APPENDIX 461 



The stout and hard stem, or rhizome, is almost erect, its 

 growing end reaching the surface of the soil. Its surface is 

 covered with the crowded stumpy remains of the leaves of 

 previous years (Fig. 1 A) . The leaves die down in autumn, 

 but their withered bases are left on the stem, densely covered 

 with brown scales. The stem itself very rarely branches, but 

 buds are sometimes formed on the bases of the leaves a bud 

 on each leaf and these buds may become detached and give 



, -YOUNG LEAVES 

 PETIOLE ' 



^^ B 



LEAF-STELES 



SCLERENCHYMA 



I 

 ROOTS 



Fig. 1. Rhizome of Male Fern. 



A, Upper part, from which the older leaves have been cut off at the base and most of 

 the roots removed ; B, diagrammatic transverse section. 



rise to young plants, hence the fern has a method of vegeta- 

 tive propagation. The wiry roots are given off from the bases 

 of the leaves. 



At the front of the stem, within the expanded leaves, are 

 seen the young leaves which will unfold next spring and the 

 next again. A rosette of leaves is formed each year, but each 

 leaf takes two years to develop. All the young leaves, as well 

 as the stalks of the expanded ones, are densely clad with the 

 small brown scales, which protect them from cold and 

 drought. The large expanded " fronds," or leaves, are pin- 

 nately compound. Note, in each leaf, the long cylindrical 

 main leaf-stalk, showing two ridges along its sides ; the 

 pinnae, or leaflets, given off by this main stalk, in two rows 

 corresponding to the ridges ; and the lobes into which each 



