FERIfT COMBES. 
107 
edge of the pinnules, which turn over it ; root ex- 
tensively creeping. 
The commonest of all British Terns ; in many 
parts a troublesome weed. It decays before the 
other ferns at the first touch of Autumn, and is 
much used when dry for firing, and litter for pigs 
and cattle. 
There is a very pretty small variety on Dartmoor, 
in which each pinna is divided two or three times 
at the point. 
OsMTJKDA EEOALis. Boyol Flowering Fern, 
(Plate IV. Pig. 1.) 
Pronds twice divided, occasionally irregularly 
tripinnate. The upper part of the frond seems 
turned into seeds, which are arranged in little balls, 
at first pale yeUow ; as they ripen, dark brown. The 
handsomest of our English Perns. Why it is called 
the flowering fern is difficult to say, as the stiff 
brown termination to the frond does not certainly 
resemble a flower. It is stated as a curious fact 
that this is the only one of our present ferns that 
IS found in a fossil state. 
The Osmunda grows abundantly on all the streams 
at Hartland ; and on the banks of the Dart it attains 
a great size, and is found in vast quantities. 
