A PRECOCIOUS CYSTOPTERIS. 



By G. A. Woolson. 



Those who know the bladder ferns are familiar with 

 the curious bulblets on the under side of the fertile fronds 

 of Cystopteris bulbifera. That these are composed of 

 fleshy scales joined at the base, is understood; also, that 

 after they fall to the ground young plants develop with 

 surprising rapidity, especially if the soil be moist. But 

 that Cystopteris bulbifera sometimes covers the step be- 

 tween proliferous buds that fall," and viviparous plants 

 which develop upon the fronds after the fashion of cer- 

 tain exotics, is still an apparently unrecorded fact. 



The photo given illustrates this possibility of the species 

 and the precocity of the Vermont specimen which has 

 so successfully adopted foreign methods. This feat was 

 accomplished in a fern-dish on my dining-table. and so 

 unobservant are we of that which is practically under 

 our noses, that the young fronds were one or two inches 

 long before I saw them. The dish was probably filled in 

 May with plants from the grounds about the house and 

 received indifferent care. I noticed late in July that the 

 moss was getting shabby and took it out and replaced it, 

 also breaking off withered fronds. I simply noticed that 

 this now distinguished frond was strong and fresh-look- 

 ing, consequently left it, knowing that others would 

 develop and fill in as needed. About a month later I 

 happened to rest my eves upon the ferns from a different 

 angle, and — the coffee and chops cooled off before I re- 

 covered from the surprise of a new departure among the 

 natives. Ferns greet me at every turn in my house and 

 Cystopteris by the yard grows indoors every summer 

 under similar conditions, and no such " stunts " were 

 ever before attempted. The fern-dish was not exposed 

 to strong sunshine, standing perhaps six feet from an 

 east window, receiving only slanting rays in the morn- 

 ing. Whether the excessive moisture of the season 

 (1905), was an indirect factor in this unusual develop- 



99 



