49. LONG BEECH FERN
Phegopteris polypodioides (P. Phegopteris)
Newfoundland to Alaska, south to mountains of Virginia, wet woods and hill-sides. Six or eight inches to more than a foot high.
Fronds.—Triangular, usually longer than broad (4-9 inches long, 3-6 inches broad), downy, especially beneath, thin, once-pinnate; pinnæ lance-shaped, the lower pair noticeably standing forward and deflexed, cut into oblong, obtuse segments; fruit-dots small, round, near the margin; indusium, none.
Of the three species of Phegopteris native to the northeastern States P. polypodioides, commonly called the Long Beech Fern, is the one I happen to have encountered oftenest.
Long Beech Fern
It is a less delicate plant than either of its sisters, the effect of the larger and older specimens being rather hardy, yet its downy, often light-green, triangular frond is exceedingly pretty, with a certain oddity of aspect which it owes to the lowest pair of pinnæ, these being conspicuously deflexed and turned forward. This peculiarity gives it a decided individuality and renders it easy of identification.
a Portion of pinna
b Tip of pinna
The Long Beech Fern I have found growing alternately in company with the Oak Fern and the Broad Beech Fern. It loves the damp woods, clambering over the roots of trees or carpeting thickly the hollows that lie between.