[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 pinnae 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 _Phegopteris_ but giving THELYPTERIS 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 _Phegopteris_ in Greek means oak or beech fern.)
(1) OAK FERN
_Phegopteris dryopteris_. THELYPTERIS DRYOPTERIS
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 calcarea_
THELYPTERIS ROBERTIANA
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 hexagonoptera_
THELYPTERIS HEXAGONOPTERA
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; pinnae 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 polypodioides_. THELYPTERIS PHEGOPTERIS
Fronds triangular, longer than broad, four to six inches long, twice pinnatifid. Pinnae 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
_Aspidium fragrans. Nephrodium fragrans_
THELYPTERIS FRAGRANS. _Dryopteris fragrans_
Fronds four to twelve inches high, glandular-aromatic, narrowly lanceolate and twice pinnate or nearly so. Pinnae 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 pinnae pinnatifid; Blade soft and thin, not evergreen;
Lower pinnae reduced to mere lobes New York Fern
Lower pinnae 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 pinnae short, broadly triangular Crested Shield Fern Lower pinnae 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 _Polystichum_ 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 _Aspidium_ (meaning shield), first published in 1800. For a long time its chief rival was _Nephrodium_ (kidney-like), 1803. Many modern botanists have preferred the earlier name _Dryopteris_ (1763), meaning oak fern, alluding, perhaps, to its forest-loving habits. THELYPTERIS, 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
_Aspidium marginale_. THELYPTERIS MARGINALIS _Dryopteris marginalis. Nephrodium marginale_
Fronds from a few inches to three feet long, ovate-oblong, somewhat leathery, smooth, twice pinnate. Pinnae 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
_Aspidium Filix-mas_. THELYPTERIS FILIX-MAS _Dryopteris Filix-mas. Nephrodium Filix-mas_
Fronds lanceolate, pinnate, one to three feet high growing in a crown from a shaggy rootstock. Pinnae 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 _filix-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 Goldianum_. THELYPTERIS GOLDIANA _Dryopteris Goldiana. Nephrodium Goldianum_
Fronds two to four feet high and often one foot broad, pinnate, broadly ovate, especially the sterile ones. Pinnae 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 cristatum_. THELYPTERIS CRISTATA
_Dryopteris cristata. Nephrodium cristatum_
Fronds one to two feet long, linear-oblong or lanceolate, pinnate, acute. Pinnae 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 pinnae have a way of turning their faces upward toward the apex of the frond for more light. In moist land, Canada to Kentucky.
Var. _Clintonianum_. 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
_Aspidium cristatum X marginale_
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 _cristatum_, 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 _intermedium_, 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_. THELYPTERIS BOOTTII
_Dryopteris Boottii. Nephrodium Boottii_
Fronds one to three feet high, oblong-lanceolate, bipinnate, the upper pinnae 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 spinulosum. THELYPTERIS SPINULOSA
Dryopteris spinulosa. Nephrodium spinulosum_
Stipes with a few pale brown deciduous scales. Fronds one to two and one-half feet long, ovate-lanceolate, twice pinnate. Pinnae oblique to the rachis, the lower ones broadly triangular, the upper ones elongated. Pinnules on the inferior side of the pinnae often elongated, especially the lower pair, the pinnule nearest the rachis being usually the longest, at least in the lowest pinnae. 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. _intermedium_ has the scales of the stipe brown with darker center. Fronds ovate-oblong, often tripinnate. Pinnae 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. CONCORDIANUM. It has small, elliptical, denticulate pinnules and a glandular-pubescent indusium.
Var. AMERICANUM (=_dilatatum_, syn.). Fronds broader, ovate or triangular-ovate in outline. A more highly developed form of the typical plant, the lower pinnae being often very broad, and the fronds tripinnate. Inferior pinnules on the lower pair of pinnae conspicuously elongated. A variety preferring upland woods; northern New England, Greenland to the mountains of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and northward.
THE BLADDER FERNS. _Cystopteris_
“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 _cystopteris_ means bladder fern, so called in allusion to the hood-shaped indusium.)
(1) THE BULBLET BLADDER FERN
_Cystopteris bulbifera. Filix bulbifera_
Fronds lanceolate, elongated, one to three feet long, twice pinnate. Pinnae lanceolate-oblong, pointed, horizontal, the lowest pair longest. Rachis and pinnae 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 fragilis. Filix fragilis_
Stipe long and brittle. Fronds oblong-lanceolate, five to twelve inches long, twice pinnate, the pinnae 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 _fragilis_ 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 pinnae 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.
Pinnae hispidulous, with white jointed hairs beneath. Rocky Mountain Woodsia. Fronds bright green, pinnae glabrous, oblong. Oregon Woodsia.
Fronds dull green, lanceolate, glandular beneath. Cathcart’s Woodsia.
Stipes obscurely jointed near the base: Fronds more or less chaffy, pinnae oblong to ovate, crowded. Rusty Woodsia. Fronds linear, smooth, pinnae deltoid or orbicular. Smooth Woodsia.
