FERNS 



CHAPTER I 



The Life of a Fern 



To ADMIRE a fern for its beauty is one 

 thing; to understand its life is another. To 

 this end one must be on the alert, for the 

 spring awakening of the ferns is highly inter- 

 esting. In scientific parlance all true ferns 

 must be "circinate in vernation"; that is, 

 they must come from the ground rolled up 

 like a watch spring. A grotesque lot they 

 are, their stiff stalks pushing the woolly heads 

 into the air with all the pertness of youth. 

 Only an expert can recognize old friends in 

 this guise. 



Technically speaking, the stalk of a fern 

 consists of the "stipe" and the "rachis." 

 The former corresponds with the leaf stem 

 or petiole of a flowering plant, while its con- 



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