Sometimes half a yard high. Leafits irregularly rhomboidal, with a projecting angle on the upper edge near to the mid-rib. The leafits immediately adjoining to the primary mid-rib are very unequal in size, the uppermost being the largest, and having its lower edge parallel to the primary mid-rib. In a young state, the leaf is only simply winged, as represented in Bolton's pl. 26, fig. 2. (Primary wings one to two feet in length, of a true lance-shape, broadest in the middle, decreasing gradually towards the extremities: the rib channelled on the upper side. Second-leaves, one or two of the lowest pairs placed opposite, becoming gradually alternate upwards. Lobes from eight to twenty, the first pairs divided down to the nerve, thence gradually becoming confluent, losing themselves in the acute prickly termination of the second leaf. Seedvessels near the top of the plant in two regular rows; lower down less regularly placed on the lobes. Bolt. E.)

(The most able Botanists are divided in opinion as to the identity of this species and P. lobatum; and different characteristics have been assigned to each, without producing general conviction; a proof, at least, that the specific distinction, if any, must be very obscure. Vid. Smith in E. Bot. Hook. Fl. Scot. 154. Grev. Fl. Edin. 221. Purt. Mid. Fl. 509. 510. E.)

PRICKLY POLYPODY. (Welsh: March-redynen wrychog. Aspidium aculeatum. Sw. Willd. Sm. Hook. A. lobatum. E. Bot. 1563? E.) Woods and shady places. In a ditch in a meadow at the Valley, near Bromsgrove. Miss Reid. In a ditch near Elmdon House, Warwickshire. (Shepscombe Wood, near Painswick. Mr. Oade Roberts. Rocks near the bottom of Benroyd Clough Norland; and in a little wood called Toadholes, in Sowerby Dean, both near Halifax. Mr. Bolton. Near Lleiniog castle, Anglesey. Welsh. Bot. E.)

Var. 2. Leaves sprinkled with a moss-like down. Pluk.

P. June-Oct.

P. SPINULO'SUM. Primary wings spear-shaped: leafits strap-eggshaped, wing-cleft, and serrated with sharp-pointed teeth.

(E. Bot. 1460. E.)-Fl. Dan. 707.

This has been taken for P. cristatum, but it is very different from that; of a more delicate and transparent texture, the leaf-stalk_but little, if at all, scaly, the opposite leafits on the wings not unequal in size, and the mid-rib of the leafits serpentine. It agrees with it in the disposition of the fructifications, and in the serratures ending in short awns. (LESSER CRESTED POLYPODY. Welsh: March-redynen eddiawg. P. spi nulosum. Fl. Dan. Retz. Aspidium spinulosum. Willd. Sm. In Causey Wood, Durham; near Chart Park, Surry. Mr. Winch. Danbury, Essex. Mr. W. Christy. On Bodafon mountain, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.) Bogs on Birmingham Heath. Holloways in Devonshire.

P. FILIX-FÆ'MINA.

P. July-Sept. Leafits strap-spear-shaped, wing-cleft, acute:

stems smooth upwards.

Pluk. 180. 4-H. Ox. xiv. 3. 8-Bolt. 25-Munt. 288. 84-J. B. iii. 738— (Fl. Dan. 1346. P. Filix-mas.-E. Bot. 1459. E.)

Fructifications egg-shaped, somewhat fringed, solitary. Linn. Leafits deeply cut with one or two divisions; the teeth often ending in a short awn. Woodw. The most elegant of all our Ferns. One cluster of capsules on each lobe of the leafit. Bolt. So that in a ripening state the

whole of the leafit seems covered by them, whilst in P. Filix-mas the upper end is always bare. The lower pair of leafits on each wing, that is, the pair next to the principal or primary leaf-stalk, stand close to it, and parallel with it, pointing upward and downward. The breadth of the leafits varies considerably in different plants, but when they are narrow and the wings distant, the whole has a remarkably light and elegant appearance.

