200 THE POLYPODIES. 
The Beech Fern. 
To find the beech fern (Phegopteris polypodioides) in its 
greatest luxuriance the collector must visit the cliffs and 
ravines where dripping ledges provide dwelling places 
to its liking. One soon comes to associate it mentally 
with the drip and splash of falling water, and the gurgle 
of small streams. 
The rootstock is long and cord-like with many branches 
and wanders extensively just beneath the surface. In 
spring, long before the fronds unfurl, the clusters of 
crosiers covered with small light-coloured scales just 
peeping above the earth are often noticeable along the 
rocks, in appearance suggesting the budding horns of 
the deer. The fronds are produced all summer and 
owing to the branching and interlacing of the rootstocks 
are usually found in dense clumps, filling every inch 
of the ledge on which they are rooted. When young 
there is a bend where stipe and blade join so that the 
soft, limp blades hang downward while unfolding like 
the wings of a newly hatched butterfly. 
Mature fronds are often eighteen inches long. The 
blades do not vary greatly in size but the stipe is long 
or short as necessity demands, being always of sufficient 
length to extend the blade out into the light. The stipes 
commonly grow nearly upright, but the blades make a 
sharp angle and bend gracefully outward, especially when 
growing in a niche in the rocks. In shape they are 
triangular, somewhat longer than broad and once pin- 
nate. The pinne are rather long, narrow and acute and 
cut nearly to the midrib into oblong, blunt segments. 
In the upper part of the frond, the pinne are decurrent 
