With the exception of one more northern species, lateral branches of the upright shoots of plants in the genus Diphasiastrum are four angled or flattened and covered with alternating pairs of flat and folded scale-like leaves. Of the three species likely to be encountered in our area, D. digitatum and D. complanatum have flattened branches. In D. complanatum a constriction marks the end of the annual growth of the branch; such constrictions are lacking in D. digitatum. Strobili of D. digitatum are born on long stalks which are usually divided into two branches at their base. A colony of this Clubmoss grows in the southwestern section of the large "middle field" at Rice Creek.
Return to Clubmosses
Return to Contents
This is the most common Horsetail in our area, growing in a wide variety of seasonally wet habitats but favoring well drained sandy or gravelly soils. The plant will develop a deep, extensive underground system of horizontal stems (rhizomes) from which lateral branches of two types arise. Unbranched fertile shoots emerge early in the spring. They are a light tan in color, completely lacking chlorophyll. These shoots survive only long enough to produce and shed the reproductive spores. About the time these fertile shoots wither, branched, green sterile shoots emerge. The sterile shoots persist for the remainder of the growing season. The Field Horsetail can be found in a number of places at Rice Creek.
Return to Horsetails
Return to Contents
This is a common Horsetail that sometimes forms extensive, dense colonies along roadsides, railroad edges, stream banks, and in gravelly soils. The shoots are all alike, evergreen, usually unbranched and, when fertile, have a terminal spore producing strobilus with a small, sharp apical point. There is an extensive, underground system of rhizomes that connects the stems of the colony. The surface cells of Horsetail stems contain silica. Stems of this species can be tied in a bundle and used as an abrasive cleaner for pots and pans; hence the common name "Scouring Rush". A small colony occurs at the westernmost foot bridge on the lower branch of the Green Trail near the Field Station building.
Return to Horsetails
Return to Contents
Mosquito fern is a common and sometimes abundant component of the floating surface vegetation of Rice Pond. Fortunately A. caroliniana is the only species of Azolla known from New York State, as proper identification of the species depends on microscopic features of reproductive spores which are only visible with an electron microscope and furthermore are rarely produced by this species. A few plants will survive the winter and reproduce by fragmentation throughout the growing season.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
Bracken has large, complex, leaves which are broadly triangular in overall shape and in which the larger subunits (pinnae) are also broadly triangular. The leaf stalks hold the leaf blades in a nearly horizontal position 2 or 3 feet above the ground. Bracken fern has a world-wide distribution and can form large colonies which, particularly on some well drained, acid soils, may dominate the community to the exclusion of most other plants. Look for bracken on the west side of the Red Trail in the upper portion of the section between the tool shed and Hilton Pond.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
Lady Fern is the most common of the clump forming woodland ferns at Rice Creek. The leaf is divided two or three times before reaching the shallow or deeply toothed ultimate segments (pinnules). The most distinctive feature is the shape of the sori (sporangium clusters) on the underside of the mature leaf. They are elongate and hooked over at the outer end to form a "J" shaped structure. A thin, delicate flap of tissue called an indusium is attached to the leaf on the inner side of the "J" and covers the developing sporangia. Look for Lady Fern in any of the wooded areas at Rice Creek.
Return to Ferns
Return to Flower
Beds
Return to Contents
Glade Fern does not occur naturally at Rice Creek. It is characteristic of moist woods and stream flood plains on neutral soils. It features a relatively simple leaf, divided once into linear segments. The sori (sporangia clusters) are elongate with a laterally attached indusium as in Lady Fern but they are straight, not hooked at one end. A single specimen of glade fern is planted in the wildflower display area at Rice Creek, unfortunately in the middle of what is now a large patch of Ostrich Fern which hides the Glade Fern most of the summer.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
The Wood Ferns are clump forming ferns common in the forests of the Oswego area. Compared to Lady Fern the leaves of the Wood Ferns are coarser, darker green, and not quite as finely divided. They are most easily separated from other similar species by their small, round sori (sporangia clusters) looking like brown or black dots set away from the margin on the under side of the leaf. The delicate covering of the sorus (the indusium) is shaped like a tiny leaf with a rounded blade and the stalk attached to the underside of the fern leaf near the center of the cluster of sporangia. To separate Spinulose Wood Fern from Common Wood Fern inspect the innermost ultimate segments (pinnules) of the lowest major segment (pinna) of the leaf (refer to pictures). In D. carthusiana, the first lower pinnule of the basal pinna is longer than the adjacent pinnule and notably longer than the first upper pinnule. The leaves of D. carthusiana do not survive during the winter. D. carthusiana is a polyploid hybrid species with D. intermedia as one of the diploid parents.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
The Wood Ferns are clump forming ferns common in the forests of the Oswego area. Compared to Lady Fern the leaves of the Wood Ferns are coarser, darker green, and not quite as finely divided. They are most easily separated from other similar species by their small, round sori (sporangia clusters) looking like brown or black dots set away from the margin on the under side of the leaf. The delicate covering of the sorus (the indusium) is shaped like a tiny leaf with a rounded blade and the stalk attached to the underside of the fern leaf near the center of the cluster of sporangia. To separate Common Wood Fern from Spinulose Wood Fern inspect the innermost ultimate segments (pinnules) of the lowest major segment (pinna) of the leaf (refer to pictures). In D. intermedia, the first lower pinnule of the basal pinna is no longer than the adjacent pinnule and not notably longer than the first upper pinnule. The leaves of D. intermedia survive over the winter lying flat on the ground under any snow. Thus the name "Evergreen" Wood Fern.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
This small fern has a leaf structure that resembles the much larger Bracken Fern being divided initially into three parts and these parts then further subdivided. A small colony was found in the mammal trapping area in the Scots Pine plantation south of the Orange Trail in 1997 and a specimen was collected for the Field Station Herbarium. The plant has not been seen since despite repeated search.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
This large colonial fern has graceful fronds shaped in outline like the plumes of an ostrich. The spores are produced on separate specialized leaves that are usually positioned in the center of the clump of regular foliage leaves. Sporangia are aggregated into round clusters ("sori") which are covered by the rolled back (revolute) margins of the specialized "fertile" leaves. Foliage leaves die back in the fall leaving the brown, firmly upright fertile leaves standing until the spores are shed. In contrast to Sensitive Fern, the fertile leaves of Ostrich Fern are larger, more open, and less likely to persist throughout the entire winter. Ostritch fern is easily cultivated but spreads aggressively by means of underground horizontal branches. Large colonies of Ostritch Fern grow in the wildflower display area and at the lower corner of the parking area at the Field Station entrance.
