FLOWEKLESS PLANTS. 



185 



is a short, -underground rhizoma. In some ferns 

 the rhizoma takes a vertical direction, and bears a 

 whorl or tuft of foliage at the top. Here it gives off 

 single leaves as it advances. Although, in our cli- 

 mate, the stems of ferns are found creeping under- 

 ground, yet in the warm climates of the tropics they 

 rise in the air, sometimes forming trees, forty or fifty 

 feet in height. 



Did you ever see any flowers upon this sort 

 of plant ? any thing that looked like fruit ? Since 

 studying the Coniferae, you are aware how very 

 simple and obscure flowers may become, and you 

 will, of course, look very carefully at a plant before 

 deciding that it has none. Gather as many kinds 

 of ferns as you can find, and search for the seed- 

 bearing portions. Meantime you can learn the 

 terms by which their parts are distinguished. They 

 are the following : 



The leaf of a fern is called a frond. The stalk 

 or petiole of a frond is called a stipe. Point out the 



FIG. 846. 



frond and stipe in the specimens you have gathered. 

 The lobes of a frond are called pinnce (Fig, 344). 

 Subdivisions of pinnae are called pinnules (Fig. 346). 



