THE LIFE OF A FERN 5 



tiful. The greenest of all green things grow- 

 ing are the freshly developed fronds of the 

 oak fern (Phegopteris Dryopteris). A fine 

 foil to this^ in point of colour is the maidenhair 

 (Adiantum pedatum), with its soft pink 

 stalks deepening through shades of red, 

 maturing in ebony. With the sunlight in its 

 crown of pale pendant pinnae, we have indeed 

 the fairy of the fern creation. 



The economic value of "fern wool" or 

 "fern cotton" is duly appreciated by the 

 birds. Certain of the smaller kinds, such as 

 creepers, warblers and humming birds, are 

 on the alert for this exquisitely soft product 

 to use in felting their nests. 



The dividing line between phenogamous, 

 or flowering, plants and cryptogamous, or 

 flowerless, plants is one of the simplest princi- 

 ples of plant life, nevertheless this is the rock 

 upon which the casual observer wrecks his 

 botanical skiff. The "brown stuff" on the 

 back of the frond or on the stiff, dark spikes 

 of the onocleas is often attributed to some 

 sort of disease, whereas it is Nature's method 



