FERNS 



younger leaves are always in the middle. In the very 

 center you will find circles of buds which afterward 

 grow into leaves. 



Other kinds of ferns have long, slender rootstoc!-" 

 which creep along under the ground and have many 



branches. The leaves of 

 these come up in irreg- 

 ular clusters, or else 

 single leaf grows up here 

 and there along the root- 

 stock. New ones come 

 up every little while dur- 

 ing the summer. 



The buds of ferns are 

 different from those of 

 flowering plants. They 

 are always coiled or folded 

 close. Very rarely do we 

 find this arrangement in 

 any other plant. When 

 a bud is all uncoiled, the leafy part is known as the 

 blade. The stem, or stalk, of the fern leaf is called 

 a stipe. The blade and stipe together form the frond, 

 but the blade alone often receives this name. 



The work of a plant is to grow. The parts needed 

 for this work are a root, a stem, and leaves. The fern 

 has all of these. 



Nature has given each part something to do. She 



14 



A Fern Frond. 



Fern Buds 

 Uncoiling. 



