FERNS 



of Osmund. It is crisp and tender and is good to eat. 

 It tastes somewhat like raw cabbage. 



While all members of the Osmunda family are so 

 common in America, only one, the flowering fern, is 

 found in Europe. It is one of the handsomest of Brit- 

 ish ferns. One of the English authors speaks of this 

 plant as the " flower-crowned prince of British ferns." 



THE LADY FERN 



THE picture shows you a fern found in all parts of 

 our country. Sometimes it is seen growing among a 



tangle of wild things in 

 the pasture, sometimes 

 by the roadside, and 

 again in the low moist 

 woodland. 



The fronds spring up 

 in circles from a large 

 rootstock, often reaching 

 a height of three feet or 

 more. Notice how deli- 

 cate and lacelike they 

 look. 



If you visit the haunts 

 of the lady fern in May, 



The Lady Fern. you will find the earliest 



44 



