POLYPODIACEAE (FERN FAMILY) 



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Range: Eastern North America from Newfoundland to Florida 

 and westward to the Mississippi River and in some states west. 

 Habitat : Moist soil ; wet meadows, pastures, fields, and woods. 



Ferns are usually associated with woodlands and thickets, and, 

 though this one may be found in such places, it is equally well 

 suited when growing in open ground, provided the soil is not dry. 

 The plant frequents the society of the Field Horsetail and has a 

 bad name with horsemen and sheep-keepers because of such com- 

 pany. But those who have carefully investigated the matter say 

 that the fern is not poisonous, the less noticeable Horsetail being 

 responsible for the mischief gener- 

 ally attributed to it. (Fig. 2). 



The plant springs from a creep- 

 ing rootstock which is about a third 

 of an inch in thickness and grows 

 not far below the surface, branch- 

 ing often and producing new fronds 

 all summer until checked by frost, 

 to which it is very sensitive. It is 

 a rather coarse-looking plant, six 

 inches to three feet high, the whole 

 frond nearly triangular in outline 

 but divided into oblong, lance- 

 shaped, coarsely scalloped segments 

 at the end of a long stipe, or stalk. 

 The leaf is light green and withers 

 quickly when plucked. The fruit- 

 ing fronds are much shorter than 

 the sterile ones ; they are twice 

 pinnate, but the segments, or pin- 

 nules, are at first so tightly rolled as 

 to completely hide the sporangia and 

 look like rows of green berries at- 

 tached to the midrib ; later they turn 

 from green to brown, and remain 

 stiffly standing all winter, after the green sterile fronds are withered 

 and gone. Indeed, the fruiting fronds of two or three successive 



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