FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 



177 



Did you ever see any flowers upon this sort of plant ? 

 anything, that looked like fruit ? Since studying the Coni- 

 ferae, 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 



FIG. 469. 



by which their parts are distinguished. They are the fol- 

 lowing: 



The leaf of a fern is called a frond. The stalk or peti- 

 ole of a frond is called a stipe. Point out the frond and 

 stipe in the specimens you have gathered. The lobes of 

 a frond are called pinncz (Fig. 467). Subdivisions of pin- 

 nae are called pinnules (Fig. 469). Point out the pinnae 

 in your specimens. Have you found any in which the 

 pinnae are divided or lobed by pinnules ? Observe the 

 differences of stipe in your specimens. What kind of soil 

 did you find them in ? Were they growing in shady or 

 sunny places ? Did you observe the way the young fronds 

 were folded in the bud ? 



EXERCISE LXXIII. 

 Reproduction of Ferns. 



Did you find anything that you could fancy to be a 

 flower, in your examination of ferns ? Look them over 



