Teacher's Story It is well for the children to study the animals and plants which have a worldwide distribution. There is something comforting in finding a familiar plant in strange countries; and when I have found the bracken on the coast ranges of California, on the rugged sides of the Alps, and in many other far places, I have always experienced a thrill of delightful memories of the fence corners of the homestead farm. Since the bracken is so widespread, it is natural that it should find a place in literature and popular legend. As it clothes the mountains of Scotland, it is much sung of in Scottish poetry. Many superstitions cluster around it-its seed, if caught at midnight on a white napkin, is supposed to render the possessor invisible. Professor Clute, in Our Ferns in Their Haunts, gives a delightful chapter about the relation of the bracken to people. For nature-study purposes, the bracken is valuable as a lesson on the intricate patterns of the fern leaf; it is in fact a lesson in pinnateness. The two lower branches are large and spreading' and are in themselves often three times pinnate; the branches higher up are twice pinnate; while the main branch near the tip is once pinnate, and at the tip is merely lobed. The lesson, as illustrated in the diagram of the fern, should be well learned for future study, because this nomenclature is used in all the fern manuals. The fact that a pinnule is merely the last division of a frond, whether it be twice or thrice pinnate, should also be understood. The bracken does not love complete shade and establishes itself in waste places, living contentedly in not too shaded locations; it is especially fond of woodsides, and fence corners on high and cold land. As Professor Clute says, "It is found both in woodland and in the open field; its favorite haunt is neither, but is that half-way ground where man leaves off and nature begins, the copse or the thicket. With us it usually grows about three feet high, but varies much in this respect. The great triangular fronds often measure two or three feet across, and are supposed to bear a likeness to an eagle with spread wings. Its rootstock is usually too deeply embedded in earth for the study of any except the most energetic; it is about the size of a lead pencil and is black and smooth; in its way it is a great traveler, sending up fronds fifteen or twenty feet from its starting place. It also sends off branching rootstocks. The fruiting pinnules look as if they were hemmed and the edges of the hems embroidered with brown wool; but the embroidery is simply the spore-cases pushing out from under the folded margin which protected them while developing. Much on which to base necromancy has been found in the figure shown in the cross-section of the stem or stipe. The letter C, supposed to stand for Christ, thus made is a potent protection from witches. 2 1. Fruiting pinnules of the maiden-hair fern, enlarged. 2. Fruiting pinnule of the bracken, enlarged. In both these species the spores are borne under the recurved edges of the pinnules. But this figure has also been compared to the devil's hoof, an oak tree, or the initial of one's sweetheart, and all these imaginings have played their part in the lives of the people of past ages. It was believed in England that burning the bracken from the fields. brought rain; the roots in time of scarcity have been ground and mixed with flour to make bread. The young ferns, or croziers, are sometimes cooked and eaten like asparagus. The fronds have been used extensively for tanning leather and for packing fish and fruit, and when burned theit ashes are used instead of soap. In Europe, bracken grows so rankly that it is used for roof-thatching and for the bedding of cattle. The name "brake," which is loosely used for all ferns, comes from the word "bracken;" some people think that brakes are different from ferns, whereas this is simply a name which has strayed from the bracken to other species. Its scientific name, Pteris aquilina, signifies eagle's wing. LESSON CLXXIV THE BRACKEN Leading thought-The bracken is a fern which has taken possession of the world. It is much branched and divided, and it covers the ground in masses where it grows. The edges of its pinnules are folded under to protect the spores. Method-Bring to the schoolroom large and small specimens of the bracken, and after a study is made tell about the superstitions connected with this fern and as far as possible interest the pupils in its literature. Observations—1. Do you find the bracken growing in the woods or open places? Do you find it in the cultivated fields? How high does it stand? Could you find the rootstock? 2. Take a bracken frond. What is its general shape? Does it remind you of an eagle with spread wings? Look at its very tip. Is it pinnate or merely lobed? Can you find a place farther down where the leaflets, or pinnules, are not joined at their bases? This is once pinnate. Look farther down and find a pinna that is lobed at the tip; at the base it has distinct pinnules. This is twice pinnate. Look at the lowest divisions of all. Can you find any part of this which is three times pinnate? Four times pinnate? Pinna means feather, pinnate therefore means feathered. If a thing is once pinnate, it means that it has divisions along each side similar to a feather; twice pinnate means that each feather has little feathers along each side; thrice pinnate means that the little feathers have similar feathers along each side, and so on. 3. Can you see if the edges of the pinnules are folded under? Lift up one of these edges and see if you can find what is growing beneath it. How do these folded margins look during August and September? 4. Cut the stem, or stipe, of a bracken across and see the figure in it. Does it look like the initial C? Or a hoof, or an oak tree, or another initial? 