ping the sterile, two to three pinnate and spreading.

One of the constant companions of the rattlesnake fern. New England to Lake
Superior. July.

[Illustration: Little Grape Fern _Botrychium simplex_]

[Illustration: Lance-leaved Grape Fern _Botrychium lanceolatum Botrychium
angustisegmentum_]

(4) MATRICARY FERN

_Botrychium ramosum. Botrychium matricariaefolium_

Fronds small, one to twelve inches high. Sterile segment above the middle,
usually much divided. Fertile segment twice or thrice pinnate. Apex of both
segments turned down in the bud, the sterile overtopping and clasping the
fertile one.

[Illustration: The Matricary Fern _Botrychium ramosum_]

The matricary fern differs from the preceding in ripening its spores about
a month earlier, in having its sterile frond stalked, besides being a
taller and fleshier plant. It may also be noted that in the lance-leaved
species the midveins of the larger lobes are continuous, running to the
tip; whereas in the matricary fern the midveins fork repeatedly and are
soon indistinguishable from the veinlets. The two are apt to grow near each
other, with the rattlesnake fern as a near neighbor. June.

NOTE. In 1897 A.A. Eaton discovered certain _Botrychia_ in a sphagnum
swamp in New Hampshire, to which he gave the specific name of _Botrychium
tenebrosum_. The plants were very small, not averaging above two or three
inches high, with the sterile blade sessile or slightly stalked. Many
botanists prefer to place this fern as a variety of the matricary, but
others regard it as a form of _Botrychium simplex_. Borders of maple
swamps, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York.

(5) COMMON GRAPE FERN

_Botrychium obliquum_. _Botrychium ternatum_, var.
_obliquum_

BOTRYCHIUM DISSECTUM, var. OBLIQUUM

Rootstock short, its base including the buds of succeeding years. Fronds
two to twelve inches or more high. Leafy or sterile segment triangular,
ternate, long-petioled, springing from near the base of the plant, and
spreading horizontally. From the main leafstock grow several pairs of
stalked pinnae, with the divisions ovate-oblong, acutish, crenate-serrulate,
obliquely cordate or subcordate. Fertile segment taller, erect, about three
times pinnate, maturing its fruit in autumn. Occasionally two or three
fertile spikes grow on the same plant. In vernation the apex of each
segment is bent down with a slight curve inward.

[Illustration: Common Grape Fern. _Botry