How to know the ferns

by Frances Theodora Parsons

57. SMOOTH WOODSIA

Woodsia glabella

Northern New York and Vermont, and northward from Labrador to Alaska, on moist rocks. Two to five inches long, with stalks jointed at base.

Fronds.—Very delicate, linear or narrowly lanceolate, smooth on both sides, pinnate; pinnæ roundish ovate, obtuse, lobed, lobes few; fruit-dots scattered; indusium minute.

The Smooth Woodsia closely resembles the Northern Woodsia, and one may expect to find it in much the same parts of the country. In texture it is still more delicate; its fronds are almost perfectly smooth, its outline is narrower, and its pinnæ are but slightly lobed.

PLATE XLII
SMOOTH WOODSIA
a Fertile pinna

Mr. Pringle tells us that a letter from Mr. George Davenport, asking him to look for Woodsia glabella, awakened his first interest in ferns. His own account of these early fern hunts is inspiring in its enthusiasm: