10 OUR NATIVE FERNS AND THEIR ALLIES. 



25. Venation. The method of veining admits of great 

 variation, often serving to distinguish species, and more especi- 

 ally the sections of the various genera. In some ferns, like most 

 shield-ferns (Z?ry^/^r), the veins are free that is, arising from 

 either side of the midvein they do not unite with any other vein. 

 In some of these the vein is simple (not branched), in others 

 variously forked. In many the veins repeatedly anastomose 

 or unite together, forming a series of network or areolce. This 

 may be somewhat irregular, as in Onoclea ; or forming a single 

 row of areolse next to the midvein and thence free to the margin, 

 as in Woodwardia Virginica ; or forming many uniform areolae 

 by the parallel transverse veinlets connecting the distinct and 

 parallel primary veins, as in Campyloneuron phyllittdts. In case 

 the venation does not appear when examined by reflected light, 

 it may be brought out clearly by holding the frond between the 

 observer and the light, and then using a lens if necessary. A 

 few fleshy species require dissection to show the veins. 



CHAPTER III. 



FRUCTIFICATION IN FERNS. 



" But on St. John's mysterious night, 



Sacred to many a wizard spell, 

 The hour when first to human sight 

 Confest, the mystic fern-seed fell." 



26. Spores and Sporangia. In the flowering plants 

 (SPERMAPHYTES) seeds are pro- 

 duced by a complex process in- 

 volved in pollination, the growth 

 of the pollen tube, and the sexual 

 process which results in the em- 



FIG. i. Enlarged section through a bryo of the nCW plant. The 

 sorus of PolypoJiut falcatum Kellogg, _ 3 



showing the stalked sporangia. Ferns, on the contrary, produce 



no flowers. Instead of seeds developed from fertilized ovules, 

 minute spores are produced asexually, from which new ferns are 

 developed by a peculiar process of germination very unlike that 



