THE MAIDENHAIR FERN 



brown, hairlike scales. When the young crosiers be- 

 gin to uncoil they wear all shades of pale green and 

 red. The stems vary from red and purplish to brown. 

 Nearly every frond has spores. You can see the fruit 

 dots along the outer margin of some of the fronds. 



Frond of the Maidenhair Young Maidenhair Show- Venues Hair. 

 Fern. ing Bends in Stem. 



In the picture they are covered by the rolled-over 

 edges of the leaflets. 



On account of the smoothness of the fronds, rain 

 and dew roll off this plant without wetting it. For 

 this reason men who study about plants have given 

 this fern the name of Ad-i-an'tum, which means " with- 

 out wet." The name of maidenhair is said by some 

 to have been given on account of the slender black 

 stems. Others think that this name was used be- 



39 



