An Interesting Specimen of the Fragrant Shield Fern

Abstract

The following note attached by the writer to sheet number 7084 of Dr. Jennings' Ontario collection may be of sufficient interest to warrant its publication in the Fern Journal. The fern in question was collected August 19, 1914, on a steep diabase cliff on the south shore of north Ombabika peninsula, Lake Nipigon, Ontario. Dryopteris fragrans (L.) Schott. (7084). This is a very remarkable plant in that it has about 120 (counted as accurately as possible without destroying the planta few did drop off) dead fronds and 10 mature live fruiting fronds-130 in all at the time of its collection. The five other specimens of this species collected on the present expedition show 5, 7, 9, 4, and 6 green fronds respectively, an average of about seven green leaves to the plant including the first plant. Using this figure as the basis of the average annual leaf production, some of these dead fronds are at least 17 years old and the whole plant 18 years old. If it produced 10 fronds annually, they are 12 years old and the whole plant 13 years old. From these figures it seems perfectly reasonable to conclude that the oldest set of dead fronds is at least 15 years old. But this is not all. The rootstock is about 12 centi-