species. Wood. In A. Trichomanes the wings or leafits are less regular in their edges, and less distinctly scolloped ; but in A. viride the inner and under edges are always entire, the upper and outer ones always scolloped. The general shape of the leaf in both species is the same, and rather strap than spear-shaped.

GREEN-RIBBED SPLEENWORT. (4. viride. Huds. Willd. Ehrh. Bolt. Dicks. Sm. Hook. E.) A. Trichomanes y. Linn. Moist rocks on mountains. On an old wall at Black Bank, near Leeds. Mr. Wood. On Ingleborough, near the summit. Bolton. In Borrowdale. Mr. Woodward. Crib y Ddescil and Clogwyn du yr Arddu. Mr. Griffith. (Frequent in the Highlands of Scotland. Mr. Brown. Between Widdy Bank and Caldron Snout, Durham. Ashness Gill, near Keswick, and Ben Lawers. Mr. Winch. At the Cil-hepste water-fall, near Pont-ned-vechan; and on Brin-cous, near Neath, Glamorganshire. Mr. Dillwyn. E.)

Var. 2. Wings lobed and cut.

P. June-Sept.

H. Ox. xiv. 13. 3—Pluk. 73, 6-Tourn, 315. C. F.-Ger. 975. Scotland. Bobart, in H. Ox.

Var. 3. Leaf branched. Bolt.

Bolt. 2. 3-H. Ox. xiv. 3. 11-Ger. 985. 2—J. B. iii. 755. 1.

4. Trichomanes ramosum. Linn. A. Trichomanes ß. Huds. On all the high rocks of Carnarvonshire. On a stone wall in a garden at Maidstone, Kent, and on limestone rocks Craven, Yorkshire. On the rocks below Ogden Kirk, on the opposite side of the Clough. Bolt.

A. MARI'NUM. Leafits egg-shaped, serrated: the upper edges expanded at the base, the lower hollowed out.

(Hook. Fl. Lond. 60-E. Bot. 392. E.)-Pet. Gaz. 91. 1-Bolt. 15-H. Ox. xiv. 3. 25-Pluk. 253. 5—Walc.-Lob. Obs. 274. 3, Ic. i. 814-Ger, Em. 1143. 4-Park. 1045. 7.

Stalks reddish brown. Leafits in some specimens spear-shaped, acutely scolloped, the scollops equal in number to the lines of fructification, lobed at the base on the upper side. Woodw. Plant five inches high. Stalk crooked at the base.

(SEA SPLEENWORT. Welsh: Duegredynen ar for. E.) On rocks generally on the sea shore, about Priestholm Island, near Beaumaris, at Llandwyn in Anglesey; about the Castle of Hastings, Sussex, and in Devonshire, Cornwall, and Cumberland. In a stone quarry close to the road from Warrington to Winwick, Lancashire. Bolton. (On the coast of Angus between Montrose and Arbroath. Mr. Brown. At Bootle, and in fissures of rocks at Knot's Hole, near Liverpool. Dr. Bostock. On rocks by the coast near Whitburn, and Seaton, Durham. Winch Guide. Between Zennar and Mawgan, Cornwall. Rev. J. Pike Jones. E.) P. June-Sept.

Var. 2. Leafits deeply cut. Bolt.

Sibbald Scot. Ill. t. 3, f. 1. 2-Bolt. 2. 4. Plants corresponding to Sibbald's figures we found in the Coves at Weemys in Scotland. Lightfoot. Adiantum trapeziforme. Hudson.

(A. SEPTENTRIONALE. Frond wing three-cleft: segments alternate, linear, jagged at the tops.

Hook. Fl. Lond. 162-E. Bot. 1017-Fl. Dan. 60-Lob. Adv. 17. 2, Ic. 1.. 47. 1-Ger. Em. 1561. 8-Bolt. fil. 8-Trag. 537-Lon. 1. 224, 5—Ger. 343. 4-Park. 1045. 8—J. B. iii. 755. 2.

