8 



STRUCTURE AND LIFE-HISTORY OF HAY-SCENTED FERN. 



SPOROPHYTE. 



The hay-scented fern occurs generally in open woods (fig', l) or clear- 

 ings or on roadside banks. It prefers well-drained, stony or sandy soil, 

 and usually forms thick beds. In the Catskill Mountains of New York 

 and in New England it grows on the cleared hillsides in dense patches 8 

 to 15 m. in diameter. Its range is from New Brunswick to Alabama and 

 Minnesota (Britton and Brown, 1896, 1 :12). The leaves are from 50 to 90 

 cm. high, lanceolate, and thrice pinnatifid. A light-green color and dense 

 pubescence combine to give the fern a soft, feathery appearance. The 

 glandular hairs exhale a delicate fragrance when brushed, which has been 

 likened to new-mown hay; hence the common name.* The stems are found 

 5 to 15 cm. beneath the surface of the soil long, slender, much-branching" 

 rhizomes (fig. 3). These spread rapidly from year to year, and give rise 

 to the densely matted beds of the fern. Roots of threadlike fineness arise 

 plentifully from all parts of the rhizomes and ramify through the soil. 



THE ROOT. 



The roots are numerous, cylindrical, with copious, two-ranked branching. 

 They extend more horizontally than vertically in the soil, and do not descend 

 below 20 cm. from the surface. The color is black in mature portions, 

 shading" in the younger parts through reddish-brown and brownish-yellow 

 to creamy white at the apex. Although but 0.5 mm. in diameter (maximum 

 0.545 mm.; minimum 0.49 mm.; average 0.523 mm.), they are tough and 

 wiry in texture. The rootlets (secondary roots) are about half as thick as 

 the main roots. Tertiary roots, similar to the secondary, frequently occur. 

 Only rarely does a root arise from the base of a leaf, and then it is usually 

 within 4 mm. of the center of the rhizome. 



TABLE i. Acropetal development of roots from stem. 



From any part of the stem roots may come out, but more frequently 

 from the lower side. A stem 5 cm. long, including the tip, showed eleven 

 roots, inserted as shown in fig. 9. They arise in acropetal succession very 



*The names fine-haired fern, mountain fern, gossamer fern, and hairy Dicksonia are 

 given by Clute (1901, p. 231), and sweet grass fern by Eastman (1904, p. 67). 



