184 



The Feex Lover's Compaxiox 



('iiinnmoii Fern, \i\r. froiido.'<a 



Each fertile frond springs u]) at first outside the sterile 

 ones, 1iut is soon surrounded and overtopjjed by them and 

 finds itself in the center of a charming circle of green leaves 

 curving gracefully outwards. In a short time, however, 

 it withers and hangs down or falls to the ground. The 

 large, conspicuous clusters of cinnamon ferns give pic- 

 turescjueness to many a moist, hillside i)asture and swampy 

 woodland. In its crosier stage it is wrapped in wool, 

 which falls away as the fronds expand, but leaves, at the 

 base of each pinna, a tiny tuft, as if to mark its identity. 



