82 ASPIDIUM FRAGRANS.— SWEET SHIELD-FERN. 
esting to him at all seasons, for a fertile plant will frequently fur- 
nish specimens “in fruit” during most of the summer season, 
and in some cases long after the wild woods have lost their 
autumn foliage, and present in the language of the poet Winter— 
“ Bare, ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang,” 
may the botanical inquirer find all he wants to know in the 
lingering fronds of some hardy fern. 
Our present species, Aspidium fragrans, is particularly rich in 
lessons, both as to its historical relationships and in the many 
points which are essentially its own. Until comparatively recent 
times it was supposed to be wholly an Old World fern. It has 
been long known to European botanists, and was described by 
Linnzeus now much over a century ago as Polypodium fragrans. 
It was first found in the United States by Dr. C. C. Parry, the 
botanist attached to Owen’s Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa 
and Minnesota in 1852. In the Report of this Survey, Dr. Parry 
says he found this fern on the Trap Rocks, near the Falls of St. 
Croix, and he remarks “the whole fern is beset with fragrant 
glandular hairs. It grows in dense tufts, in the shaded crevices 
of trap rocks, with the withered remains of several years’ growth 
still adhering. The fronds are of a deep greén color above, 
paler below, four to nine inches high. The aroma is permanent 
and agreeable. I am informed by Dr. Torrey that this species 
has never before been found within the limits of the United 
States, but has been obtained in British America and Kam- 
schatka, where it is used for making tea. In the locality here 
specified, it is quite abundant.” Since 1852 it has been found in 
many other parts of the Union bounding the Canadian territory, 
as for instance in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New 
York. New locations are occasionally yet found for it, and the 
possibility of finding it where it has never been met with before 
gives zest to the plant collector who may be on botanical excur- 
sions through the Northern States. The natural situation where 
it may be found is well suggested in the extract from Dr. 
