THE BOULDER FERN. 



By Adella Prescott. 

 My acquaintance with the boulder or hay-scented 

 fern began when as a child I often crossed a rough, 

 hilly pasture to the bit of woodland beyond. In this 

 pasture every stump and boulder was surrounded by 

 its pointed fronds. I called it "the fragrant fern" be- 

 cause of its delightful odor, not knowing that the true 

 fragrant fern is a rare find far beyond the reach of 

 childish hands, and often carried home broken and 

 drooping handfuls to lay in my doll's trunk or even 

 among my own clothing in default of other perfume. 

 Years later, in another locality, I found it growing on 

 a sandy hillside in deep shade holding its dwarfed 

 fronds stiffly erect as if to make the best of trying 

 circumstances, and still later I found it growing in 

 deep rich soil with long, exquisite fronds gracefully 

 recurved enjoying to the full the luxury of its sur- 

 roundings. 



Xo fern with which I am familiar is so much influ- 

 enced in its attitude or "habit" by its surroundings 

 as this; but wherever it grows, whether on the open, 

 rocky hillside or in the rich leafmold of deep woods, 

 it retains its beautiful yellow-green color and the fine 

 cutting which makes the name lace-fern quite as ap- 

 propriate as either of its others. 



At its best it is fully three feet high, with fronds 

 perhaps ten inches broad. It has a creeping rootstock 

 which branches at intervals so the plants soon form 

 dense, tangled clumps. The dark brown stipes are 

 about half the length of the frond and the blade is 

 twice pinnate with lobed pinnules and the lobes are also 

 toothed, giving it an appearance of lightness and grace 

 not exceeded by any of our other ferns. There is lit- 



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