THE LADY EE UN, 
3 . 
THE LADY EE UN. 
Athyrium filix-foemina, 
Plate 1 , Fig. 3 . 
MON GST our native Ferns this species 
stands almost unrivalled. Charming 
as all the Fern family are, there is in 
this particular member of it an indescribable love- 
liness. Words can but inadequately picture its 
attractions. It must be seen to be thoroughly ap- 
preciated ; and one glance will convey to the mind 
a glad sense of its soft beauty, such as no verbal 
description can properly give. It is, indeed, 
amongst its kind, the queen of delicacy, grace, and 
beauty. 
Combined with its singular gracefulness, there 
is an extreme simplicity about the Lady Fern, 
rendering its formal description a matter of ease. 
It has a tufted root-stock, always slightly raised 
above the surface on which this Fern is found to 
grow ; sometimes raised to a height of several 
243 
