ADIANTUM CAPILLUS -VENERIS. 



The roots are wiry, black, and fibrous : the rhizoma, or 

 under-ground stem, is black and scaly, and creeping, though 

 very slowly : the young fronds make their appearance in May, 

 are fully developed in July, and remain green till the winter : 

 the future divisions of the frond are not apparent on its first 

 expanding ; three or five pinnse only appear, and these, in a few 

 days, become divided into pinnules. 



Although the form of the frond has been repeatedly described 

 by botanists in precise terms, it must be considered irregular. 

 The racliis, or principal stem, is throughout naked, shining, 

 and nearly black ; the branches, or pinnte, are alternate, and 

 on these are the pinnules, also alternate, and each on a distinct 

 footstalk : botanists describe these pinnules as wedge-shaped, 

 or fan-shaped, but they are far from uniform, and often vary 

 greatly in the same frond. The fronds are generally fertile, 

 the exterior margin of each pinnule being divided into a num- 

 ber of lobes, and the terminal portion of these is bleached, 

 scale-like, reflexed, and bears the capsules of seed in somewhat 

 circular clusters on its internal surface : this reflexed margin, 

 and also the situation of the veins, is shown in the detached 

 pinnule (fig. b), to the left of the cut at page 1 : the veias divide 

 frequently, and without regularity, and run into the bleached 

 reflexed portion of the lobe, ceasing before its extreme margin, 

 and each bearing a cluster of capsules at its extremity ; this 

 will be seen on reference to the lower figure in the same cut 

 (fig. c), which represents only one lobe or division of a pinnule : 

 the reflexed portion, turned back, and showing the clusters of 

 capsules, is unshaded. When barren, the margins, instead of 

 being bleached and reflexed, are continued on ^tKA*''!/ 



the same plane as the disk of the pinnule, are ^"^ 

 sharply serrated (as represented in the annexed 

 figure), and perfectly green to the extremity : 

 with this exception, the fertile and barren fronds 

 are similar. When the frond has passed ma- 

 turity, and approaches decay, the pinnules of this fern fall oil 

 like the leaves of phsenogamous plants, the rachis remaining 



