186 THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. 
ing end but soon form a nearly circular clump two or 
three feet high. The stout young crosiers are covered 
with large brown scales which seldom persist until 
the fronds mature. The stipe and rachis are strewn 
with slender chaff and the upper surface of the fronds is 
often covered with longish hairs that give it a peculiarly 
velvety effect when growing. It is not very noticeable 
SILVERY SPLEENWORT. Athyrium thelypterotdes. 
in herbarium specimens, and the books are silent upon 
the subject, although in the field one can often identify 
the species by this single feature. 
The blade is about oblong, tapering both ways from 
the middle, but is never so greatly reduced below as is 
that of the New York fern. It is thin and delicate, with 
oblong, acuminate pinne cut nearly to the midrib into 
short, close, rounded, obscurely serrate lobes. When 
the fronds are exposed to the sun, the blades become 
thicker, narrower, more erect and yellow-green in colour. 
Curiously enough, although they do not grow in full 
sunlight from choice, they are most fruitful in such situa- 
tions. The stipe is about one third the length of the 
frond. 