Return to Ferns
Return to Flower
Beds
Return to Contents
This common and unique fern forms large colonies in wetlands, damp forests, and damp meadows. The leaves arise individually from horizontal stems growing at the surface of the ground. The foliage leaves have a unique shape and structure unlike those of any other plant in our flora. As with Ostrich Fern, the sporangia are produced on separate specialized "fertile" leaves which, like the sterile foliage leaves, arise independently from the horizontal stem. The fertile leaves are shorter, narrower and more rigid than those of Ostrich Fern and persist through the winter to shed the sprores in early spring. In open areas, Sensitive Fern can be an aggressive plant excluding nearly all other vegetation from the sites it colonizes. Patches of Sensitive Fern occur in the upper and middle mown fields at Rice Creek as well as at other sites along trails and in the woodlands.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
This is a common forest or woodland clump forming fern with leathery evergreen leaves that last through the winter and begin to disintegrate in the spring as new leavs are forming. The leaf is divided once into simple segments each of which has a small lobe at the base of the forward edge. The "sori" (sporangia clusters) are formed on the underside of the terminal portion of the leaf. They are round with a "peltate" (umbrella shaped) indusium which covers the developing sporangia. Christmas Fern is abundant in the old growth woodlot at Rice Creek and also occurs in some of the second growth woodlands.
Return to Ferns
Return to Flower
Beds
Return to Contents
As the common name implies, the spore producing portion of this fern somewhat resembles a bunch of grapes.. The sterile leaf shown here is divided into roughly triangular segments which are often further subdivided. The first and only specimen so far seen at Rice Creek was discovered growing close to the green trail on the island between the two boardwalks in October of 2008. Steve Young of the New York Natural Heritage Program and Arthur Gilman helped with identification of this specimen from the photograph.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
Cinnamon Fern is a common plant of wet woods, wooded flood plains, red maple swamps and, to a lesser extent, of bogs and fens in the Oswego area. The large leaves are subdivided into segments (pinnae) that are deeply toothed. The sporangia are produced on specialized "fertile" leaves growing in the center of the clump. The spores are shed in early summer after which the fertile leaves wither and disintegrate. Cinnamon Fern is cultivated as an ornamental plant. Look for Cinnamon Fern on the low, periodically flooded areas immediately north of the old Brownell Road bridge and in the marsh south of the Green Trail boardwalk.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
Royal Fern is common in swamp forests and in bogs and fens in the Oswego area. The large leaves are branched and again subdivided into smooth-margined blade segments ("pinnules"). The terminal portion of the main leaves of mature plants is modified for spore production. Look for Royal Fern on the low, periodically flooded areas immetiately north of the old Brownell Road bridge and in the marsh south of the Green Trail boardwalk.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
This is a fern of moist woods. The leaves have a triangular outline with the segments connected by a wing of tissue along the central stalk (rachis) of the leaf. Sporangia are aggregated into circular sori which lack a protective covering (indusium) during development. A small colony of Broad Beech Fern can be found in a wet depression at the lower edge of the old growth woodlot at Rice Creek.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
This is a colonial fern with creeping stems giving rise to separate but closely spaced leaves. The overall shape of the leaf, tapering to base and to apex, is perhaps the best character for field identification. New York Fern was collected in the powerline right of way in 1998.
Return to Ferns
Return to Contents
Marsh Fern is a small, delicate fern common in marshes, bogs, and fens. The leaf is similar to that of New York Fern but does not taper to the base. The veins of sterile (non spore producing) fronds are forked as viewed from the underside of the leaf. On fertile leaves, the veins are unbranched or forked and the edges of the blade segments are curved back covering most of the sporangia clusters (sori) on the underside of the leaf. Marsh Fern was collected at Rice Creek in 1970 and may well exist in the cat-tail marsh on the southwest side of the pond.