The Fern Lover's Companion 199 



ing its spores about a month earlier, in having its sterile 

 frond stalked, besides being a taller and fleshier plant. It 

 may also be noted that in the lance-leaved species the 

 midveins of the larger lobes are continuous, running to the 

 tip; whereas in the matricary fern the mid^'eins fork 

 repeatedly and are soon indistinguishable from the vein- 

 lets. The two are apt to grow near each other, with the 

 rattlesnake fern as a near neighbor. June. 



Note. In 1897 A. A. Eaton discovered certain Botry- 

 chia in a sphagnum swamp in New Hampshire, to which he 

 gave the specific name of Botrychium tenehrhsum. The 

 plants were very small, not averaging above two or three 

 inches high, with the sterile blade sessile or slightly stalked. 

 Many botanists prefer to place this fern as a variety of the 

 matricary, but others regard it as a form of Botrychium 

 simplex. Borders of maple swamps, Vermont, New 

 Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York. 



(5) Common Grape Fern 



Botrychium. obliquum. Botrychium ternatum, var. obRquum 



Botrychium dissectum, var. obliquum 



Rootstock short, its base including the buds of suc- 

 ceeding years. Fronds two to tweh'c inches or more high. 

 Leafy or sterile segment triangular, ternate, long-petioled, 

 springing from near the base of the plant, and spreading 

 horizontally. From the main leaf stock grow several pairs 

 of stalked pinnae, with the divisions ovate-oblong, acutish, 

 crenate-serrulate, obliquely cordate or subcordate. Fertile 

 segment taller, erect, about three times pinnate, maturing 

 its fruit in autumn. Occasionally two or three fertile 

 spikes grow on the same plant. In vernation the apex of 

 each segment is bent down with a slight curve inward. 



