BRITISH FERNS. 101 



The Moonwort appears to have been found more frequently 

 in England than in either Wales, Scotland, or Ireland. 



The roots and rhizoma of Botrychium and Ophioglossum 

 differ very materially from those of true ferns. The latter 

 appears Kttle more than a subterraneous portion of the rachis, 

 and no observation of my own tends to elucidate its characters. 

 Before the plant has felt the influence of spring it exists in a 

 quiescent state, and consists of a simple stem scarcely an inch in 

 length, and placed vertically in the earth ; it is somewhat 

 attenuated at the inferior extremity, and its superior extremity 

 has a whitish bud-like termination, which is the embryo frond of 

 the coming season; I suppose it to be analogous to the rhizoma. 

 In Botrychium, the lower part of the rhizoma bears two distinct 

 whorls of thick yellowish succulent roots, and the upper portion 

 is encased in scale-like alternate sheaths : the specimen from 

 which the figure was drawn was dried and pressed, and was very 

 imperfect in those parts, of which, when drawing it, I was not 

 aware. When the young frond begins to shoot, the operation is 

 shewn by the elongation of the rhizoma : it rises from the 

 ground with a straight, erect vernation in April or May, and the 

 rachis and rhizoma, when the scales have been removed, appear 

 perfectly continuous and identical. It would be highly interesting 

 to ascertain where the bud for the frond of the ensuing year has 

 its origin; and on this subject, I trust, ere long, to inform myself. 

 I can but observe with regret, how little attention botanists pay 

 to precision of terms in the nomenclature of these parts ; it is 

 impossible to tell, without reading the character, and not always 

 then, what a botanist means by the word " root ; " if he write 

 " root creeping," it is safe to conclude he intends to describe 

 the stem, or rhizoma ; if he write " root fibrous," it is safe to 

 infer he means the real root; if he write "root tufted," we may 

 infer that he confuses rhizoma and root together, or that he has 

 no definite meaning, and probably has never seen the part. 



The frond (I believe it is always a single one) makes its 

 appearance in April, with an erect, straight vernation, and fades 

 before the winter ; it is fertile, except in seedling plants : the 

 usual size is somewhat larger than the specimen figured, and it 

 occasionally reaches the height of six inches. 



The rachis is hollow, succulent, and rises from the sheath-like 

 scales already spoken of, thus totally differing from that of the 

 true ferns. It is divided at about half its length : one branch 



