50 FERNS OF KENTUCKY. 
the under side, which is quite woolly. It has a tufted root, 
clothed- with a profusion of long rusty hairs. The dark 
brown stipe is also hairy. The tri-pinnate character of 
the fern is not perceptible at first, on account of the nu- 
merous hairs beneath, concealing the delicate segments 
and lobes of the pinnz. When the plant, however, is 
mounted on white paper and held up between the ob- 
server and the light, the beautiful tri-pinnate outline of the 
fronds becomes at once apparent. It is difficult to repro- 
duce its peculiar woolly texture in an etching, so that it 
may be readily distinguished from the C. vestita; but its 
specific characters are sufficiently marked to enable almost 
any one to identify it. 
