it was not considered a separate species. The long, slender apex of
its frond, which, it is said, sometimes takes root, as in the Walking
Leaf, gave ground for its confusion with that fern. But the tapering
apex of the frond of the Pinnatifid Spleenwort is not so long and the
veins of the frond are free.
The Pinnatifid Spleenwort grows on rocks. Its usual companions are the
Mountain Spleenwort and the Maidenhair Spleenwort. Williamson tells
us that, though it is quite common in Kentucky, he has never found a
frond which rooted at the apex. Eaton, however, speaks of "one or two
instances of a slight enlargement of the apex, as if there were an
attempt to form a proliferous bud."
33. BRADLEY'S SPLEENWORT
_Asplenium Bradleyi_
New York to Georgia and Alabama, westward to Arkansas, on
rocks preferring limestone. Six to ten inches long, with
slender, chestnut-brown stalks.
_Fronds._--Oblong-lanceolate or oblong, tapering to a
point, pinnate; _pinnæ_ oblong-ovate, lobed or pinnatifid;
_fruit-dots_ short, near the midrib; _indusium_ delicate.
To my knowledge the only place in the northeastern States where this
rare and local species has been collected is near Newburg, N. Y.,
where Dr. Eaton found a plant growing on lime rock in 1864.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIII
BRADLEY'S SPLEENWORT
_a_ Fertile pinna]
34. WALKING FERN. WALKING LEAF
_Camptosorus rhizophyllus_
Canada to North Carolina and westward, on shaded rocks,
preferring limestone. Four to eighteen inches long, with
light-green stalks.
_Fronds._--Simple, lanceolate, long-tapering toward the
apex, usually heart-shaped at base, the apex often rooting
and forming a new plant; _fruit-dots_ oblong or linear,
irregularly scattered on the lower surface of the frond;
_indusium_ thin.
[Illustration: Walking Leaf]
To its unusual and suggestive title this plant undoubtedly owes much
of the interest which it seems to arouse in the minds of those who
do not profess to be fern-lovers. A friend tells me that as a child,
eagerly on the lookout for this apparently active little plant, he
was so much influenced by its title that he thought it might be
advantageous to secure a butterfly-net as an aid in its capture. I
find that older people as well are tempted to unwonted energy if
promised a glimpse of the Walking Fern. Then, too, the scarcity of
the plant in many localities, or, indeed, its entire absence from
certain parts of the country, gives it a reputation for rarity which
is one of the most certain roads to fame.
[Illustration: Portion of fertile frond]
For many years I was unable to track it to any of its haunts. During
a summer spent in Rensselaer County, N. Y., the Walking Leaf was the
object of various expeditions. I recall one drive of twenty-five
miles devoted to hunting up a rumored station. At the end of the day,
which turned out cold and rainy, and fruitless so far as its special
object was concerned, I felt inclined to believe that the plant had
justified its title and had walked out of the neighborhood. Yet,
after all, no such expedition, even with wind and weather against
one, as in this case, is really fruitless. The sharp watch along the
roadside, the many little expeditions into inviting pastures, up
promising cliffs, over moss-grown bowlders, down to the rocky border
of the brook, are sure to result in discoveries of value or in moments
of delight. A flower yet unnamed, a butterfly beautiful as a gem, an
unfamiliar bird-song traced to its source, a new, suggestive outlook
over the well-known valley, and, later, "a sleep pleasant with all the
influences of long hours in the open air"--any or all of these results
may be ours, and go to make the day count.
Finally, one September afternoon, shortly before leaving the
neighborhood, we resolved upon a last search, in quite a new
direction. Several miles from home, at a fork in the road, standing
in a partially wooded pasture, we noticed just such a large, shaded
rock, with mossy ledges, as had filled us with vain hopes many times.
J. suggested a closer examination, which I discouraged, remembering
previous disappointments. But something in the look of the great
bowlder provoked his curiosity, so over the fence and up the ledges
he scrambled. Almost his first resting-place was a projecting shelf
which was carpeted with a mat of bluish-green foliage. It needed only
a moment's investigation to identify the leathery, tapering fronds of
the Walking Fern. No one who has not spent hours in some such search
as this can sympathize with the delight of those moments. We fairly
gloated over the quaint little plants, following with our fingers the
slender tips of the fronds till they rooted in the moss, starting
another generation on its life journey, and earning for itself the
title of Walking Leaf or Walking Fern.
Although since then I have found the Walking Leaf frequently, and
in great abundance, I do not remember ever to have seen it make so
fine a display. The plants were unusually large and vigorous, and the
aspect of the matted tufts was uncommonly luxuriant. To be sure, some
allowance must be made for the glamour of a first meeting.
