HAY-SCENTED FERN. 



slender jointed hairs at its growing extremity. It is irregularly 

 branched, often forked, and emits long and slender rootlets 

 along its whole extent. The section shows a broad exterior 

 ring of light brown parenchyma; inside of this is a broad 

 circle of minute white starch-cells, then the scalariform ves- 

 sels in a narrow ring, bordered by other minute cells, which 

 are most probably bast-cells ; inside of this is another broad 

 circle of the starch-cells, and in the very centre is a roundish 

 mass of brown sclerenchyma. The whole section has such a 

 regular concentric system that it is not only very pretty to 

 look at, but would be very well suited for anatomical study in 

 the class-room. 



The stalks are seldom more than two or three to a root- 

 stock, and rise from it several inches back of its apex. In 

 advance of them may be seen the rudiments of next year's 

 stalks. The stalks are roundish on the back and furrowed 

 on the front. They are not articulated to the root-stock, but 

 are continuous with it. Very often the stalk is found to have 

 a short branch just above its base. This branch has the 

 structure of the root-stock, and undoubtedly may grow into a 

 full-sized rhizoma. The section of the stalk shows a thin 

 outer sclerenchymatous sheath, and, within the colored paren- 

 chyma, a broad and thin vascular band, its edges turned up 

 almost at right angles with the middle part. The stalk has 

 its peculiar structure below this budding root-stock, and the 

 latter is clearly homologous with similar growths in some 

 Aspidia, and with the proliferous buds seen in many ferns. 



