(2) THE MALE FERN

Aspidium Filix-mas.  THELYPTERIS FILIX-MAS Dryopteris Filix-mas.  Nephrodium Filix-mas

Fronds lanceolate, pinnate, one to three feet high growing in a crown from a shaggy rootstock.  Pinnae lanceolate, tapering from base to apex.  Pinnules oblong, obtuse, serrate at the apex, obscurely so at the sides, the basal incisely lobed, distant, the upper confluent.  Fruit-dots large, nearer the mid vein than the margin, mostly on the lower half of each fertile segment.

The male fern resembles the marginal shield fern in outline, but the fronds are thinner, are not evergreen, and the sori are near the midvein.  Its use in medicine is of long standing.  Its rootstock produces the well-known filix-mas of the pharmacist.  This has tonic and astringent properties, but is mainly prescribed as a vermifuge, which is one of the names given to it.  In Europe it is regarded as the typical fern, being oftener mentioned and figured than any other.  In rocky woods, Canada, Northfield, Vt., and northwest to the great lakes, also in many parts of the world.

[Illustration:  The Male Fern. Aspidium Filix-mas (Vermont)]

[Illustration:  FIG. 33G. Aspidium filix mas 1, Illustration exhibiting general habit; a, young leaves:  2, transverse section of rhizome showing the conducting bundles a:  3, portion of the leaf bearing sori; a indusium b, sporangia; 4, longitudinal; 5, transverse section of a soris; a, leaf; b, indusium; c, sporangia:  6, a single sporangium; a, stalk; c, annulus; d, spores. (After WOSSIDLO OFFICINAL) From a German print, giving details]

(3) GOLDIE’S FERN

Aspidium Goldianum.  THELYPTERIS GOLDIANA Dryopteris Goldiana.  Nephrodium Goldianum

Fronds two to four feet high and often one foot broad, pinnate, broadly ovate, especially the sterile ones.  Pinnae deeply pinnatifid, broadest in the middle.  The divisions (eighteen or twenty pairs) oblong-linear, slightly toothed.  Fruit-dots very near the midvein.  Indusium large, orbicular, with a deep, narrow sinus.  Scales dark brown to nearly black with a peculiar silky lustre.

A magnificent species, the tallest and largest of the wood ferns.  It delights in rich woodlands where there is limestone.  Its range is from Canada to Kentucky.  While not common, there are numerous colonies in New England.  It is reported from Fairfield, Me., Spencer and Mt.  Toby, Mass., and frequently west of the Connecticut River.  We have often admired a large and beautiful colony of it on the west side of Willoughby Mountain in Vermont.  It is easily cultivated and adds grace and dignity to a fern garden.

[Illustration:  Goldie’s Shield Fern. Aspidium Goldianum (Vermont, 1874.  C.G.  Pringle) (Herbarium of G.E.  Davenport)]

[Illustration:  Goldie’s Fern (From Woolson’s “Ferns,” Doubleday, Page & Co.)]

(4) THE CRESTED FERN