PILLWORT. 101 



distinguished by bearing their spores, not on the back of the 

 leaf, but in special receptacles at its base. As the Order is 

 represented in the British flora by one species only, it is 

 unnecessary to describe it more fully than relates to that 

 species the Pillwort or Peppergrass. 



Unlike as we found the Adder's-tongue to the other ferns, the 

 Pillwort is much more so. In all probability it is frequently 

 passed over as grass, or as the young growth of one of the 

 rushes. This is even the case when one may suppose from 

 his study of fern-books that he is well acquainted with the 

 appearance of the plant, for it has always been the custom 

 for the illustrators of these books to greatly exaggerate the 

 proportions of the Pepperwort, making its fronds as thick as 

 goose-quills and almost as long. As a matter of fact, the 

 leaves are little thicker than stout bristles, and the general 

 appearance of a colony is that of very bright and tender new 

 grass turf. (Plates 105, 107, in.) 



The creeping rootstock is reduced to very slender pro- 

 portions a mere branching thread, a few inches in length, 

 smooth and round, from which are given off at intervals root- 

 fibres below, and leaves above, singly or in pairs. The leaves, 

 bright green and three or four inches long, appear far too 

 attenuated to maintain their erect position. These leaves, 

 which are at first coiled up after the manner of fern-buds, 

 have not the importance of the fronds of ferns. They are as 

 important, of course, as the leaves of grasses and larger plants, 

 but they are not the bearers of spores. For the receptacles for 

 these we must look along the rootstock. On the upper side, 

 nestling between the bases of the leaves, we shall find rough- 

 coated bodies, round or egg-shaped, and brown in colour, about 

 the size of peppercorns, to which they have been compared. 

 They will be found from June to August. 



These capsules are quite unlike those of the True Ferns, and 

 there is also a remarkable difference in their contents. The 



