Netted Chain Fern

I've long known about the Connecticut Botanical Society and the terrific walks they sponsor almost every week during the growing season, but for reasons that basically defy logic, I've never joined the worthwhile organization on a trek. But when my bog-haunting buddy James Cowen told me he was leading a walk through the Bell Cedar Swamp, I jumped at the chance to take part. The botanists who were part of the foray were welcoming and knowledgable, and I quickly started learning just how little I actually knew. This is humbling, but not surprising. One of the new plants I retained was this bog-beauty, the Netted Chain Fern. Woodwardia areolata resembles a small and more delicate Sensitive Fern, a species I know pretty well, and its fertile fronds feature these long lines of "sausage-shaped rows of chainlike fruitdots," according to the description in the Peterson Field Guide to the Ferns. With any luck, I won't forget this characteristic. And even if I do, hopefully, I'll remember that I have a diagnostic picture.