24 THE OSMUND FERNS. 



IV. THE OSMUND FERNS. 



That tall Fern 



So stately, of the queen Osmunda named: 

 Plant lovelier, in its own retired abode 

 On Grasmere^s beach, than Naiad by the side 

 Of Grecian brook. WORDSWORTH. 



Description. Excursions in the old mossy damp woods, 

 in the month of May, are generally rewarded by a rich dis- 

 play of these large, majestic Ferns already in fruit. They 

 grow in circular clumps springing from a thick subterra- 

 nean stem, or root-stock. As in the Polypods, the fronds 

 constitute the aerial region. They are very smooth, often 

 3-5 feet in height, and a yard in width. 



Clayton's Osmunda, shown in the cuts, bearing its fruit 

 in the middle of the frond, is earliest ripe, and therefore 

 the first to be analyzed. 



Analysis. The Boot is of many fibers, with branches 

 innumerable, short, spreading at right angles (divaricate), 

 filling the soil. 



The Stem is wholly subterranean, a thick blackish rhi- 

 zome of loose texture and partly woody, living many years 

 (perennial). 



The Frond is twice divided; first into many distinct 

 pinnae, arranged in pairs along the lengthened stipe or 

 rachis (Gr. back-bone); then each pinna is cut into oblong 

 lobes or segments. This twofold division is termed pinnate- 

 pinnatifid or l)ipinnatifid. 



The venation, like that of Polypod, is pinni-veined and 

 fork-veined (2). 



Vernation. When starting from the ground in early 

 spring, each frond is a coil rolled from the top inward and 

 downward, gradually unfolding, scroll-like, as it grows (5). 



