WHAT IS A FERNf 101 



country lane where ferns abound will be quite 

 sufficient to accustom you at once to the difference 

 between a fern and an ordinary plant. 



Some parts of a fern bear different names to 

 those affixed by botanists to the corresponding we 

 use the word " corresponding," in its popular, and 

 not in its strictly technical sense parts of another 

 plant. First of all there is the crown, which may 

 be styled for the sake of simplicity the mainstay of 

 the plant, or the base of its stem. From the under 

 surface of this stem or root-stock proceed the long 

 fibrous roots, which, diving down into the soil, or 

 penetrating between the crevices in rocks and 

 walls, seek and convey to the plant the abundant 

 moisture without which it could not live. From 

 the crown or root-stock upwards grow the stalks, 

 which support what would be popularly called the 

 leaves. Each of these stalks is called a stipes, and 

 in most ferns both the upper surface of the crown 

 and the stipes are covered with scales, a rust- 

 coloured kind of excrescence. 



On each stipes, at a distance from the crown of 

 the plant which varies in different specimens of 



