76 FERNS AND THEIR ALLIES 



pairs of pinnules with a large terminal one. 

 The pinnules are occasionally eared. There are 

 chaffy hairs on the midribs and on the wiry, 

 dark purple stipe and rachis. 



The fronds are clustered, leathery in texture, 

 of a grayish or blue-green color, and they may 

 remain evergreen in southern New England. 

 They are from six inches to one and one half 

 feet long, growing preferably on limestone cliffs 

 and around inaccessible places in general. 



This fern can be termed rare, at least in 

 northern New England. It is sometimes called 

 the Winter 15rake. 



The fertile fronds are narrower and taller 

 than the sterile ones, also fewer in number. 

 The fruit is borne in an apparently continuous 

 row near the margins of -the pinnules, which 

 are incurved or refle.xed to form a general indu- 

 sium. The fruit is bright brown when mature 

 in July and August. 



SLENDER CLIFF BRAKE. 



Pellaa gracilis (^P. Stelleri). 



Frond smooth and pinnate, but with few pin- 

 nae ; the lower ones short-stalked and cut into 

 from three to five broad, blunt, crenate or incised 

 pinnules. The stipe is straw-colored or brown- 

 ish, iDolished, and slightly chaffy at the base. 



This is a very delicate, slender, and rare little 



