84 ASriDIUM FRAGRANS. SWEET SHIELD-FERN. 



scented. Planted in a select position it will do very well 

 indeed." 



The tea made from the leaves is referred to by vi rious authors 

 as very agreeable, and Professor Eaton says some writers have 

 compared the fragrance of the plant to that of raspberries. 



Our space will not permit of an extended analysis ot its more 

 purely botanical points of interest. From Polypodu.,ii fragrans 

 it was made Aspidhini fi-agraus by Swartz in 1771 , and this is 

 generally followed by American authors, though it will be found 

 as Lastrcca fragrans in most English works. Various authors 

 speak of it as A^cphroduuu, or PolysticJmnt. It varies much in 

 the forms and characters of its fronds, as indeed we must pre- 

 pare ourselves to expect with most species of ferns. hi 

 specimens before us from Alaska collected by W. W. Harrington 

 on Ball's exploring expedition of 1871 and 1872, the main 

 rachis and those of the divisions of the frond are slender and 

 hair-like, while Wisconsin specimens of Hale and Lapham have a 

 very coarse and heavy look. Our illustration from a specimen 

 growing under the care of Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the Arnold 

 Arboretum, Mass., shows a fair average form. 



Exri.ANATiONS OF THE Platr. — I. A plant divested of its old nest-like leaves. 2. A pinnule 

 very much enlarged. 3. Portion of the under side of a pinnule, showing the remark- 

 ably scaly rachis. 4. A lolie very much enlarged, showing the iudusium as well charac- 

 terized in Dr. Gray's description, and also the resinous dots. 