From two to five inches high. Leaves mostly in pairs; strap-spear-shaped, on long leaf-stalks rising from the root. With. Readily distinguished by its bi or rarely tri-fid, (by no means pinnatifid,) linear fronds; as well as by the crowded fructifications, which, in an old state, have so much the appearance of those of an Acrostichum, that the plant was by the older Botanists invariably arranged under that genus. Its nearest affinity is Asplenium Ruta-muraria. Hook. Fl. Lond. E.)

(FORKED SPLEENWORT. A. septentrionale. Hull. Sm. Willd. Hoffm. Sw. De Cand. Acrostichum septentrionale. Linn. Huds. Lightf. With. to Ed. vii. Dicks. Bolt. Clefts of rocks and old walls, chiefly in the northern division of this Island; and tops of mountains, as Carnedd Lewelyn, in Wales; on Ingleborough, Yorkshire; at Patterdale and Keswick, and above Ambleside, Westmoreland. Rocks in Edinburgh Park. Dr. Hope. The rock of Stenton, near Dunkeld. Mr. Arnott, in Fl. Lond. Rocks on the southern side of Blackford Hill, Somersetshire. Mr. Brown. P. E.) A. ALTERNIFOLIUM. Leafits wedge-shaped, alternate, notched at the extremity.

(E. Bot. 2258. E.)-Jacq. Misc. 5. 2—Breyn. Cent. 97. From three to five inches high. (An intermediate species between A. septentrionale and Ruta-muraria, though perfectly distinct from both. Sm. E.) ALTERNATE-LEAVED SPLEENWORT. (A. alternifolium. Wulf. Dicks. Sm. Hook. A. germanicum. Weis. Willd. Hoffm. Ehrh. E.) First found in Britain by Mr. Dickson, on rocks in the South of Scotland. Linn. Tr. ii. p. 290. P.

(4) Leaves doubly compound; divisions alternate.

A. RUTA-MURA'RIA. Leafits wedge-shaped, finely scolloped.

Kniph. 6—E. Bot. 150-Sheldr. 68–Bull. 195—Walc.-Cam. Epit. 785Fl. Dan. 190-Tourn. 317. 1-Bolt. 16-Blackw. 219-Gars. 128. a.→ Fuchs. 730—J. B. iii. 753—Lon. i. 221. 1 and 2—Trag. 530, 2—Dod. 470—Lob. Obs. 472. 1; Ic. i. 811. 1—Ger. Em. 1144. 3—Park. 1050. 4— H. Ox. xiv. 5. 22—Ger. 983-Matth. 1041.

(Fronds three or four inches high, resembling Rue leaves. E.) Stem bare for near half its length. Fructifications in two or three rows, on each the rib of the leaf. Bolt. The foliage at first sight has something of a Trefoil appearance. Smith very properly observes, that the Ferns can only be determined in their early state before the bursting of the membrane which covers the capsules, for in an advanced state the back of the leaf is covered with a confused mass of capsules, with hardly a vestige of their former disposition. He thinks this species may be best distinguished by the membrane always bursting towards an adjoining vein or nerve, never towards the edge of the leaf, unless when a vein is found on that side. See E. Bot. p. 150.

WHITE MAIDENHAIR. WALL RUE. TENTWORT. (Welsh: Dueg-redynen y muriau. Old walls and moist crevices of rocks. Southwold Church, Suffolk, Long Stratton Church, Norfolk. Mr. Woadward. Walls at Shirehampton, near Bristol; and about Bewdley. (In Anglesey;

varying much in form and size. Welsh Bot. Church porch at Great Alne; Walcot, and Wixford, Warwickshire: Badsey, Worcestershire. Purton. Tor Abbey, Devon. Rev. J. P. Jones. Rocks at Castle Eden Dean, and Boldon Hill, Durham; on the Roman Wall, Shewing Shields, Northumberland. Winch Guide. Garden walls at Tocknels, near Painswick. Mr. Oade Roberts. This species with A. Ceterach, Trichomanes, Adiantum nigrum, and Scolopendrium, Polypodium vulgare, &c. abound on old walls at, and in the neighbourhood of, the Rookery, Brislington, near Bristol. E.) P. June-Oct. A. ADIAN'TUM-NI'GRUM. Leaves almost triply winged: wings alternate leafits spear-shaped, cut-serrated.

