THE FERN PAEADISE. 



2. 



THE ALPINE WOODSIA. 



Woodsia alpina. 



PLATE 5, FJG. 2. 



\LPINA is a sort of diminutive likeness of 

 Ilvensis. Narrow, blunt-pointed fronds, 

 shorter and narrower than those of 

 Ilvensis. From a tufted crown these little fronds 

 are thrown up, jointed just a little more than 

 half an inch from the ground. The leaflets along 

 the rachis are somewhat shorter and blunter than 

 those of Ilvensis, are not so much notched, and 

 are placed on each side in alternation. But they 

 get smaller towards the top of the frond, by a 

 somewhat slow process of gradation, finally blend- 

 ing, however, at its extreme point. The scales 

 and shining hairs at the backs of the leaflets are 

 not quite so thickly scattered as in the case of 

 the Oblong Woodsia. But the spore clusters are 

 often crowded. 



Both the Oblong and the Alpine Woodsia grow 



334 



