248 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
its name indicates it grows in marshes, preferring 
those which are exceedingly boggy and wet, espe- 
cially when the bog is immersed in the deepest 
shade. Ordinarily it grows to a height of a little 
more than a foot, but occasionally it grows to more 
than double this height. The fronds are of two 
kinds — barren and fruitful, the fertile ones being 
taller than the others. The stem of the barren 
frond is long, thin, green in colour, and exceed- 
ingly fragile. The leafy portion is lance-shaped. 
The rachis is thin, green, and fragile like the stipes, 
and on each side of it at intervals, — sometimes 
opposite in pairs, and sometimes placed irregularly 
— are the branches, narrow and lance-shaped, but 
blunt-pointed. These branches are again divided 
— not quite down to their mid-stems, but almost 
so — into oblong blunt-pointed lobes or leaflets. 
The divisions between the lobes are very regular 
and symmetrical, and go down so deeply between 
the lobes as to leave only a narrow leafy wing or 
expansion along the upper and under part of the 
mid-stems. 
About the entire aspect of the Marsh Fern there 
