98 The Fekx Lover's Companion 



"But not hy Imrue in wood or dale 

 Grows anything so fair 

 As the pahny crest of enierahl pak^ 

 Of the lady fern when the sunheams turn 

 To gold her delicate hair."' 



Referring, perlia])s. to the fair colors of the unfolding 

 crosiers re^'ealing stijtes of a clear wine color in striking 

 contrast with the delicate green of the foliage. 



In itlentifying this fern the no'S'ice should hear in mind 

 the tendency of the curved sori of youth to become 

 straightened and even confluent with age, although such 

 changes are rather unreliahle. Possilily the suggestion 

 of tlie ])oetic Da\-enport may be helpful to some that 

 there is "An indefinable charm about the various forms of 

 the lady fern, which soon enables one to know it from its 

 ])eculiarly graceful motion by merely gently swaying a 

 fronil in tlie hand." Spores ripen in August. 



The lady fern is ^ ery easy to cultivate and when once 

 established is apt to crowd aside its neighbors. 



(3) SiLVEKY SPLEE^•^VOKT. AtHYEIU:M ACKOSTICnOIDES 



AspFcniiim acrusfichoidcs. .Isplcnium thch/plcrbides 



Fronds two to four feet tall, pinnate, tapering both 

 ways from the middle. Pinna' deeply ])innatifld, linear- 

 lanceolate, acuminate. Lofies olilong, obtuse, minutely 

 toothed, each bearing two rows of oblong or linear fruit- 

 dots. Indusimn sih'ery when young. 



The sterile fronds come uj) first and the taller, fertile 

 ones do not appear until late in June. Where there are 

 no fruit-dots tlie hairs on the ujjper surface of the fronds 

 T\-ill help to distinguish it from specimens of the Marsh 



