FERN TRIBE 155 
Mr. Newman, referring to it, says: “I noticed a beautiful instance at 
_ Killarney, where it completely fringes the river between the lakes, and 
certainly forms a most prominent feature in that lovely but neglected portion 
of that far-famed scenery. ‘So altered is the usual character of this fern, 
that its long fronds arch gracefully over, and dip their masses of seed in the 
crystal water; while the saucy coots, from beneath the canopy it affords 
them, gaze fearlessly on the visitors who are continually passing by.” In 
_ the north of England it is found at an elevation of 1,000 feet. 
This fern is not difficult of culture, and growing in a large pot of earth 
kept in water, and placed in the shade, it makes a lovely ornament among 
the myrtles, and hydrangeas, and rhododendrons which so often grace the 
hall of a house. It also thrives well on the margin of pieces of water, or on 
rock-work near them. It is common to most European countries. The 
Germans call it Zraubenfarrn; the Dutch, Trosvaren,; the Italians and 
Spaniards, Osmunda ; and the French, Osmonde. 
The young fronds of the Osmunda are usually about ten or twelve in 
number, but they are sometimes fewer. Their large leaf-sprays are thin and 
crisp, and of a bright sea-green colour, usually assuming a deeper green as 
the plant grows older. The stalk, which is at first reddish-brown, afterwards 
becomes green, and contrasts well with the rich rust-brown spikes of fructifi- 
cation, which formerly misled people into the belief that this fern, at least, 
produced flowers. These shrub-like fronds are, however, annual, and some 
of them are barren. . They are lanceolate and twice pinnate, the pinne being 
either lanceolate, or lanceolate and egg-shaped, and the pinnules are oblong 
and nearly egg-shaped. They are also somewhat ear-shaped at the base, 
rounded at the upper part, and the margins are serrated. The pinnz at 
the upper portion of the fertile frond are so densely covered with the brown 
clusters of capsules, as to look something like spikes of flowers ; and they 
so contract the green leafy portion, that they leave only a green edge, and 
the mid-vein clear. Lower down on the frond we often see a pinnule or two 
thus contracted, and partly or wholly covered with the fructification ; and we 
may, during the earlier growth of the plant, trace the gradual contraction of 
the leafy part of the frond through all the stages, till it is converted into 
this panicle. This is often, when matured, two or three feet in length, and 
branched so as to be a yard wide. 
The barren fronds are leafy throughout, but differ in no other respects 
from the fertile ones. In their most luxuriant state, the fronds of this 
handsome plant are sometimes nearly two yards across. 
In the barren fronds we may easily perceive the mid-vein of each pinnule, 
with twice or thrice forked veins issuing from it to the margin. In the 
fertile fronds the clusters of capsules are seated on these veins, which are 
just sufficiently developed to form a receptacle. The capsules are nearly ~ 
globular, stalked, and two-valved. 
This plant, which appears in May, is matured by August, but is destroyed 
by the early winter frosts. It was formerly in much repute for its medicinal 
properties, but it is now little used, though its stem is astringent and some- 
what tonic. An old writer, who calls it also the Water Fern, says: ‘This 
hath all the virtues mentioned in other ferns, and is much more effectual 
20—2 
