6 FLORA OF WORCESTER COUNTY. 



"Dick also continued his search for ferns. He often wandered 

 along the foot of Dunnet Head, when the tide was out, and climbed 

 up the rocks into some shady nook where the ferns grew. They did 

 not grow on the eastern side of the cliffs, but on the west, where the 

 Gulf Stream washes along the headland. Sometimes he descended 

 the western cliffs, where a fall of the red sandstone had taken place, 

 and there he found the ferns of which he had come in search. It was 

 a glorious day for him when he found the Royal Fern Osmunda 

 regalis growing there in its native beauty. ' I can yet recollect,' 

 he says, 'how happy I was when I found the first Osmunda. I was 

 wearied, and sore, and sick, and nearly tired of this world and all 

 that's in it, when I caught sight of that glorious Fern, large, radiant, 

 and flourishing, among the reft sandstone cliffs of Dunnet Head. 

 What a beauty! Almost approaching to the size of a tree fern!'" 



In Worcester County it is rarely found more than five feet in 

 height; oftener two or three feet. 



OPHIOGLOSSACE.E (ADDER'S TONGUE FAMILY). 



Ophioglossum (Tourn.) L. Adder's Tongue, 

 vulgatum L. 



Worcester; Spencer, Miss A. E. Tucker. 

 Botrychium Sw. Moonwort. 



lanceolatum (Gmel.) Angstroem, var. angustisegmen- 



tum Pease and Moore. 

 Princeton. W. W. B. and J. F. C. 

 ramosum (Roth) Aschers. 



Princeton. W. W. B. and J. F. C. 



obliquum Muhl. Pastures mostly. 



obliquum, var. dissectum. Often with the species. 



ternatum (Thun.) Sw, var. intermedium D. C. Eaton. 



In pastures and open woods, 

 virginianum (L.) Sw. Rattlesnake Fern. 



Common, in rich woods. 



