Blechnum Spicant, Moore & Newman. 
Blechnum Boreale, Swartz. 
NORTHERN HARD FERN. 
Root — Radicles long, tough, and numerous ; caudex thick 
and tufted. 
Frond — In two forms, barren and fertile. Fertile fronds : 
numerous, erect, linear-lanceolate, pinnate, acute at the 
apex ; the lower pinnae reaching nearly to the caudex. 
Barren fronds : pendant, lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid. 
Stipes — Short, dark brown or purple, smooth. 
Pinnae — Fertile: linear-lanceolate, pointed at the apex. 
Barren : lanceolate, pointed at the apex ; alternate, very 
narrow towards the base. 
Venation — Barren frond: bifurcate, lateral veins not 
extending to the margin. Fertile frond : the same as the 
barren, with the addition of veins running parallel with 
and on each side of the midvein, crossing the forked veins 
near the base of the fork. 
Fructification — Capsules attached to the veins which 
run parallel with the midvein, at first covered with a linear 
membranous involucre ; after the bursting of which the spores 
become of a dark brown color, completely covering the pinnae. 
A frond gathered near Matlock has the lower half barren and 
the upper fertile. The rachis of the barren portion of the frond 
is of a light brown, and of the fertile portion dark purple. 
Habitat — Common on the sandstone, in woods and damp 
places, and on moorlands. In very wet shaded spots, the 
fronds are found all fertile. 
II 