Fronds lanceolate, a few white scales beneath; pinnae 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. _Woodsia ilvensis_
Fronds oblong-lanceolate, three to ten inches high, rather smooth above, thickly clothed underneath with rusty, bristle-like chaff. Pinnate, the pinnae 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 alpina. Woodsia hyperborea_
Fronds narrowly lanceolate, two to six inches long, smooth above, somewhat hairy beneath, pinnate. Pinnae 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_ _glabella_. 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 obtusa_
Fronds broadly lanceolate, ten to eighteen inches long, nearly twice pinnate, often minutely glandular. Pinnae 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. _angusta_ is a form with very narrow fronds and pinnae. Highlands, New York. The type grows in Middlesex County, Mass., but is rare.
(4) SMOOTH WOODSIA. _Woodsia glabella_
Fronds two to five inches high, very delicate, linear, pinnate. Pinnae 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. _Woodsia oregana_
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, Gaspe Peninsula, southern shore of Lake Superior, Colorado, Oregon to the northwest. Its eastern limit is northern Michigan.
(6) ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOODSIA. _Woodsia scopulina_
Fronds six to fifteen inches long [smooth], lanceolate, pinnatifid. Pinnae 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, Gaspe Peninsula, Rocky Mountains, and westward to Oregon and California.
(7) CATHCART’S WOODSIA. _Woodsia Cathcartiana_
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.
DENNSTAEDTIA. _Dicksonia_
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
DENNSTAEDTIA PUNCTILOBULA[A]
_Dicksonia punctilobula. Dicksonia pilosiuscula_
[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 pinnae 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. _Dennstaedtia punctilobula_ (Sudbury, Mass. G.E.D.)]
[Illustration: Forked Variety of Hayscented Fern]
[Illustration: Hayscented Fern. _Dennstaedtia punctilobula_]
While _Dennstaedtia_ is the approved scientific name of this species, the name _Dicksonia_ 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 _Dicksonia_ 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
_Onoclea_. PTERETIS. _Matteuccia_. _Struthiopteris_
(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. _Onoclea sensibilis_
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. _obtusilobata_ 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 struthiopteris_. PTERETIS NODULOSA
_Struthiopteris Germanica_. _Matteuccia struthiopteris_
Fronds two to eight feet high, growing in a crown; broadly lanceolate, pinnate, the numerous pinnae deeply pinnatifid, narrowed toward the channeled stipe. Fertile fronds shorter, pinnate with margins of the pinnae 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
_OSMUNDACEAE_
This family is represented in North America by three species, all of which belong to the single genus.
OSMUNDA
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
_Osmunda regalis. Osmunda regalis_, var. SPECTABILIS
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 Linnaeus, _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 pinnae 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 Claytoniana
Fronds pinnate, one to five feet high. Pinnae cut into oblong, obtuse lobes. Fertile fronds taller than the sterile, having from one to five pairs of intermediate pinnae contracted and bearing sporangia.
[Illustration: Interrupted Fern. _Osmunda Claytoniana_]
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. Pinnae lanceolate, pinnatifid with oblong, obtuse divisions. Fertile pinnae 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. _frondosa_ has its fronds partly sterile below and irregularly fertile towards the summit.
Var. _incisa_ has the inner pinnules of some of the pinnae more or less cut-toothed.
Var. _glandulosa_ has glandular hairs on the pinnae, 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
SCHIZAEACEAE
CURLY GRASS. _Schizaea pusilla_
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 pinnae. 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. (_Schizaea_, from a Greek root meaning to split, alluding to the cleft leaves of foreign species.)
[Illustration: Curly Grass. _Schizaea 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
_Lygodium palmatum_
“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 pinnae (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
_OPHIOGLOSSACEAE_
Plants more or less fern-like consisting of a stem with a single leaf. In _Ophioglossum_ the leaf or sterile segment is entire, the veins reticulated and the sporangia in a simple spike. In _Botrychium_ 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. _Ophioglossum vulgatum_
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. _Engelmanni_. (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. _arenarium_. (From the Latin, _arena_, meaning sand, being found in a sandy soil.) Probably a depauperate form of _Ophioglossum vulgatum_ 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
(_Botrychium_)
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
_Botrychium_
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. _Botrychium Lunaria_
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 simplex_
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 lanceolatum_
BOTRYCHIUM ANGUSTISEGMENTUM
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 ramosum. Botrychium matricariaefolium_
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 ramosum_]
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 tenebrosum_. 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 simplex_. Borders of maple swamps, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York.
(5) COMMON GRAPE FERN
_Botrychium obliquum_. _Botrychium ternatum_, var. _obliquum_
BOTRYCHIUM DISSECTUM, var. OBLIQUUM
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 pinnae, 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 obliquum_, var. _oneidense_. 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 obliquum_, var. _elongatum_. 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
_Botrychium ternatum_, var. _intermedium_
_Botrychium obliquum_, var. _intermedium_
Leaf more divided than in _obliquum_ and the numerous segments not so long and pointed, but large, fleshy, ovate or obovate (including var. _australe_), crenulate, and more or less toothed.
Sandy soil, pastures and open woods. More northerly in its range–New England and New York. Var. _rutaefolium_. 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 virginianum_
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. _gracilis_. A form much reduced in size.
