OSMUNDA KEGAIilS. 811 



correspond to pinnules, of which only the midvein and a slight 

 marginal wing is present, and to each of the lateral veins is 

 attached a nearly spherical cluster of capsules : these clusters 

 entirely supersede any leafy portion in pinna so converted ; 

 frequent instances, however, exhibit the apex of a pinnule in a 

 leafy or barren state, while the base is fertile : in an early stage 

 of the frond these spikes appear crowded and pressed together, 

 as represented at page 310, but they soon become more lax and 

 diffuse, and at last entirely lose their rigid compressed appear- 

 ance. The barren frond differs in having the leafy portion 

 continued to the very apex, where it terminates much as in the 

 true ferns. The venation in a barren pinnule is shown in the 

 lower part of the cut at page 310, where it will be seen that the 

 lateral veins branch alternately from the midvein, soon after 

 leaving which each is forked, and one or both of the branches 

 is usually again divided, and all the branches run in parallel 

 lines to the extreme margin of the pinnules. 



Although strictly a bog fern, Osmunda will live in the ordi- 

 nary soil of any garden ; but in order to make it not only live 

 but thrive, care must be taken to supply it with peat or bog- 

 earth, well saturated with moisture. My kind friend, Mr. "Ward 

 of Clapham Else, has arranged an artificial water-course with 

 such skill and judgment, as to grow Osmunda and other bog 

 plants in the most luxuriant manner. He has here " imitated 

 the natural conditions of plants " so successfully, that he has 

 truly " made the desert " of a London garden to " blossom as 

 the rose." 



^0n0niiral Mm. 



The medicinal properties of the flowering fern are not no- 

 ticed in Eay's ' Synopsis,' indeed, they are seldom alluded to 

 by the older botanists : we are, however, favoured by Gerarde 

 with the following particulars : — " The root, and especially the 

 heart or middle part thereof, boiled or else stamped, and taken 



