12 THE UNCOILING FRONDS. 
tiful. There are many, especially in tropical countries, 
that are coarse and ugly, but so far as our own are con- 
cerned, the few plain species make very welcome foils for 
the others. 
The fronds of a fern are essenti- 
ally complete in the bud and their 
se development into those graceful 
f and delicate objects that wave in 
the summer breeze is mainly a pro- 
cess of unrolling and expanding. 
In those species that produce their fronds 
in whorls or circles there may be seen 
within the circle of expanded fronds, sev- 
4, eral circles of buds, each successively 
“smaller toward the centre. These are 
the fronds of coming years and_ strilk- 
ingly remind us how many morrows the 
fern tribe is prepared for. Although 
known as fronds, these organs are really 
leaves and may be called leaves without 
impropriety. They are, however, more 
frequently called fronds, the expanded 
leafy portion being known as the dlade 
and the stalk that supports it, the s¢zpe. 
The continuation of the stipe through 
the blade, or beyond the beginning of 
the leafy portion, is the rach7s. Since 
many species have no stipes, the use of 
the word frond, to designate the blade 
alone, is common. As regards the pro- 
duction of fronds, our species may be 
divided into two classes. In the one, 
they are produced only in spring unless 
A CROSIER, 
