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.

[Illustration: The Matricary Fern _Botrychium ramòsum_]

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 fleshier 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 Hampshire, to which he gave the specific name of _Botrychium
tenebròsum_. 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 símplex_. Borders of maple
swamps, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York.

(5) COMMON GRAPE FERN

_Botrychium oblìquum_. _Botrychium ternàtum_, var.
_oblìquum_

BOTRYCHIUM DISSÉCTUM, var. OBLÌQUUM

Rootstock short, its base including the buds of succeeding years. Fronds