by that of the species; as in the
cinnamon fern _Osmúnda_ (genus), _cinnamòmea_ (species).
CHECK LIST OF THE FERNS OF NORTHEASTERN AMERICA
In the following list the first name is usually the one adopted in the
text, and those that follow are synonyms.
Names printed in small capitals are those of the newer nomenclature, now
adopted at the Gray Herbarium but not in the Manual.
ADIANTUM L.
1. Adiantum Capillus-Veneris L.
2. Adiantum pedatum L.
Var. ALEUTICUM RUPR.
ASPIDIUM SW.
3. Aspidium Boottii. Tuckerm.
Dryopteris Boottii. (Tuckerm.) Underw.
THELYPTERIS BOOTTII. (Tuckerm.) Nieuwl.
4. Aspidium cristatum. (L.) Sw.
Dryopteris cristata. (L.) A. Gray.
THELYPTERIS CRISTATA. (L.) Nieuwl.
5. Aspidium cristatum var. Clintonianum. D.C. Eaton.
Dryopteris cristata var. Clintoniana. (D.C. Eaton.) Underw.
THELYPTERIS CRISTATA var. CLINTONIANA. (D.C. Eaton.) Weatherby.
6. Aspidium cristatum × marginale. Davenp.
7. Aspidium Filix-mas. (L.) Sw.
Dryopteris Filix-mas. (L.) Sw.
THELYPTERIS FILIX-MAS. (L.) Nieuwl.
8. Aspidium fragrans. (L.) Sw.
Dryopteris fragrans. (L.) Schott.
THELYPTERIS FRAGRANS. (L.) Nieuwl.
9. Aspidium Goldianum. Hook.
Dryopteris Goldiana. (Hook.) A. Gray.
THELYPTERIS GOLDIANA. (Hook.) Nieuwl.
10. Aspidium marginale. (L.) Sw.
Dryopteris marginalis. (L.) A. Gray.
THELYPTERIS MARGINALIS. (L.) Nieuwl.
11. Aspidium noveboracense. (L.) Sw.
Dryopteris noveboracensis. (L.) A. Gray.
THELYPTERIS NOVEBORACENSIS. (L.) Nieuwl.
12. Aspidium simulatum. Davenp.
Dryopteris simulata. Davenp.
THELYPTERIS SIMULATA. (Davenp.) Nieuwl.
13. Aspidium spinulosum. (O.F. Muell.) Sw.
Dryopteris spinulosa. (O.F. Muell.) Kuntze.
THELYPTERIS SPINULOSA. (O.F. Muell.) Nieuwl.
14. Aspidium spinulosum var. intermedium. (Muhl.) D.C. Eaton.
Dryopteris spinulosa var. intermedia. (Muhl.) Underw.
THELYPTERIS SPINULOSA var. INTERMEDIA. (Muhl.) Nieuwl.
15. Aspidium spinulosum var. concordianum. (Davenp.) Eastman.
THELYPTERIS SPINULOSA var. CONCORDIANA. (Davenp.) Weatherby.
16. Aspidium spinulosum var. dilatatum. (Hoff.) Gray.
Dryopteris spinulosa var. dilatata. (Hoff.) Underw.
THELYPTERIS SPINULOSA var. AMERICANA. (Fisch.) Weatherby.
17. Aspidium thelypteris. (L.) Sw.
Dryopteris thelypteris. (L.) A. Gray.
THELYPTERIS PALUSTRIS. Schott.
ASPLENIUM L.
18. Asplenium Bradleyi. D.C. Eaton.
19. Asplenium platyneuron. (L.) Oakes.
Asplenium ebeneum. Ait.
20. Asplenium ebenoides. R.R. Scott.
21. Asplenium montanum. Willd.
22. Asplenium parvulum. Mart, and Gal.
Asplenium resiliens. Kze.
23. Asplenium pinnatifidum. Nutt.
24. Asplenium Ruta-muraria. L.
25. Asplenium Trichomanes. L.
26. Asplenium viride. Huds.
ATHYRIUM. ROTH
27. ATHYRIUM ACROSTICHOIDES. (Sw.) Diels.
Asplenium acrostichoides. Sw.
