BEAUTIFUL FERNS. 
13 
slender jointed hairs at its growing extremity. It is irregularly 
branched, often forked, and emits long and slender rootlets 
along its whole extent. The section shows a broad exterior 
ring of light brown parenchyma; inside of this is a broad 
circle of minute white starch-cells, then the scalariform ves- 
sels in a narrow ring, bordered by other minute cells, which 
are most probably bast-cells; inside of this is another broad 
circle of the starch-cells, and in the very centre is a roundish 
mass of brown sclerenchyma. The whole section has such a 
regular concentric system that it is not only very pretty to 
look at, but would be very well suited for anatomical study in 
the class-room. 
The stalks are seldom more than two or three to a root- 
stock, and rise from it several inches back of its apex. In 
advance of them may be seen the rudiments of next year’s 
stalks. The stalks are roundish on the back and furrowed 
on the front. They are not articulated to the root-stock, but 
are continuous with it. Very often the stalk is found to have 
a short branch just above its base. This branch has the 
structure of the root-stock, and undoubtedly may grow into a 
full-sized rhizoma. The section of the stalk shows a thin 
outer sclerenchymatous sheath, and, within the colored paren- 
chyma, a broad and thin vascular band, its edges turned up 
almost at right angles with the middle part. The stalk has 
its peculiar structure below this budding root-stock, and the 
latter is clearly homologous with similar growths in some 
Aspidia, and with the proliferous buds seen in many ferns. 
