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FERNS OF NORTH AMERICA. 1 5 1
The bud differs from those of the smaller species already
described in being always decidedly pilose or hairy. I.,ike those,
however, it is completely enclosed in the hollotved base of the
stalk ; and in it may be distinctly seen the rudiment of the
fronds for the two or three following years. Mr. Davenport
finds that tire apices of both the sterile and fertile segments are
bent downwards, and have a slight inward curve. (See his
paper in the Bulletin of the Torrey Club.)
The common stalk is very short, being usually only from
one-tenth to one-sixth of the whole length of the plant, the
separation of the sterile and fertile segments being very nearly
at the surface of the ground, and not unfrequently even below
the surface. The sterile segment, with its petiole, is not far
from one-half the length of the fertile segment; though, as it is
always somewhat inclined, or even spreading nearly horizontally,
it does not stand half as high as the other, which is erect. The
petiole of the sterile segment is nearly or quite as long as the
segment itself; its lower portion is flesh-colored and terete; but
the upper part is of a dull fuscous-brown, and impressed with a
narrow channel, which extends upwards along the superior side
of the rachis and all its branches.
The sterile frond is always deltoid, or, perhaps it would be
more accurate to say, unequally hve-sided. It consists of three
primary divisions, which have longer or shorter special petioles
according to the size of the plant. The two side divisions are
but little smaller than the middle one : they are commonly opposite
each other; though not unfrequently they are not exactly
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