FEMALE POLYPODY. (Welsh: March-redynen fenyw. Aspidium Filixfæmina. Sw. Willd. Sm. Hook. E.) Moist and shady marshy places. Moist rocky woods; about rivulets, and on heaths. Lewesdon Hill. Mr. Baker. (Knot's-hole, near Liverpool. Dr. Bostock. Custom Scrubs, near Painswick, Gloucestershire. Mr. O. Roberts. In Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.) P. June-Sept. (Aspidium irriguum, E. Bot. 2199, scarcely one-fourth so large as the preceding, of which, nevertheless, some good Botanists have thought it a variety; and, indeed, after long cultivation, though raised originally from seed, it considerably approaches that species. In a wild state the fronds are of a more narrow lanceolate figure, and of a paler pellucid green; the main stalk occasionally scaly, but in general quite smooth, and exactly quadrangular, though the latter circumstance varies. Leafits shorter, and somewhat less linear than in F. fæmina, deeply serrated, or partly pinnatifid, their segments sharply cut, without bristly points. About the margins of clear springs. Several places near Tunbridge. Mr. T. F. Forster. Eng. Fl. Abundant at Tintern. Mr. W. Christy. E.) (P. DILATA'TUM. Frond doubly winged: leaflets deeply wing-cleft: segments oblong, blunt, sharply cut, tipped with little spines: common stalks scaly : involucrum circular.

E. Bot. 1461-Mull. Frid. 2. 4-Pluk. 181. 2-Bolt. 23.

In moist rich soil three or four feet high, and trebly winged; on dry rocks on banks about a foot high, the first pair of wings the largest, and the only pair that are triply divided. Bolt. Serratures ending in short awns. Woodw. Stem scaly all the way up. Lower leaves of the lower wings larger and longer than those opposite to them. First leaves from six to thirty inches high; rib destitute of leaf more than half its length; general figure of the leaf triangular, tapering upwards to a point. Second leaves of a triangular figure, tapering to the extremity. Bolt. (SCALY-STEMMED POLYPODY. Welsh: March-redynen eang. P. dilatatum. Hoffm. P. cristatum. Huds. Lightf. With. Schreb. Bolt. Aspidium dilatatum. Willd. Sm. Hook. A variable plant, totally distinct from the real P. cristatum of Linn. A very rare species. Moist woods and shady places in a gravelly soil. In crevices of moist rocks and old walls; and in marshy places at the roots of decaying oaks. On Ben Bourde, a mountain seven miles north-west from Invercauld, Aberdeenshire. Mr. Brown. [These specimens greatly resemble the real P. cristatum of Linn. E.] Plentiful in the parish of Halifax. Mr. Bolton. Coughton lane, and Spernall, Warwickshire. Purton. On the walls of the church of St. Sancret, Cornwall. Rev. J. Pike Jones. In woods in the parish of Brislington, near Bristol. P. June-Sept. E.)

P. FRAGILE. Primary wings spear-shaped: leafits with a few irregular teeth towards the end: stem very slender and brittle.

Var. 1. Primary wings long, spear-shaped, acute, distant; leafits distant, pointed.

(E. Bot. 1587. E.)-Bolt. 46-Fl. Dan. 401-Pluk. 180. 5-(H. Ox. xiv. 4. 28. E.)

From four to seven inches high. Stem red, bare for about two inches at the base; smooth, slender, brittle. Leafits more than twice as long as they are broad. In habit appproaching nearly to P. rhaticum, but it is not distinctly doubly winged like that plant, nor are the lobes of the leafits regularly serrated at the edges, as in that.

Var. 2. Primary wings spear-shaped, acute; leafits crowded.

Bolt. 27-Barr. 432—J. B. iii. 741. 2-Seguier. 1. 1.

From two to six inches high. Stem red, bare for half to one and a half inch from the base; smooth, brittle, but less slender than in the preceding. Leafits not equal in length to twice the breadth.

Var. 3. Primary wings spear-shaped, blunt.

About three or four inches high. Stem red, bare for half to one inch from the base; smooth, brittle, slender.

This has a general resemblance to P. dentatum, but differs from that in the colour of the stem, in being doubly winged, and in the want of fine teeth at the ends of the lobes.

