(2) BRAUN'S HOLLY FERN
Polystichum Bráunii. Aspídium aculeàtum Bráunii
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.
[Illustration: 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 prickly shield fern (P. aculeàtum), 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 Lonchìtis
Fronds linear-lanceolate, short-stalked and rigid, eight to fifteen inches long. Pinnæ broadly lanceolate-falcate or the lowest triangular, strongly auricled on the upper side, densely spinulose-toothed. Sori midway between the margin and midrib.
[Illustration: 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 lonchìtis (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
Aspídium thelýpteris. THELÝPTERIS PALÚSTRIS
Dryópteris thelýpteris. Nephròdium thelýpteris
[Illustration: The Marsh Fern]
These are all good names and each one is worthy to be chosen. Aspídium, 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. Dryópteris, Greek for oak fern, has been chosen by Underwood and Britton and Brown and has grown in favor. Nephròdium, meaning kidney-like, favored by Davenport, Waters and, of late, Clute, is a most fitting name. THELÝPTERIS, meaning lady fern, is found to be the earliest name in use and according to rule the correct one.
[Illustration: The Marsh Fern. Aspidium Thelypteris]
Fronds pinnate, lanceolate, slightly or not at all narrowed at the base. Pinnæ 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 pinnæ; 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 Massachusetts 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) MASSACHUSETTS FERN
Aspidium simulàtum. THELÝPTERIS SIMULÀTA
Dryópteris simulata. Nephròdium simulàtum
Fronds pinnate, one to three feet long, oblong-lanceolate, somewhat narrowed at the base. Pinnæ 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.
[Illustration: Massachusetts 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 simulàtum> 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 Massachusetts 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 noveboracénse. THELÝPTERIS NOVEBORACÉNSIS
Dryópteris noveboracénsis. Nephròdium noveboracénse
Fronds pinnate, tapering both ways from the middle. Pinnæ lanceolate, pinnatifid, the lowest pairs gradually shorter and deflexed. Veins simple. Indusium minute and beset with glands.
[Illustration: 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.
[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 pinnæ 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 Phegópteris but giving THELÝPTERIS 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 Phegópteris in Greek means oak or beech fern.)
(1) OAK FERN
Phegópteris dryópteris. THELÝPTERIS DRYÓPTERIS
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 calcàrea
THELÝPTERIS ROBERTIÀNA
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 hexagonóptera
THELÝPTERIS HEXAGONÓPTERA
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; pinnæ 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 polypodiòides. THELÝPTERIS PHEGÓPTERIS
Fronds triangular, longer than broad, four to six inches long, twice pinnatifid. Pinnæ 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]
Aspídium fràgrans. Nephròdium fràgrans
THELÝPTERIS FRÀGRANS. Dryópteris fràgrans
Fronds four to twelve inches high, glandular-aromatic, narrowly lanceolate and twice pinnate or nearly so. Pinnæ 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.)]