[Illustration: "We fairly gloated over the quaint little plants."]
The Walking Leaf grows usually on limestone rocks, though it has
been found on sandstone, shale, and conglomerate as well. I have
also seen it on the stumps of decaying trees near limestone cliffs
in Central New York, where it is a common plant, creeping along
the shaded, mossy ledges above star-like tufts of the Maidenhair
Spleenwort and fragile clusters of the Slender Cliff Brake, venturing
to the brook's edge with sprays of the Bulblet Bladder Fern, and
climbing the turreted summits of the hills close to the Purple Cliff
Brake.
Although without the grace of the Maidenhair, the delicacy of certain
of the Spleenworts, or the stately beauty of the Shield Ferns, the
oddity and sturdiness of this little plant are bound to make it a
favorite everywhere.
Occasionally a plant is found which will keep up its connection with
two or three generations; that is, a frond will root at the apex,
forming a new plant (the second generation). This will also send out a
rooting frond which gives birth to a new plant (the third generation)
before the two first fronds have decayed at their tips so as to sever
the connection.
At times forking fronds are found, these forks also rooting
occasionally at their tips.
35. HART'S TONGUE
_Scolopendrium vulgare_ (_S. scolopendrium_)
Shaded ravines under limestone cliffs in Central New York
and near South Pittsburg, Tenn. A few inches to nearly two
feet long, with stalks which are chaffy below and sometimes
to the base of the leaf.
_Fronds._--Narrowly oblong, undivided, from a somewhat
heart-shaped base, bright-green; _fruit-dots_ linear,
elongated, a row on either side of the midrib and at right
angles to it; _indusium_ appearing to be double.
When Gray describes a fern as "very rare" and Dr. Britton limits it
to two small stations in neighboring counties in the whole northern
United States, the fern lover looks forward with a sense of eager
anticipation to seeing it for the first time.
[Illustration: Tip of fertile frond]
During a week spent at Cazenovia, N. Y., a few years ago, I learned
that the rare Hart's Tongue grew at Chittenango Falls, only four
miles away. But my time was limited, and on a single brief visit to
the picturesque spot where the broad Chittenango stream dashes over
cliffs one hundred and fifty feet high, losing itself in the wild,
wooded glen below on its journey to the distant valley, I did little
more than revel in the beauty of the foaming mass which for many days
"haunted me like a passion." I saw no signs of the plant which has
done almost as much as "the sounding cataract" to make the spot famous.
[Illustration: Hart's Tongue]
The combined recollection of the beautiful falls and the for me
undiscovered fern, joined to the fact that Madison and the adjoining
Onondaga County are favorite hunting grounds for the fern lover on
account of the many species which they harbor, drew us to Cazenovia
for the summer two years later.
Guided by the explicit directions of Mr. J. H. Ten Eyck Burr, a
fern enthusiast who is always ready to share with others, of whose
good faith he is assured, his enjoyment of the hiding-places of his
favorites, we found at last the Hart's Tongue in its own home.
If Mr. Burr's kindness in sending me some fine pressed specimens, and
the illustrations I had seen in various books, had not already made
me familiar with the general look of the plant, the long, undivided,
tongue-like fronds, so different from one's preconceived notion of
a fern, would have been a great surprise. Even now, although I have
visited many times its hidden retreats, and have noted with delight
every detail of its glossy, vigorous growth, it seems to me always as
rare and unusual as it did the first day I found it.
At Chittenango Falls the Hart's Tongue grows a few yards from the
base of bold, overhanging limestone cliffs, the tops of which are
fringed by pendent roots of the red cedar. Nearly always it is
caught beneath moss-grown fragments of the fallen limestone, the
bright-green, undulating, glossy leaves either standing almost erect
(curving outward slightly above) or else falling over toward the slope
of the land so as to present a nearly prostrate appearance. At times
these fronds are very numerous, as many as fifty to a plant, forming
great clumps of foliage. Again we find a plant with only half a dozen
or even fewer green fronds. At maturity the linear, bright-brown
fruit-dots, a row on either side the midrib, are conspicuous on the
lower surfaces of the fronds.
This haunt of the Hart's Tongue is shaded by a growth of tall
basswoods and maples, of sturdy oaks and hemlocks. The neighboring
cliffs are draped with the slender fronds of the Bulblet Bladder
Fern. On every side rise the tall crowns of the omnipresent Evergreen
Wood Fern. Lower down, close to the rushing stream which we see
mistily through the green branches, its roar always in our ears, grow
the Walking Leaf and the Maidenhair. The little Polypody climbs over
the rocks and perches contentedly on the spreading roots of trees,
while a few fragile plants of the Slender Cliff Brake, something of a
rarity in these parts, are fastened to the mossy ledges.
