HAllD EERNS. 



89 



word into " Bleclinnm," we bave the most commonly 

 accepted name by which scientific people recognize the 

 Hard Eerns. Some say it should be Lorn aria' ^ Who 

 shall decide when botanists disagree ? We will call them 

 Hard Eerns. Along the back of the fronds, in these 

 ferns, the spore-cases are arranged in a long, narrow, con- 

 tinuous line on each side of the mid- rib. This line has a 

 covering in its early stages, but this covering soon splits 

 down the side next the mid-rib, and the spore-cases appear 

 to cover the whole under surface of the fronds. The 

 Brackens most resemble the Hard Eerns in the fruiting ; 

 but even in them there is a marked difference, for the 

 long lines of spore-cases surround the edges of the divi- 

 sions of the fronds, leaving the space in the centre about 

 the mid-rib clear and unoccupied. Moreover, the little 

 tufts of glossy leaves in our one single species of Hard 

 Fern can never be confounded with the tall branched 

 fronds of oiir only Bracken. It may be as well to re- 

 member the different arrangement of the lines of spore- 

 cases in these two groups, as there are hardy species, not 

 natives of Britain, desirable for cultivation, 



HAED PEEN.^ 



The glossy, stiff, leathery fronds of this fern are of two 

 kinds, produced in a dense tuft, with the barren fronds 

 on the outside, the outer ones lying flat on the soil, and 

 the fertile fronds erect in the centre. The average length 

 of the barren fronds is between 6 and 12 inches, and of 

 the fertile fronds nearly double that length. The outline 

 of both kinds is narrowly spear-shaped. The barren fronds 

 are deeply cleft on each side nearly to the mid-rib into 

 narrow lobes ; the fertile fronds are divided quite down 

 to the mid-rib, but the lobes are narrower, and with a 

 greater distance between them. The stalk of the barren 

 fronds is very short, whilst that of the fertile fronds is 

 nearly half the length of the entire frond. The spore^ 



