WHEN AND WHERE TO FIND FERNS 



Their greenness is so much the more interesting, 

 because so many have already fallen, and we know 

 that the first severe frost will cut off them too. In 

 the summer greenness is cheap, now it is a thing 

 comparatively rare, and is the emblem of life to us." 



Oddly enough, with the first approach of winter 

 the vigorous-looking Brake turns brown and quickly 

 withers, usually without passing through any inter- 

 mediate gradations of yellow. 



In November we notice chiefly the evergreen 

 ferns. The great round fruit-dots of the Polypody 

 show distinctly through the fronds as they stand 

 erect in the sunlight. A sober green, looking as 

 though it were warranted fast, is the winter dress 

 of the Evergreen Wood Fern. The Christmas Fern, 

 bright and glossy, reminds one that the holiday 

 season is not distant. These three plants are espe- 

 cially conspicuous in our late autumn woods. Their 

 brave and cheerful endurance is always a delight. 

 Later in the season the curled pinnae of the Poly- 

 pody seem to be making the best of cold weather. 

 The fronds of the Christmas Fern and the Evergreen 

 Wood Fern, still fresh and green, lie prostrate on 

 the ground, their weakened stems apparently unable 

 to support them erect, but undoubtedly in this posi- 

 tion they are the better protected from the storm 

 and stress of winter. 



Many other ferns are more or less evergreen, but 

 perhaps none are so important to our fall rambles 

 as this sturdy group. Several of the Rock Spleen- 

 worts are evergreen, but their ordinarily diminutive 



26 



