Flowerless-Plant Study 



695 



I. Fruiting pinnule of the boulder 

 fern, enlarged. 2. Fruiting 

 pinnules of spleenwort, enlarged. 



the spores distinctly. The spore-cases may also be seen with a hand lens, 

 the spores seeming then to be mere dust. 



The different ways the ferns blanket 

 their spore-cases is a delightful study, and 

 one which the pupils enjoy very much. All 

 of our common ferns except the careless 

 little polypody thus protect their spores. 

 Whether this blanket be circular, or horse- 

 shoe-shaped, or oblong, or in the form of 

 pocket or cup, depends upon the genus to 

 which the fern belongs. The little protect- 

 ing blanket-membrane is called the indu- 

 sium, and while its shape distinguishes the 

 genus, the position in which it grows 

 determines the species. I shall never 

 forget my surprise and delight when, as a 

 young girl, I visited the Philadelphia Cen- 

 tennial Expositon, and there in the great 

 conservatories saw for the first time the 

 tree-ferns of the tropics. One of these was 

 labelled Dicksonia, and mystified, I asked the privilege of examining 

 the fronds for fruiting organs. When lo! the indusium proved to be a 

 little cup, borne at the base of the tooth of the pinnule, 

 exactly like that of our boulder fern, which is also a 

 Dicksonia. I had a sudden feeling that I must have fern 

 friends all over the world. 



The children are always interested in the way the 

 maidenhair folds over the tips of her scallops to protect 

 her spore nursery; and while many of our ferns have 

 their fertile fronds very similar in form to the sterile ones, 

 yet there are many common ferns with fertile fronds that 

 look so different from the others, that one would not 

 think they were originally of the same pattern; but 

 although their pinnules are changed into cups, 

 or spore-pockets, of various shapes, if they be 

 examined carefully they will be seen to have 

 the same general structure and the same 

 divisions however much contracted, as have 

 the large sterile fronds. The Osmundas, 

 which include the interrupted, the cinnamon 

 and the flowering ferns, are especially good for 

 this part of the lesson. The sensitive fern, so 

 common in damp places in open fields, is also 

 an excellent illustration of this method of 

 fruiting. While studying the ferns, the teacher should lay stress upon 

 the fact that they represent the earliest and simplest forms of plants, 

 that they reached the zenith of their growth in the Carboniferous age, and 

 that, to a large extent, our coal is composed of them. It is interesting 

 to think that the exquisite and intricate leaf patterns of the ferns should 

 belong to a primitive type. Often when I have watched the forming 

 by the frost, of the exquisite fernlike pictures on the window-pane, I 

 have wondered if, after all, the first expression of the Creator did not 



Fruiting pinnules 



of evergreen 



wood fern. 



Fruiting pinnules of the 

 chain fern. 



