53 
European Ferns. 
Their capabilities from an ornamcntist’s point of view have already received attention. 
Mr. G. McKenzie, in the Magazine of Art , refers to the Parsley Fern as presenting “forms of 
leafage which would be of much use to the carver.” “In studying from this plant,” he adds, 
“much care and perseverance are needed; the practice followed was to detach the frond to be 
copied from its neighbours by means of a piece 
of black silk, which formed a perfect background 
for the bright green leaf, and then, as in the 
case of the object, Fig. i, which was really no 
larger than a moderate-sized pea, the detail was 
made out by means of a good magnifying-glass, 
an instrument which must be used by everyone 
s, 
as in these are often to be found the most 
valuable lessons. P'ig. 2 is a more advanced frond 
of the same. Fig. 3 is yet more expanded ; the 
whole of the detail of this drawing was found in 
an object no larger than one’s thumb-nail. Fig. 4 
is the fully-opened leaf.” 
The two kinds of fronds — the barren and the 
fertile — are almost always quite distinct ; forms 
intermediate between them have been recorded, in which, although for the most part barren, 
fructification is found upon some segments of the fronds ; these forms, however, are rarely met 
with. In Withering’s “Arrangement of British Plants” (ed. iii. and others) there is a note 
stating that “Mr. Jackson has observed two varieties with curled leaves, the one curled 
like parsley, the other like the flowering 
part of Osmunda rega/is." These two forms 
of the barren fronds — the one having the 
obovate segments deeply divided, serrated, 
and one-nerved, the other with elliptical, 
deeply serrate, and pinnately veined pin- 
nules — are frequently to be noticed if we 
examine a large series of either fresh or 
dried specimens of the Parsley Fern. The 
annexed woodcut, taken from specimens 
collected in Scotland, shows portions of 
the fronds of a handsome form of the 
species which does not seem to be com- 
mon, although there are other examples 
of it in the British Museum Herbarium. 
( 1 I Fertile Frond. (2) Barren Frond. (s) Pinna (enlarged). _ . _ 
The synonomy of the Parsley Fern 
is very extensive, as will be at once apparent when we state that it has had as many as 
eleven generic names. It was originally described by Linnaeus as an Osmunda — a fact 
which may seem strange to those who understand that genus as it is now limited, but 
which ceases to be surprising when we remember that in former days it had a much more 
comprehensive scope, and included, besides other ferns, the Strjtt/iiopteris, the Hard Fern 
(Blechnum Spicant), and the Moonwort (. Botrychhmi Lunaria), in addition to the subject of 
VARIETY OF AI.I.OSORUS. 
who would profit by the study of small plant 
