Ferns : Habitats, Life-Story, Morphology 



a more copious supply of moisture than the atmosphere 

 which surrounds more open situations. This is due to 

 the presence of the trees, which give out through their 

 leaves in the form of vapour all the superfluous water 

 which they have drawn from the soil. 



Similar conditions prevail in many of our country 

 lanes, especially when shaded by trees and bordered by 

 ditches, and in such places we may expect to find ferns 

 of the same species as grow in woods. When these lanes 

 or country roads are more exposed to the sunlight, and 

 where there is a less plentiful supply of moisture, the 

 woodland ferns will become dwarfed, and in some 

 instances may completely die out. 



Other ferns, again, seem to prefer the bogs and 

 marshes or swamps, where they obtain an abundant 

 supply of water, but suffer from the absence of shade. 

 The foliage of ferns which grow in such situations is 

 frequently found in a scorched condition, and generally 

 dies down on the first approach of winter. 



It seems very strange, when we recall the past 

 history of ferns, to learn that the crevices of exposed 

 rocks and walls are the chosen homes of many of our 

 ferns. There they have often to endure scorching heat 

 and long periods of drought. To enable them to do so 

 they have developed a leaf texture much tougher than 

 that of the fronds of the shade-loving ferns, and they 

 have also reduced their leaf surface considerably. In 

 fact, as a general rule, such ferns are small and insig- 

 nificant. 



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