Chapter 1

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."

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.

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).

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.

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.]

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.