FERNS 



fern cannot get ahead of the interrupted fern. This 

 is the first of the Osmundas to appear. It starts as 

 soon as Mother Nature calls and never waits to take 



another nap. At first it looks 

 so much like the cinnamon fern 

 that it is not easy to tell them 

 apart. 



The interrupted fern does 

 not care so much for moisture, 

 but it likes the roadside and 

 pasture. Both kinds of fronds 

 begin to grow at about the same 

 time. The stipes are slenderer 

 than those of the cinnamon fern. 

 They are also less downy. When 

 the buds uncoil, the small fronds 

 are wholly green, but in the 

 taller ones this color is inter- 

 rupted by a few pairs of leaflets 

 that bear spores. At first the 

 spores are dark green, almost 

 black, and look very pretty in 

 the midst of the yellow-green 

 of the rest of the frond. Later 

 they turn brown. It is the way in which the spores 

 grow that gives this plant the name of interrupted 

 fern. 



The third member of the Osmunda family, the 



42 



The Interrupted Fern. 



