46 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. 



and virile-looking Male Fern. By Linnasus the name filix- 

 fcemina was transferred to the present species as being a more 

 fitting representative of feminine characteristics. We doubt 

 whether he was justified in doing so, for, apart from the confusion 

 caused when comparing references in old and new literature, 

 there is the fact, to which we have already called attention, 

 that when the Bracken is growing in damp woods, such as the 

 Lady Fern loves, it will bear comparison in delicacy with almost 

 any of its smaller congeners. 



The Lady Fern varies greatly according to the conditions 

 under which it is growing, the form that grows in open boggy 

 places being entirely different in appearance from the specimens 

 that grow about a shaded woodland rill. In the former con- 

 dition we have a rather narrow frond with reddish stipes and 

 the pinnas all curled and convex when viewed from the front. 

 The well-shaded woodland specimens that get an abundant 

 supply of moving water have fronds four or five feet in length 

 and a breadth equal to nearly one-third of the length. This form 

 (var. intisum), which has usually a strongly developed vertical 

 rootstock, and an abundance of fronds, is characterized by the 

 full flat expansion of all its parts and the semi-transparent 

 delicacy of its tissues. The lower pinnae, too, are again pinnate. 



The rootstock is stout, covered with large rusty scales, and 

 more or less erect. Normally the frond of the Lady Fern is 

 twice pinnate, of a broad lance-shape, with a moderate but 

 variable proportion of stipes, which is equally variable in 

 colour from pale-green to purple-brown. It is of very soft 

 texture, very brittle, and of a bright green colour. The pinnae 

 are either opposite or nearly so, without footstalks, lance- 

 shaped, with very slender tips. The close-set pinnules are 

 coarsely toothed, and in the lower part of the frond cut pin- 

 nately. The veins are also pinnate, and to their upper sides 

 are attached the kidney-shaped indusia with torn margins, 

 which are turned back when the abundant small black sori 



