FERN TRIBE 103 
green hue. The difference of the form, which is often so elegant and delicate 
in outline, gives to the ferns their grand attraction. Sometimes the frond 
is simple—that is, like a long narrow leaf, with waved edges, as in the Hart’s- 
tongue ; but by far the greater number of our native ferns have their fronds 
divided into numerous branches and segments. 
The most simple form of division is the pinnatifid. In this the edge of 
the frond is cut into deep segments, nearly but not quite down to the rachis, 
as in the Scaly Spleenwort. When the frond is divided quite down to the 
rachis, leaving small portions of the rachis between each green leafy part, it 
is called pinnate, each little leaflet being called a pinna. This may be seen in 
the Sea Spleenwort. When these pinne are again divided, in the same 
manner as in the Royal Fern, the frond is said to be twice-pinnate, and the 
series of little leaf-like divisions are termed pinnules ; but when the pinne 
are not cut down quite to the rib, and are only lobed, they are termed 
pinnatifid, as in the Mountain Fern. Several of our ferns are thrice-pinnate, 
such as some specimens of the Black Spleenwort, the Lady-fern, and the 
Bracken. Fronds which are thrice-pinnate are called decompound. 
The peculiar scroll-like form which the fronds of ferns exhibit while yet 
unfolded, must have been observed by all who notice our hedge-banks during 
spring; for they may often be seen there with the blue-bells, and anemones, 
and primrose clumps. In compound ferns, like the Common Bracken, the 
divisions are also each rolled into this form, and exhibit, therefore, a number 
of pale green curves, resembling the shepherd’s crook, or the bishop’s crosier. 
This mode of unfolding is termed circinate. Many exotic ferns unfold in a 
different manner ; and two of our wild genera, the Moonwort and Adder’s- 
tongue, are without the circinate arrangement of their young fronds. 
The mode in which the fronds are traversed by veins is termed their 
venation, and it is usually so unlike the veining of an ordinary leaf as to be 
at once characteristic of a fern; so that even when these plants are without 
their reproductive brown clusters, one may always recognise the green frond 
as that of a fern. By holding up a young fern leaf to the light, it is 
easily perceived that the veins in most cases have a forked character ; that 
is, they branch off in pairs. Occasionally, indeed, one vein may be seen 
running straight from the mid-rib to the margin, without branching ; yet, in 
almost all instances, the vein becomes forked almost immediately on leaving 
the mid-rib. The mode of veining, in different families of ferns, affords a 
characteristic distinction, to which more or less importance is attached by 
different botanists. It is on some spot among these veins that the capsules 
or seed-vessels are placed ; and that particular point is termed the receptacle, 
its position with regard to the veins affording a good means of determining 
genera and species. 
Every one who has gathered, from wall or hedge-bank, during autumn, 
any of our native ferns, has seen on the back, or more rarely on the margin, 
a number of powdery patches, often of a deep rich rust-brown colour, or 
occasionally, as in the Common Polypody, bright orange. They are sometimes 
circular, as in this Polypody ; or they lie along the leaf in oblong patches, 
between the mid-rib and the margin, as in the Hart’s-tongue; or they run 
together into a mass, and cover the whole back of the frond, as in the fern 
