100 PERNS OP GREAT BRITAIN. 



of Monmoutli, they recalled the circumstance and sought 

 for him where he lay concealed beneath the withered 

 heap of fern. No wonder that imagination could readily 

 trace in the heart of the fern some semblance which 

 could identify the plant with the remembrance of the two 

 fugitive princes, the father and son, whose fates were so 

 different. The oak-tree is still believed to be portrayed 

 there; and the author, during childhood, shared in 

 a belief very general in the neighbourhood of her home. 

 In Germany, this figure is commonly called the Prussian 

 Double Eagle; and older, probably, than any other 

 tradition is the received opinion, that the marks in the 

 fern stem represent an eagle, and gave to the plant 

 one of its common names, the Eagle fern. This idea 

 is casually alluded to in one of the Colloquies of Eras- 

 mus, when one of the speakers observes of the Toad- 

 stone, or Crepaudine: — "Perhaps they imagine the 

 likeness of a toad ; as on cutting the root of fern we 

 imagine an eagle." 



In the thick shady woods in which our Brake luxu- 

 riates, its root-stems creep many feet below the surface 

 of the soil. They are as thick as the finger, and covered 

 with a beautiful soft velvety down. The young fronds, 

 which appear in May, are curled and drooping, of a deh- 

 cate whitish green, and very tender, having both that 

 starch-like odour and flavour peculiar to ferns. By 

 September their bright green is touched with golden 

 hue, which finally yields to the brown tint colouring the 

 crisp fronds as they rustle in the winter winds. 



The outline of the frond of this fern is somewhat 

 triangular, and it is either twice or thrice pinnate. The 



