Var. 3. Lobes sometimes cloven at the end, sometimes enlarged by a lateral appendage.

Bolt. 2. 5. b. a portion of a leaf.

In a wood near Bingley, Yorkshire. Mr. Alexander. Braid Hill, near Edinburgh. Mr. Brown.

Var. 4. Cambricum. Lobes wing-cleft.

H. Ox. xiv. 2. 8-Pluk. 30. 1-Bolt. 2. 5. a., a portion of the leaf.

In this state it never produces fructification. The same is observable of the waved variety of Asplenium Scolopendrium. Lightfoot.

On a rock in a wood near Dennys Powys Castle, not far from Cardiff, Gla morganshire. R. Syn. Near Kidderminster. (V (With copious fructification, in a wood by the Dargle, Wicklow. Mr. J. T. Mackay. E.)

P. June Oct. Var. 5. Acutum. Lobes very long, distantly serrated; tapering to an acute point.

Specimen sent by J. W. Griffith, Esq. On rocks in North Wales. Crè vices of rocks on the south side of the King's Park, Edinburgh. Mr. Brown.

(2) Leaves winged.

P. LONCHITIS. Wings crescent-shaped, the convex side downwards: fringe-serrated: stems with chaff-like scales.

(E. Bot. 797. E.)—Fl. Dan. 497-Tourn. 314-Bolt. 19-Matth. 922— Ger. 979-Ger. Em. 1140. 3—Pluk. 89. 6—H. Ox. xiv. 2, row 3. 1Cam. Epit. 664-Park. 1042. 1—J. B. iii. 744—Lon. ii. 34. 1.

Leaves in circles round the crown of the root, which is rough with the remains of decayed stalks, keeled, from the wings being bent upwards on each side the leaf-stalks. Leafits so closely placed as to be tiled, the lower edge covering the upper edge of the next beneath, serratures frequently but irregularly terminating in short spine-like teeth, furrowed underneath with veins, the margin of the upper half of the base of each leafit parallel to the general stalk. Stalk furrowed above. Fructifications in dots, disposed in two parallel lines on each leafit. Woodw. Plant from four to fourteen inches long, and from one to two inches broad; generally curved. Leafits, the larger serratures ending in semi-transparent thorns.

On

ROYAL POLYPODY. GREAT SPLEENWORT. SPLEENWORT POLYPODY. (Aspidium Lonchitis. Sw. Willd. Sm. Hook. E.) Clefts of rocks. On the highest mountains of Carnarvonshire; on Glyder, near Llanberris. (On all the mountains of Breadalbane and Glen-lochai, sometimes two feet high or more, but quite distinct from P. aculeatum. Mr. Brown. In clefts of rocks near the summit of Ben Lomond. Rev. T. Gisborne. Ben Lawers; also near Caldron Snout, Teesdale. Mr. Winch. Hudson's station, "near Bingley," is supposed, (in Whitaker's Craven,) to refer to P. aculeatum. In a glen east of Lough Esk, Donegal; and on Glenade mountain, Leitrim. E. Murphy, Esq. E.) P. May-Sept. P. ILVEN'SE. Leafits opposite, united, blunt, hairy underneath: very entire at the base.

* (From the plant having been first observed in the Isle of Elba, (Ilva.) Sm. E.)

Dicks. H. S.-Bolt. 42—H. Ox. xiv. 3. 23—Pluk. 179. 4. Scarcely more than a finger's length. Stem greenish, not blackish purple. Linn. Leafits six or seven on each side the stem; the lower ones opposite, the upper alternate; thick and opaque; generally cloven into five or seven segments, rounded at the ends.

OPPOSITE-LEAVED POLYPODY. P. Ilvense. Sw. Willd. Dicks. Acrosti chum Ilvense. Linn. Acr. alpinum. Bolt. Ben Lawers. Mr. Dickson. Woodsia Ilvensis. Br. Sm. E.) P. July-Sept. P. ARVONICUM. Leafits spear-shaped, wing-cleft, hairy underneath : stem hairy.

(E. Bot. 2023. E.)—Pluk. 89. 5—Fl. Dan. 391-Bolton believes his tab. 9 to be the same plant.)

