74 The Ferx Lover's Co:\ipaxiox 



parallel to and near the midribs. Indnsium fixed by its 

 outer margin to a veinlet and opening on the inner side. 

 In onr section there are t'n-o species. (Named for Thomas 

 J. Woodward, an English botanist.) 



(1) The (%x-\imox Chaix Fehx. Woodtrardia rirginica 



Sterile and fertile fronds similar in outline, two to four 

 feet high, once pinnate, the pinna? deejily incised with 

 oblong segments. Fruit-dots olilong in chain-like rows 

 along the midrib both of the pinna? and the lobes, con- 

 fluent when ripe, ^'eins forming narrow rows of net -like 

 spaces (areoles) beneath the fruit-dots, thence free to the 

 margin. The spores ripen in July. 



The sterile fronds resemble those of the cinnamon fern, 

 but the latter grow in crowns, with a single frond in the 

 center, while the fronds of the chain fern rise singly from 

 the creeping rootstock, which sends them up at intervals 

 all summer. The sori are borne on the backs of fertile 

 fronds. There are usually more sterile than fertile blades, 

 especially in dense shade. We ha^'e waded re]ieatedly 

 through a miry swamp in ^lelrose, Mass., where the wild 

 calla flourishes along with the blueberry and other swamp 

 bushes, and have found the chain fern in several shaded 

 spots, but every frond was sterile. It is said that when 

 exposed to the sun it always faces the south. Swamps, 

 Maine to Florida, especially along the Atlantic Coast, and 

 often in coni])any with the narr(.)\\'-lea^-ed si^ecies. 



