Part 5

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.

(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.

(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.]

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.

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.

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.

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_.

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.

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

(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.

(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.

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.

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."

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.

(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.

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.

(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.

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.

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,