From three to five inches high. Leafits seven to fifteen pairs, cloven on each side into five or six segments; spear-shaped, hairy underneath. Bolt. (HAIRY POLYPODY. P. arvonicum. With. Sym. Hull. Fl. Brit. P. hyperboreum. Sw. Willd. E. Bot. Acr. Ilvense. Huds. Woodsia hyperborea. Br. Sm. E.) It is a very rare plant, even on Snowdon. Llwyd, in R. Syn. p. 119. On a moist black rock almost at the top of Clogwyn y Garnedd, facing the north-west, directly above the lower lake. Dr. Richardson, ib. P. July-Sept.

This seems sufficiently distinct from the P. Ilvense found on the Scottish Alps by Mr. Dickson. Mr. Griffith thinks that Bolt. t. 9. is only a very small and stiff plant of P. fragile gathered in a high and exposed situation; and that it is not the plant found by Mr. Llwyd in Ray's Syn. (Swartz is also decidedly of opinion that this plant is different from P. Ilvense. E.)

P. PHEGOP'TERIS. Lowermost leafits reflexed, each pair united at the base by a four-cornered little appendage.

Bolt. 20, (the lowermost pair of leafits not accurately represented. E.)—H. Ox. xiv. 4. 17, f. 3, the quadrangular appendage not expressed.

Leafits spear-shaped, wing-cleft. Linn. Plant sometimes nineteen, and stalk twelve inches, high. Leafits, the lowermost pair not confluent as all the rest, and placed an inch and a half from the pair above it; in a vigorous plant bent almost back to back, in consequence of which, when dried and gummed on paper, they form an acute angle with the stalk, and might lead those who had not seen the plant growing, to suppose they grew in the same plane with the rest. Lobes semi-elliptical. Woodw. Whole plant hairy.

WOOD POLYPODY. (The specific name pεуожтερiç, seems inappropriate, the plant not generally frequenting Beech woods. E.) Clefts of rocks in moist and shady places and woods, in Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Devonshire, and the Lowlands of Scotland. Barrowfield Wood near Kendal; by the fall of Lowdore; near Derwent Water. Mr. Woodward. (In Cawsey Wood, and in Waskerley Bourn, Durham. Winch Guide. On the banks of Loch Lomond. Rev. T. Gisborne. E.) P. June-Oct. P. OREOP'TERIS. Leafits strap-spear-shaped: segments very entire, bluntish: clusters of capsules at the edges.

E. Bot. 1019-Fl. Dan. 1121-Bolt. 22.

(Three times the size of P. Thelypteris. The peculiar characteristic of this species is the yellowish resinous glands sprinkled over the back of the leaves. These sometimes exhale a sweet smell, as remarked by Mr. Teesdale. E. Bot. E.) Stem smooth, with two furrows; ten to fifteen inches high or more. Wings, the upper and lower ones alternate; segments strap-spear-shaped, blunt, either entire, or finely serrated. The two or three lower pairs of wings gradually shorter, and the lowest pair often pointing downwards. Fructifications always at the edge of the lobes, both in the young and more advanced state, never becoming confluent. HEATH POLYPODY. (Welsh: March-redynen y mynydd. Rhedyn Mair. E.) Polypodium montanum. Vogl. P. Thelypteris. Huds. Lightf. Bolt. (Aspidium Oreopteris. Sw. Willd. Sm. Hook. E.) Woods at Castle Howard. Mr. Teesdale. Moist woods near Darlington; never on dry hills in that neighbourhood. Mr. Robson. In a wood at Óld Foot's Well, near Bromsgrove; and in a lane near the Bell Inn at Erdington. Miss Reid. More frequent in mountainous situations than any other species. Mr. Griffith. (Common in Scotland, but always in somewhat marshy ground, never on dry hills, as Mr. Dickson alleges. Mr. Brown. Coleshill Heath, and Corley, Warwickshire. Bree, in Purt. E.)

P. July-Oct. (The fragrant scent of this species is supposed to have induced Hudson to imagine it the P. fragrans of Linnæus. E.)

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

P. FI'LIX-MAS.

Leaves almost doubly winged: leafits strap-spearshaped lobes blunt, finely serrated: stem and mid-ribs chaffy. Dicks. H. S.-Kniph. 6—(Hook. Fl. Lond. E.)-E. Bot. 1458 and 1919, the latter by mistake named Aspidium cristatum. E.)-Woodv. 49-Bull. 183-Tourn. 310 to 312-Bolt. 24-Ger. 969. 1—Fuchs. 595-J. B. iii. 738-Dod. 462. 1-Blackw. 323-Gars. 271-H. Ox. xiv. 3. 6—Matth. 1290-Cam. Epit. 991-Park. 1036-Lob. Obs. 473. 1. Repr. in. Ic. 1. 812. 1, and Ger. Em. 1128.

