CHAPTER XV 



MARGINAL SHIELD FERN 



Dryopteris marginalis. 



Rootsiock caudiciform, stout, densely chaffy: scales large, 

 light golden-brown or brown or rust-colored, lance-linear, acu- 

 minate, entire or near apex slightly ciliate-toothed, sometimes 

 appearing articulated from a transverse contraction: leaves in a 

 crovm: roots springing from rootstock or junctures of rootstock 

 and petioles, singly or by twos. 



Leaves ascending, six to thirty-eight inches long, two to nine- 

 teen inches broad, prostrated in autumn, gradually withering more 

 or less during winter. 



Petioles shorter than blades; at base dark or reddish-brown, 

 sometimes tinged with plum color, turgid; above more slender, 

 pale-green or reddish-brown, stramineous when dried, furrowed 

 on face, chaffy: scales thickly clothing base of petiole, those 

 above fewer, light golden-blown or shining rust-colored, large 

 and small mixed, lanceolate to Hnear, acuminate, subentire or 

 ciliate-toothed, sometimes contracted Uke those of rootstock: 

 fibrovascular bundles five to nine in base, five in apex, of petiole, 

 roundish-strap-shaped; the two anterior largest, furrowed on 

 sides or roundish-wedge-shaped in section. 



Blades ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, bipinnate or sub- 