5. Discover, if you can, the different uses which people of other countries find for this fern. HOW A FERN BUD UNFOLDS Of all "plant babies," that of the fern is most cozily cuddled; one feels when looking at it, that not only are its eyes shut but its fists are tightly closed. But the first glance at one of these little woolly spirals gives us but small conception of its marvelous enfolding, all so systematic and perfect that it seems another evidence of the divine origin of mathematics. Every part of the frond is present in that bud, even to the fruiting organs; all the pinnæ and the pinnules are packed in the smallest compass-each division, even to the smallest pinnule, coiled in a spiral towards its base. These coiled fern buds are called crosiers; they are woolly, with scales instead of hairs, and are thus well blanketed. Some botanists object to the comparison of the woolly or fuzzy clothing of young plants with the blankets of human infants. It is true that the young plant is not kept at a higher temperature by this covering; but because of it, transpiration which is a cooling process is prevented, and thus the plant is kept warmer. When the fern commences to grow, it stretches up and seems to lean over backward in its effort to be bigger. First the main Fiddle heads, or crosiers. Young ferns unfolding. Photo by Verne Morton. stem, or rachis, loosens its coil; but before this is completed, the pinnæ, which are coiled at right angles to the main stem, begin to unfold; a little later the pinnules, which are folded at right angles to the pinnæ, loosen and seem to stretch and yawn before taking a look at the world which they have just entered; it may be several days before all signs of the complex coiling disappear. The crosiers of the bracken are queer looking creatures, soon developing three claws which some people say look like the talons of an eagle; and so intricate is the action of their multitudinous spirals, that to watch them unfolding impresses one as in the presence of a miracle. LESSON CLXXV How A FERN BUD UNFOLDS Leading thought-All of the parts of the frond of a fern are tightly folded spirally within the bud, and every lobe of every leaflet is also folded in a spiral. Method-The bracken crosier is a most illuminating object for this lesson, because it has so many divisions and is so large; it is also convenient, because it may be found in September, However, any fern bud will do. The lesson may be best given in May when the woodland ferns are starting. A fern root with its buds should be brought to the schoolroom, where the process of unfolding may be watched at leisure. Observations-1. Take a very young bud. How does it look? Do you see any reason why ignorant people call these buds caterpillars? Can you see why they are popularly called "fiddle heads?" What is their true name? How many turns of the coil can you count? What's the covering of the crosier? Do you think this cover is a protection? How is the stem grooved to make the spiral compact? Take a crosier a little further advanced. How are its pinnæ folded? How is each pinnule of each pinna folded? How is each lobe of a pinnule folded? Is each smaller part coiled toward each larger part? 3. Write in your note-book the story of the unfolding fern, and sketch its stages each day from the time it is cuddled down in a spiral until it is a fully expanded frond. THE FRUITING OF THE FERN "If we were required to know the position of the fruit-dots or the character of the indusium, nothing could be easier than to ascertain it; but if it is required that you be affected by ferns, that they amount to anything, signify anything to you, that they be another sacred scripture and revelation to you, help to redeem your life, this end is not so easily accomplished."-THOREau. The walking fern. HE fern, like the butterfly, seems to have several this-world incarnations; and perhaps the most wonderful of these is the spore. Shake the dust out of the ripened fern and each particle, although too small for the naked eye to see, has within it the possibilities of developing a mass of graceful ferns. Each spore has an outside hard layer, and within this an atom of fern-substance; but it cannot be developed unless it falls into some warm, damp place favorable for its growth; it may have to wait many years before chance gives it this favorable condition, but it is strong and patient and retains its vital power for years. There are cases known where spores grew after twenty years of waiting. But what does this microscopic atom grow into? It develops into a tiny heart-shaped, leaflike structure which botanists call the prothallium; this has on its lower side little roots which reach down into the soil for nourishment; and on its upper surface are two kinds of pockets, one round and the other long. In the round pockets are developed bodies which may be compared to the pollen; and in the long pockets, bodies which may be compared to the ovules of flowering plants. In the case of ferns, water is necessary to float the pollen from the round pockets to the ovules in the long pockets. From a germ thus fertilized in one of the long pockets, a little green fern starts to grow, although it may be several years before it becomes a plant strong enough to send up fronds with spore-dots on them. To study the structure of the spore requires the highest powers of the microscope; and even the prothallium in most species is very small, varying from the size of a pin-head to that of a small pea, and it is therefore quite difficult to find. I found some once on a mossy log that bridged a stream, and I was never so triumphant over any other outdoor achievement. They may be found in damp Prothallium, greatly enlarged, showing the two kinds of pockets and the rootlets. |