Ferns and Fern Allies 49 



were supposed to contain miraculous as well as medicinal 

 properties, and Gadshill in " Henry IV " says : - " We 

 have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible." But his 

 faith was quickly dispelled by the answer : " Nay, I 

 think rather you are more beholden to the night than to 

 fern-seed, for your walking invisible." 



MAIDENHAIR 



Adiantum pcdatum. Fern Family 



Rootstock: slender, creeping, chaffy. Stems: brown, polished, 

 forked at the summit. Leaves: obliquely-orbicular in outline; the 

 pinnules oblong, the terminal one fan-shaped; the lower margin 

 entire; the upper margin cleft, lobed or dentate, bearing the linear- 

 oblong sori. 



This graceful fern, which is too well-known to need much 

 description, owes its specific name to the fact that the root- 

 stock roots along its whole length. The Maidenhair is 

 usually found in clefts among the rocks near running water, 

 where its fragile, feathery fronds and glistening brown or 

 black stalks are always treasure-trove. 



COMMON BRACKEN 



Pteris aquilina, var. lanuginosa. Fern Family 



Rootstock: stout, woody, horizontal. Leaves: usually glabrous, 

 ternate; the upper pinnules undivided; the lower ones more or less 

 pinnatifid. 



The most common of all ferns, this Bracken is rather a 

 coarse plant, usually found growing in open woods and sunny 

 places. In the valleys it attains a height of five to six feet, 

 but at high altitudes is much smaller and more delicate. In 

 the spring-time the fronds are always an exquisite pale green, 

 but gradually turn darker and duller of aspect as the season 

 advances. What the origin of the scientific name is, no one 