Kniph. 7-(E. Bot. 1950. E.)—Fl. Dan. 250-Gars. 126-Blackw. 220Bult. 17. 1 and 3-Dod. 466-Ger. Em. 1137-Ger. 975. 1—H. Ox. xiv. 4. 16-Lob. Ic. i. 810. 2-Park. 1049. 2.

(Much larger than the foregoing. Fronds about a foot high. E.) Seeds saffron-coloured. Linn. Lobes, the extreme serratures so acute as almost to appear fringed. Woodw. Stalks black or deep red brown, glossy. Fructifications three to seven on each segment.

BLACK MAIDENHAIR. OAK FERN. (From the Greek compound ôρvorTepic, applied by some old authors to this plant. Welsh: Dueg-redynen ddu. Shady places and old walls. P. April-Oct. Var. 2. Wings long, divided into very fine and longish segments. Sherard, in R. Syn. Pluk. 282. 3. Wings with hair-like segments. Pluk. Fructifications none discovered. Possibly a variety of A. Adiantum-nigrum, into a very shady situation, but if a variety, it is a very extraordinary and beautiful one. Dill.

(On rocks at Cocken, Durham, but rare. Mr. Winch. E.)

Filix non ramosa, &c. Pluk. Alm. p. according to Mant. p. 78. par. 4. Down, Ireland. R. Syn.

150. par. the last but one, as corrected Mountains of Mourne in the county of

A. LANCEOLATUM. Leaves doubly winged, spear-shaped: wings alternate leafits inversely egg-shaped, sharply cut and scolloped. Huds.

E. Bot. 240-Bolt. 17. 2. (but less sharply cut than in the preceding figure.) Stalk black below, green upwards. Leaf bright green. Capsule in an advanced state, forming roundish, as well as oblong, patches. E. Bot. SPEAR-SHAPED SPLEENWORT. On old walls and rocks about St. Ives, and other places in Cornwall. Hudson. On a wall in the village of Wharf, Yorkshire. Bolton. (In Whitaker's Craven it is asserted there is no such village. E.) On the great rock at Tunbridge Wells. Mr. Forster. P. May-Sept. POLYPO'DIUM.+ Capsules disposed in distinct circular dots on the under surface of the leaf.

OBS. The investigation of the species of this extensive Genus has always been attended with difficulties and uncertainties; partly owing to the

(Recommended by Hoffman as an antiscorbutic. E.)

+ (Compounded of woλus, many, and us, odos, a foot; according to Theophrastus, from its root, which extends itself by numerous superficial cirri, or radicles, resembling the polypus; and thus supports the plant. E.)

prevalence of a general resemblance in habit, partly to the different appearances observable in them at different ages, or to deficiencies in the specific characters. Nor have authors always been scrupulously accurate in the application of the terms used in describing the leaves. The plants should not be gathered for examination until of sufficient age to attain a full state of fructification. The terms employed in the subdivisions of the species, and in characterizing the individuals, should be precisely understood. The attention should be more particularly directed to the lower parts of the leaves, wings, &c. for there it is that the characters are most constant, and most observable, the extreme parts generally running together so as to baffle every attempt at definition. The following tabular view of the different British species is offered as a mean of facilitating their investigation; the student, therefore, is advised first to compare the plant in question with these characters, and then to look forward to the descriptions given more at large.*

(1) Leaves wing-cleft.

P. vulgare. Lobes oblong, somewhat serrated, blunt.

(2) Leaves winged.

P. Lonchitis. Wings crescent-shaped, finely and sharply serrated: stems with chaff-like scales.

P. Ilven'se. Wings opposite, triangular, blunt, hairy underneath, very entire at the base.

P. arvonicum. Wings spear-shaped, wing-cleft, hairy underneath: stems hairy.

P. Phegopteris. Wings strap-spear-shaped, wing-cleft, united at the base, hairy underneath.

P. Oreop'teris. Wings strap-spear-shaped, wing-cleft: lobes bluntish: clusters of capsules at the edges.

(3) Leaves winged; wings deeply wing-cleft.

