OX THE 



STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF FERNS. 



THE Vegetable Kingdom is divided into two great 

 groups of plants those with flowers and those with- 

 out, technically, P/uinerogamia and Cryptogamia. 

 The ferns belong to the latter group. They are 

 easily distinguished from the mosses, horsetails, fungi, 

 lichens, and algse, with which they are associated, by 

 their large size and leafy character. The part of the 

 fern which, from its green colour and general form, 

 resembles a leaf, is called a frond. Although ferns 

 have no proper flowers, they have organs which per- 

 form the functions of flowers in higher plants. These 

 organs are seldom seated on a separate stem or stalk, 

 but are placed on the edges and under-side of the 

 fronds. 



Ferns, like other plants, have roots and stems. 

 The roots of ferns are composed of small fibres, which 

 are sent down from the stem, and they perform the 

 same functions in ferns as in other plants. They serve 

 to keep the plant in the soil in which it grows, and 

 are also endowed with the property of absorbing from 

 the soil the food which the plant requires . for its 

 nutrition. 



The stem of a fern consists of a mass of tissue, from 

 which the stalks of the fronds proceed upward, and 

 the root downward. In British ferns, these stems 

 seldom rise up into the air, but are either buried in 

 the earth, or lie prostrate upon it : in the common, 



