The Fern Lover's Companion Part 13

Stipes jointed, straw-colored. Hairs of the indusium few and minute.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 sh.o.r.e of Lake Superior, Colorado, Oregon to the northwest. Its eastern limit is northern Michigan.

(6) ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOODSIA. _Woodsia scopulna_

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-p.u.b.erulent. Pinnse oblong; the lower distant segments oblong, denticulate, separated by wide sinuses.

Rocky river banks, west Michigan to northeast Minnesota.

DENNSTAeDTIA. _d.i.c.ksnia_

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]

_d.i.c.ksnia punctilobula. d.i.c.ksnia 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hayscented Fern. _Dennstaedtia punctilobula_ (Sudbury, Ma.s.s.

G.E.D.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Forked Variety of Hayscented Fern]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hayscented Fern. _Dennstaedtia punctilobula_]

While _Dennstaedtia_ is the approved scientific name of this species, the name _d.i.c.ksnia_ 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 cl.u.s.ter 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 _d.i.c.ksnia_ are other names. Canada to Tennessee and westward.

Var. _cristata_ has the fronds more or less forked at the top.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pinnule and Sori]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ma.s.s 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 ill.u.s.tration shows several intermediate forms.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sori of Sensitive Fern]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sensitive Fern. _Onoclea sensibilis_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sensitive Fern, Fertile and Sterile Fronds on one Stock _Onoclea sensibilis_ (From the collection of Mr. and Mrs. L.P.

Breckenridge)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.