The Fern Lover's Companion Part 9

Stipes clothed with pale, brown scales. Frond rigid and evergreen, one to two feet long, lanceolate, pinnate. Pinnae linear-lanceolate, scythe-shaped, auricled on the upper side, and with bristly teeth; fertile pinnae contracted toward the top, bearing two rows of sori, which soon become confluent and cover the entire surface. Indusium orbicular, fixed by its depressed center.

_F. incsum_ is a form in which the pinnae are much incised.

_F. crispum_ has the edges of its pinnae crisped and ruffled. The name Christmas fern, due to John Robinson, of Salem, Ma.s.s., suggests its fitness for winter decoration. Its deep green and glossy fronds insure it a welcome at Christmas time. "Its mission is to cheer the winter months and enhance the beauty of the other ferns by contrast." In transplanting, a generous ma.s.s of earth should be included and its roots should not be disturbed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Christmas Fern. _Polystichum acrostichoides_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Christmas Fern. _Polystichum acrostichoides_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Christmas Fern. _Polystichum acrostichoides_ Top, Forked Form; Bottom, Incised Form (Maine)]

(2) BRAUN'S HOLLY FERN

_Polystichum Braunii. Aspidium aculeatum Braunii_

Fronds thick, rigid, one to two feet long, spreading, lanceolate, tapering both ways, bipinnate. Pinnules ovate or oblong, truncate, nearly rectangular at the base, sharply toothed and covered beneath with chaff and hairs. Fruit-dots small and near the mid veins. Indusium orbicular, entire.

Stipes chaffy with brown scales.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Braun's Holly Fern. _Polystichum Braunii_ (Willoughby Mountain, Vt.) (Herbarium of G.H.T.)]

This handsome fern is rather common in northern New England. We have collected it in the Willoughby Lake region, Vt., and it is found at Mt.

Mansfield, Randolph, and elsewhere in that state; also at Gorham, N.H., and Fernald reports it as common in northern Maine. It also grows in the mountains of New York and Pennsylvania, and westward. It was formerly thought to be a variety of the p.r.i.c.kly shield fern (_P. aculeatum_), which has a very wide range and numerous varieties. The fronds remain green through the winter but the stipes weaken and fall over.

(3) HOLLY FERN. _Polystichum Lonchtis_

Fronds linear-lanceolate, short-stalked and rigid, eight to fifteen inches long. Pinnae broadly lanceolate-falcate or the lowest triangular, strongly auricled on the upper side, densely spinulose-toothed. Sori midway between the margin and midrib.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Holly Fern. Polystichum Lonchitis (Nottawasaga, Canada, West, Right, Alaska, Left) (Herbarium of C.E. Davenport)]

The name holly fern suggests its resemblance to holly leaves with their bristle-tipped teeth. The specific name lonchtis (like a spear) refers to its sharp teeth. A northern species growing in rocky woods from Labrador to Alaska, and south to Niagara Falls, Lake Superior and westward. Its southern limits nearly coincide with the northern limits of the Christmas fern.

THE MARSH FERN TRIBE

Under this designation Clute has grouped three of the shield ferns, which have a close family resemblance, and has thus distinguished them from the wood ferns, which also belong to the shield fern family.

(1) THE MARSH FERN

_Aspidium thelpteris_. THELPTERIS PAl.u.s.tRIS _Dryopteris thelpteris. Nephrdium thelpteris_

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Marsh Fern]

These are all good names and each one is worthy to be chosen. _Aspidium_, Greek for shield, in use for a century, adopted in all the seven editions of Gray's Manual, is still the most familiar and pleasing term to its friends. _Dryopteris_, Greek for oak fern, has been chosen by Underwood and Britton and Brown and has grown in favor. _Nephrdium_, meaning kidney-like, favored by Davenport, Waters and, of late, Clute, is a most fitting name. THELPTERIS, meaning lady fern, is found to be the earliest name in use and according to rule the correct one.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Marsh Fern. _Aspidium Thelypteris_]

Fronds pinnate, lanceolate, slightly or not at all narrowed at the base.

Pinnae horizontal or slightly recurved, linear-lanceolate and deeply pinnatifid. Lobes obtuse, but appear acute when their margins are reflexed over the sori. Veins once forked. Indusium minute. Stipes tall, lifting the blades ten to fifteen inches above the mud, whence they spring.

The fronds of the marsh fern are apt to be sterile in deep shade. It may be readily distinguished from the New York fern by its broad base, instead of tapering to very small pinnae; by its long stalk, lifting the blade up into the sunlight, and by the revolute margins of the fertile fronds, which have suggested for it the name of "snuff-box" fern. It is separated from the Ma.s.sachusetts fern by its forked veins. Common in marshes and damp woodlands; Canada to Florida and westward. While the marsh fern loves moisture and shade it is sometimes found in dry, open fields. Miss Lilian A. Cole, of Union, Me., reports a colony as growing on land above the swale in which Twayblade and Adder's Tongue are found, "around rock heaps in open sunlight on clay soil, but homely and twisted," as if a former woodsy environment had been long since cleared away while the deserted ferns persisted.

(2) Ma.s.sACHUSETTS FERN

_Aspidium simulatum_. THELPTERIS SIMULaTA _Dryopteris simulata. Nephrdium simulatum_

Fronds pinnate, one to three feet long, oblong-lanceolate, somewhat narrowed at the base. Pinnae lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid, the lower most often turned inward. Veins simple. Indusium glandular. Sori rather large.

Resembles the marsh fern, of which it was once thought to be a variety.

In some respects it is also like the New York fern, and is in fact intermediate between the two.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ma.s.sachusetts Fern. _Aspidium simulatum_ 1. Sterile Frond.

2. A Fruiting Pinnule. 3. Pinnule enlarged showing venation (From the "Fern Bulletin")]

That it is a distinct species was first pointed out by Raynal Dodge in 1880, and it later was named _simulatum_ by Geo. E. Davenport because of its similarity to a form of the lady fern. It may be identified by its thin texture and particularly by its simple veins. On account of its close resemblance to the marsh fern, Clute would call it "The lance-leaved Marsh Fern," instead of the irrelevant name of Ma.s.sachusetts Fern. Woodland swamps usually in deep shade, New England to Maryland and westward. Often found growing with the marsh fern.

(3) NEW YORK FERN

_Aspidium noveboracense_. THELPTERIS NOVEBORACeNSIS _Dryopteris noveboracensis. Nephrdium noveboracense_

Fronds pinnate, tapering both ways from the middle. Pinnae lanceolate, pinnatifid, the lowest pairs gradually shorter and deflexed. Veins simple.

Indusium minute and beset with glands.

[Ill.u.s.tration: New York Fern. _Aspidium noveboracense_]

Very common in woodlands, preferring a dryer soil than the marsh fern.

August. The fronds are pale green, delicate and hairy beneath along the midrib and veins.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sori of New York Fern (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 cla.s.sed 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 THELPTERIS 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_. THELPTERIS 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.