FERNS AND THEIR RELATIVES 



Fig. 28, is a fragment of one of the leaves. No. 2, in the 

 same cut, is a small fragment of another of the larger ferns. 

 It is called- a shield fern because the coverings for the 

 groups of spore-cases look like tiny shields. No. 5 is the 

 tip of the leaf of another kind of shield fern. This fern has 

 beautiful, dark green, glossy leaves that are so slender and 

 stiff that the plant is sometimes called sword fern. 



If you have searched in moist places for the first stages 

 of ferns, you have probably found groups of other little, flat, 

 green bodies fastened to the soil by root-hairs, but thicker 

 than the first fern plants. As the season advances, some of 

 these tiny plants send up, not little fern leaves, but tiny 

 stalks that resemble toadstools or umbrellas, like No. 9, 

 Fig. 30. Beneath each green umbrella are several little 

 sacs of spores, which are very interesting under the micro- 

 scope. These plants are called liverworts, and although 

 they are so tiny, they know very well how to take care of 

 themselves. I/ike the ferns, they must have much moisture 

 in order to thrive. When dry days come they curl up so 

 tightly that they seem merely dark lines on the soil ; but, 

 wet the soil , and in an hour or so the little liverworts are 

 all uncurled, and are quite fresh and ready for work again. 

 There is another kind of liverwort, No. 10, very common in 

 green-houses. It crowds in everywhere, sometimes even 

 covering the sides of flower-pots, and it is not strange that 

 it spreads so fast, for each full grown plant has a little 

 pocket or two full of green particles, every one of which can 

 grow into a new plant. 



The true mosses, which form a beautiful, bright green 

 covering for damp soil and rocks, or even for walls and 

 shaded roofs, are cousins of the liverworts. Many of the 

 California mosses are very small, but you can readily see 

 that each tiny plant has root, stem and leaves, and you will 

 often find the pretty little urns in which they keep their 

 spores. Perhaps you know some moist shaded place where 

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