VI FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE 

 VI AND USUALLY SIMILAR ; FRUIT-DOTS ROUND 



44. GOLDIE'S FERN 



Aspidium Goldianum (Dryopteris Goldieana) 



New Brunswick to North Carolina and Tennessee, in rich woods. 

 Two to more than four feet high, with stalks which are chaffy near 

 the base. 



Fronds. Broadly ovate, the early sterile ones much broader in 

 proportion and smaller, usually a foot or more wide, once-pinnate ; 

 pinna pinnatifid ; broadest in the middle (the distinction from Clin- 

 ton's Wood Fern), the divisions, about twenty pairs, oblong-linear, 

 slightly toothed ; fruit-dots very near the midvein ; indusium very 

 large, orbicular. 



In the golden twilight of the deeper woods this 

 stately plant unfurls its tall, broad, bright - green 

 fronds, studded on their backs with the round fruit- 

 dots which are so noticeable in this Aspidium, ad- 

 ding much to their attractiveness by the suggestion 

 of fertility. 



This plant ranks with the Osmundas and with the 

 Ostrich Fern in size and vigorous beauty. Its retir- 

 ing habits give it a reputation for rarity or at least 

 for exclusiveness. 



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