HELPS FOR THE BEGINNER, 



I. — The Polypodies. 



IT frequently happens that even the fern books designed for 

 beginners, take up the subject at a point beyond the compre- 

 hension of those they are trying to help. One who has always 

 busied himself with flowering plants, where the identification is 

 principally concerned with the flower and fruit, is sure to have 

 some trouble in trying to discover the names of common ferns by 

 means of keys whose very terms are new and perhaps meaning- 

 less to him. Such words as spores, sori, sporangia, indusia, fruit- 

 dots and pinnae rise up to confuse him, and after a study of the 

 scientific description has served to make nothing certain but un- 

 certainty, he is quite likely to conclude that he cannot master the 

 subject alone; but, turning the page, a few lines of popular de- 

 scription catch his eye, and there he recognizes his plant. Such 

 occurrences are by no means rare. We may feel pretty sure of 

 our plant, but we can never be too sure. In the hope that some 

 of these notes of a more popular nature may assist the young 

 student, this series of articles is written. 



There are several species of polypody on the Pacific Coast, 

 but in the Northern and Eastern States we have but two. Of 

 these, one is so abundant as to be called the common polypod}' 

 (Polypodium vulgar e). It grows on almost every rocky outcrop 

 that one may chance to visit, and at any time of year may be 

 found, for it is an evergreen It frequently grows on the earth in 

 the vicinity of rocks, but it has a marked preference for the tops 

 and shelves of cliffs, often in quite exposed places. One may 

 know it by the thickish, smooth, green fronds, cut almost to the 

 midrib, the slender creeping rootstock, and the large round clus- 

 ters of spore-cases on the under side of the fronds. None of the 

 other ferns that frequent the same places have these character- 

 istics. 



The second species is the little gray polypody or " Resurrec- 

 tion fern " {P. incanum). This species does not get much farther 

 north than the Ohio river. It looks very much like our common 

 species, but need never be confused with it, for it has the under 

 side of the frond covered thickly with grayish, dark-centered 

 scales. It grows on rocks and the trunks of trees often in places 

 where the supply of moisture is very precarious, and has the curi- 

 ous faculty of curling up in dry weather, in a sort of suspended 

 animation, uncurling again when it rains. This gives it the name 

 of Resurrection fern. It is supposed that the scales with which 



