THE COMMON POLYPODY 



By Adella Prescott. 



'T'HERE is a happy-go-lucky air about the common poly- 

 pody (Poly podium vitlgare) when growing in its chosen 

 haunts that gives it a pecuHar charm. Distaining the rich leaf 

 mold that fills the pockets of its beloved rocks it clings to the 

 surface of the flat tops, making dense matted borders of vig- 

 orous green fronds along the edges of the larger rocks and 

 spreading quite across the smaller ones. It is not a large fern, 

 being rarely more than twelve or fifteen inches in height and 

 often much smaller, but it holds its dark-green, leathery 

 fronds with such confident and careless grace, even in the most 

 precarious situations, that one cannot help noticing and ad- 

 miring it. 



