THE WOODS IN AUTUMN 243 



tite leaf, and each of the parts is doubly pinnate. The 

 brake has brown spores and spore cases, which are found 

 under the reflexed margins of the leaves. 



Among the prettiest of our ferns is the Maidenhair, 

 which is only found in damp, shady woods. The dark, 

 chestnut-brown, or nearly black, stem is sometimes about ten 

 to twelve inches long, but often much shorter. Its two 

 branches divide into many polished thread-like branchlets, 

 which have suggested the pretty comparison expressed in 

 the name of this plant. The shining branchlets are studded 

 with two rows of the most delicate leaflets, under whose 

 reflexed margins the spore cases will be found in little 

 patches. The rootstock, which is about as slender as the 

 leafstalk, creeps along under ground ; it is provided with a 

 great number of chaffy scales and has roots along its whole 

 length. Compare the rootstocks of Clayton's fern and of 

 the brake with this rootstock. 



Ferns furnish very good material for drawing and for 

 school herbariums ; the live plants, as well as carefully 

 pressed fronds, are very ornamental. 



50. Another class of flowerless plants which may be 

 mentioned here are the horsetails. Many of them resemble 

 a miniature pine tree in their mode of branching; others 

 have no branches, but all consist of many nodes, or joints, 

 which can be easily pulled apart. Some species produce 

 fruiting stems very early in spring. These stems are only a 

 few inches tall and not green, but of a brownish-white color. 

 They carry a head, whose form is suggestive of a very small 

 pine cone. These heads carry the spores, which, when shaken 

 from a mature head, often cling together in. masses by means 

 of flue ribbons, with which they are provided. The species 

 just described produce green, sterile stems later in the sea- 

 son. Other horsetails produce sterile and fruiting stems, 



