S 4 
BRITISH FERNS. 
distinguished from all others. Its flowery panicle 
crowns the otherwise leafy fronds, and rises three, or 
even four feet high, and sometimes attaining a height 
of eight or ten feet. In old plants the stem assumes 
the appearance of a trunk, and from the crown of this 
trunk grow the fronds, which are bipinnate; the 
pinnae lanceolate or ovate lanceolate; the pinnules 
oblong and nearly egg-shaped. They are somewhat 
ear-shaped at the base, and mostly opposite. The 
upper portion of the frond is so densely covered with 
the brown clusters of capsules as to look like a spike 
of small flowers. The barren frond is entirely leafy. 
The plant appears in May, and is matured in August, 
but is destroyed by the early winter frosts. 
This beautiful fern is to be found in most marshy, 
boggy situations throughout Britain. It is extremely 
abundant and luxuriant in some parts of Ireland, 
and at Killarney assumes a pendulous form, fringing 
the river between the lakes, and forming a prominent 
feature in the lovely scenery of that district. It is 
said that when Sir Walter Scott visited this far-famed 
district, he appeared but little interested in the 
scenery until coming upon the spot where the water 
is fringed by these magnificent ferns, he exclaimed, 
“This is worth coming to see.” In the northern 
counties of England, the Osmunda is not uncommon. 
In the bogs of Lancashire it is frequently seen, and in 
the southern counties it is very plentiful. Old Gerarde 
knew of its existence near Brentwood, and when 
