274 PLANT LIFE. 



stalks (which show the " oak ") act Hke stems and 

 display the green leaflets. The stem of the Male 

 Fern lies obliquely on the ground. The Common 

 Polypody rhizome creeps amongst the crevices in 

 stone walls, and on the bark of trees, and the rhizomes 

 of the Oak and of the Beech-Fern grow horizontally 

 through the loose, light leaf mould, under the trees 

 in woods. Many fern stems seem, therefore, 

 intended to creep under or above the ground, so 

 that the roots and leaves are formed in a new place 

 every season. They are, in fact, generally colonising 

 rhizomes, and show many interesting adaptations to 

 such a function. 



Reserve food is often stored up in fern stems, 

 and volatile oil, tannin, and resin are also found. 

 These stems are often thickened so as to contain 

 a large amount of the food-material, and they 

 must be protected against the attacks of animals, 

 especially against insect larvae. Hence these fern- 

 rhizomes are almost always thickly covered by a 

 brownish, or golden-yellow fleecy covering, which 

 consists of closely-overlapping scales. It was a piece 

 of a fern-rhizome, with four leaf stalks attached to 

 it, which gave rise to the " Scythian lamb " myth. 

 The ingenious Scythians apparently passed this off 

 on the tourist of the period, as a sort of plant 

 which grew into an animal ; or animal which became 

 a plant ; and the subject was much discussed in the 

 Middle Ages. Milton refers to this plant apparently 

 in the sentence : 



" Fleeced the flocks and bleating rose, 

 As plants." 



Besides this woolly or scaly covering, fern-rhizomes 