Asplenium thelypteroides. Michx.
28. ATHYRIUM ANGUSTIFOLIUM. (Michx.) Milde.
Asplenium angustifolium. Michx.
Asplenium pycnocarpon. Spreng.
29. ATHYRIUM ANGUSTUM. (Willd.) Presl.
Athyrium filix-femina. American Authors not Roth.
Asplenium filix-femina. American Authors not Bernh.
30. ATHYRIUM ASPLENIOIDES. (Michx.) Desv.
BOTRYCHIUM. SW.
31. Botrychium lanceolatum. (Gmel.) Angstroem.
BOTRYCHIUM ANGUSTISEGMENTUM. (Pease and Moore.) Fernald.
32. BOTRYCHIUM DISSECTUM. Spreng.
Botrychium obliquum var. dissectum. (Spreng.) Clute.
33. Botrychium obliquum. Muhl.
BOTRYCHIUM DISSECTUM var. OBLIQUUM. (Muhl.) Clute.
34. Botrychium lunaria. (L.) Sw.
35. Botrychium ramosum. (Roth.) Aschers.
Botrychium matricariæfolium. A. Br.
Botrychium neglectum. Wood.
36. Botrychium simplex. E. Hitchcock.
37. Botrychium ternatum. (Thunb.) Sw. Var. intermedium. D.C. Eaton.
Botrychium obliquum var. intermedium. (D.C. Eaton.) Underw.
38. Botrychium virginianum. (L.) Sw.
CAMPTOSORUS. LINK
39. Camptosorus rhizophyllus. (L.) Link.
CHEILANTHES. SW.
40. Cheilanthes alabamensis. (Buckley.) Kunze.
41. Cheilanthes Féei. Moore.
Cheilanthes lanuginosa. Nutt.
42. Cheilanthes lanosa. (Michx.) Watt.
Cheilanthes vestita. Sw.
43. Cheilanthes tomentosa. Link.
CRYPTOGRAMMA.R. BR.
44. Cryptogramma densa. (Brack.) Diels.
Pellæa densa. (Brack.) Hook.
45. Cryptogramma Stelleri. (Gmel.) Prantl.
Pellæa gracilis. (Michx.) Hook.
46. Cryptogramma acrostichoides. R. Br.
CYSTOPTERIS. BERNH.
47. Cystopteris bulbifera. (L.) Bernh.
Filix bulbifera. (L.) Underw.
48. Cystopteris fragilis. (L.) Bernh.
Filix fragilis. (L.) Underw.
DENNSTÆDTIA L'HER.
49. DENNSTÆDTIA PUNCTILOBULA. (Michx.) Moore.
Dicksonia pilosiuscula. Willd.
LYGODIUM SW.
50. Lygodium palmatum. (Bernh.) Sw.
NOTHOLÆNA.R. BR.
51. Notholæna dealbata. (Pursh.) Kunze.
Notholæna nivea var. dealbata. (Pursh.) Davenp.
ONOCLEA L.
52. Onoclea sensibilis. L.
53. Onoclea Struthiopteris. (L.) Hoff.
Struthiopteris Germanica. Willd.
Matteuccia Struthiopteris. (L.) Todaro.
PTERETIS NODULOSA. (Michx.) Nieuwl.
OPHIOGLOSSUM. (TOURN.) L.
54. Ophioglossum vulgatum. L.
Ophioglossum vulgatum var. minus. Moore.
55. Ophioglossum Engelmanni. Prantl.
OSMUNDA.L.
56. Osmunda cinnamomea. L.
57. Osmunda Claytoniana. L.
58. Osmunda regalis. L.
OSMUNDA REGALIS var. SPECTABILIS. (Willd.) Gray.
PELLÆA. LINK
59. Pellæa atropurpurea. (L.) Link.
60. Pellæa glabella. Mett.
PHEGOPTERIS FÉE
61. Phegopteris Dryopteris. (L.) Fée.
THELYPTERIS DRYOPTERIS. (L.) Slosson.
