Hayscented Fern. Boulder Fern
Dennstaédtia Punctilóbula
Dicksònia Punctilóbula. Dicksònia Pilosiúscula
[Footnote A: We Again Remind Our Readers That the Latin Names in Small Capitals Represent the Newer Nomenclature.]
Fronds one to three feet high, minutely glandular and hairy, ovate-lanceolate, pale green, very thin and mostly bipinnate. Primary pinnæ in outline like the frond; the secondary, pinnatifid into oblong and obtuse, cut-toothed lobes. Fruit-dots minute, each on a recurved toothlet, usually one at the upper margin of each lobe. Indusium fixed under the sporangia, appearing like a tiny green cup filled with spore cases.
While Dennstaédtia is the approved scientific name of this species, the name Dicksònia has come to be used almost as commonly as hay scented fern or boulder fern. It is one of our most graceful and delicate species, its long-tapering outline suggesting the bulblet bladder fern. It delights to cluster around rocks and boulders in upland fields and pastures and in the margin of rocky woods. It is sweet-scented in drying. A fine species for the fernery and one of the most decorative of the entire fern family. The effect of the shimmering fronds, so delicately wrought, flanked by evergreens, is highly artistic. Fine-haired mountain fern, pasture fern, and hairy Dicksònia are other names. Canada to Tennessee and westward.
Var. cristata has the fronds more or less forked at the top.