86 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. X, No. 4, 
A LIST OF THE FERNS OF MAHONING COUNTY WITH 
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MILL CREEK PARK. 
Earnest W. Vickers. 
Lying toward the north-eastern corner of the state and 
belonging to a group known as the Highland Counties of Ohio, 
Mahoning presents variations of soil and surface which find 
natural expression in its flora. 
The erosions of the Mahoning River which flows up the west 
side of the County and again down across the north-east corner, 
as well as numerous smaller streams have left steep banks, glens, 
ledges and cliffs and in the case of Mill Creek — which gives the 
park its name — at Lautermain Falls, near Youngstown, a gorge 
has been cut seventy-three feet in depth. 
It is in these places that the rock loving ferns find congenial 
habitat. There are rich wet woods — remnants of noble forests — 
where the sylvan groups are well represented; while swamps of 
greater or less area are scattered over the county where ferns of 
the marsh or bog flourish. 
In its remarkably varied character in such small compass, 
Mill Creek Park represents the whole county so faithfully that 
the botanist may expect, and without disappointment, to find 
therein almost a complete living index to the fern flora of 
Mahoning County. 
The ferns listed below have been verified by Prof. J. H. 
Schaffner and are represented by specimens deposited in the 
State Herbarium at Columbus, Ohio. 
Polypodium vulgare L. Common Polypody. Commonest on 
rocks and ledges, its natural home, but also found on stumps 
and logs. 
Phegopteris polypodioides Fee. Long Beech Fern. Appears to 
be well distributed growing on high banks and on sandstone 
ledges, not so abundant as the next species which is frequently 
found growing with it. Abundant in Mill Creek Park and along 
the Mahoning River in Berlin Township. 
Phegopteris hexagonoptera (Mx.) Broad Beech Fern. 
Common everywhere in moist shady woods. 
Adiantum pedatum L. Maiden-hair Fern. Everywhere and 
common . 
Pteris aquilina L. Common Brake. Common. Wherever 
found there is a generous colony preempting the ground. 
Asplenium pinnatifidum Nutt. Pinnatifid Spleenwort. July 
18, 1909, while carefully searching the cliffs in Mill Creek Park 
near Lautermain Falls, the writer discovered this rare species. 
This is at once the most eastern and northern station for this 
