CHAPTER VII. 

 FERNS AND FERN ALLIES. 



By 



T. J. IVEY, M.A., 



Science Master, Harbord Collegiate Institute. 



OWING to the sandy or heavy nature of the soil 

 Q and about Toronto, and the comparatively dry 

 .tmosphere, the representatives of this group of 

 >lants are not numerous, and the individual species, 

 n the whole, are rather medium-sized. In certain 

 ocalities throughout the province, however, where 

 onditions of soil and moisture are suitable, mag- 

 lificent specimens are often found. In the northern 

 >art of the province specimens of the Bracken fern, 

 ! or example, have been found to attain a height of 

 iix or seven feet, and in one locality in the eastern 

 art of the province the Boulder fern, where protected 

 >y a shaded limestone cliff, has been observed to pro- 

 luce fronds five feet in length ; the average size for 

 X)th these being perhaps about two to three feet, 

 fhere are many localities, too, throughout the pro- 

 rince where typical rock-loving ferns are numerous, 

 nich as at Niagara and Credit Forks, where the rocks 

 ire chiefly calcareous. Here occur such species as 

 Purple Pellaea, Xarrow-leaved Spleenwort, Maiden- 

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