KEY TO THE WOODSIAS
Stipes not jointed:
Indusium ample, segments broad, frond without hairs.
Obtuse Woodsia.
Pinnæ hispidulous, with white jointed hairs beneath.
Rocky Mountain Woodsia.
Fronds bright green, pinnæ glabrous, oblong.
Oregon Woodsia.
Fronds dull green, lanceolate, glandular beneath.
Cathcart's Woodsia.
Stipes obscurely jointed near the base:
Fronds more or less chaffy, pinnæ oblong to ovate,
crowded. Rusty Woodsia.
Fronds linear, smooth, pinnæ deltoid or orbicular.
Smooth Woodsia.
Fronds lanceolate, a few white scales beneath; pinnæ
deltoid-ovate. Alpine Woodsia.
[THE WOODSIAS]
Small, tufted, pinnately divided ferns. Fruit-dots borne on the back of simply forked, free veins. Indusium fixed beneath the sori, thin and often evanescent, either small and open, or early bursting at the top into irregular pieces or lobes. (Named for James Woods, an English botanist.)
(1) RUSTY WOODSIA. Woódsia ilvénsis
Fronds oblong-lanceolate, three to ten inches high, rather smooth above, thickly clothed underneath with rusty, bristle-like chaff. Pinnate, the pinnæ crowded, sessile, cut into oblong segments. Fruit-dots near the margin often confluent at maturity. Indusium divided nearly in the center into slender hairs which are curled over the sporangia. Stipes jointed an inch or so above the rootstock.
[Illustration: Rusty Woodsia, Woodsia ilvensis]
The rusty Woodsia is decidedly a rock-loving fern, and often grows on high cliffs exposed to the sun; its rootstock and fronds are covered with silver-white, hair-like scales, especially underneath. These scales turn brown in age, whence the name, rusty. As the short stipes separate at the joints from the rootstock, they leave at the base a thick stubble, which serves to identify the fern. Exposed rocks, Labrador to North Carolina and westward. Rather common in New England. Said to be very abundant on the trap rock hillocks about Little Falls, N.J., where it grows in dense tufts.
(2) NORTHERN WOODSIA. ALPINE WOODSIA
Woodsia alpìna. Woodsia hyperbòrea
Fronds narrowly lanceolate, two to six inches long, smooth above, somewhat hairy beneath, pinnate. Pinnæ triangular-ovate, obtuse, lobed, the lobes few and nearly entire. Fruit-dots rarely confluent. Indusium as in Woodsia ilvensis.
[Illustration: Details of Northern Woodsia. Woodsia alpina]
Thought by some botanists to be a smooth form of Woodsia ilvensis. It was discovered in the United States by Horace Mann, in 1863, at Willoughby Lake, Vt. Twenty years or more later it was collected by C.H. Peck in the Adirondacks, who supposed it to be Woodsia glabélla. In 1897 it was rediscovered at Willoughby Lake by C.H. Pringle. New York, Vermont, Maine, and British America. Rare.
[Illustration: Northern Woodsia, Woodsia alpina (From Waters' "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]
(3) BLUNT-LOBED WOODSIA. Woodsia obtùsa
Fronds broadly lanceolate, ten to eighteen inches long, nearly twice pinnate, often minutely glandular. Pinnæ rather remote, triangular-ovate or oblong, pinnately parted into obtuse, oblong, toothed segments. Veins forked. Fruit-dots on or near the margin of the lobes. Indusium conspicuous, at length splitting into several spreading, jagged lobes.
[Illustration: Blunt-lobed Woodsia. Woodsia obtusa]
This is our most common species of Woodsia and it has a wider range than the others, extending from Maine and Nova Scotia to Georgia and westward. On rocky banks and cliffs. The sori of this species have a peculiar beauty on account of the star-shaped indusium, as it splits into fragments. Var. angústa is a form with very narrow fronds and pinnæ. Highlands, New York. The type grows in Middlesex County, Mass., but is rare.