From one foot and a half to four feet high. Lobes of the wings strapshaped, the ends rounded. Fructifications from three to eight on each lobe, placed in two rows near to its base and distant from its edges; none at the end.

MALE POLYPODY. MALE FERN. (Welsh: March-redynen wrryw.
Gaelic: Raineach. Aspidium Filix-mas. Sw. Willd. Sm. Hook. E.)
Woods, heaths, stony places, and shady banks.
P. June-Oct.

The Siberians boil this Fern in ale, and are fond of the flavour which it imparts. The powder of the root (not unknown to the ancients as an anthelmintic, E.) is the celebrated Swiss remedy to expel the tapeworm. See Dr. Simmons's account of the Tania; (also Linn. Tr. vol. ii. p. 247. E.) I have frequently used it, and seldom without the desired effect. (An essential oil extracted from the same plant is used on the Continent, and proves equally efficacious, in doses of ten or more drops. In the reign of Henry the Sixth, so great a famine prevailed, that Fern roots were used for the purpose of making bread. It would be difficult now to ascertain the exact species, but probably the largest and most common kind. This Fern, and the Pteris aquilina, are burnt together for the sake of their ashes, which are purchased by soap and glass makers: the island of Jura alone yields one hundred and fifty pounds worth of these ashes annually. Gunner relates that in Norway the young curled leaves are boiled and eaten like asparagus; and that the larger leaves, dried and infused in hot water, afford an acceptable fodder and litter for cattle, in hard winters. It is used for rough thatching and beds, as the Highland Heather. The larger Ferns, either dug in, or burnt on, the ground, enrich

P. THELYP'TERIS. Leafits wing-cleft: lobes very entire, the under surface entirely covered by clusters of capsules.

Hedw. Theor. 6-(E. Bot. 1018. E.)-Schmid. 11. 1. 2-Bolt. 43—Fl. Dan. 760-Mapp. 7. a, at p. 106-J. B. iii. 739. 1—Ger. 981. 3—Ger. Em. 1185. 1-Park. 1041. Î.

Its habit like P. Filix-mas. Stem smooth. Old leafits covered with capsules. Barren leaves broader and blunter. Linn. Root small, creeping. Dicks. Wings deeply divided, but the divisions do not reach to the midrib. Lobes when in seed much contracted, and narrower than before the capsules are fully formed, but this circumstance is very general through the whole tribe. (The slender creeping root, and the crossing, but separate leafits, distinguish this species from every other. Sm. E.) MARSH POLYPODY. (Welsh: March-redynen y gors. P. Thelypteris. Linn. Mant. Syst. Veg. Acr. Thelypteris. Linn. Sp. Pl. Bolt. (Aspidium Thelypteris. Sw. Willd. Sm. Hook. E.) In Bogs. St. Faith's Newton Bogs, near Norwich. Mr. Pitchford. Near Bungay, Suffolk. Mr. Woodward. In a moist dell at the foot of Snowdon, near Llanberris. Mr. Aikin. (At Lound, near Yarmouth. Mr. Dawson Turner. Leath Hill, Surry. Mr. Winch. West side of Llyn-llwydiart, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.) P. July-Oct.

(P. CRISTA'TUM. Fronds pinnate: pinnæ subcordate, oblong, pinnatifid: the segments oblong, obtuse, dentato-serrate: stipes chaffy. E.)

(Hook. Fl. Lond. 113-E. Bot. 2125. E.)

(Fronds many from the same root, yellow green, one to two feet high, linearo-lanceolate, erect, rather rigid, nearly bipinnate. Stipes green, beneath dark purple, on the upper side channelled, smooth, every where chaffy, scales ovate, acutę, membranous, pale brown. Pinna upon the sterile fronds most approximate, upon the fertile ones more distant, all alternate, cordato-oblong, more or less attenuated, but obtuse at the apex, towards the middle three inches long, the inferior ones somewhat shorter, the superior ones gradually decreasing, and terminating in a short acuminated point. Rachis smooth. Pinnules or the segments of the pinnæ, alternate, oblongo-ovate, obtuse, at the base confluent with the flexuose nerve, smooth, the inferior ones somewhat lobed, at the margins irregularly and obtusely serrated, the rest have the margins incisoserrate. Fructification dorsal, on the superior pinnæ disposed in a double series between the margin and the nerve of the segments. Sori roundish. Indusium membranaceous, pale brown, almost white, between round and reniform, fixed at the sinus, the margins free. Capsules numerous, small, spherical, brown, upon long foot-stalks, reticulated, surrounded by an elastic, articulated, incomplete ring, bursting transversely. Seeds

the soil greatly by their saline particles; and thus Horace, though not without a moral inference, Lib. i. Sat. 3. 37,

"Neglectis urenda Filir innascitur agris."

