A Crested Form of the Lady Fern 
L. 8. HOPKINS 
In the summer of 1916, while on a field trip near 
Windham, Portage County, this state, I found a crested 
form of the Lady Fern. The form was new to me and 
sufficiently beautiful to make a rather striking appear- 
ance. I lifted the plant and brought it home. It was 
first given a place with several other ferns in a small 
bit of native woods on the college campus. 
Although assurance had been given that the ferns 
were in no danger and would not be disturbed during 
the construction of a new dormitory nearby, the work- 
men buried the entire bed under logs, scrap lumber, 
and rubbish to the depth of some six or eight feet before 
their plight was discovered. After half a day of very 
strenuous labor on my part, which was a source of 
considerable amusement to those who had been guilty 
of the carelessness, the roots of perhaps half of the ferns, 
all of which were the very rarest species known to the 
state, were recovered and transferred to a hastily pre- 
pared fern-bed by the side of the house in which I am 
now living. 
The crested Lady Fern was one of those which was 
rescued. It took kindly to its new home and has be- 
come more cristate each year until it is now a plant of 
real beauty. 
Dr. Butterst has shown that there are two species 
of Lady Ferns instead of one in the eastern half of the 
United States, neither of which is identical with Athyrium 
fiz-foemina (L.) Roth, of Europe. He concludes further 
that Athyrium asplenioides (Michx.) Desv. is prevailingly 
southern in its distribution, while Athyrium angustum 
(Willd.) Presl is prevailingly northern in its distribution. 
‘Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. 
Butters, F. K. Rhodora 19: 189-207, pl. 123. Sept., 1917. 
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