THE FERN FLORA OF NORTHEASTERN IOWA. 

 T. J. FITZPATRICK. 



The ^\Titer spent the months of June and July, 1895, in this 

 portion of Iowa, camping- and traveling along Oneota or Upper 

 Iowa and the Mississippi rivers. While all available botanical 

 specimens were collected special attention was given to the ferns 

 and a good representation was secured. In the following year 

 Mr. Herbert Goddard, then a resident of Decorah, Winneshiek 

 county, sent the writer a collection he had secured in the vicinity 

 of his home. During the years from 1899 to 1902 the writer had 

 a valued correspondent., Mr. Ellison Orr, who resided at Wau- 

 kon, Allairaakee county. Mr. Orr's fine specimens were ac- 

 companied 'by many valuable critical notes. From these sources 

 of information the following article has been written. 



This portion of Iowa possesses for lowans a peculiarly quiet 

 scenic beauty, lacing the most broken or rolling and the most 

 wooded of any portion of the state. Iowa as a whole is a broad 

 expianse of gently undulating prairie with the chiaracteristic 

 flora modified by civilization. In northeastern Iowa there are 

 more high hills, rugiged cliffs, deep ravines, perennial springs, 

 pmy woods, rapid flowing streams than there are to be found in 

 any other region of the same size in the state. Being the least 

 affected by cultivation many natural park sites are available, 

 .some of which are destined to be utilized in the near future. 



In the region mider consideration Winneshiek and Allamakee 

 counties are bomided on the north by Minnesota ; and Allamakee, 

 Clayton, and Dubuque counties lie along the west bank of Mis- 

 sissippi river. Most of the reigion lies in what is known as the 

 driftless area, that is an area of rounded hills with no drift 

 mantle or debris while all the surrounding region is heavily 

 drift covered. 



Geologically this region, generally speaking, is the oldest in 

 the state. The Saint Croix sandstone of the Cambrian era, the 

 Oneota limestone, the Saint Peter sandstone, the Trenton lime- 

 stone, the Galena limestone, and the INIaquoketa shales are suc- 

 cessively exposed from the state line southward. 



A locality with so varied a. topO'graphy readily gives many 

 favorite habitats for ferns. Almost every fern native of Iowa 

 may be found and many of them are quite abundant in occur- 

 rence. 

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