Scarcely any production of a tropical climate can present a more truly elegant appearance than does this and the sister Fern, of luxuriant growth, as fringing or feathering the higli banks of the narrow lanes of South Devon. The Scotch term Bracken, (like Gowan,) we conceive to be rightly understood as generic, including several different plants, and thus it would seem to be almost indifferently applied both to our present species and Pteris aquilina, E.)

round, deep brown tuberculated. Hook. Readily distinguished from its affinity to P. filix-mas by its yellow green hue, and broad pinnæ. E.) (CRESTED POLYPODY. P. cristatum. Linn. Aspidium cristatum. Sw. Sm. Willd. Hook. This very rare plant was discovered in boggy parts of the heath between Holt and Hempstead, Norfolk, by the Rev. R. B. Francis ; also among alder bushes in bogs at Westleton, Suffolk, by D. E. Davy, Esq. F.L.S. P. Aug. Fl. Lond. We suspect that Mr. Brown's specimens in With. Herbar. from Ben Bourde in Aberdeenshire ought rather to be considered this species than P. dilatatum. E.)

P. DENTA TUM. Leafits opposite, wing-cleft: lobes sparingly cut at the sides, finely toothed at the ends: stem very slender. Dicks. H. S.-(E. Bot. 1588. E.)—Dicks. Fasc. iii. 7. 1. Nearly resembles P. fragile in size and habit. Root small, fibrous, bundled, a little woolly. Stems several, slender pale brown, shining, somewhat scaly at the base. Leaf spear-shaped, doubly winged. Wings distant, spear-shaped, mostly alternate. Leafits egg-shaped, blunt, cut, unequally toothed; teeth distant, blunt, pale brown. Clusters of capsules near the incisions, towards the edge. Dicks.

Such is the account given by Mr. Dickson of this new species of Polypodium, which he first discovered in clefts of rocks in the Highlands of Scotland; but, though this description and his specific character mention it being doubly winged, neither his own figure, nor the specimens sent out in his Fasciculi of dried plants, authorize us to say that they are so. They are only simply winged, and the wings divided into lobes, nor have they any proper mid-rib. P. dentatum of Forsk. in Gmelin's Syst. Nat. is a different plant.

(TOOTHED POLYPODY. Welsh: Fiol-redynen ddeintiawg. P. dentatum. Dicks. Hull. Aspidium dentatum. Sw. Willd. Hook. Cyathea dentata. Sm. On rocks between Widdy Bank and Caldron Snout, Durham. Rev. J. Harriman, in Winch Guide. On rocks north of the mansion of Trejorwerth, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.)

P. FONTANUM. Leafits alternate, triangular, blunt, deeply wing-cleft: lobes sharply toothed at the end: stem very slender.

(E. Bot. 2024, E.)-Lob. Adv. 361. 2, and Ic. i. 810. 1—Bolt. 21—Barr. 432. 1-Pluk. 89. 2 and 3-Ger. 980. 2.

Its habit resembling P. fragile, but the leafits closer together and not so deeply lobed. Fructifications in large dots, proceeding not from a roundish scale, but from an oblong white slender valve or chink. Linn. Plant three or four inches high. Stamens pale green, thread-like. Leafits alternate. Bolt.

(SLENDER-STEMMED POLYPODY. Aspidium fontanum. Sw. Willd. Asplenium fontanum. Sm. Old walls and rocks. Rocky places near Wybourn, Westmoreland; also in Buckinghamshire. Bolt. P. June-Sept.

(4) Leaves doubly winged.

P. ACULEA'TUM. Primary wings crescent-shaped: leafits rhomboidal, with prickly teeth: stem chaffy.

Mill. Ill.-Bolt. 26. 1 and 3-H. Or. xiv. 3. 15, f. 1-Pluk. 179. 6, a young plant only winged.-Pluk. 180. 1, fully grown.-Pluk. 180. 3, in its middle state of growth.-(E. Bot. 1562, margin of the pinnule incorrect. E.)