The Fern Lover's Companion - A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada by George Henry Tilton
page 36 of 136 (26%)
page 36 of 136 (26%)
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to ten inches high, growing in tufts with stout rootstocks, having the
pinnules finely toothed instead of rounded and the indusia often lunate, rarely twice as long as broad. (Fernald in _Rhodora_, November, 1905.) Also found in northern Vermont, and to the northwestward. (2) THE VENUS-HAIR FERN. _Adiantum Capíllus-Veneris_ Fronds with a continuous main rachis, ovate-lanceolate, twice pinnate below. Pinnules, fan-shaped on slender, black stalks, long, deeply and irregularly incised. Veins extending from the base of the pinnules like the ribs of a fan. [Illustration: Venus Hair Fern. _Adiantum Capillus-Veneris_] While our common maidenhair is a northern fern, the Venus-hair Fern is confined to the southern states. It is rarely found as far north as Virginia, where it meets, but scarcely overlaps its sister fern. The medicinal properties of _Adiantum pedatum_ were earlier ascribed to the more southern species, which is common in Great Britain, but, like many another old remedy, "the syrup of capillaire" is long since defunct. 3. CLIFF BRAKES. _Pellàea_ Sporangia borne on the upper part of the free veins inside the margins, in dot-like masses, but may run together, as in the continuous fruiting line of the bracken. Indusium formed of the reflexed margins of the fertile segments which are more or less membranous. (Pellæa, from the Greek _pellos_, meaning dusky, in allusion to the dark stipes.) |
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