Mr. Griffith, of Garn, Denbighshire, favoured me with specimens of these three varieties gathered from the same root, and I have seen a single specimen uniting the characters of the two former.

BRITTLE POLYPODY. (Aspidium fragile. Sw. Willd. Hook. Cyathea fragilis. Roth. Cystea fragilis. Sm. Dry stony places, and old buildings, in the mountainous parts of Britain. P. June-Sept. P. TRIF'IDUM. Primary wings spear-shaped, blunt: leafits of the lower pair of wings mostly three-cleft: stem bordered.

E. Bot. 163.

Three or four inches high. Stem brown green, slender, bare for one inch or more at the base; edged with a narrow border on each side. Wings nearly triangular; leafits three-cleft, the middle segments sometimes notched. I am indebted to J. Wynne Griffith, Esq. for a beautiful specimen of this plant. It is sufficiently distinct from P. fragile, though in habit much resembling our third variety of that species. Both this and P. fragile have their capsules in a globular cyst, which seems attached to the foliage at one point only, and readily separates from it. (Dr. Greville considers them the same, and states that he possesses specimens "exactly intermediate." E.)

(THREE-CLEFT POLYPODY. P. regium. Linn. Aspidium regium. Sw. Willd. Hook. Cystea regia. Sm. Cyathea incisa, E. Bot., where it is mentioned as having been found by Mr. T. F. Forster, jun. on a wall near Walthamstow, and that he thought it distinct from P. fragile. Mr. Griffith found it on Cwm Idwell. Rocks at the dropping well, Knaresborough. Mr. W. Christy. Ben Lawers. Maughan, in Hook. Scot. E.) P. RHETICUM. Primary wings spear-shaped, distant: leafits deeply lobed: lobes regularly toothed at the edge.

Dicks. H. S.-Bolt. 45 and 2. 6.

Seven or eight inches high. Stem red, smooth, slender, convex on one side, bare for two or three inches from the base. Wings distant, spearMr. shaped, acute; leafits strap-spear-shaped, the edges toothed. Bolton has very well observed, that the wings are distinct all the way up, not becoming confluent at the top, and that the leafits on the upper side the secondary mid-rib are larger than those on the lower, by which it may be distinguished from P. fragile. The regular serratures on the sides of the lobes also afford a good distinction, the lobes in P. fragile being only serrated towards the end, and that very irregularly. (RED-STEMMED POLYPODY. P. rhaticum. Dicks. Bolt. Aspidium rhœticum. Willd. Cyathea fragilis, B and y. Fl. Brit. Cystea angustata. Sm. E.) Shady rocks, Scotland. Mr. Dickson. Mountains in Westmoreland. Top of Glyder mountains, on the side which hangs over Llyn Ogwen Lake; and near Ffynnon felon. On walls near Ambleside, Westmoreland. Mr. Woodward. On the Leek road, a quarter of a mile P. June-Sept. from Buxton.

(5) Plant triply winged.

P. DRYOPTERIS. Stem supporting three-winged or doubly winged

leaves.

(E. Bot. 616. E.)-Kniph. 12-Bolt. 28-Trag. 538-J. B. iii. 741. 1— Lon. i. 224. 2-Ger. 974. 2-Clus. ii. 212. 1-Ger. Em. 1135. 3-Park. 1044, middlemost figure-H. Ox. xiv. 4.19.

Fructifications near the rib of the secondary wings. Bolt. Plant from five to eight inches high. The three leaves placed near the end of the stem, one terminal and one on each side. The Rev. Mr. Baker observes, that, "at the point where the lower pair of pinnæ branch from the stem the plant forms an obtuse angle and leans backward. This appears to be occasioned by four strong glands on the upper side of the stem and two on the lower. These glands attend the angles formed by the other wings, but decrease as they advance."