(4) SMOOTH WOODSIA. Woodsia glabélla
Fronds two to five inches high, very delicate, linear, pinnate. Pinnæ remote at the base, roundish-ovate, very obtuse with a few crenate lobes. Stipes jointed, straw-colored. Hairs of the indusium few and minute.
[Illustration: 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. Woódsia oregàna
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, Gaspé Peninsula, southern shore of Lake Superior, Colorado, Oregon to the northwest. Its eastern limit is northern Michigan.
(6) ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOODSIA. Woódsia scopulìna
Fronds six to fifteen inches long [smooth], lanceolate, pinnatifid. Pinnæ 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, Gaspé Peninsula, Rocky Mountains, and westward to Oregon and California.
(7) CATHCART'S WOODSIA. Woodsia Cathcartiàna
Fronds eight to twelve inches high, lanceolate, bipinnatifid, finely glandular-puberulent. Pinnse oblong; the lower distant segments oblong, denticulate, separated by wide sinuses.
Rocky river banks, west Michigan to northeast Minnesota.
DENNSTAÉDTIA. Dicksònia
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]
DENNSTAÉDTIA PUNCTILÓBULA[A]
Dicksònia punctilóbula. Dicksònia pilosiúscula
[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 pinnæ 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.
[Illustration: Hayscented Fern. Dennstædtia punctilobula (Sudbury, Mass. G.E.D.)]
[Illustration: Forked Variety of Hayscented Fern]
[Illustration: Hayscented Fern. Dennstædtia punctilobula]
While Dennstaédtia is the approved scientific name of this species, the name Dicksònia 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 cluster 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 Dicksònia are other names. Canada to Tennessee and westward.
Var. cristata has the fronds more or less forked at the top.
[Illustration: Pinnule and Sori]
[Illustration: Mass of Sensitive Fern]
[THE SENSITIVE AND OSTRICH FERNS]
Onoclèa. PTERÉTIS. Mattèuccia. Struthiópteris
(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.
[Illustration: Sensitive Fern. Gradations from Leaf to Fruit. Obtusilobata Form]
(1) SENSITIVE FERN. Onoclèa sensíbilis
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. obtusilobatà is an abortive form with the fertile segments only partially developed. The illustration shows several intermediate forms.
[Illustration: Sori of Sensitive Fern]
| [Illustration: Sensitive Fern, Fertile and Sterile Fronds on one Stock Onoclea sensibilis (From the collection of Mr. and Mrs. L.P. Breckenridge)] | |
| [Illustration: Sensitive Fern. Onoclea sensibilis] |
[Illustration: Ostrich Fern. Onoclea Struthiopteris. Fertile Fronds]
(2) OSTRICH FERN
Onoclea struthiópteris. PTERETIS NODULOSA
Struthiópteris Germánica. Matteùccia struthiópteris
Fronds two to eight feet high, growing in a crown; broadly lanceolate, pinnate, the numerous pinnæ deeply pinnatifid, narrowed toward the channeled stipe. Fertile fronds shorter, pinnate with margins of the pinnæ revolute into a necklace form containing the sori.
[Illustration: Ostrich Fern. Sterile Fronds (New Hampshire)]
The rootstocks send out slender, underground stolons which bear fronds the next year. Sterile fronds appear throughout the summer, fertile ones in July. Seen from a distance its graceful leaf-crowns resemble those of the cinnamon fern. An intermediate form between the fertile and sterile fronds is sometimes found, as in the sensitive fern. This handsome species thrives under cultivation. For grace and dignity it is unrivaled, and for aggressiveness it is, perhaps, equaled only by the lady fern. For the climax of beauty it should be combined with the maidenhair. The ostrich fern is fairly common in alluvial soil over the United States and Canada.
[Illustration: Sori and sporangia of Ostrich Fern]
II
[THE FLOWERING FERN FAMILY]
OSMUNDÀCEAE
This family is represented in North America by three species, all of which belong to the single genus.