46 



walked among plants, though not of the largest growth, with only 

 my head above them. Like the last, the fruit spike is separate and 

 rigid, often found the second year black and persistent, while the 

 spikes of that season are new and green. I included this in the list 

 of Essex County ferns, as the place from which I knew it was but 

 just beyond the county line in North Reading, towards Middleton, not 

 nearer one town than the other. I have since heard from Mrs. Horner, 

 who reports it from Georgetown ; she, therefore, is first to add this 

 truly noble fern to our county list. 



i. WooDsiA Ilvensis E. Br. 



Hairy Woodsia. 



This is a rare fern in Europe, but here is very abundant, particu- 

 larly on the hills about Salem. A short, woolly plant growing in tufts. 

 It is found in Danvers, Swampscott, Wenham, and in fact in almost 

 every hilly town. 



5. Woodsia obtusa Torrey. 



Blunt Woodsia. 



Not so abundant as the last, taller and more delicate. The small 

 forms resemble Cystopteris fragilis, with which it often grows. There 

 is a fine locality for this at Peabod}', on the Swampscott road, and it 

 is to be found in Salem pastures, Beverly, Middleton and elsewhere. 



6. DiCKSONIA PUNCTILOBULA KUUZC. 



Hay-scented Fern. 



This is the only American representative of a genus which in the 

 tropics boasts of the noblest of tree ferns, including the D. antarctica 

 of Tasmania, the trunk of which rises to the height of thirty or forty 

 feet, crowned by a circle of enormous fronds, some even twenty feet 

 to their tips. Our humble Dicksonia is one of our most common and 

 yet most beautiful ferns. It grows by creeping, underground stems, 

 and sometimes is found with fronds three or four feet high ; the fruit 

 is vei'y small on the little lobes of the pinnules, the fronds are much 

 dissected and almost always widest at the base. When crushed it 

 has a very pleasant aromatic odor, and after a frost this is quite notice- 

 able in the woods where the plants grow. 



7. Cystopteris fragilis Bernh. 

 Delicate Bladder Fern. 



This will be found in old stone walls where the earth is banked up 

 high at the back, and in damp, rocky woods or ravines. There are 

 many fine localities in Salem, Beverly, Essex, Swampscott and else- 



