150 THE FERN PARADISE. 



forms a stem so short, however, as to be scarcely 

 perceptible without close inspection, but forming 

 a connecting link with the stem of the branch. 

 If you hold the frond of the Osmunda against the 

 light and look through the leaflets you will see a 

 really beautiful arrangement of veins. There are 

 two kinds of fronds in the Flowering 1 Fern barren 

 and fertile. It is the barren frond which we have 

 been describing. In the fertile frond the lower 

 portion is similar to the barren frond, but in the" 

 upper portion the leaflets are contracted, and bear 

 on their backs dense masses of seed. At first 

 green, this seed gradually becomes light brown in 

 colour, and then it almost completely hides the 

 contracted leaflets on which it is borne: and at 

 this stage it has somewhat the appearance of a 

 flower at the top of the frond ; thus giving some 

 reason for the name which has been given to this 

 species. In reality, however, the spores of the 

 Osmunda look like what they are a cluster of 

 ripened seed, and bear but a slight resemblance 

 to a flower. 



In bog-land as well as in woodlands and along 



