The Fern Lover's Companion 181 



The fronds have a lihiish-green tint; they mature their 

 spores about the last of May. The sterile fronds may be 

 distinguished from those of the cinnamon fern by not 

 having retained, like those, a tuft of wool at the base of 

 each pinna. Besides, in Clayton's fern the fronds are 

 broader, blunter and thinner in texture, and the segments 

 more rounded; the fronds are also more inclined to curve 

 outwards. They turn yellow in the fall, at times "flood- 

 ing the woods with golden light," l)ut soon smitten l)y the 

 early frosts they wither and disappear. The interrupted 

 fern is rather common in damp, rocky woods and jiastures; 



Interrupted Fern witli the Fertile Pinnules Spread Open 



