THE WOOD FERNS. 



147 



The Fragrant Fern. 



The fragrant fern (Aspidium fragrans) cannot be 

 mistaken for any of its relatives, but there are many 

 collectors who would gladly mistake it for anything, if 

 by so doing, they might add it to their collections. It 



is a rare and hardy little 

 species, growing in clefts in 

 the face of precipices in the 

 northern parts of our country 

 and yields only to the en- 

 during and persistent fern hunter. 

 The f ro n d s are usually not 

 more than eight inches long and 

 grow in circular tufts. They are 

 narrowly lanceolate and twice 

 pinnate, the oblong pinnules being 

 deeply toothed. The short stipes 

 that bear them are covered more 

 or less thickly with chaffy brown 

 scales. Both sides of the frond are glandu- 

 lar, the under surface most so. The sori 

 are borne on the narrow pinnules and are 

 covered with unusually large membrana- 

 ceous indusia. These often entirely conceal 

 the whole under surface of the frond. 



A collector who has had 

 the pleasure of finding this 

 fern in a new station, thus 



FRAGRANT FERN. WfiteS f !t !l1 the ffr Bul ~ 



Aspidium fragrans. letin. " There COuld be ttO 



possible question of its identity, this time. It was way 

 up on the bare dry face of the cliff, far out of reach ex- 



