The Lady Fern 



scattered, for after this has taken place the indusia 

 become bent or reflexed and there is much difficulty in 

 making out their true shape. The Lady Fern possesses 

 a stout, half-erect, rootstock covered with rusty scales. 

 As in the case of the Male Fern, the tall fronds are 

 arranged in tufts round the growing point of the root- 

 stock. 



The leafstalks are rather thick but easily broken, and 

 very scaly towards the base. The fronds are bright 

 green in colour and of so delicate a texture that they 

 soon shrivel up when gathered. They are oblong or 

 lanceolate in outline and twice pinnate. Both pinnae 

 and pinnules are stalkless, and set very close on the mid- 

 rib and its divisions. The sori are very numerous but 

 small, and, as already remarked, the indusia are fre- 

 quently curved. Perhaps the easiest guides to the 

 recognition of this fern at a glance are the tender green 

 of its foliage, the graceful arching of the fronds, and 

 the finely cut and closely arranged segments of the 

 pinnae and pinnules. Very many varieties of this fern 

 have been enumerated, but it will be sufficient for the 

 present to regard them all simply as Lady Ferns. 



Filix-fcemina are two Latin words. Filix is " a fern," 

 and fceminag 1 a woman." The name Lady Fern, as has 

 already been suggested, was bestowed on this fern 

 because of its fragile and graceful appearance compared 

 with that of the more robust Male Fern. 



Before leaving the wood proper to explore the wet 

 rocks and the dripping sides of the waterfalls, let us not 

 45 



