ROOTING BRISTLE FERN 
IOI 
fronds are three or four times pinnatifid; the seg¬ 
ments alternate, linear, entire, or two-clefted and 
obtuse. The fronds are from six to eight inches high, 
including the rather long stalk. The root is very 
fibrous and creeping, as is the stem, which is wiry, 
black-looking, and clothed with pointed scales. The 
seed-cup in the fertile frond takes the place of a fork 
of the pinnule, having a hair or spike projecting from 
the centre. 
This exceedingly beautiful and delicate fern is 
found only in Ireland, though it is said to have grown 
in Yorkshire. The Turk Waterfall, near Killarney, 
is the most celebrated locality for it; where, amidst 
the dripping rocks and the spray of the water, it 
forms a verdant drapery most charming to behold ; 
but there are other stations in Ireland where it is 
found by botanists. At Blackstones, in the county of 
Kerry, it was discovered by two gentlemen, growing 
in a wild and romantic cave, the rocky walls of which 
had been for ages covered with its overlapping fronds, 
forming a mass of the loveliest green; strongly con¬ 
trasting with the darker and more sombre hue of the 
Killarney plant. This pretty fern is abundant in the 
island of Madeira, and is found in the West Indies 
and the islands of the North Atlantic. 
From its peculiarly membranous texture, and 
moisture-loving nature, there have always appeared 
to be difficulties in the way of the cultivation of this 
fern. Mr. Ward’s invention, however, has removed all 
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