164 The Feex Lover's Companion 



On moist, mossy, mostly calcareous rocks, northern 

 New England, [Mount Mansfield, Willoughby, and Bakers- 

 field Ledge, Vt., Gorham, X. H., also Ne\\-foujidland, New 

 York, and far to the northwest. Not very common. It 

 differs from the alpine species by the absence of scales 

 above the joint. As the name implies, the plant is smooth, 

 except for the chaffy scales at or near the rootstock, which 

 mark all the Woodsias, and manj' other ferns, and which 

 serve as a protective covering against sudden changes in 

 extremes of heat and cold. 



(5) Oregon Woodsia. Woodsia oregana 



Fronds two to ten inches high, smooth, bright green, 

 glandular beneath, narrowly lance-oblong, bipinnatifid. 

 Pinnte triangular-oblong, obtuse, pinnatifid. Segments 

 ovate or oblong, obtuse, crenate, the teeth or margin 

 nearly always reflexed. Indusium minute, concealed 

 beneath the sorus, divided into a few beaded hairs. 



Like the obtuse Woodsia this fern has no joint near the 

 base of the stipe, but is much smaller and has several 

 points of difference. Limestone cliffs, Gaspe Peninsula, 

 southern shore of Lake Superior, Colorado, Oregon to the 

 northwest. Its eastern limit is northern [Michigan. 



(6) Rocky Mouxtaix Woodsia. ]]^o6dsia scopulina 



Fronds six to fifteen inches long [smooth], lanceolate, 

 pinnatifid. Pinn;e triangular-ovate, the lowest pair short- 

 ened. L'nder surface of the whole frond hispidulous with 

 minute, white hairs and stalked glands. Indusium hidden 



