41. BOOTT'S SHIELD FERN
Aspidium Boottii (Dryopteris Boottii)
Nova Scotia to Maryland, about ponds and in wet places. One and a half to more than three feet high, with somewhat chaffy stalks which have pale-brown scales.
Fronds.—Long lance-shaped, somewhat narrowed at base, nearly or quite twice-pinnate; pinnæ, the lowest triangular-ovate, upper longer and narrower; pinnules oblong-ovate, sharply thorny-toothed, somewhat pinnatifid below; fruit-dots round; indusium slightly glandular.
PLATE XXIX
CRESTED SHIELD FERN
a A pinna
b Portion of fertile pinna
Boott's Shield Fern is found in moist woods and near ponds. It is distinguished by its long, narrow fronds and minutely glandular indusium.