GROUP III 



FERTILE FRONDS UNIFORMLY SOMEWHAT LEAF-LIKE, 

 YET- DIFFERING NOTICEABLY FROM STERILE FRONDS 



19. NET-VEINED CHAIN FERN 



Woodvoardia angustifolia 

 Swampy places from Maine to Florida, in wet woods near the coast. 



Sterile fronds. Twelve to eighteen inches high, pinnatifid with 

 minutely toothed divisions united by a broad wing. 



Fertile fronds. Taller than the sterile, once-pinnate ; pinna 

 much contracted ; fruit-dots in a single row each side of the sec- 

 ondary midribs ; indusium fixed by its outer margin, opening on 

 the side next the midrib. 



The Woodwardias are associated in my mind 

 with sea-air, pine-trees, and the flat, sandy country 

 near Buzzard's Bay, Mass. Both 

 species were met with in one walk 

 not far from the shore. 



A little stream, scarcely 

 more than a ditch, divided 

 an open, sunny meadow 

 from a bit of evergreen 

 wood, and on the steep 

 banks of this runlet grew the bright fronds 

 of Woodwardia angustifolia, giving at first 

 glance somewhat the impression of Ono- 

 clea sensibilis. The fronds of both are de- 

 scribed as pinnatifid, and in this Wood- 

 wardia we find the divisions minutely 

 toothed (a), giving them a rough outline 

 which is wanting in Onoclea sensibilis. 

 These are the sterile fronds. Among them 

 and taller than they are the fertile fronds 

 with very narrow divisions, covered on the lower 

 side with the chains of fruit-dots (). 



102 



