THE LADY 



3. 



THE LADY FERN. 



Athyrium filix-foemina. 

 PLATE 1, FIG. 3. 



iMONGST our native Ferns this species 

 stands almost unrivalled. Charming 

 as all the Fern family are, there is in 

 this particular member of it an indescribable love- 

 liness. Words can but inadequately picture its 

 attractions. It must be seen to be thoroughly ap- 

 preciated ; and one glance will convey to the mind 

 a glad sense of its soft beauty, such as no verbal 

 description can properly give. It is, indeed, 

 amongst its kind, the queen of delicacy, grace, and 

 beauty. 



Combined with its singular gracefulness, there 

 is an extreme simplicity about the Lady Fern, 

 rendering its formal description a matter of ease. 

 It has a tufted root-stock, always slightly raised 

 above the surface on which this Fern is found to 

 grow ; sometimes raised to a height of several 



243 



