The Alpine Woodsia 



The Mountain Bladder Fern is only to be sought for 

 on wet rocks in mountainous districts. Its black, 

 creeping rootstock, from which the fronds arise at 

 intervals, is furnished with a few scales. The pale 

 green, wedge-shaped fronds, borne on very slender 

 leafstalks, are very finely divided, being three or even 

 four times pinnate. The pinnules are also deeply cut 

 or lobed. In length the fronds are about 6 inches from 

 the lowest pinnae to the tip of the frond, and at the 

 base are almost as broad as long. It is one of the 

 rarest of British ferns. It bears the name of Cystopteris 

 montana. Montana is an adjective, formed from the 

 Latin rnons, " a mountain," and the fern is so named 

 because of its habitat. 



Another of the very rarest of our native ferns, to be 

 found only on the wet ledges of rocks in very elevated 

 regions, is the Alpine Woodsia. 



The sori of this fern are at first covered by a very 

 thin indusium, which latterly splits into hairlike seg- 

 ments, so that the spore capsules appear as if springing 

 from a cluster of hairs. There is only one native fern 

 of the genus Woodsia, easily recognized by the torn 

 indusia. It may be well to mention, however, that a 

 variety of it is regarded by some botanists as a distinct 

 species. This fern, Woodsia hyper bo rea by name, which 

 is from 2 to 4 inches in length, springs from a very 

 thickly-tufted rootstock. Its glossy leafstalks are clad 

 with rusty scales and jointed a little above their point 

 of connection with the rootstock. The leaves break off 



B.P. 57 8 



