Rhodora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 2 September, 1900 No. 21 
THE FERNS OF ALSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
HELEN M. NOYES. 
For several weeks I have watched with interest the ferns occurring 
within a five-mile radius of the Alstead School of Natural History. 
Besides Alstead itself this region embraces portions of several other 
towns, though with few exceptions the species here enumerated have 
all been collected within the limits of Alstead township. Notwith- 
standing the fact that there is little or no limestone in the immediate 
vicinity of Alstead, the natural conditions of the region — naked and 
wooded hills, exposed and sheltered cliffs, upland and lowland woods 
and swamps — are favorable to the development of very many species, 
and the unusually complete representation of many genera has fur- 
nished a good opportunity for study. To those familiar with the 
limited region which I have examined, the following notes may be of 
interest, while to others they may furnish data for some profitable 
comparisons. 
There is hardly a pasture or roadside, wet or dry, from which one 
. does not get, as he walks or rides, the fragrance from the damp or 
almost viscid fronds of the sweet-scented fern, Dicksonia pilo- 
siuscula. The stone walls marking the boundary lines of the hillside 
farms, and the boulders, often lodged in deep hollows, are banked on 
either side by beds of the delicate, minutely pubescent fronds ; and 
where the walls or fences have been destroyed the boundaries are 
now marked by broad belts of Dicksonia. "Wherever the plant grows, 
the fronds show a decided tendency to turn in one direction. Some- 
times it seems that the fruit-bearing surfaces are all turned from the 
light. This characteristic is particularly noticeable where the fern 
grows in a ravine, with the intenser light entering from one direction. 
Other observers have remarked the tendency of the fronds to face the 
