PRO! IP VI FE R T 1 LE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE 

 UKUUr AND USUALLY SIMILAR ; FRUIT-DOTS ROUND 



fronds are shorter and broader in proportion, and 

 not so easily identified. 



53. FRAGILE BLADDER FERN. COMMON BLADDER 



FERN 



Cystopteris fragilis 



A rock and wood fern, found from Newfoundland to Georgia. 

 Six to eighteen inches long, with slender and brittle stalks, green 

 except at the base. 



Fronds. Oblong-lanceolate, thin, twice to thrice-pinnate or pin- 

 natifid ; pinnce lance-ovate, irregularly cut into toothed segments 

 which at their base run along the midrib by a narrow margin ; fruit- 

 dots roundish, often abundant; indusium early withering and 

 exposing the sporangia, which finally appear naked. 



This plant may be ranked among the earliest ferns 

 of the year. In May or June, if we climb down to 

 the brook where the columbine flings out her bril- 

 liant, nodding blossoms, we find the delicate little 

 fronds, just uncurled, clinging to the steep, moist 

 rocks, or perhaps beyond, in the deeper woods, they 

 nestle among the spreading roots of some great for- 

 est tree. Their " fragile greenness" is very winning. 

 As the plant matures, attaining at times a height of 

 nearly two feet, it loses something of this first deli- 

 cate charm. By the end of July its fruit has ripened, 

 its spores are discharged, and the plant disappears. 

 Frequently, if not always, a new crop springs up in 

 August. We are enchanted to discover tender 

 young fronds making patches of fresh green in ev- 

 ery crevice of the rocks among which the stream 

 forces its precipitous way. Once more the woods 



are flavored with the essence of spring. In our 



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