I 3 8 THE WOOD FERNS. 



greatly when removed from their natural surroundings. 

 Tried by any of these standards, Goldie's fern (Aspidium 

 Goldieanum) will scarcely be found wanting. It is a 

 magnificent species, the tallest of the wood ferns, and 

 almost equalling the Osmundas in size. 



The fronds are ovate or lanceolate in outline, often 

 four feet high and more than a foot wide and grow 

 from a creeping horizontal rootstock as thick as one's 

 thumb. The stipes of the young crosiers are covered 

 with large pale-brown scales that near the base shade 

 into a deeper tint. The fronds are nearly twice pinnate, 

 the stalked lanceolate acuminate pinnae being cut nearly 

 to the midrib into long, obtuse, slightly serrate, falcate 

 pinnules. The texture is thin but firm and the colour a 

 peculiar deep blue-green shade, lighter beneath. In 

 colour and cutting of the fronds, this is much like the mar- 

 ginal shield fern, and small forms may sometimes be con- 

 fused with it, but the pinnae are not so deeply lobed 

 and the sori are never on the margin as in that species. 

 The fertile fronds are like the sterile and are well fruited 

 by the middle of June. The sori are rather large and 

 borne in a row on each side of the mid-vein and near to it. 



Goldie's fern is found from Canada to North Carolina, 

 Tennessee and Minnesota. It delights in deep moist 

 woodlands at medium elevations where there is not much 



A FRUITING PINNA. 



