330 
Pilices. ut supra, is, becanse it is difficult to recognize them in the 
young succulent stem, as distinct from the cellular sub- 
The fuci- stance. The term lignum fasciculatum, used by Dauben- 
cali of the ton and Desfontaines to designate the stems of monoty- 
supies — ledonous plants, is in fact peculiarly pe ermce to the ma- 
- ‘ue the tare stem of ferns. For these fasciculi may be seen even 
ineature 
by the naked eye, and traced from their first divergence 
within the stem, to their final termination in the veins, 
eter. 
as they are termed, of the frond, in many instances in 
contact with the ps of capsules. ~ : 
Sprengel’s Sprengel had the merit of first pointing out this cir- 
hypothesis cymstance; and he su « the pinadee Deine 
concerning contain the concentrated sap, analogous with the pro’ 
peat juice of other plants, which is elaborated in the thick 
the seeds. Solid tubers of ferns, from the humidity of the earth ab- 
sorbed by the roots. The oxygen of the carbonated 
water entering the loose cellular texture, while the car- 
bon, uniting with the hydrogen, is conveyed into the 
ascending spiral vessels, where it contributes to the forma- 
tion of the fruit, while the brown membrane surround. 
ing the fasciculi, prevents the admixture of the elaborat~ 
ed sap with the crude juice of the cellular texture.—This 
construction,” he adds, « throws light on the peculiar 
origin of the seed-vessels in these plants, which takes 
place immediately from the ribs of the frond, or the 
continuation of the spiral vessels.” 
Fronds, It is very probable, that the vascular fasciculi per- 
their ana- form an important office in the formation of the of 
logy with — fructification in ferns; but it is equally so, that the 
= ote fronds, like the leaves of other plants, contribute their 
oe part in the assimilation of the saccharine muci con- 
tained in the cellular substance of the stem, which 
would seem destined, not only to the nutrition and evolu- 
tion of the infant germs invariably imbedded im it, but 
to the developement of the fruit itself. What renders 
this opinion more Y seas is the circumstance, that 
the abundance of the saccharine matter increases or di- 
minishes with the health or weakness of the ive 
plants, and in the autumn after the ripening of the 
seeds, it is aagyee and the seer matter itself 
disappears, and the central of the stipites is 
Rand ee, However, an stot supply i de- 
posited in the stem for the use of the buds the follow- 
ing season. In short, this saccharine muci seems to 
a remarkable analogy with the cambium of Du- 
el, from which, in other plants, rye buds and 
seeds are apparently developed, and subsequentl 
nourished and perfected. a ee 
Although in by far the greater number of species 
the buds are ri Be from the stem, there are many 
others, as Polypodium reptans, in which buds are evolv- 
ed from the top of the frond. Indeed in their general 
structure, the stipites of the fronds possess a consider- 
able analogy with the branches of other plants; but 
pe | also combine with this the properties of. leaf 
and fruit-stalks. There are, however, some species, as 
Schizwa dichotoma of Smith, and S. bifida of Willdenow, 
whose stipites are destitute of frondose expansions. 
The fronds in the whole series are generally green, 
except in the under surface, which is white in one 
Acrostichum and in Cyathea dealbata, and other ies, 
whilst it is of a beautiful yellow in Acrostichum sulphua 
reum. 
The young buds, both of the stem and fronds, are 
often beset with scales or hairs, and sometimes this is 
the case with the under part of the ex fronds. 
It is singular, that Hedwig should have mistaken 
these hairs in the infant fronds for anthere; so very apt 
* Schrad, Journal fiir die Botanick, . 3 
" observed to spring up in wild and uncultivated 
visi 
FILICES. ‘ 
are men of the first talents to hunt after analogies where — Filices. — 
none can pel exist, ole ye 
If we except ——— 3, No are 
really more ornamental than ferns. To them, indeed, And peeu- — 
we are not attracted by the fine colour or perfume of culiar ele~ _ 
the ewe, Be 
uliar freshness and beauty in the bright green hue 
Fr the arched frond. andi sh y divided pinnulz of the 
Brake and Polypody. No plants are better adapted 
than these to adorn the sloping bank of the clear and 
pebbly stream ; and their beauty in such situations has 
not been overlooked by the fine taste of one of the first 
poets of our time : , 
Where the is the 
Where the Fa steep glistens pine g 
Where the lady fern er strongest, 
Where the morning lies longest. 
The number of ramifications of the wancaler fasciculi 
a wee 
differs greatly in the numerous species. In the P. 
aureum, a single branch turns at a right angle into the 
pinnule ; whereas in the more complicated frond of Da« 
vallia canariensis, and others of a like form, several 
ramifications accompany the ive subdivisions of 
the frond; and towards the end of autumn, in our native 
species, a skeleton of the ligneous fasciculi can be dissect« 
ed from the surrounding cellular matter, through the mi- 
nute et rg of the op almost - hennoontet 
termination in sev i 
these vessels well vt theis oe into fered 
pienso fs girth mi is of Bernhardi, Various hy. — 
who supposed them to be the organs;* but, unfor- potheses re- 
tunately for this hypothesis, it has since been observed by ‘Pecting 
Sprengel, that the su organs are wanting in many ~omgs bo 
species ; but where 
do exist, he admits that the m1- 
nute vermicular bodies contained within them are pro- 
ak nctedmanee Soe comionetodoaenan 
which, canes ihieniees . 
chief part in the of fecundation. 
Other parts in the frond have, however, by various 
writers, been su to perform this important func. 
tion. Micheli, whose accuracy in other is well 
known, attributed the office of antherz to ; 
uctions, which he discovered on the unevolved. ... 
mds; and, as already observed, Hed: ‘ ° 
ig adopted 
and illustrated this opinion, ( Theoria Gen. Pl. Crypt. 
tab. v. vii.) Gleichen considered these organs to 
situated in those minute fissures, on the lower surface 
of the cuticle of the frond, which are well. illustrated 
by Spre' Tui. 1 Rb eas rents Sey ER ene 
ns wens A i this office to — Equally 
nella of the cuticle of the which, in most of the tenable, 
tribes of ferns, forms the involucrum of the of 7 
capsules. But leaving these various h to their 
natural fate, it is full time to proceed to the considera 
tion of the capsules themselves, 
The singular aspect of these plants, which every one 
seeds, seems to have arene i 
an age of general ignorance, to those superstitious fan- 
py ee prevalent in several parts of Europe. It 
was a practice among the people to collect the capsules, 
which they considered as the seeds of ferns, on mid~ 
summer eve, and make use of them in various charms. 
« We have the receipt of fern seed,” says Gadshill, in 
Shakespeare's Henry IV. “ we walk invisible.” In fact, 
the botanists of the sixteenth century partook in the 
faith of the times, Valerius Cordus, in his commenta- 
without any 
- 
os ¢é~+,. 
