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NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:6— Sept., 1920 



The Purple Cliff Brake or Winter Brake. This is a larger 

 species than the above having fronds from- four to twenty inches 

 long; these fronds are characterized by a peculiar bluish-green 

 color while the stipes are dark purplish-brown. This species grows 

 on rocks in limestone regions. 



The Lip Ferns. Cheilanthes 

 These are woolly little ferns that blanket their spores with the 

 folded over margins of their pinnules just as does the bracken. 

 There are four species in the United States all 

 growing on rocks. Three of them, the Woolly 

 Lip Fern, the Alabama Lip Fern and the Slender 

 or Fee's Lip Fern are found in the Mississippi 

 Valley especially in the South. 



Figure 1 shows the Hairy Lip Fern. Figure 

 2 shows a fruiting pinnule on the under side with 

 its edges folded over the spore cases. This is the 

 only common Lip Fern in the North. It grows 

 on cliffs from Connecticut to Minnesota and 

 southward; its fronds are from six to fifteen 

 inches long and both stem and pinnules are 

 covered with short bristly hairs. 



Tm H«irj--lij. I 



The Common Polypody. Polypodium 

 This cheery little fern loves to grow on shady ledges or upon 

 tree trunks but it does not like damp situ- 

 ations. Its frond is thick and evergreen and 

 the brown fruit dots on the lower side are 

 never blanketed at all. The polypody raises 

 her spore children without any indusiiim to 

 protect them. There is only one species 

 common in the North. In the South the gray 

 polypody decorates tree trunks most attrac- 

 tively. 



