496 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



of the same genus. The barren fronds, slender and spear-shaped, smooth, of 

 a delicate pale green colour and soft texture, are If ft to 2ft. long, 4in. to 

 6in. broad, and simply pinnate (only once divided to the midrib) ; the 

 pirniEe (leaflets) of these fronds are slightly wedge-shaped at the base, where 

 they are about Jin. broad ; from the middle they taper to a long and 

 slender point, and their margin is finely dented. These pinnae are very 

 numerous, sometimes as many as forty each side of the midrib ; the middle 

 ones are the longest, the lower ones being gradually shorter, more distant, 



Fig. 79. (a) Barren and (b) Fertile Fronds of Asplenium angustifolium 

 (i nat. size). 



and slightly deflexed, so that the lowest are often mere auricles (ears) a few 

 lines long. The leaflets of the fertile fronds are narrower and more distant 

 than those of the barren ones (Fig. 79). Both kinds of fronds arise from 

 a rootstock which creeps just beneath the surface of the ground and attains 

 a length of about 6in. ; they are borne on stalks of a somewhat brittle 

 nature, smooth and green, except at the very base, where they are black, 

 like the rootstock itself. The abundant sori (spore masses) are disposed 



