42 RATTLESNAKE FERN AND ADDER'S-TONGUE. 



the terrifying name of the rattlesnake fern (Botrychium 

 Virginianuiri). It is a woodland species but by no means 

 to be charged with harbouring the venomous serpent for 

 which it is named. It delights in dim moist hollows, 

 and is quite impatient of the sun, soon disappearing from 

 a locality when the protecting trees are removed. 



In southern New York, the single fronds of this species 

 begin to push up about the last week in April. Unlike 

 higher types of ferns, they are folded rather than coiled 

 in the bud and come out of the earth almost erect. 

 Many suppose that each plant has two fronds, a fertile 

 and sterile, but this is a mistake. There is but a single 

 frond divided into a fertile and sterile portion. The 

 sterile half expands soon after it appears above ground 

 but the fertile is most deliberate and requires fully a 

 month longer to mature. In June the spores are pro- 

 duced and then, having fulfilled its mission, the fruiting 

 part begins to wither. It often disappears by July, al- 

 though vestiges of it may be found on the frond all 

 summer. 



This species is often three feet high and when full grown 

 is a handsome plant. The sterile blade, borne some dis- 

 tance above the earth by the fleshy stipe, 

 spreads horizontally in a broad flat triangle, 

 and above it the fertile portion rises several 

 inches. The blade is usually described as ter- 

 nate, but it is easily seen that two of the 

 three divisions are really the enlarged lower 

 pair of pinnae. Calling these pinnae, the frond 

 is quadripinnate ; or tripinnate with pinnatifid 

 L pinnae below, and once or twice pinnate with 

 pinnatifid pinnae above. The segments are about ovate 

 in outline. The fertile part is two or three times pin- 



