108 THE HEATH. 



its supporter. Unless carefully sought for, it will 

 probably escape your notice, from its great resem- 

 blance to the withered stem of some plant which 

 has resisted the storms of the preceding winter. 



I must not omit to direct your attention to the 

 " Brake-fern,"* the most abundant of all the plants 

 of that tribe growing in England. This species 

 bears its seeds on the back of the frond, like the 

 others which I have described, but arranged in a 

 continuous line round the edge of the leaflet, and 

 not in scattered dots. If, about the end of May, 

 you pull up a stem, so as to bring with it its dark 

 brown base, and cut through the latter with a 

 sharp knife, held in a sloping direction, you will 

 find that the vessels in the interior are arranged 

 in a very singular way. One side of the stem is 

 indented, so as to form a groove or channel. 

 From this side the section should slope down- 

 wards. Look at it with this side turned towards 

 you, and you will have a tolerably good repre- 

 sentation of a spreading oak; reverse the stem, 

 and the arrangement of the dark vessels resembles 

 a spread eagle. f Early in spring its light green 

 stems present a singular and pleasing appearance. 

 The young plant is delicate and impatient of frost, 

 to which, from its growing in bleak situations, it 

 is much exposed. But the tender leaves are pro- 

 tected in a very extraordinary way; the middle 

 part of the stem is the first which appears above 

 the surface of the ground, the leaves remaining 

 buried for a considerable time, indeed, until the 

 spring frosts are nearly past, or they have gained 

 sufficient strength to stand against them. 



* Pteris aquilina. 



t Hence the name aquilina, from aquila, an eagle. 



