THE FERN PARADISE. 
9 . 
THE BRISTLE FERN. 
Trichomanes radicans. 
Plate 1, Fig. 8. 
|OWN on yon dripping rock, where, from 
the perpetual spray flung by the ever- 
roaring waterfall above, an eternal 
moisture reigns ; where the arid winds of winter 
and the dry scorching heat of summer can never 
change the pervading dampness, which continues 
with unceasing persistence, grows the Bristle 
Fern ! An eternal moisture is the vital principle 
of its existence. Not its roots merely, but crown, 
stem, and frond must be surrounded conti- 
nuously, unceasingly, by moist vapours. Unlike 
the hardy Ferns, which will look fresh and green 
in the sunshine, or when exposed to the play of 
the dry summer breezes, if their roots can drink 
in some moisture from wall, rock, or hedge-bank, 
the Bristle Fern shrivels up, through its exqusite 
sensitiveness, before the slightest drought. 
268 
