PLATE XL
BLUNT-LOBED WOODSIA
a Portion of pinna
b Fruit-dot magnified, showing indusium
55. BLUNT-LOBED WOODSIA
Woodsia obtusa
Canada to Georgia and Alabama and westward, on rocks. Eight to twenty inches high, with stalks not jointed, chaffy when young.
Fronds.—Broadly lanceolate, nearly twice-pinnate; pinnæ rather remote, triangular-ovate or oblong, pinnately parted into obtuse, oblong, toothed segments; veins forked; fruit-dots on or near the minutely toothed lobes; indusium conspicuous, splitting into several jagged lobes.
The Blunt-lobed Woodsia is not rare on rocks and stony hill-sides in Maine and Northern New York. It is found frequently in the valley of the Hudson. Though not related to the Common Bladder Fern (C. fragilis), it has somewhat the same general appearance. Its fronds, however, are usually both broader and longer, and its stalk and pinnæ are slightly downy. Its range does not vary greatly from that of the Common Bladder Fern, but usually it grows in more exposed spots and sometimes basks in strong sunshine.
Meehan says the Blunt-lobed Woodsia is found along the Wissahickon Creek, Penna., on dry walls in shady places. "One of its happiest phases," he continues, "is toward the fall of the year, when the short, barren fronds which form the outer circle bend downward, forming a sort of rosette, in the centre of which the fertile fronds somewhat erectly stand."
The sterile fronds remain fairly green till spring.