62. Phegopteris hexagonoptera. (Michx.) Fée.
THELYPTERIS HEXAGONOPTERA. (Michx.) Weatherby.
63. Phegopteris polypodioides Fée.
THELYPTERIS PHEGOPTERIS. (L.) Slosson.
Phegopteris Phegopteris. (L.) Underw.
64. Phegopteris Robertiana. (Hoff.) A. Br.
Phegopteris calcarea. Fée.
THELYPTERIS ROBERTIANA. (Hoff.) Slosson.
POLYPODIUM.L.
65. Polypodium vulgare. L.
66. Polypodium polypodioides. (L.) Watt.
Polypodium incanum. Sw.
POLYSTICHUM. ROTH
67. Polystichum acrostichoides. (Michx.) Schott.
Aspidium acrostichoides. Sw.
Dryopteris acrostichoides. (Michx.) Kuntze.
68. Polystichum Braunii. (Spenner.) Fée.
Dryopteris Braunii. (Spenner.) Underw.
Aspidium aculeatum var. Braunii. Doel.
69. Polystichum Lonchitis. (L.) Roth.
Aspidium Lonchitis. Sw.
Dryopteris Lonchitis. Kuntze.
PTERIS.L.
70. Pteris aquilina. L.
Pteridium aquilinum. (L.) Kuhn.
PTERIDIUM LATIUSCULUM. (Desv.) Maxon.
PTERIDIUM LATIUSCULUM var. PSEUDOCAUDATUM. (Clute.) Maxon.
SCHIZÆA.J.E. SMITH
71. Schizæa pusilla. Pursh.
72. Scolopendrium vulgare. J.E. Smith.
PHYLLITIS SCOLOPENDRIUM. (L.) Newman.
TRICHOMANES.L.
73. Trichomanes radicans. Sw.
Trichomanes Boschianum. Sturm.
WOODSIA.R. BY.
74. Woodsia glabella. R. Br.
75. Woodsia alpina. (Bolton.) S.F. Gray.
Woodsia hyperborea. R. Br.
76. Woodsia ilvensis. (L.) R. Br.
77. Woodsia Cathcartiana. B.L. Robinson.
78. Woodsia obtusa. (Spreng.) Torr.
79. Woodsia oregana. D.C. Eaton.
80. Woodsia scopulina. D.C. Eaton.
WOODWARDIA.J.E. SMITH
81. Woodwardia virginica. Sm.
82. Woodwardia areolata. (L.) Moore.
Woodwardia angustifolia. Sm.
THE PETRIFIED FERN
In a valley, centuries ago,
Grew a little fern-leaf green and slender,
Veining delicate and fibers tender,
Waving when the wind crept down so low;
Rushes tall and moss and grass grew round it,
Playful sunbeams darted in and found it,
Drops of dew stole down by night and crowned it.
But no foot of man e'er came that way--
Earth was young and keeping holiday.
Monster fishes swam the silent main,
Stately forests waved their giant branches,
Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches,
Mammoth creatures stalked across the plain,
Nature reveled in grand mysteries;
But the little fern was not of these,
Did not slumber with the hills and trees,
Only grew and waved its wild, sweet way;
No one came to note it day by day.
Earth, one time, put on a frolic mood,
Heaved the rocks and changed the mighty motion
Of the deep, strong currents of the ocean;
Moved the plain and shook the haughty wood,
Crushed the little fern in soft, moist clay,
Covered it and hid it safe away.
Oh, the long, long centuries since that day!
Oh, the changes! Oh, life's bitter cost!
Since the useless little fern was lost.
Useless? Lost? There came a thoughtful man
Searching Nature's secrets far and deep;
From a fissure in a rocky steep
He withdrew a stone o'er which there ran
Fairy pencilings, a quaint design,
Leafage, veining, fibers clear and fine,
And the fern's life lay in every line!
So, I think, God hides some souls away,
Sweetly to surprise us the last day!--M.B. BRANCH.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Fern Lover's Companion, by George Henry Tilton
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