336 ] The Fascination of Flowers 



Ferns, Fronds, and "Fiddle Heads" 



Most children love ferns as much as they do flowers. Ferns 

 lack colored petals, but by way of compensation they have grace- 

 fully shaped fronds, or leaves, that are a delight to the eye from 

 the time they come through the ground and uncoil like a watch 

 spring until the divided leaves are fully developed. While the 

 leaves are still partly coiled they are called "fiddle heads," as 

 their shape resembles the top of a violin. 



FERNS FOR DECORATION 



Ferns are frequently cultivated and used for decoration; 

 consequently a fernery makes a very rewarding project. To begin 

 with, the ground for a fern garden should be dug up and treated 

 with well-rotted leaves and humus. When you transplant speci- 

 mens from the woods, take a large ball of earth with each plant, 

 and water the ferns well for several days after each planting. Give 

 the ferns the same conditions of shade and sunshine, as far as 

 possible, as they had in the natural state. 



Among the most attractive species are the Christmas fern of 

 the East and its close relative, the sword fern of the West. They 

 are very similar in appearance except that the sword fern grows 

 much larger. 



FERNS AND THEIR SPORES 



Ferns, like the mosses and mushrooms, produce spores. 

 Some ferns also have a creeping underground stem, called a "root- 

 stock," which pushes forward and sends up new fronds each year. 

 One species is known as the "walking fern" because new growth 

 is started where the tips of the fronds come in contact with ground 

 or rocks. Look closely at a Christmas fern in early spring and 

 you will notice on the underside of some of the leaflets a double 

 row of circular, raised fruit dots, looking like pale blisters. 



Later on these "dots" turn brown, and by the middle of June 

 masses of pinpoint-size globules push out from under them. Each 

 globule is a case packed with spores so tiny that even under a 

 magnifying glass thev look like yellowish powder. By July the 



