102 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
ferns, commences the leaf, technically and beauti- 
fully styled the frond. At this point commences 
the exquisite grace and beauty of the plant. Its 
midrib, from the point where leaving the stipes 
the frond commences, is called the rachis . Should 
the rachis have ribs branching either horizontally 
or obliquely away from it, these ribs are still called 
the rachis, its parts being distinguished the one 
from the other by the terms, the primary or the 
secondary rachis. Upon the rachis it is that grow 
the leaves, leaflets, pinnules, and lobes, either in a 
simple or a compound form ; and it is their infinite 
variety of form — simple, scalloped, saw-edged — and 
the exceedingly graceful manner in which they are 
arranged on the rachis, that constitute the peculiar 
elegance of a fern. The manner in which the 
fronds of ferns spring up from the crown of the 
plants is another peculiarity in their growth, and 
one that distinguishes them from ordinary plants. 
On starting from the crown, the fronds have the 
appearance of so many little balls, which as they 
develop unroll upwards. It is then seen that the 
whole frond has been rolled together in circinate 
