The meristematic zone which gives rise to daughter fronds is formed at the central lower portion of the vegetative pouch. A diagrammatic representation of the sequential development of primordia is shown in Fig. 2d. The primordium of a daughter frond develops when the parent frond itself consists of an axial row of two to three cells covered by a single layer of protodermal cells(Fig. 2d(i)). On the dorsal surface of this group of undifferentiatedcells, a protuberance is formed as a result of enlargement and subsequent divisions of one of the proximal axial cells (Fig. 2d(ii)). At the same time, a periclinal division takes place in one of the distal epidermal cells (Fig. 2d(iii)).