more or less horizontally at the summit of the stipe; pubescent
and often glandular beneath; pinnae fragrant, lanceolate, the lowest pair
usually much larger than those above, having the segments elongated and cut
into lobes. Basal segments decurrent and forming a many-angled wing along
the main rachis. Fruit-dots small, near the margin.

The broad beech fern is usually larger than its sister, the long beech
fern, and extends farther south, ranging from New England to Minnesota
and southward to Florida. It is sometimes called "six-angled polypody."
According to Dodge it is most common in Rhode Island and Connecticut. It
prefers rather dry, open woods. It is said to have a pleasant, ferny odor
when bruised. August.

(4) LONG BEECH FERN

_Phegopteris polypodioides_. THELYPTERIS PHEGOPTERIS

Fronds triangular, longer than broad, four to six inches long, twice
pinnatifid. Pinnae lanceolate, acuminate, the lowest pair deflexed and
standing forward; cut into oblong, obtuse segments. Fruit-dots near the
margin.

Compared with the broad beech fern this is the more northern species. While
usually quite distinct in structure, it sometimes approaches its sister
fern rather closely.

It prefers deep woods and shaded banks. Newfoundland to Alaska and
southward to the mountains of Virginia. July.

[Illustration: Long Beech Fern. _Phegopteris polypodioides_]

[Illustration: The Long Beech Fern]

THE FRAGRANT FERN

_Aspidium fragrans. Nephrodium fragrans_

THELYPTERIS FRAGRANS. _Dryopteris fragrans_

Fronds four to twelve inches high, glandular-aromatic, narrowly lanceolate
and twice pinnate or nearly so. Pinnae oblong-lanceolate, pinnate or deeply
pinnatifid. Pinnules toothed or entire nearly covered beneath with the
large, thin, imbricated indusia which are orbicular with a narrow sinus,
having the margins ragged and sparingly glanduliferous. Stipe short and
chaffy.

The fragrant fern grows on high cliffs among the mountains of northern New
England. It is reported from scattered stations in northern Maine, from
north of the White Mountains and from Sunapee Lake in New Hampshire, and
in the Green Mountains south to central Vermont, New Brunswick and to
Minnesota. Found also in Alaska and Greenland. This much-coveted fern has a
singularly sweet and lasting fragrance, compared by some to strawberries,
by others to new-mown hay and sweet brier leaves. We have seen herbarium
specimens that were mildly and pleasantly