GENERA AND SPECIES. 103 
PLaTE XXXVIII. 
CYSTOPTERIS FRAGILIS. Bernhardi. 
COMMON BLADDER FERN. 
This is one of the earliest of our native ferns to welcome 
the coming spring. It is a fragile, delicate little plant, send- 
ing up its scroll-like fronds before the snow has scarcely 
left the ground. In our Kentucky woods its first compan- 
ions are the Spring Beauty, the Hepatica, and the Violets. 
Its usual habitat is the crevices of damp and dripping 
rocks, where the soil is deep and rich; and it is found 
in great luxuriance in deeply-shaded woods, with fronds 
quite two feet in height, strong and erect, profusely covered 
with fruit-dots. In such places the scaly root-stock, ten or 
twelve inches long, seems to spread out in every direction; 
when confined to the rocks, the root-stock is more tufted, 
the fronds broader and not so high. From the great num- 
ber of seedlings found during all the summer months, the 
spores would seem to germinate readily. These tiny seed- 
lings are very convenient for examination, showing the 
structure and venation much better than the older plants. 
The pinnz of the young fronds are more ovate and closer 
together than in those farther developed. At first the plant 
is of a light green color, soft and smooth, growing coarser 
as it grows older, with the addition of a few scattered chaffy 
scales. 
It is represented in the Plate of natural size, with its 
tufted root and fronds in various stages of growth. The 
full-grown frond is bent over so as to show the under side. 
It is easily cultivated wherever a good rich soil is sup- 
plied, being easily raised in the Wardian case, in mounds, 
or on rock-work. 
