12 



THE FERX BULLETIN 



flower does not necessarily have to have petals and 

 sepals. In fact a flower has been defined as "a branch 

 beset with sporophylls." Under this definition, then, 

 the Sclagincllas may be truly said to bear flowers. 



THE LADY FERN. 



By Adella Prescott. 



I have never really understood why Athyrium Mix- 

 focmina should be called the lady fern, for while in 

 early summer it has something of the grace and charm 

 of the ideal high-born dame yet it early becomes dis- 

 heveled and by midsummer is at best but a "decayed 

 gentlewoman." And yet around this shabby genteel 

 denizen of our woods and fields and roadsides cluster 

 much of the poetry and folklore concerning ferns. It 

 was supposed to be the species bearing the magical 

 fern seed which (paradoxical as it may seem) not 

 only rendered the possessor invisible but conferred on 

 him the gift of second sight as well. It was also 

 thought that fern seed brought by the devil at mid- 

 night would enable one person to do the work of thirty, 

 and if this were true I am sure many a busy housewife 

 would welcome at least one visit from his Satanic 

 Majesty. The poets speak often of the lady fern but I 

 fancy for the same reason that a friend of mine calls 

 all showy flowers "petunias" rather than because of its 

 unusual charm. 



The lady fern is one of our most widely distributed 

 species growing in deep woods and sunny fields ; by 

 dusty roadsides and in muddy swamps with equal 

 vigor and abandon. The fronds grow in circular tufts 

 from a stout rootstock and the stipes of the uncoiling 

 blades show many charming tints varying from dull 

 pink to wine red. They are from two to three feet in 



