MARSH FERN 



Aspidium tne/y^tert's (L-) bv/. 



LEAVES lanceolate, scarcely narrower at tke base than 

 at tke middle, pinnate, sligKtly Kairy beneath, tbe fertile 

 fronds taller and narrower than the sterile. Pinnae numer- 

 ous, oblong, pointed, set nearly at right angles with the stem, 

 often curled, divided nearly or quite to the midrib into nu- 

 merous, short oblong segments which appear quite pointed in 

 fertile leaves by the recurving of the edges. Son numerous, 

 in a double row on each segment, small, with minute kidney- 

 shaped indusia, which soon wither, the sporangia then be- 

 coming confluent and nearly covering the under fide of the 

 pinnae. Stems straw-colored, very long, especially in the 

 fertile leaves, grow^ing from a slender creeping rootstock. 

 Leaves sometimes two feet long, produced all summer, the 

 fertile ones not appearing until mid-summer. 



The Aspidiums, or shield ferns, the latter name an allu- 

 sion to the shape of the indusium, constitute a large genus, 

 which is represented by five species in the Dells. 1 he marsn 

 fern, unlike the others, is found in Avet ground, growing and 

 fruiting most abundantly in the sun. In the shace the leaves 

 are larger and of a finer texture. It may be found in the 

 marshes along the streams running out of some of the ravines. 



