THE PERN PARADISE. 
or absent from the backs of frond3 without 
necessitating any change in their form. But it 
sometimes happens that the edges of the frond 
are turned back in order to form the spore-case 
covers, which in most of the species are a separate 
formation. This turning back of the frond edges 
narrows and gives a different appearance to the 
leaflets so turned back. But there is this further 
distinction between the barren and fertile fronds 
in the Hard Fern and in the Parsley Fern : in 
both cases the fertile fronds are much longer 
than the barren ones. 
The green smooth stem of the Parsley Fern 
is somewhat longer than the leafy portion of the 
frond. The shape of the latter is triangular. On 
each side of the racliis are branches placed opposite 
or in alternation, and on these are the irregular, 
serrated leaflets which, from their crisped ap- 
pearance, bear, as we have stated, a striking 
resemblance to parsley. The contraction of the 
seed-bearing leaflets on the taller fertile fronds 
gives to them an oval rounded appearance. The 
roots of the Parsley Fern are thick and matted, 
and from its crown the fronds grow in dense 
266 
