The Parsley Fern 



barren and fertile, perishing annually before the rigours 

 of winter. The barren or leafy fronds which grow on 

 the outside of the tufts are twice or thrice pinnate, the 

 pinnules, like the whole frond, being roughly wedge- 

 shaped or triangular, and cut into two lobes. The leaf- 

 stalks are thin, brittle, and light brown in colour. The 

 fertile (spore-bearing) fronds are slightly taller than the 

 barren ones, and spring from the centre of the tufts. 

 Like the barren ones, they are also twice or thrice 

 pinnate, more often thrice, and roughly triangular in 

 shape, but the pinnules are rather oblong than wedge- 

 shaped. In the early stages of growth the sori are 

 roundish, but later on they form two almost unbroken 

 lines round the edges or margins of the pinnules. 

 These margins, being recurved, hide the very fine 

 indusia. The globular sori which eventually unite 

 to form lines, the recurved margins of the fronds 

 under which the sori are almost concealed, the fine 

 indusia, and the two dissimilar fronds are the dis- 

 tinguishing marks of the genus Cryptogramme to which 

 the Parsley Fern belongs. Cryptogramme crispa is the 

 full botanical name of this fern. The generic name is 

 formed from the Greek words, kruptos, " hidden," and 

 gramme, " a line," because the sori, when mature, form 

 lines round the frond margins. Its specific name is an 

 allusion to the curled appearance of the fronds. 



In the same stony region, on a ledge of rock, we 

 encounter the Brittle Bladder Fern. This fern and its 

 near relative, the Mountain Bladder Fern, belong to 

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