|
June 11, 2012
|
Southeastern, New Hampshire
|
The smell from crushed Eastern Hay-Scented Fern is supposed to be like freshly cut hay,
but I do not remember what that smell is like. This plant (when crushed) smells a
little like Sweet Fern (Comptonia peregrina). Keys to identifying this fern:
- Yellowish-green fern that grows singly from creeping rhizomes.
- Narrow, lance-shaped blades (<25 cm wide) with a relaxed and narrowly-pointed tip.
- Sori are small, cup-shaped (hard to see) and grow along the margin of the pinnules
(usually near the tooth sinuses).
- The leaves are bipinnate-pinnatafid
- Hairs on the stipe, rachis and leaflet blades. (Note: Northern Lady Fern
(Athyrium angustum) has brown to black scales on the stipe rather than hairs.)
Eastern Hay-Scented Fern can sometimes dominate large patches of the forest
understory.
|
|