The other published northern station of the Hart's Tongue is at
Jamesville, some fifteen miles from Chittenango Falls, near a small
sheet of water known commonly as Green Pond, christened botanically
Scolopendrium Lake. Here also it grows among the talus at the foot of
limestone cliffs. The plants which I found in this locality were less
luxuriant than those at Chittenango Falls. They grow in more exposed,
less shaded spots.
Scolopendrium Lake has become somewhat famous in the world of fern
students by reason of Mr. Underwood's claim that in its immediate
vicinity, within a radius of fifty rods from the water's edge (the
lake being a mere pond), grow twenty-seven different kinds of
ferns, while within a circle whose diameter is not over three miles
thirty-four species have been found. During this one day we gave to
the neighborhood, we could not hope to find so great a number, the
result, perhaps, of many days' investigation, and were forced to
content ourselves with the twenty-one species we did find. In his
list Mr. Underwood marks the Purple Cliff Brake as found but once, so
I judge he did not discover the station on the turreted cliffs close
by where it grows in extravagant profusion, producing fronds not only
much longer and finer than I had seen elsewhere, but superior to those
pictured in the illustrated books.
During the same summer, on an expedition to Perryville Falls, which we
had planned for the express purpose of finding the Rue Spleenwort and
the Purple Cliff Brake, a new station was discovered for the Hart's
Tongue. To Miss Murray Ledyard, of Cazenovia, belongs the honor of
finding the first plants in this locality. We had been successful in
the original object of our journey, and had crossed the stream in
order to examine the opposite cliffs. J. and I, curious to study the
wet wall of rock close to the sheer white veil of water, which fell
more than one hundred feet, finally secured an unsubstantial foothold
among graceful tufts of the greenish, lily-like flowers, which ought
to receive a more homely and appropriate title than _Zygadenus
elegans_. Having satisfied ourselves that the mossy crevices harbored
no plants of the Slender Cliff Brake, now the immediate object of our
search, we followed the natural path beneath the overhanging rock
and above the sheer descent to the ravine, examining the cliffs as
we cautiously picked our way. Miss Ledyard had remained below, and
suddenly we heard her give a triumphant shout, followed by the joyful
announcement that she had found the Hart's Tongue. The station being
previously quite unknown, this was a most interesting discovery.
On entering the ravine we had discussed its possibility, but I had
fancied that any hope of it would be unfounded, as I supposed the
ground had been thoroughly canvassed by the many botanists who had
visited the neighborhood.
The plants were still young, but large and vigorous, growing in a
partial opening among the basswoods, maples, and beeches, on a steep
slope covered with fragments of limestone, some thirty or forty feet
from the base of the cliffs. We must have found from twenty to thirty
plants within a radius of as many feet.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, the discovery found its way to the
columns of the local paper, and on our return to the station, some
weeks later our eager expectation of seeing the young plants in the
splendor of maturity was crushed by finding that the spot had been
ruthlessly invaded and a number of the finest plants had disappeared.
Before long it will be necessary for botanists to form a secret
society, with vows of silence as to fern localities and some sort of
lynch law for the punishment of vandals.
This fern, so rare with us, is a common plant in Europe, its fronds
attaining at times a length of two or three feet. In Ireland and the
Channel Islands it is especially abundant. In Devonshire, England,
it is described as growing "on the tops and at the sides of walls;
hanging from old ruins ... dropping down its long, green fronds into
the cool and limpid water of roadside wells hewn out of the rock;
often exposed to the full blaze of the sun, but always in such cases
dwindled down to a tiny size" ("The Fern Paradise").
The Hart's Tongue has been known as the Caterpillar Fern and the
Seaweed Fern.
36. VIRGINIA CHAIN FERN
_Woodwardia Virginica_
Swampy places, often in deep water, from Maine to Florida.
Two to more than three feet high.
_Fronds._--Once-pinnate; _pinnæ_ pinnatifid, with oblong
segments; _fruit-dots_ oblong, in chain-like rows along the
midrib both of the pinnæ and of the lobes, confluent when
ripe; _indusium_ fixed by its outer margin, opening on the
side next the midrib.