P. Filix-mas. Wing strap-spear-shaped: lobes blunt, finely serrated: stem chaffy.

P. Thelypteris. Wings spear-shaped, acute: lobes very entire.

(P. cristatum. Frond pinnate: leaflets pinnatifid, acute: lobes ovate, blunt, crenate, sharply toothed: stalk scaly at the base. E.) P. dentatum. Wings egg-spear-shaped, opposite: lobes egg-shaped, blunt, sparingly cut at the sides, finely toothed at the end. P. fontanum. Wings egg-spear-shaped, alternate: lobes deeply scolloped.

(Some authors have recently divided this genus; including in Polypodium such as have no lid or cover to the capsule: Aspidium, cover nearly orbicular, fixed by the centre, separating all round: and Cystea, cover orbicular, concave, fixed by a lateral point underneath, finally reflexed and jagged; as will be further illustrated by the synonymes. E.)

(4) Leaves doubly winged.

P. aculeatum. Primary wings crescent-shaped, acute: leafits serrated with prickles: stem chaffy.

P. spinulosum. Primary wings spear-shaped: leafits strap-egg-shaped: wing-cleft, and serrated with fine prickles.

P. fœmina. Primary wings strap-spear-shaped: leafits slender, acute, wing-cleft or serrated: stems smooth upwards.

(P. dilatatum. Frond bipinnate: leaflets pinnatifid, deeply serrated, tipped with small spines: stalk scaly involucrum circular. E.) P. fragile. Primary wings spear-shaped leafits wedge, egg, or strapshaped: segments bluntly or sharply lobed: stem very slender. P. trifidum. Primary wings spear-shaped, blunt: leafits of the lower wings mostly three-cleft: stem bordered.

:

:

P. rhaticum. Primary wings spear-shaped: leafits egg-spear-shaped, sharply serrated: lower pairs unequal.

(5) Leaf triply winged.

P. Dryopteris. Leaves three on a stem, doubly winged.

(P. calca'reum. Frond three-branched: branches doubly pinnate, erect, rather rigid: segments obtuse, somewhat crenate: masses of capsules crowded, finally confluent. E.)

(1) Leaves wing-cleft; lobes united at the base.

P. VULGARE. Lobes oblong, somewhat serrated, blunt: root scaly. Ludw. 18-Curt.-E. Bot. 1149. E.)-Fl. Dan. 1060-Kniph. 6-Bolt. 18 -Bull. 191-Blackw. 215-Tourn. 316-Walc.-Woodw. 271-Gars. 466 -Fuchs. 588-Trag. 540-Dod. 464. 2-Ger. Em. 1132. 2-Tourn. 316 -Ger. 972-Matth. 1293-Dod. 464. 1-Lob. Obs. 475. 1, Ic. i. 814. 2— Ger. Em. 1132. 1-Park. 1039. 1—H. Ox. xiv. 2, row 1. 1—Ger. 974, 1 -Cam. Epit. 993-Lon. i. 244. 1.

Lobes slightly serrated at the edge. Fructifications yellowish brown, in rows, parallel to the rib of the lobes.

COMMON POLYPODY. (Welsh: Llawredynen y derw. On old walls, shady places, and at the roots of trees, very common.

Var. 2. Lobes doubly serrated.

Barr. 38.

P. June-Oct.*

Walls of Windsor Castle. Ray. Worcestershire. Dr. Stokes.

The root is sweetish: by long boiling it becomes bitter. When fresh, it is gently aperient. An infusion of six drachms in half a pint of boiling water may be taken at twice. (Thus far may be matter of fact, though the medicine has long been neglected; but on the wonderful efficacy of several plants of this tribe in removing obstructions of the spleen, liver, and other viscera, it were no longer prudent to insist; for such reports, however sanctioned by the ancients, were, more than two centuries ago, very properly designated by honest Gerard as "old wives' fables, fit only for writers who fill up their pages with lies and frivolous toies." E.)