236 FERA^S. 



The texture of this elegant fern is thin, and it is of lovely shades of 

 green, varying from light bright green to a deeper hue: some of the larger, 

 older, and fruit-bearing fronds being almost of a bluish-green. The exten- 

 sively creeping root-stocks are black, and fibrous, sending up fronds from 

 buds at the spreading angles of the roots ; the young fronds are clothed 

 with thin, white, loose scales, which are easily dispersed. The fruit dots 

 are at first a pale whitish-green, but deepen to brown, and in some old 

 strong fronds are almost black. This last form may possibly rank as a 

 variety ; it certainly differs in size and colour : it has larger, stouter, 

 darker fronds ; the stipe not less than a foot from the base to the lower 

 divisions of the leafy portion of the frond ; the long slender stipe is 

 greener, and the whole plant coarser £ind more spreading ; the pinnules 

 more oblong and bluntly crenate at the edges. 



It is the smaller fronds that are so very attractive from their bright 

 vivid colour, dark stems and triangular form. This fern is found in 

 woods among mossy roots of old decaying stumps and rotten wood, 

 among which it sends out its slender running root-stocks and loose black 

 fibrous rootlets. I should think this beautiful fern would be rather 

 difficult of house or pot culture, unless its peculiar soil could be provided, 

 which would be difficult to introduce on a limited scale, but it would 

 grow well out of doors in a wilderness or grove, especially if indulged 

 with a rotten log or stump. 



Shield Ferns — Wood Ferns. 



This interesting and hardy family contains many distinct species 

 with numerous varieties, some of which have as yet hardly been 

 recognized by the Pteridologist. The Aspidiums are mostly confined 

 to the forest or swamp ; some seem to rejoice in the deep shade and 

 soil of the thick Pine-woods, while others are to be found in wet spongy 

 soil as Beaver meadows. Cedar swamps, and boggy, spongy soil among 

 tangling weeds and bushes. In such situations we shall find the 



Marsh Fern — Aspidium Tlielypteris^ (Swz.) 



It is especially a moisture-loving Fern, and may be seen forming 

 thick beds in low lying ground, which is often over-flowed, in open 

 marshy spots, especially where shallow springs gush out among grass 

 and sedges ; in such places it is sure to be found sending up its light 

 green, rather broadly lanceolate, fronds, which are stiff and upright ; the 

 stipe, dark coloured, often twisted, but not bending ; the pinnre 

 horizontal, but slightly bending downwards ; pinnules a little revolute 

 at the edges ; root-stock creeping, sending up the fronds from buds at 

 intervals ; rootlets black, very fibrous ; the fertile fronds are twice as 



