150 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
forms a stem so short, however, as to be scarcely 
perceptible without close inspection, but forming 
a connecting link with the stem of the branch. 
If you hold the frond of the Osmunda against the 
light and look through the leaflets you will see a 
really beautiful arrangement of veins. There are 
two kinds of fronds in the Flowering Fern — barren 
and fertile. It is the barren frond which we have 
been describing. In the fertile frond the lower 
portion is similar to the barren frond, but in the 
upper portion the leaflets are contracted, and bear 
on their backs dense masses of seed. At first 
green, this seed gradually becomes light brown in 
colour, and then it almost completely hides the 
contracted leaflets on which it is borne : and at 
this stage it has somewhat the appearance of a 
flower at the top of the frond ; thus giving some 
reason for the name which has been given to this 
species. In reality, however, the spores of the 
Osmunda look like what they are — a cluster of 
ripened seed, and bear but a slight resemblance 
to a flower. 
In bog-land as well as in woodlands and along 
