230 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



Maiden Hair and most of the South African ferns have 

 short creeping stems, but Cyathea of Natal, and the beautiful 

 Ifemitelia, of Knysna and the West, have woody stems which 

 grow to quite a height. 



On the under side of most fern leaves you will find brown 

 spots. Some people cut their ferns down and burn them 

 when they find them there, thinking that they are scale insects. 

 When the spots get quite brown, gently shake a leaf over 

 white paper. A brown dust will appear on the paper. These 



Fig. 204. — Longitudinal section through the sporophyte of Pellia epiphylla^ 

 R, rhizoids ; I, involucre ; F, foot of sporophyte ; Se, seta ; C, capsule ; W. 

 wall of capsule ; Wa, wall of archegonium ; S, spores ; N, remains of neck of 

 archegonium ; A, unfertilized archegonium (highly magnified). (From Evan's 

 " Intermediate Text Book of Botany".) 



are the fern spores, contained within clusters of spore-cases 

 forming the dots. A dot is called a sorus (plural, sori). 

 When the spores are ripe and have fallen in moist places, they 

 burst their brown walls and begin to grow. In a few weeks a 

 spore will grow into a filmy, green, heart-shaped plant. Look 

 under the shelves of greenhouses or on the outside of pots in 

 which ferns are growing. They are often abundant there. 

 People call them '' Moss," but we know that moss leaves are 

 borne on stems. Each one of these plants grows by itself. 



How Does the Fern Plant Come ? — On the under side 

 of the plants which are called prothallia are rhizoids and 



