Ill] THE BRACKEN FERN 33 



originally few in number. The underground position 

 of the stock makes for permanence of the individual. 

 During the austere time of our northern winter, or it 

 may be the drought of a southern summer, it contains 

 a liberal store of food-material laid up in its fleshy 

 tissues, ready for use in forming fresh leaves in the 

 coming season. This habit is naturally very effective 

 against extremes of climate. It has probably been a 

 factor in the success of the Bracken, as shown by its 

 commonness at home, as well as in its cosmopolitan 

 spread elsewhere. 



The stately leaf of the Bracken is borne by the 

 upright leaf-stalk, which is dark coloured and hairy 

 where buried in the soil, but green and smooth above, 

 while paler lateral lines follow its course upwards. 

 It is here that provision is made for gaseous inter- 

 change with the outer air, which is elsewhere prevented 

 by a covering of hard woody tissue. It is this leaf- 

 stalk that children cut obliquely with a knife, and see 

 on the cut surface what they call " King Charles' 

 Oak " : the complicated arrangement of the conduct- 

 ing strands and of the brown tissue that accompanies 

 them being in outline roughly like a tree. In Germany 

 it is held to resemble the Double Eagle, and the name 

 " Adlerfarn" is accordingly given to it. High up on 

 this rachis the lateral lobes, or pinnae, are borne in 

 pairs, diminishing successively in size till the apex is 

 reached. The pinnae may be again branched, and 



B. 3 



