Fronds four to twelve inches high, glandular-aromatic, narrowly lanceolate
and twice pinnate or nearly so. Pinnæ oblong-lanceolate, pinnate or deeply
pinnatifid. Pinnules toothed or entire nearly covered beneath with the
large, thin, imbricated indusia which are orbicular with a narrow sinus,
having the margins ragged and sparingly glanduliferous. Stipe short and
chaffy.
The fragrant fern grows on high cliffs among the mountains of northern New
England. It is reported from scattered stations in northern Maine, from
north of the White Mountains and from Sunapee Lake in New Hampshire, and
in the Green Mountains south to central Vermont, New Brunswick and to
Minnesota. Found also in Alaska and Greenland. This much-coveted fern has a
singularly sweet and lasting fragrance, compared by some to strawberries,
by others to new-mown hay and sweet brier leaves. We have seen herbarium
specimens that were mildly and pleasantly odorous after several years. When
growing the fern may be tested "by its fragrance, its stickiness and its
beautiful brown curls." Evergreen. Spores ripen the middle of August.
[Illustration: Fragrant Fern. _Aspidium fragrans_ (Mt. Mansfield. Vt.)]