TROUP VI FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE 

 UKUUr VI AND USUALLY SIMILAR ; FRUIT-DOTS ROUND 



40. SPINULOSE WOOD FERN 

 Aspidium spinulosum (Dryopteris spinulosd) 



Newfoundland to Kentucky. The common European type, rare 

 in North America. One to two and a half feet high, with stalks 

 having a few pale-brown deciduous scales. 



Fronds. — Lance-ovate, twice-pinnate ;/«««<? oblique to the ra- 

 chis, elongated-triangular, the lower ones broadly triangular ; pin- 

 nules oblique to the midrib, connected by a narrow wing, cut into 

 thorny-toothed segments ; fruit-dots round ; indusium smooth, 

 without marginal glands, soon withering. 



To my knowledge I have only seen this fern in the 

 herbarium, it j^ing rare in this country. It is found, 

 I have been told, chiefly toward the tops of moun- 

 tains. Its pinnae are noticeably ascending. 



Var. intermedium (D. spinulosa intermedia) 



Labrador to North Carolina, in woods almost everywhere. 

 Usually large, with somewhat chaffy stalks, having brown, dark- 

 centred scales. 



Fronds. — Oblong-ovate, 2-3 pinnate -tpinnce oblong- lance-shaped, 

 spreading, rather distant, the lowest unequally triangular, the pin- 

 nules on the lower side longer than those on the upper side ; pin- 

 nules ovate-oblong, spreading, with oblong lobes thorny-toothed 

 at the apex ; fruit-dots round ; indusium delicate, beset with tiny 

 stalked glands . 



This is the form of the species that abounds in 

 our woods. Perhaps no one plant does more for 

 their beauty than this stately fern, whose rich-green, 

 outward-curving fronds spring in circles from fall- 

 en trees and decaying stumps as well as from the 

 ground. 



The plant varies greatly in height, breadth, and 

 166 



