. Our ferns in their haunts; a guide to all the native species. Ferns. 148 THE WOOD FERNS. cept by some sort of a ladder. But it was so unlike any other species with its dry, curling, snuff-coloured fronds of last year, that I knew it was the one I wanted. . Its chief characteristics are, first, that peculiar ap- pearance of the old fronds: you couldn't curl them more gracefully than they appear drooping over the edge of the rocks; second, the glutinous fronds—grass and leaves adhere to them ; A Fruiting Pinna. , • i i • c third, its peculiar fragrance. Gray says aromatic ; that doesn't half t
. Our ferns in their haunts; a guide to all the native species. Ferns. 148 THE WOOD FERNS. cept by some sort of a ladder. But it was so unlike any other species with its dry, curling, snuff-coloured fronds of last year, that I knew it was the one I wanted. . Its chief characteristics are, first, that peculiar ap- pearance of the old fronds: you couldn't curl them more gracefully than they appear drooping over the edge of the rocks; second, the glutinous fronds—grass and leaves adhere to them ; A Fruiting Pinna. , • i i • c third, its peculiar fragrance. Gray says aromatic ; that doesn't half tell the story. I gathered a clump of it on the cliff and dropped it down in my pocket handkerchief and the perfume lasted for days. I think it is like new mown hay composed largely of sweetbriar rose leaves. It grows on the dryish cliff sides where anything else would be scorched by the sun's heat. Look for a place where there is a bare cliff, overhanging, a little, perhaps, so that the rain cannot reach it and up above all the trees so that it can have no shade at all, and if you find a fern there, test it by its fragrance, its stickiness and its beautiful brown ; The fragrance has also been likened to that of primroses, strawberries and raspberries and the plant is known sometimes as the sweet polypody. The greater part of the fragrant fern's range is north of the United States. It has been found in a few ele- vated stations in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Northward it extends to Alaska and Greenland and is reported to be the commonest species in some districts. It is found also in Northern Europe and Asia and is there occasion- ally used as a tea, being valued as an anti-scorbutic. Al-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Clute, Willard Nel
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