450 



BOTANY 



I'AKT 11 



bears at the apex a rosette of piunately compound leaves or fronds, M'liich are 

 produced in succession from the terminal bud, and leave, when dead, a large 

 leaf scar on the trunk. The stem is attached to the soil by means of numerous 

 adventitious roots. The majority of Ferns, however, are herbaceous, and possess 

 a creeping rhizome, terminating usually in a rosette of pinnate or deeply divided 

 leaves. Such a habit and growth are illustrated by the common Fern As^ndiumfilix 



< iAAi-i'sA-\i 



Fio. :?!i5. — Ahophila crinita. A Tree-Fern growing in Ceylon (Reduced.) 



iiias, the rhizome of which is official (Fig. 396). When young, the leaves of this 

 Fern are coiled at the tips (Fig. 396, 1, a), a peculiarity common to the Ferns as a 

 Avhole, and to the Water-Ferns. Unlike the leaves of Phanerogams, those of the 

 Ferns continue to grow at the apex until their full size is attained. The leaves 

 of the common Polypudnim vulgarc are pinnate, and spring singly from the upper 

 side of tlie creeping branched rhizome. In other cases the leaves may be simple 

 and undivided, as in the Ilart's-Tongue Fern, Scolopcndrium xuhjare (Fig. 397). 

 In the tropics many lierbaceous Ferns grow as epiphytes on forest trees. 



Peculiar brownish scales (paleae, ramenta), often fringed and consisting of a 



