GROUP V 



FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND SIMILAR; 

 SPORANGIA IN LINEAR OR OBLONG FRUIT-DOTS 



24. LADY FERN 



Asplenium Filix-faemina 



A wood and roadside fern, growing in all parts of the country 

 and presenting many varying forms. One to three feet high, 

 with tufted, straw-colored, reddish, or brownish stalks. 



Fronds. — Broadly lance-shaped, tapering toward the apex, twice- 

 pinnate ; pinnce lance-shaped ; pinnules oblong-lanceolate, toothed 

 or incised ; fruit-dots short, curved ; indusium delicate, curved, 

 sometimes shaped like a horseshoe. 



The Lady Fern is found in all parts of the coun- 

 try. Sometimes it forms a part of the tangle of wild, 

 graceful things which grow close to the roadside 

 fence. Again, in company with the Silvery Spleen- 

 wort, the Evergreen Wood Fern and the Spinulose 

 Shield Fern, forming perhaps a background for 

 the brilliant scarlet clusters of the wild bergamot, 

 it fringes the banks of some amber-colored brook 

 which surprises us with its swift, noiseless flow as 

 we stroll through the woods. 



The earliest fronds uncurl in May. In June the 



