Excerpt from The Handbook of British Ferns: Comprising Scientific and Popular Descriptions, With Engravings of All the Indigenous Species and Varieties, With Instructions for Their Cultivation The true roots consist of fibres, which are either pro duced at intervals along the creeping caudex, or where the caudex is not of this creeping habit, they push out on all sides from among the bases of the decayed fronds, of which, in fact the caudex is constituted. These roots are more or less wiry in their texture, sometimes simple, sometimes branched, and in many cases, especially on the younger portions, are clothed with fine hairs or scales. These organs, of course, act as absorbents to supply food to the plants. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.