The Fern Lover's Companion Part 16

(3) LANCE-LEAVED GRAPE FERN

_Botrychium lanceolatum_

BOTRCHIUM ANGUSTISEGMeNTUM

Frond two to nine inches high, both sterile and fertile segments at the top of the common stalk. Sterile segment triangular, twice pinnatifid, the acute lobes lanceolate, incised or toothed, scarcely fleshy, resembling a very small specimen of the rattlesnake fern. Fertile segment slightly overtopping the sterile, two to three pinnate and spreading.

One of the constant companions of the rattlesnake fern. New England to Lake Superior. July.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Little Grape Fern _Botrychium simplex_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lance-leaved Grape Fern _Botrychium lanceolatum Botrychium angustisegmentum_]

(4) MATRICARY FERN

_Botrychium ramsum. Botrychium matricariaeflium_

Fronds small, one to twelve inches high. Sterile segment above the middle, usually much divided. Fertile segment twice or thrice pinnate. Apex of both segments turned down in the bud, the sterile overtopping and clasping the fertile one.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Matricary Fern _Botrychium ramsum_]

The matricary fern differs from the preceding in ripening its spores about a month earlier, in having its sterile frond stalked, besides being a taller and fles.h.i.+er plant. It may also be noted that in the lance-leaved species the midveins of the larger lobes are continuous, running to the tip; whereas in the matricary fern the midveins fork repeatedly and are soon indistinguishable from the veinlets. The two are apt to grow near each other, with the rattlesnake fern as a near neighbor. June.

NOTE. In 1897 A.A. Eaton discovered certain _Botrychia_ in a sphagnum swamp in New Hamps.h.i.+re, to which he gave the specific name of _Botrychium tenebrsum_. The plants were very small, not averaging above two or three inches high, with the sterile blade sessile or slightly stalked. Many botanists prefer to place this fern as a variety of the matricary, but others regard it as a form of _Botrychium simplex_. Borders of maple swamps, Vermont, New Hamps.h.i.+re, Ma.s.sachusetts, and New York.

(5) COMMON GRAPE FERN

_Botrychium oblquum_. _Botrychium ternatum_, var.

_oblquum_

BOTRYCHIUM DISSeCTUM, var. OBLQUUM

Rootstock short, its base including the buds of succeeding years. Fronds two to twelve inches or more high. Leafy or sterile segment triangular, ternate, long-petioled, springing from near the base of the plant, and spreading horizontally. From the main leafstock grow several pairs of stalked pinnae, with the divisions ovate-oblong, acutish, crenate-serrulate, obliquely cordate or subcordate. Fertile segment taller, erect, about three times pinnate, maturing its fruit in autumn. Occasionally two or three fertile spikes grow on the same plant. In vernation the apex of each segment is bent down with a slight curve inward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Common Grape Fern. _Botrychium obliquum_]

New England to Virginia, westward to Minnesota and southward.

_Botrychium obliquum_, var. _dissectum_. Similar to the type, but with the divisions very finely dissected or incisely many-toothed, the most beautiful of all the grape ferns. There is considerable variety in the cutting of the fronds. Maine to Florida and westward.

_Botrychium oblquum_, var. _oneidense_. Ultimate segments oblong, rounded at the apex, crenulate-serrate, less divided than any of the others and, perhaps, less common. Vermont to Central New York.

_Botrychium oblquum_, var. _elongatum_. Divisions lanceolate, elongated, acute.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Botrychium obliquum_ var. _oneidense_]

Note: A Botrychium not uncommon in Georgia and Alabama, named by Swartz B. lunarioides, deserves careful study. It is known as the "Southern Botrychium."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Botrychium obliquum, var. dissectum_]

(6) TERNATE GRAPE FERN

_Botrchium ternatum_, var. _intermedium_

_Botrchium oblquum_, var. _intermedium_

Leaf more divided than in _oblquum_ and the numerous segments not so long and pointed, but large, fleshy, ovate or obovate (including var.

_australe_), crenulate, and more or less toothed.

Sandy soil, pastures and open woods. More northerly in its range--New England and New York. Var. _rutaeflium_. More slender, rarely over six or seven inches high; sterile segment about two inches broad, its divisions few, broadly ovate, the lowest sublunate. The first variety pa.s.ses insensibly into the second.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ternate Grape Fern _Botrychium ternatum_ var. _intermedium_ (Reduced)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ternate Grape Fern _Botrychium ternatum_ var. _intermedium_ (Two stocks, reduced)]

(7) RATTLESNAKE FERN. _Botrychium virginianum_

Fronds six inches to two feet high. Sterile segment sessile above the middle of the plant, broadly triangular, thin, membranaceous, ternate.

Pinnules lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid; ultimate segments oblong or lanceolate and scarcely or not at all spatulate. Fertile part long-stalked, two to three pinnate, its ultimate segments narrow and thick, nearly opaque in dried specimens. Mature sporangia varying from dark yellow-brown to almost black. Open sporangia close again and are flattened or of a lenticular form. In rich, deciduous woods, rather common and widely distributed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rattlesnake Fern. _Botrychium virginianum_ (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]

Prince Edward Island, Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas, and north to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Var. _gracilis_. A form much reduced in size.

Var. LAURENTIaNUM. A conspicuous variety having thick and heavy sterile fronds less finely divided than the type, with the segments crowded to overlapping. Pinnules shorter than the type, tending to be ovate, outer segments strongly spatulate. Fertile spike relatively short and stout, strongly paniculate when well developed. Ultimate segments flat, folaceous, one mm. wide. Mostly confined to the limestone district near the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Labrador, Newfoundland, Quebec, Maine, and Michigan.

Var. INTERMEDIUM. Segments of sterile fronds ultimately much spatulate, previously ovate, not overlapping. Segments of fertile fronds ultimately narrowly flattened. (For this and the other varieties see Rhodora of September, 1919.) Nova Scotia, Maine, Vermont, Ma.s.sachusetts, Connecticut, northern New York, Illinois, and Missouri.

Var. EUROPaEUM. Fertile frond less finely dissected than in type. Ultimate segments more obtuse than in type; has but very slight tendency towards the spatulate form of the two previous varieties. Pinnules lanceolate, strongly decurrent so that the pinnae are merely pinnatifid. In coniferous forests of Canada, and confined to calcareous regions. Quebec, New Brunswick, New Hamps.h.i.+re, Vermont, New York, Ontario, Montana, and British Columbia. Said to be rare even in Europe.

V

THE FILMY FERN FAMILY

_HYMENOPHYLLaCEae_

The filmy ferns are small, delicate plants with membranaceous, finely dissected fronds from slender, creeping rootstocks. Sporangia sessile on a bristle-like receptacle. There are about one hundred species, mostly tropical, only one of which grows as far north as Kentucky.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Filmy Fern _Trichomanes Boschianum_ (From Waters' "Ferns", Henry Holt & Co.)]

FILMY FERN. BRISTLE FERN

_Trichomanes Boschianum. Trichomanes radicans_