THE LADY FERN 



fronds just awaking from their winter's sleep. The 

 stipes have a reddish color and light, thin scales. 

 These contrast prettily with the yellow green of the 

 uncoiling blades. 



Go again in June where 



"The Lady Fern flourishes graceful and tall," 



and you find beautiful fronds of delicate green. In 

 late summer you see these fronds in tints of brown 

 and gold. Some of them have become blotched and 

 broken, but others are still beautiful. 



"But not by burn in wood or vale 



Grows anything so fair 

 As the Lady Fern when the sunbeams turn 

 To gold her delicate hair." 



The spores of the lady fern are good ones to plant 

 because they grow so easily. Pick fronds that are 

 heavy with fruit dots. Dry them in a paper bag for a 

 day or two, until the spores are set free. Then plant 

 them as you learned in an earlier chapter. The pro- 

 thallia and young plants of different sizes are easily 

 found on moist earth where this fern grows. 



An English author calls it the Queen of Ferns, 

 but we have many that retain their beauty longer 

 than this one. 



45 



