no ASPIDIUM 



BOOTT'S SHIELD FERN: 



Aspidium Boottii. 

 (Nephrodium; Dryopteris.) 



Fronds quite erect, 1 to 2^/2 feet tall, long lance- 

 shaped in outline, somewhat narrowed at the base; 

 fertile fronds taller than the sterile, twice pinnate 

 below, a feature by which it may be distinguished 

 from the crested ferns; pinnae horizontal as in the 

 crested ferns, the lower somewhat triangular, the 

 upper longer and narrower; pinnules spiny- 

 toothed, the lower pinnatifid; scales on stipe pale 

 brown. 



Fruit dots borne in a double row on the pin- 

 nules; indusium minutely glandular. 



Boott's shield fern seems to stand half way be- 

 tween A. spinulosum, var. intermedium and A. 

 cristatum, and is thought by many to be a hybrid 

 between the two. The cutting is like the former, 

 while in shape it resembles the latter; apparently 

 variable. 



Found in swampy woods in Canada and the 

 northeastern part of the United States. 



NOTES. 