Emerging from the shade and silence of a little wood upon the rolling
downs where one has glimpses of the blue bay, our attention is
attracted by a tall fern beside the path, growing among a tangle of
shrubs and vines. It does not grow in symmetrical crowns or tufts like
an _Osmunda_, but its fronds are almost as handsome, the divisions
being wider apart and more scattered. Turning over two or three of the
rather glossy fronds, we find a rusty-backed, fertile frond, covered
on one side with the regular chain-like rows of fruit-dots which make
its name of Chain Fern seem very appropriate and descriptive.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIV
UPPER PART OF FROND OF VIRGINIA CHAIN FERN
_a_ Portion of fertile pinna
_b_ Tip of fertile pinna]
In the low, damp ground near the coast one may expect to find this
fern; its haunts, where the narrow path winds between tall masses of
sweet-pepper bush and wet meadows where pogonia and calopogon delight
us in July, and the white-fringed orchids may be found in later
summer, are among the most beautiful of the many beautiful kinds of
country that the fern and flower lover knows, to which his feet stray
inevitably in the season of green things, and which are the solace of
his "inward eye" when that season is past.
GROUP VI
FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND USUALLY SIMILAR, FRUIT-DOTS
ROUND
37. NEW YORK FERN
_Aspidium Noveboracense_ (_Dryopteris Noveboracensis_)
Newfoundland to South Carolina, in woods and open meadows.
One to more than two feet high, with stalks shorter than
the fronds.
_Fronds._--Lance-shaped, tapering both ways from the middle
pinnate; _pinnæ_ lance-shaped, the lowest pairs shorter and
deflexed, divided into flat, oblong lobes which are not
reflexed over the fruit-dots; _fruit-dots_ round, distinct,
near the margin; _indusium_ minute.
At times the pale-green fronds of the New York Fern throng to the
roadside, which is flanked by a tangled thicket of Osmundas, wild
roses, and elder bushes.
Again, they stay quietly at home in the open marsh or in the shadow
of the hemlocks and cedars, where they have fragrant pyrola and
pipsissewa for company, and where the long, melancholy note of the
peewee breaks the silence.
This plant is easily distinguished from the Marsh Fern by the
noticeable tapering at both ends of its frond, and by the flat instead
of reflexed margins to the lobes of the fertile pinnæ.
[Illustration: PLATE XXV
NEW YORK FERN
_a_ Portion of fertile pinna
_b_ Tip of pinna showing veining]
38. MARSH FERN
_Aspidium Thelypteris_ (_Dryopteris Thelypteris_)
New Brunswick to Florida, in wet woods and swamps. One to
nearly three feet high.
_Fronds._--Lance-shaped, slightly downy, once-pinnate,
fertile fronds longer-stalked than the sterile; _pinnæ_,
the lower ones hardly smaller than the others, cut into
oblong, entire lobes, which are obtuse in the sterile
fronds, but appear acute in the fertile ones from the
strongly revolute margins; veins once or twice forked;
_fruit-dots_ small, round, half-way between midvein and
margin, or nearer margin, soon confluent; _indusium_ small.
In our wet woods and open swamps, and occasionally in dry pastures,
the erect, fresh-green fronds of the Marsh Fern grow abundantly. The
lowest pinnæ are set so high on the long slender stem as to give the
fern the appearance of trying to keep dry, daintily holding its skirts
out of the mud as it were.
The plant's range is wide. As I pick my way through marshy inland
woods, using as bridges the fallen trunks and interlacing roots of
trees, its bright fronds standing nearly three feet high, crowd about
me. Close by, securing, like myself, a firmer foothold by the aid
of the trees' roots, I notice the flat, mottled green and white
rosettes and the slender wands of flowers of the rattlesnake orchid.
In the open swamps beyond the fern's companion is another orchid,
the ladies' tresses, with braided spikes of white, and in this case
deliciously fragrant flowers.
[Illustration: Marsh Fern]
In open marshes near the sea I find this plant associating itself with
the violet-scented adder's mouth, with glistening sundew, and with
gaudy Turk's-cap lilies.
From the New York Fern it may be distinguished easily by the somewhat
abrupt instead of tapering base of the frond, by the strongly
revolute margins of the fertile frond, and by its long stalk.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI
MARSH FERN
Fertile frond
Sterile frond]
From the Massachusetts Fern it may be distinguished by its forked
veins, the less revolute margins of the fertile frond, and by its
thicker texture and deeper green.
39. MASSACHUSETTS FERN
_Aspidium simulatum_ (_Dryopteris simulata_)
New Hampshire to the Indian Territory, in wooded swamps.
One to more than three feet high.
