CHEILANTHES AND MAIDENHAIR. 



243 



other ferns, prevent its being easily for- 

 gotten. There is perhaps, no other fern 

 family so sharply distinguished as the 

 one to which the maidenhair belongs. 

 The botanist recognises its members at a 

 glance without looking at the fruit, so 

 characteristic is the cutting of the fronds 

 Of late years the exotic species have come 

 into great favour for decorations and no 

 florist considers his stock complete with- 

 out them. Since he is accustomed to call 

 them by the generic name, the word Adu YOUNG FRONDS - 

 antum is beginning to have more meaning to the general 

 public than most generic fern names. 



Soon after vegetation starts in spring, the slender 

 crosiers of the maidenhair begin to appear on moist 

 shaded slopes and in low woods. Before they push 

 up, they are protected by many brown, hairlike scales 

 and when uncoiling usually have a few scattered, light- 

 coloured ones along the stipe. At first the stipes are 

 covered with a bluish bloom and the immature pinnae are 

 of a dull red colour, imparting a not very pleasing lurid 

 hue to the underwoods. At maturity stipe and rachis 

 are smooth, dark and shining among the handsomest of 

 their kind. 



At the summit the stipe divides into two parts, each 

 of which makes a sort of half circle away from the other 

 and nearly at right angles to the direction of the stipe. 

 The pinnae grow from the upper or outer sides of what 

 may thus be called the two rachids. The pair nearest the 

 forks are the largest, often a foot long and two inches 

 wide, and the others gradually decrease in size making 

 the outline of the whole frond nearly circular. The 



