anthes Feei_ (From Waters's
"Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]

5. CLOAK FERN. _Notholaena_

Small ferns with fruit-dots borne beneath the revolute margin of the
pinnules, at first roundish, but soon confluent into a narrow band without
indusium. Veins free. Fronds one to several times pinnate, the lower
surface hairy, or tomentose or powdery. Includes about forty species,
mostly American, but only one within our limits. (Greek name means
_spurious cloak_, alluding to the rudimentary or counterfeit indusium.)

(1) POWDERY CLOAK FERN. _Notholaena dealbata_

Fronds two to six inches long, triangular-ovate, acute, broadest at the
base, tripinnate. Stalks tufted, wiry, shining, dark brown. Upper surface
of the very small segments green, smooth, the lower densely coated with
a pure, white powder; hence, the specific name _dealbata_, which means
whitened. Sori brown at length; veins free.

There are several species of cloak ferns, but only one within our limits.
The dry, white powder which covers them doubtless is designed to protect
them from too rapid evaporation of moisture, as they all inhabit dry and
sunny places. This delicate rock-loving fern is found in the clefts of dry
limestone rocks in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and southwestward.

THE CHAIN FERNS. _Woodwardia_

Large and somewhat coarse ferns of swampy woods with pinnate or nearly
two-pinnate fronds, and oblong or linear fruit-dots, arranged in one or
more chain-like rows, parallel to and near the midribs. Indusium fixed by
its outer margin to a veinlet and opening on the inner side. In our
section there are two species. (Named for Thomas J. Woodward, an English
botanist.)

[Illustration: Powdery Cloak Fern. _Notholaena
dealbata_ (Kansas) (G.E. Davenport)]

[Illustration: The Common Chain Fern.
_Woodwardia virginica_]

(1) THE COMMON CHAIN FERN. _Woodwardia virginica_

Sterile and fertile fronds similar in outline, two to four feet high, once
pinnate, the pinnae deeply incised with oblong segments. Fruit-dots oblong
in chain-like rows along the midrib both of the pinnae and the lobes,
confluent when ripe. Veins forming narrow rows of net-like spaces (areoles)
beneath the fruit-dots, thence free to the margin. The spores ripen in
July.

The sterile fronds resemble those of the cinnamon fern, but the latter grow
in crowns, with a single frond in the center, while the fronds of the
chain fern rise singly from the creeping rootstock, which sends them