SECT. II. REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. 203 



stem ; the targets being considered by Hedwig as 

 forming each a calyx, to the under surface of which 

 are attached several tubular cells, containing 

 stamens and pistils, and ultimately, upon becoming 

 capsules, containing the seed. In Ophioglossum 

 and Osmunda (PL VII. Fig. 3.), in which the fruc- 

 tifications are also in spikes, issuing from a frond, 

 Hedwig has discovered what he regards as both 

 stamens and pistils. The capsules, however, are 

 easily discerned, being of a globular figure arranged 

 in two rows, and opening crossways when ripe 

 with many minute seeds. In the former the spike 

 is simple, in the latter it is branched., 



But in by far the greater number of Ferns the Dorsal. 

 fructification is dorsal, that is scattered in clusters 

 or patches on the back of the frond, as in the 

 genera Pteris and Scolopendrium (PL VII. Fig. 4.), 

 which together with their congeners are generally 

 designated by the appellation of Dorsiferous Ferns. 

 In these also Hedwig discovered what he believes to Conjec- 

 be the parts of the flower, not indeed including any 

 thing like calyx and corolla, but stamens and pistils 

 only, its primary and radical parts. If a frond of 

 any of the dorsiferous Ferns is taken at a very early 

 period of its growth and carefully unfolded, there 

 may be seen with the assistance of a good miscro- 

 scope, dispersed over its under surface, but chiefly 

 over that of the midrib, and sometimes also over the 

 upper surface, a number of small globular bodies, 

 v/'hich when put into a drop of water and placed 



