60 PHENOMENA OF PLANT-LIFE. 



flowers, the ferns produce bodies analogous only to 

 flowers, and these are originated, usually, upon the 

 under surface of the leaf, which they bestrew in the 

 shape of little spangles, or embellish with broad brown 

 furry bars. Sometimes these curious bodies, instead 

 of being scattered upon the under surface, are disposed 

 along the edge of the leaf, when they form a miniature 

 braid. The particular mode of their dispersion supplies 

 the best means of distinguishing the various kinds of 

 ferns ; for, in ferns, as everywhere else in nature, real 

 resemblance depends not upon superficial but upon 

 deep-seated characteristics, and we should make great 

 mistakes if we relied upon mere outline. Outline in 

 ferns is usually only like apparel in human beings, 

 which, though in some cases suggestive and even 

 conclusive, in others may lead us astray and perhaps 

 into peril. In the shield-fern, the seed-spangles are 

 of a deep purplish-lead color, and disposed in double 

 lines up the centre of its countless leaflets ; in the 

 Oreopteris, or mountain-fern, the spangles run like 

 yellov/ beads around the edge, following every inden- 

 tation and delicate curve, just as the little waves, at 

 high water, find their way into every creek, and kiss 

 the great round pebbles they are not strong enough to 

 encircle. Contrariwise, in the hart's-tongue, instead 

 of spangles, we have long lines of tawny felt, that 

 strike obliquely from the mid-vein of the leaf away to 

 the edge ; and in the maiden-hair, delicate little semi- 



