22.03.2013 Views

Flowerless plants; ferns, mushrooms, mosses, lichens, and seaweeds

Flowerless plants; ferns, mushrooms, mosses, lichens, and seaweeds

Flowerless plants; ferns, mushrooms, mosses, lichens, and seaweeds

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

THE OSMUNDAS<br />

namon fern begin to appear in wet ground. The<br />

spore-bearing fronds are seen first, but before they are<br />

full grown the other fronds spring up <strong>and</strong> grow so<br />

fast that they are soon taller than the earlier ones.<br />

These two sets of fronds grow in separate circles.<br />

The fruit - bearing<br />

ones form the outer<br />

circle, but during<br />

their growth the<br />

others bend outward,<br />

so that when<br />

full grown those<br />

with spores appear<br />

to be growing in<br />

the inner circle.<br />

The fruiting<br />

fronds are stiff <strong>and</strong><br />

clublike, as seen in<br />

the picture. At<br />

first they are bright<br />

The Cinnamon Fern.<br />

green. In the latter part of May they begin to turn<br />

to the cinnamon brown which gives this fern its name.<br />

The spores are now ripe <strong>and</strong> a touch sets them free.<br />

The fronds then wither <strong>and</strong> die. The other leaves remain<br />

green during the summer.<br />

The thrush <strong>and</strong> the brown thrasher like to build<br />

their nests in the center of these great <strong>ferns</strong>.<br />

Though an early riser in the spring, the cinnamon<br />

41

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!