FERNS 



cause the fine, black, wiry roots resemble the hair of 

 a maiden. 



This fern is sometimes used for medicine. It is 

 said to be good for throat and lung diseases. 



There is a fern in Europe and in the southern part 

 of our own country that looks somewhat like the 

 maidenhair. It is called the Venus's hair fern. If you 

 look at the little sprays of these two plants you will 

 see the difference in the shape of the leaflets. The 

 Venus's hair branches alternately along the stem in- 

 stead of forming a circle of branches at the top of the 

 stipe as the maidenhair does. 



THE OSMUNDAS 



THE Os-mun'-das are ferns that everybody ought 

 to know, because they are so common and so showy. 

 From the time their crosiers peep out of the ground 

 in the spring until their leaflets fall in the autumn, 

 they are a familiar sight. Their roots are the largest, 

 their crosiers the wooliest, their fronds the tallest, and 

 their fruit the earliest of any of the ferns. 



The three best known members of the Osmunda 

 family are the cinnamon fern, the interrupted fern, 

 and the flowering fern. 



Early in the spring, before the grass has turned 

 green, the young crosiers or "fiddleheads" of the cin- 



40 



