i88 
THE FERN WORLD 
especially appropriate application to the Bracken if taken in 
connexion with its specific name, and understood to indicate 
the most noble forms of this plant. But another explanation 
of the specific designation aquilina has been offered. If the 
lower portion of the stipes of the Bracken be cut transversely, 
a figure will be seen in the centre of the stem, by some 
persons likened — and very naturally so — to a miniature oak 
tree, but by others to a spread eagle, or to the German 
double eagle. We prefer the more picturesque — if more 
fanciful — designation of ‘ Eagle’s-wing.’ The Bracken 
attains a length, varying according to favourable or other 
conditions of growth, of from one foot to ten or twelve. 
It is a deciduous species, the fronds disappearing on 
the approach of winter. They spring from various parts 
of a rhizoma, black in colour, succulent in texture, and 
velvety to the touch, and having an extensively creeping 
habit. It creeps mostly a few inches only underneath the 
surface of the soil, but sometimes has been known to grow 
at a depth of fifteen feet below the surface. The rhizoma 
varies in thickness from that of a small goose-quill to a finger 
of the hand, and is provided with somewhat thick and fleshy 
rootlets. The fronds — of the length already described — are 
more or less divided according to the circumstances of their 
growth. In shape they are somewhat triangular. Large 
specimens are tri-pinnate, or three times divided. The stipes 
— dark in colour under the ground and green above — is a 
little more than half the length of the frond. The rachides, 
both primary and secondary, are smooth or roundish on their 
under surface, but grooved on the upper surface or at the 
front of the frond. On each side of the primary radii s the 
branches or pinnae are arranged in pairs — each nearly oppo- 
site the other — of an oblong egg-shape, near the base of the 
frond, and tapering as they approach its apex. Arranged in 
opposite pairs along on each side of the pinnce are lance- 
