36 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



Fern. The following are generic names of ferns : 

 Woodsia, from Joseph Woods, an English botanist 

 who died in 1864; and Osmunda, from Osmunder, 

 a Celtic divinity (one of the names of Thor). The 

 specific names are commonly adjectives agreeing 

 with the generic ones, sometimes derived from the 

 name of the discoverer of the fern, as Polypodi- 

 um Scouleri ; sometimes from the country or 

 locality in which the plant grows, as Woodwardia 

 Virginica ; or some character of the fern, as Poly- 

 podium aureum (golden) ; or, again, it may be an 

 old substantive name, and need not agree with the 

 generic one, as Asplenium Trichomanes. Almost 

 any text-book will enable the reader to fill in this 

 outline of nomenclature ; but he must remember 

 that all botanists have not been classical scholars, 

 and hence there are many irregularities and dis- 

 crepancies to be found among the names of ferns, 



