Flowerless-Plant Study 



693 



3. Write in your note-book the story of the unfolding fern, and 

 sketch its stages each day from the time it is cuddled down in a spiral 

 until it is a fully expanded frond. 



The walking fern. 



THE FRUITING OF THE FERN 



Teacher's Story 

 "If we were required to know the position of the fruit-dots or the character of the 

 indusium, nothing could be easier than to ascertain it; but if it is required that you be 

 affected by ferns, that they amount to anything, signify anything to you, that they be 

 another sacred scripture and revelation to you, help to redeem your life, this end is not so 

 easily accomplished." — Thoreau. 



HE fern, like the butterfly, seems to have sev- 

 eral this-world incarnations; and perhaps 

 the most wonderful of these is the spore. 

 Shake the dust out of the ripened fern and 

 each particle, although too small for the 

 naked eye to see, has within it the possibili- 

 ties of developing a mass of graceful ferns. 

 Each spore has an outside hard layer, and 

 within this an atom of fern-substance ; but 

 it cannot be developed unless it falls into 

 some warm, damp place favorable for its 

 growth; it may have to wait many years 

 before chance gives it this favorable con- 

 dition, but it is strong and patient and 

 retains its vital power for years. There 

 are cases known where spores grew after twenty years of waiting. 

 But what does this microscopic atom grow into? It develops into a 

 tiny heart-shaped, leaflike structure which botanists call the 

 prothallium; this has on its lower side little roots which reach down 

 into the soil for nourishment; and on its upper surface are two 

 kinds of pockets, one round and the other long. In the round 

 pockets are developed bodies which may be compared to the pollen; 

 and in the long pockets, bodies which may be compared to the ovules 

 of flowering plants. In the case of ferns, water is necessary to float the 

 pollen from the round pockets to the ovules in 

 the long pockets. From a germ thus fertilized 

 in one of the long pockets, a little green fern 

 starts to grow, although it may be several years 

 before it becomes a plant strong enough to send 

 up fronds with spore-dots on them. To study 

 the structure of the spore requires the highest 

 powers of the microscope; and even the prothal- 

 lium in most species is very small, varying from 

 the size of a pin-head to that of a small pea, and it 

 is therefore quite difficult to find. I found some 

 once on a mossy log that bridged a stream, and I 

 was never so triumphant over any other outdoor 

 achievement. They may be found in damp 



Prothallium, greatly en- 

 larged, showing the two 

 kinds of pockets and the 

 rootlets. 



