FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE 

 UKUUf VI AND USUALLY SIMILAR ; FRUIT-DOTS ROUND 



40. SPINULOSE WOOD FERN 



Aspidium spinulosum (Dryopteris spinuhsa) 



Newfoundland to Kentucky. The common European type, rare 

 in North America. One to two and a half feet high, with stalks 

 having a few pale-brown deciduous scales. 



Fronds. Lance-ovate, twice-pinnate ; pinna oblique to the ra- 

 chis, elongated-triangular, the lower ones broadly triangular ; pin- 

 nules oblique to the midrib, connected by a narrow wing ; cut into 

 thorny-toothed segments ; fruit-dots round ; indusium smooth, 

 without marginal glands, soon withering. 



To my knowledge I have only seen this fern in the 

 herbarium, h ^eing rare in this country. It is found, 

 I have been told, chiefly toward the tops of moun- 

 tains. Its pinnae are noticeably ascending. 



Var. intermedium (D. spinulosa intermedia) 



Labrador to North Carolina, in woods almost everywhere. 

 Usually large, with somewhat chaffy stalks, having brown, dark- 

 centred scales. 



Fronds. Oblong-ovate, 2-3 pinnate ; pinna oblong-lance-shaped, 

 spreading, rather distant, the lowest unequally triangular, the pin- 

 nules on the lower side longer than those on the upper side ; pin- 

 nules ovate-oblong, spreading, with oblong lobes thorny-toothed 

 at the apex ; fruit-dots round ; indusium delicate, beset with tiny 

 stalked glands. 



This is the form of the species that abounds in 

 our woods. Perhaps no one plant does more for 

 their beauty than this stately fern, whose rich-green, 

 outward-curving fronds spring in circles from fall- 

 en trees and decaying stumps as well as from the 

 ground. 



The plant varies greatly in height, breadth, and 



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