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continually passing by. One of the boatmen employed by Sir
Walter Scott, on the occasion of his visit to Killarney, told me
that Sir Walter scarcely uttered a syllable in praise of the
scenery until he came to this spot ; and here he stopped the
rowers, and exclaimed, “ This is worth coming to see ! ” The
boatman evidently thought very meanly of Sir Walter’s opinion,
whom lie considered in duty hound to be in raptures with the
lakes and mountains. I do not wonder at the great man’s taste :
to me it appeared the most wonderfully beautiful spot I had
ever beheld, and this beauty is mainly owing to the immense
size and number of these pendant fronds.
The long list of localities will shew how widely this fern is
distributed over the kingdom : its “ metropolis,” to borrow an
expression from our most celebrated entomologist, appears to be
the west of Ireland, more particularly Cunnemara, where it not
unfrequently covers the smaller islands in the lakes with a dense
mass of its luxuriant fronds; those in the centre being more
erect, those round the margin more pendulous.
The roots are strong and fibrous : the rhizoma is tufted, and
very large, as might he anticipated from its capacity of annually
producing such a weight of foliage ; the young fronds, varying
in nmnher from six to twelve, make their appearance in May,
arrive at maturity in August, and are destroyed hy the first
frosts of winter ; their growth is remarkably rapid and vigorous,
and until nearly full grown, they have a reddish colour, like the
shoots of many herbaceous plants. The fronds are fertile and
barren.
The fertile frond is linear and pinnate : the pinnæ are four or
five pairs in number, generally opposite, linear, and pinnate ;
the pinnulæ are linear, generally alternate, stalked and rounded
at the apex, with the exception of the apical pinnula, which is
more acute. The apex of the frond is composed of a compact
cluster of spikes ; these spikes correspond to pinnulæ, of which
only the midvein, and a slight marginal wing is present, and to
each of the lateral veins is attached a nearly spherical mass of
thecæ : these spherical masses entirely supersede any leafy
portion in pinnæ so converted ; frequent instances, however,
exhibit the base of a pinnula in a leafy or barren, while the
apex is in a fertile state. In an early stage of the frond these
spikes appear crowded and pressed together, as represented in
the preceding page, but they soon become more lax and
diffuse, and at last entirely lose their rigid compressed appearance.
The barren frond differs in having the leafy portion continued
to the very apex, where it terminates much as in the true ferns.
The venation in a barren pinnula is shewn at page 97, where it
will he seen that the lateral veins branch alternately from the
midvein, soon after leaving which, each is forked, and one or both
of the branches are usually again divided, and all the branches
run in parallel lines to the extreme margin of the pinnula.
Withering observes of this “ flower-crowned prince of
English Ferns,” that it is available for rockwork, especially if
moved with a portion of bog-earth, and can scarcely fail to
appear ornamental in any situation. In moving it, great care
should be taken to avoid cutting with the spade its enormous
rhizoma, an injmy which it may perhaps survive, but which so
weakens the plant that it will not for years recover its pristine
vigour. This rhizoma, when cut through, has a whitish centre or
core, called by old Oerard, in his Herbal, “ the heart of Osmund
the waterman.” Withering deduces the name Osmunda from
the Saxon word tnund, signifying strength, in allusion to the
supposed invigorating virtues of this fern.