The Dicksonian Fern. 
(Dicksonia Punctilobula) Mchx. 
it can only be seen at its best amidst 
the wildness and grandeur of the 
mountain solitudes. Here it at once 
becomes noticeable—a distinct feature 
of the landscape. Slightly changing 
Scott’s lines to the lady fern, we may 
well say: 
“Where the copse wood is the greenest, 
Where the fountain glistens sheenest, 
Where the mountain dew lies longest— 
There Dicksonia is strongest-’’ 
Few ferns take such possession of 
the soil. Many larg-e areas on the 
mountains are almost given up to it. 
For miles upon miles in all directions 
it is spread, the principle under-growth 
in open woods; adding its share to the 
tangle of bush and briar in the thick¬ 
ets, and fringing every rock and 
boulder in the mountain pastures. As 
our .eyes wander over such a scene, 
the old poet Twomley’s stanza comes 
into mind: 
“Oh, then, most gracefully they wave 
In the forest, like a sea; 
And dear as they are beautiful 
Are these fern leaves to me.” 
The Dicksonia is often called the 
fine-headed mountain fern, its grace- 
HOREAU, when 
he wrote; “Nature 
made ferns for 
pure leaves to 
show what she 
could do in that 
line,” doubtless 
had in mind the 
Dicksonian fern. 
It was one of his favorites, and is 
often mentioned in his journals. Other 
writers on out-door topics seldom men¬ 
tion this fern, although it is one that 
• we should naturally expect to find 
mentioned wherever mountain scenery 
>^4 described. Those who have seen the 
Jicksonia in its native haunts will 
‘readily agree that its beauty is not 
easily exaggerated; it is doubtless our 
most beautiful fern. Others may sur¬ 
pass it in stature, but none can 
equal it in delicacy and gracefulness, 
What the bracken is to English 
moors, the Dicksonian fern is to the 
mountains of northeastern America. 
Although it is to be found growing in 
thickets and woods of our low-lands, 
