THE UNCOILING FRONDS. 13 



the first crop is destroyed, and commonly appear in cir- 

 cular clumps. This habit is nearly confined to species 

 with short, stout, slowly creeping rootstocks. In the 

 other, the fronds are produced throughout most of the 

 summer. In the latter class, long, slender, extensively 

 creeping and frequently branching rootstocks are the 

 rule. 



Nature's pattern for fern buds is the spiral. Indeed, 

 so inflexible is she upon this point, and so rarely does 

 she adopt a similar pattern for other plants, that this 

 forms one of the chief characters by which the whole 

 fern tribe may be identified. No matter how varied in 

 outline or different in size the mature fronds may be, in 

 the bud all true ferns are coiled like a watch-spring. 

 And not only are the fronds as a whole coiled thus, but 

 each of the remotest divisions is rolled toward the next 

 largest, these in turn toward the rachis, and then, begin- 

 ning at the apex, rachis and stipe are rolled down to the 

 crown. During winter, the buds are protected from the 

 cold and wet by a multitude of papery or hair-like scales, 

 usually tawny brown in colour. When the fronds de- 

 velop, these often remain upon stipe and rachis, adding 

 not a little to the picturesque appearance of the crosiers. 

 The down and hairs so common on the stems and leaves 

 of flowering plants are comparatively rare in the ferns, 

 scales taking their places. 



There are nearly four thousand species of ferns in the 

 world, but an examination of the rocks has shown that 

 the present number is but a handful in comparison with 

 those that flourished when the earth was younger. In 

 the warmth and moisture of the long ago, they grew to 

 a great size and with the allied club-mosses and scouring- 

 rushes played an important part in the formation of the 