_Fronds._--Oblong-lance-shaped, little or not at all
narrowed at the base, rather thin, pinnate; _pinnæ_
lance-shaped, cut into oblong, obtuse segments, which are
slightly reflexed in the fertile fronds, veins not forked;
_fruit-dots_ rather large, somewhat distant; _indusium_
"withering-persistent."
This species closely resembles the Marsh Fern. The less revolute
margins of the fertile frond, the simple veins, its thinner texture,
and its more distant fruit-dots aid in its identification. It is found
in woodland swamps from New Hampshire to the Indian Territory.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVII
SPINULOSE WOOD FERN
Aspidium spinulosum, var. intermedium
_a_ Portion of fertile pinnule]
40. SPINULOSE WOOD FERN
_Aspidium spinulosum_ (_Dryopteris spinulosa_)
Newfoundland to Kentucky. The common European type, rare in
North America. One to two and a half feet high, with stalks
having a few pale-brown deciduous scales.
_Fronds._--Lance-ovate, twice-pinnate; _pinnæ_ oblique to
the rachis, elongated-triangular, the lower ones broadly
triangular; _pinnules_ oblique to the midrib, connected
by a narrow wing, cut into thorny-toothed segments;
_fruit-dots_ round; _indusium_ smooth, without marginal
glands, soon withering.
To my knowledge I have only seen this fern in the herbarium, it being
rare in this country. It is found, I have been told, chiefly toward
the tops of mountains. Its pinnæ are noticeably ascending.
_Var. intermedium_ (_D. spinulosa intermedia_)
Labrador to North Carolina, in woods almost everywhere.
Usually large, with somewhat chaffy stalks, having brown,
dark-centred scales.
_Fronds._--Oblong-ovate, 2-3 pinnate; _pinnæ_
oblong-lance-shaped, spreading, rather distant, the lowest
unequally triangular, the pinnules on the lower side longer
than those on the upper side; _pinnules_ ovate-oblong,
spreading, with oblong lobes thorny-toothed at the apex;
_fruit-dots_ round; _indusium_ delicate, beset with tiny
stalked glands.
This is the form of the species that abounds in our woods. Perhaps no
one plant does more for their beauty than this stately fern, whose
rich-green, outward-curving fronds spring in circles from fallen trees
and decaying stumps as well as from the ground.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII
BOOTT'S SHIELD FERN
_a_ Tip of fertile pinna]
The plant varies greatly in height, breadth, and way of holding
itself. Sometimes the fronds stand three feet high, and are broad and
spreading. Again, they are tall, slender, and somewhat erect. Again,
they are not more than a foot high.
At its best it grows with almost tropical luxuriance and is a plant
of rare beauty, its fronds having a certain featheriness of aspect
uncommon in the Aspidiums.
_Var. dilatatum_ (_D. spinulosa dilatata_)
Newfoundland to North Carolina, chiefly in the mountains.
_Fronds._--Usually large, broader at base than in either of
the preceding species, ovate or triangular-ovate, oftenest
thrice-pinnate; _pinnules_ lance-oblong, the lowest often
much elongated; _fruit-dots_ round; _indusium_ smooth.
This form of the Spinulose Wood Fern is distinguished chiefly by
its broader fronds and by the smooth indusia. As these indusia
can be seen satisfactorily only by the aid of a magnifying-glass,
there is frequently some difficulty in distinguishing this variety.
Occasionally it occurs in a dwarf state, fruiting when only a few
inches high.
41. BOOTT'S SHIELD FERN
_Aspidium Boottii_ (_Dryopteris Boottii_)
Nova Scotia to Maryland, about ponds and in wet places.
One and a half to more than three feet high, with somewhat
chaffy stalks which have pale-brown scales.
_Fronds._--Long lance-shaped, somewhat narrowed at base,
nearly or quite twice-pinnate; _pinnæ_, the lowest
triangular-ovate, upper longer and narrower; _pinnules_
oblong-ovate, sharply thorny-toothed, somewhat pinnatifid
below; _fruit-dots_ round; _indusium_ slightly glandular.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIX
CRESTED SHIELD FERN
_a_ A pinna
_b_ Portion of fertile pinna]
Boott's Shield Fern is found in moist woods and near ponds. It is
distinguished by its long, narrow fronds and minutely glandular
indusium.
42. CRESTED SHIELD FERN
_Aspidium cristatum_ (_Dryopteris cristata_)
Newfoundland to Kentucky, in swamps. One to more than three
feet high, with stalks which are chaffy, especially below,
and which have light-brown scales, stalks of sterile fronds
much shorter than those of fertile fronds.