HAXDY 1500K OF 
results from the moisture imparted by clouds and vapours 
in their lofty domiciles. We have frequently had occasion 
to notice, that plants which prefer humid situations in low 
grounds, thrive equally well on hill-tops, and that for the 
.same reason. 
Hail to the banks of Loch Tync, and those of far-famed 
Killarney ! Our specimen was gathered in the first home 
of the Flowering -fern, or French brachcn the Osmwida 
rcf/ahs of authors the crown prince of English ferns. 
Though widely diffused throughout various portions of Great 
Britain and Ireland, the species is nowhere more abundant 
or luxurious than in the above-mentioned localities, rising 
at one time to the height of eight feet, at another bending 
gracefully over the water's edge. This peculiarity is very 
obvious at Killarney, where the long fronds form arcades of 
verdure, affording a Avcleome shelter to the nimble coot, 
from whence she gazes fearlessly on the tourist, though 
often skimming near in his rapid boat. Beautiful are the 
lakes, and mountains, and trees of this wild spot ; and yet 
Sir Walter Scott, when visiting Killarney, uttered not a 
word in praise of them, till he reached the place where 
grew the Flowering-fern, and then it was that he broke 
silence, saying, " This is worth coming to see." " And 
truly," wrote jSTewman, to whom we are indebted for the 
anecdote, " I did not wonder at the great man's taste ; to 
me it appeared the most wonderfully beautiful spot I had 
ever beheld, and this beauty is mainly owing to the immense 
sixc- and number of "the French brachcn' s pendant fronds." 
Widely is this fern distributed, and yet its " metropolis' 1 
appears to be the west of Ireland, more particularly Con- 
neniara, where it not unfrequently covers the smaller islands 
with a carpet of verdure ; those in the centre being generally 
rigid and erect, such as grow around the margin pendulous. 
You cannot mistake it wherever growing, as, with the ex- 
ception of the lonely Moonwort, no other fern bears its seeds 
in spikes. The roots are strong and fibrous ; the rhizoma 
