MARSH BUCKLER-FERN. 77 



one of these or of the creeping underground stem is enough 

 to distinguish the Marsh-fern from any other member of its 

 genus. 



The Marsh-fern has a long black rootstock that creeps and 

 branches in wet boggy soil on heaths and in woods, with 

 masses of matted fibrous roots. Its fronds arise singly and 

 erect at irregular intervals, much after the manner of Bracken. 

 These are two or three feet in length, lance-shaped, of delicate 

 texture and pale-green tint. The long slender stipes is straw- 

 coloured and free from scales. The leafy portion is divided 

 into slender, slightly down-curved pinnae, of which the lowest 

 pair are scarcely shorter than those next above them. These 

 pinnae are two to three inches long, and are cut nearly to the 

 midrib into narrow lobes with blunt ends and freedom from 

 teeth. In the fertile fronds, which are larger and later than the 

 barren fronds, these divisions of the pinna appear to be much 

 narrower, owing to their edges being curved back to protect 

 the small sori, which form a row on each side of the midrib, 

 about half-way between it and the margin. The indusium is 

 fringed with glands, and the spores are ripe in July or August. 

 The barren fronds are produced towards the end of May, and 

 the fertile fronds about a month later. Like the Lady-fern 

 of similar texture the fronds wither completely on the approach 

 of winter. (Plates 78, 86.) 



In describing the Bracken we suggested that the absence of 

 scales from the stipes was due to the fact that the frond-bud 

 was sufficiently protected from cold by its remaining under- 

 ground during the winter. The case of the Marsh-fern supports 

 that view, for although its rootstock is not so deeply buried as 

 that of the Bracken, the stipes and rolled-up fronds are without 

 protecting scales. 



Like the Hay-scented Buckler, the Marsh Buckler is one 

 of our local ferns, occurring often profusely in stations far 

 apart, but fairly distributed over the country as far north as 