Var. LAURENTIANUM. 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. EUROPAEUM. 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 pinnae 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
_HYMENOPHYLLACEAE_
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
_Trichomanes Boschianum. Trichomanes radicans_
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. _Nee_ 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 x 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 x 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 Equisitaceae and Isoetaceae) 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
ACUMINATE. Gradually tapering to a point. ACULEATE. Prickly. Beset with prickles. ACUTE. Sharp pointed, but not tapering. ADVENTITIOUS. Irregular, incidental. Growing out of the usual or normal position.
ANASTOMOSING. Connected by cross veins and forming a network as in the Sensitive
ferns.
ANNULUS. A jointed, elastic ring surrounding the spore cases in most ferns.
ANTHERIDIA. The male organs on a prothallium. APEX The top or pointed end of leaf or frond. (plu. APICES).
ARCHEGONIA. The female organs on a prothallium. AREOLA. A space formed by intersecting veins; a mesh.
AURICLE. An ear-shaped lobe at the base. ARTICULATE. 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.
CHLOROPHYLL. The green coloring matter of plants. CILIATE. Fringed with fine hairs.
CIRCINATE. 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. CROSIER. An uncoiling frond.
CUNEATE. Wedge-shaped.
CUSPIDATE. 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 pinnae. 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.
DICHOTOMOUS. Forking regularly in pairs. DIMORPHOUS. Of two forms; said of ferns whose fertile fronds are unlike the sterile. EMARGINATE. Notched at the apex.
ENTIRE. Without divisions, lobes, or teeth. FALCATE. Scythe-shaped, slightly curved upward. FERTILE. Bearing spores.
FILIFORM. 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. INCISED. Cut irregularly into sharp lobes. INDUSIUM. The thin membrane covering the sori in some ferns.
INVOLUCRE. In ferns, an indusium; in filmy ferns, cup-shaped growths encircling the sporangia.
LAMINA. A blade; the leafy portion of a fern. LACINIATE. 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. MUCRONATE. 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.
OIDES. A Greek ending, meaning _like_, or _like to_, as polypodioides–like to a polypody.
OOeSPHERE. The egg-cell in fern reproduction–becoming the ooespore 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. PETIOLE. 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. PINNATIFID. 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.
PROTHALLIUM. (Or prothallus.) A delicate, cellular, leaf-like structure produced
from a fern spore, and bearing the sexual organs.
PTERIDOPHYTA. A group of flowerless plants embracing ferns, horsetails, club mosses, etc. PUBESCENT. Covered with fine, soft hairs; downy. RACHIS. 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.
SERRULATE. The same only with smaller teeth. SESSILE. Without a stalk.
SINUS. A cleft or rounded curve between two lobes. SINUATE. With strongly wavy margins.
SORUS A cluster of sporangia; a fruit dot. (plu. SORI).
SPATULATE. Shaped like a druggist’s spatula or a flattened spoon.
SPIKE. An elongated cluster of sessile sporangia. SPINULOSE. 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. SUBULATE. Awl-shaped.
TERNATE. 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 pinnae, or the cutting of the fronds, we have _varieties_ as _frondosum_, _incisum_, 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 _Osmunda_ (genus), _cinnamomea_ (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 x 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 matricariaefolium. 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 Feei. Moore.
Cheilanthes lanuginosa. Nutt.
42. Cheilanthes lanosa. (Michx.) Watt. Cheilanthes vestita. Sw.
43. Cheilanthes tomentosa. Link.
CRYPTOGRAMMA.R. BR.
44. Cryptogramma densa. (Brack.) Diels. Pellaea densa. (Brack.) Hook.
45. Cryptogramma Stelleri. (Gmel.) Prantl. Pellaea 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.
DENNSTAEDTIA L’HER.
49. DENNSTAEDTIA PUNCTILOBULA. (Michx.) Moore. Dicksonia pilosiuscula. Willd.
LYGODIUM SW.
50. Lygodium palmatum. (Bernh.) Sw.
NOTHOLAENA.R. BR.
51. Notholaena dealbata. (Pursh.) Kunze. Notholaena 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.
PELLAEA. LINK
59. Pellaea atropurpurea. (L.) Link. 60. Pellaea glabella. Mett.
PHEGOPTERIS FEE
61. Phegopteris Dryopteris. (L.) Fee. THELYPTERIS DRYOPTERIS. (L.) Slosson.
62. Phegopteris hexagonoptera. (Michx.) Fee. THELYPTERIS HEXAGONOPTERA. (Michx.) Weatherby. 63. Phegopteris polypodioides Fee.
THELYPTERIS PHEGOPTERIS. (L.) Slosson. Phegopteris Phegopteris. (L.) Underw.
64. Phegopteris Robertiana. (Hoff.) A. Br. Phegopteris calcarea. Fee.
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.) Fee. 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.
SCHIZAEA.J.E. SMITH
71. Schizaea pusilla. Pursh.
72. Scolopendrium vulgare. J.E. Smith. PHYLLITIS SCOLOPENDRIUM. (L.) Newman.
TRICHOMANES.L.