Ferns and Fern Allies in the Kutztown-Fleetwood Area, Berks County, Pennsylvania

Abstract

As originally intended, this paper was to be a report on the ferns and fern allies in the vicinity of Kutztown, Pa.; but in 1938 the writer moved from Kutztown to Fleetwood, five miles southwestwardly from Kutztown. So the report has been extended over a somewhat larger area, more or less triangular in shape, covering about sixty square miles of territory in the northeasterly part of Berks County, Pa., and ranging generally from three to six miles beyond Kutztown and Fleetwood, with a few more distant outlying stations. The borough of Kutztown is in the northern portion, about midway between Topton near the eastern end and Virginville near the western end. The borough of Fleetwood is in the southern portion, southeast of Virginville, and Lyons and Bowers are in a southwest to northeast line between Fleetwood and Topton. On the south and southeast this area includes a part of the South Mountains, a low range 600 to 1200 feet above sea level, with a number of usually shallow ravines, each as a rule with its mountain rill and an occasional moist or swampy level; with a few small sphagnum swamps; with the slopes and upper levels usually very stony or strewn with boulders and the summits or higher