28 ROMANCE OF LOW LIFE AMONGST PLANTS. 



which resembles a Swedish turnip in substance and 

 is as thick as a man's arm, they roast it in the 

 ashes and eat it Hke bread ; but it is too bitter and 

 astringent to suit an English palate. It is said also 

 that the aborigines eat, and prefer, the heart of 

 another tree fern, Alsophila australis, which is found 

 on the western side. We have tasted of a kind of 

 bread which the aborigines concoct from the pollen 

 of the Reed Mace {Typha), and, if that may be 

 accepted as a type of what the aborigines consider 

 an enjoyable food, we are content with the seeds of 

 the cereals, even those of the poorest kind, rather 

 than adopt the manners and customs of the abori- 

 gines. The romantic stories are sufficient to satisfy 

 our curiosity without resorting to practical demonstra- 

 tion. An old mycophagist may be excused a little 

 prejudice, but, in his opinion, there are really no 

 known cryptogams which furnish a desirable article 

 of food, except fungi, and of them no true epicure 

 can ever tire. 



Fern Seed. 



One little romance associated with ferns is that the 

 minute spores, sometimes called seeds, if gathered 

 under peculiar circumstances, would render the 

 possessor invisible. Old Gerard says that " fern is 

 one of those plants which have their seed on the back 

 of the leaf, so small as to escape the sight. Those 

 who perceived that fern was propagated by semina- 

 tion, and yet could never see the seed, were much 

 at a loss for a solution of the difficulty ; and, as 

 wonder always endeavours to augment itself, they 



