200 THE POLYPODIES. 



The Beech Fern. 



To find the beech fern (Phegopteris polypodioides) in its 

 greatest luxuriance the collector must visit the cliffs and 

 ravines where dripping ledges provide dwelling places 

 to its liking. One soon comes to associate it mentally 

 with the drip and splash of falling water, and the gurgle 

 of small streams. 



The rootstock is long and cord-like with many branches 

 and wanders extensively just beneath the surface. In 

 spring, long before the fronds unfurl, the clusters of 

 crosiers covered with small light-coloured scales just 

 peeping above the earth are often noticeable along the 

 rocks, in appearance suggesting the budding horns of 

 the deer. The fronds are produced all summer and 

 owing to the branching and interlacing of the rootstocks 

 are usually found in dense clumps, filling every inch 

 of the ledge on which they are rooted. When young 

 there is a bend where stipe and blade join so that the 

 soft, limp blades hang downward while unfolding like 

 the wings of a newly hatched butterfly. 



Mature fronds are often eighteen inches long. The 

 blades do not vary greatly in size but the stipe is long 

 or short as necessity demands, being always of sufficient 

 length to extend the blade out into the light. The stipes 

 commonly grow nearly upright, but the blades make a 

 sharp angle and bend gracefully outward, especially when 

 growing in a niche in the rocks. In shape they are 

 triangular, somewhat longer than broad and once pin- 

 nate. The pinnae are rather long, narrow and acute and 

 cut nearly to the midrib into oblong, blunt segments. 

 In the upper part of the frond, the pinnae are decurrent 



