238 



J-EAWS. 



light soil and exposed to tlie sun, but becomes darkened in the shade 

 and more lax in habit ; it is a remarkably elegant gracefully growing 

 species, very narrow in outline, and finely diminished to a point at the 

 apex of the frond, and is a valuable addition to the fern-garden. 



E\'ERGREEN WooD Fern. — AspidiiDii spiniilosiim^ (Swz.) var. 

 intermedium^ (D. C. Eaton). 



This handsome evergreen fern forms one of the greatest ornaments 

 of our Canadian woods, where it exists in great abundance, and in 

 several various forms. Not only is it one of the earliest, but one of the 

 hardiest and most enduring of its tribe. We find its refreshing verdant 

 fronds, as soon as the snow wreaths have disappeared from the forest,^ 

 brighter and greener than any other herb or tree that has borne the 

 pelting of the pitiless storms of Winter. 



Our Wood-fern affects the soil of the Pine and Hemlock woods, 

 in which many other species of plants refuse to grow ; but it is also 

 abundant in hardwood lands, where, however, we find it more usually 

 growing at the foot of Pines or Hemlocks, as most congenial to its 

 nature. 



The large, green feathery fronds are from one to two feet in the 

 full grown plant, sometimes exceeding this measure in favourable 

 situations, and varying in colour from a lighter to a deeper green. The 

 stipe is rough, channelled, stiff and scaly, both in the bud and up the 

 stalk, but the scales are less abundant in some plants than in others. 

 The fruit dots are round, kidney-shaped : at first pale, but deepening to 

 dark brown, almost black, and shining. This last appearance seems 

 peculiar to very large spreading vigorous fronds, which may be another 

 variety of the typical form of A. spimdosum. The pinnules much 

 divided almost tri-pinnate ; wide-spreading, upright, and of a deeper 

 green than the more common form, which is narrower ; the pinnre 

 curving upwards, the fruit dots covered with a pale brown indusium. 



A more delicate narrower fern, with pointed scales, shaded with 

 darker brown in the centre, not more than a foot in heighc, the pinna? 

 elegantly curved upward, fruit dots smaller, of a very light brown, may 

 be the Lastrea collina of Moore. There are other not less attractive 

 varieties, which may be found in our Pine forests, intermediate between 

 the Evergreen Fern and Aspidium dilatatum, which also has its own 

 varieties uniting it to A. cristatum. Many of these gradations among 

 our Aspidiums are yet un-named, unless by such a fanciful name as seems 

 appropriate from some peculiarity in outline or colour. One of the 

 most beautiful of these varieties we might call the Lace-Fern, from the 

 graceful appearance of the deeply divided pinnules, thinness of texture 



