Notes on the ferns of the Champlain Valley 



SIDNEY F. BLAKE 



Three years ago, during the summer of 1911, I spent 

 six weeks botanizing in the Champlain Valley of Ver- 

 mont, collecting not only pteridophytes, but phanero- 

 gams as well. Although records of the more important 

 species have already been published in Rhodora (XV. 

 158-163, 200-201 (1913) ;^ XVI. 38-41 (1914)), my 

 friend, Mr. Harold G. Rugg, has suggested that notes 

 on the fernworts collected might prove of interest to 

 readers of the Journal. In the following notes I have 

 accordingly included records of all the species collected, 

 rare or common. My first month, from July to mid- 

 August, was spent at Essex Junction, a railroad junction 

 near Burlington, of some local fame as the scene of fre- 

 quent railway accidents, and the rest of the time at 

 Swanton, a small town about four miles below the 

 Canadian border. Both towns are situated on large 

 sandy deltas formed in glacial and slightly post-glacial 

 times by the Winooski and Mississquoi Rivers, and 

 deposits of limestone or marble with their characteristic 

 species occur in both localities. 



A number of ferns, common enough at both places as 

 they are nearly everywhere in the East, may be dismissed 

 with a mere listing of their names. These are Adiantum 



pedatum, Dryapteris cristata, D. marginalis, D. spimi- 



losa, D. spinulosa var. intermedia, D. Thelypteris, As- 

 plenium filix-femina, A. Trichomanes, Cystopterisfragilis, 

 Onoclea sensibilis, 0. Struthiopteris, Polypodium vidgare 

 (collected at 4000 ft. on Mt. Mansfield), Polystickum 

 acrostichoides, Pteris aquilina, Woodsia ilrcnsis, Osmunda 

 Claytoniana, and O. regalis. Dryopteris Boottii, D. cris- 

 tata var. Clintoniano, and the splendid D. Goldiana were 

 found once or twice at both localities. On a rich wooded 

 hillside on Aldis Hill, St. Albans, the last two were 



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