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closely allied species of Asplenium do the same thing, and in 

 Woodwardia orient alls we find similar outgrowths, which, 

 however, are easily detached after producing two or three 

 fronds, and then drop, parachute fashion, to the ground, 

 where they have a chance of rooting, and establishing 

 themselves. The Asplenium buds, however, are not so 

 detachable, and only find their opportunity for rooting 

 when the frond eventually droops and reaches the soil. 



Here, then, we have already two variants. In Cystopteris 

 bulbifeva we have a third. Here no little plants appear, 

 nor even what would be taken for buds, berry-like growths 

 being produced in the axils of the frond divisions, which 

 eventually become oval, lobed green bodies as large as 

 good-sized peas. These fall off on reaching the soil, push 

 out fronds and roots, as small tubers would do, and occa- 

 sionally do so even while suspended. Here, then, we have 

 a bud associated with a mass of nutriment to assist the 

 young fern in its subsequent independent development, a 

 distinct, and, we believe, an unique type in ferns. 



Apical Buds. 



In several species of ferns the tips of the fronds are 

 lengthened considerably, and terminate with a bud, which 

 develops fronds and roots, and eventually weighs down the 

 tip of the frond until it and the young fern reach the soil. 

 Adiantums ciliatum and lunulatutn, Woodwardia radicans, 

 Camptosorus rhy zophy litis , and several other species do this, 

 the fronds thus assuming the functions of a stolon. In< 

 Lastrea vivipara we find buds associated with the spore 

 heaps, i.e. on the backs of the fronds. This is normally a 

 rare phenomenon, but it appears in several abnormal forms 

 of our native Lady Fern, some of the finest plumose 

 varieties displaying this faculty. Doryopteris palmata is a 

 type of fern which produces buds at the junction of the 

 stalk with the leafy part of the frond. 



