Fig. 7
FOOTNOTE:
[A] Ophioglossum and the Botrychiums, not being true ferns, are exceptions.
[FERTILIZATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND FRUCTIFICATION OF FERNS]
Until very recently the development of ferns, their methods of fertilization and fructification have been shrouded in mystery. At one period it was believed that "fern-seed," as the fern-spores were called, possessed various miraculous powers. These were touched upon frequently by the early poets. In Shakespeare's "Henry IV" Gadshill exclaims:
"We have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible."