The Fern Lover's Companion - A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada by George Henry Tilton
page 54 of 136 (39%)
page 54 of 136 (39%)
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the summer to nourish the young plants as they shoot forth the next spring.
The undecayed bases of the old stipes are also packed with starch for the same purpose. [Illustration: Rootstock of the Upland Lady Fern] [Illustration: The same split lengthwise (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)] [Illustration: Sori of Lady Fern. _Athyrium angustum_] Rootstocks horizontal, quite concealed by the thick, fleshy bases of old fronds. Scales of the long, tufted stipes dark brown. Indusium curved, often horseshoe-shaped, usually toothed or fringed with fine hairs, but without glands. Fronds bipinnate, one to three feet high, widest near the middle. This is the common species of northern New England and the Canadian Provinces. The fronds differ very widely in form and a great many varieties have been pointed out, but the fern student, having first learned to identify the species, will gradually master the few leading varieties as he meets them. Those growing in warm, sunny places where the fruit-dots when mature incline to cover the whole back of the frond are called "sun forms." These are varieties TÝPICUM and ELÀTIUS, both with the pinnæ obliquely ascending (including variety _angustum_ of D.C. Eaton), but the latter has broader fronds with the pinnules of the sterile fronds oblong-lanceolate, somewhat acute and strongly toothed or pinnatifid. |
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