FEUNS. 237 



long as the sterile ; stipe nearly double the length of the leafy portion 

 of the frond ; pinnae narrowly pointed, distant on the rachis ; pinnules 

 narrowly contracted ; sori forming a line partly protected by the revolute 

 edges, terminating the upper forking veinlets ; many fine, white, shining 

 glandular hairs may be seen at the revolute edge of the pinnules, which, 

 in the early stage of the fruit dots, nearly cover them. 



A very different appearance is presented by those plants which grow 

 in the dense shelter of Cedar swamps ; the sterile fronds are lax, almost 

 drooping, of a dark green colour ; pinnules blunter, distinct ; stalks of a 

 very dark colour ; pinnules farther apart ; fertile frond from three to 

 four feel high ; stipes very nearly three times the length of the frond, 

 narrowly contracted, dull and dark ; root-stock extensively creeping ; 

 the pinnae drooping from the apex of the frond, sometimes again 

 curving upwards. 



Another form of A. Thelypteris is found in swampy spots, the pinnae 

 wider, very much deflexed and thinner, light green ; stipe slender, 

 green. This fern is found on Long Island in Rice Lake, it was named 

 for me as a form of Aspidium Thelypteris ; it is rather fragrant. I have 

 never been able to procure one of the fronds in a fruiting state. The 

 lax drooping pinnae, and oblong blunt pinnules, with their pleasant sweet 

 scent, distinguish this fern from the common forms of the Marsh Fern. 



New York Fern. — Aspidium Noveboracense (Swz.) 



Is closely allied to A. Thelypteris, but is a decidedly more elegant 

 Fern. It is narrowly oblong, lanceolate, pale green ; the lower pairs of 

 pinnae small and deflexed, very scantily developed ; the upper pairs 

 very sharp and pointed, giving a narrow pointed outline to the fern, 

 which, in the delicate young fronds, is peculiarly graceful. The fronds 

 grow from a circular crown and bend outwards ; the root-stock is 

 prolonged and slender, creeping and fibrous, throwing up the clusters of 

 fronds at intervals. The fertile fronds are generally about as tall as the 

 sterile but are rigid, and the pinnules narrowly contracted, opposite j 

 sori of a deep rich coffee-brown, becoming confluent so as to cover the 

 underside of the frond ; indusia kidney-shaped. The soil where I 

 found an extensive bed of these very graceful, plumy ferns, was rather 

 sandy, at the edge of a wood known as Preston's Wood, not far from 

 the Village of Lakefield. The pinnules of this fern are narrowly 

 oblong, sometimes serrate at the edges. In the month of October the 

 fronds fade to a delicate buff, when the sori are distinctly seen on the 

 pale ground forming a distinct border. 



This fern is pleasantly fragrant when drawn through the hand or 

 slightly bruised. In colour, it is yellowish-green where growing in 