(THREE-BRANCHED POLYPODY. E.) Dry stony places in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Scotland. Amongst the rocks at the fall of Lowdore, on the side of Derwent-water, Cumberland. Barrowfield Wood, near Kendal, and other rocky woods in the North. Mr. Woodward. In woods north-east of the road up Frocester Hill, Gloucestershire. Mr. Baker. (Needwood Forest. Hon. Mr. Bagot. In abundance near the seat of the Rev. Thos. Gisborne, at Yoxal, Staffordshire. Rocky lane bank, leading from Shepscombe, near Painswick, towards the Cheltenham road. Mr. Oade Roberts. Canton Rough, a quarter of P. June-Sept.* a mile above Bridgnorth. Mr. Purton. E.)

(Mr. Brunton has found a large variety of this plant near the first waterfall in Hackfall, Yorkshire, so different in appearance from the proper state, that a young Botanist would be at a loss to know to what species to refer it. Bot. Guide. 722. E.)

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

(Derives its specific name, &puozlepis, from being occasionally found among the mossy roots of oak trees. It has been supposed to possess medical qualities somewhat similar to those of its congeners. E.)

E. Bot. 1525-Bolt. 1. 1.

Root stouter and less extending than in the preceding species. Frond more firm and rigid; stalk more scaly about the lower part. Branches smaller, rigid, and not loosely spreading. Masses of capsules of a browner hue, more crowded. Sm.

RIGID THREE-BRANCHED POLYPODY. P. calcareum. Sw. Wild. Sm. Purt.
P. Dryopteris. var. Bolt. On mountainous heaths, or in woods, on a
limestone soil. In White Scars, near Ingleton, Yorkshire; and in the
Peak of Derbyshire. Bolton. Cheddar Rocks, Somersetshire. J. W.
Griffith, Esq.
P. July. E.)
ADIAN'TUM.* Capsules forming oval spots under the ends
of the leaves, which are folded back.

A. CAPIL'LUS-VEN'ERIS. Leaves doubly compound: wings alternate: leafits wedge-shaped: lobed, on leaf-stalks.

Dicks. H. S.-Jacq. Misc. ii. 7—Bull. 247-Bolt. 29—(E. Bot. 1564. E.) Tourn. 317.2-Ger. 982. 2-Tourn. 317. 2-Cam. Epit. 924-Park. 1049. 1-Matth. 1201—J. B. iii. 752-Lob. Adv. 361. 1, Ic. i. 809. 2—Gars. 125. A.-Ger. 982. 1—Fuchs. 82—Trag. 531-Dod. 469.2—Ger. Em. 1143. 1. About five or six inches high. Leafits fan-shaped, with four or five notches at the end of a very delicate semi-transparent green, which it retains in a dry state.

TRUE MAIDENHAIR. Rocks and moist walls. Barry Island and Port
Kirig, Glamorganshire. Mr. Lhwyd. Isle of Arran, near Galloway.
Mr. Stonestreet. South Islands of Arran. Mr. J. T. Mackay. Eng. Fl.
Banks of Carron, a rivulet in Kincardineshire. Prof. Beattie, in Hook.
Scot. E.)
P. May-Sept.†
TRICHO'MANES. Fructifications on the edge of the leaf,
solitary, urn-shaped; ending in a thread-shaped style.
T. TUNBRIDGEN'SE. Leaves winged: wings oblong, forked, decurrent,
toothed.

(Hook. Fl. Lond. 71. E.)-Fl. Dan. 954-E. Bot. 162—Pluk. 3. 5—Bolt. 2. 7-H. Ox. xv. 7. 50.

Wings sometimes, not always, serrated or scolloped. Bolt. Wings elliptical, narrow; teeth sharp. Woodw. Leaves all producing fructifications

* (So called from α, privative, and diaw, to moisten or become wet; because its leaves are said to resist moisture; but how far this name may have been originally applied to our plant seenis questionable. Hippocrates describes the Fern of the ancients as xa^^^^o», beautiful-leaved; Theocritus xλepòv å3iávтov, the green Adiantum. E.)

(This very elegant plant is chiefly used for making syrup of capillaire; for which purpose also the more common Asplenium trichomanes is occasionally substituted; an immaterial imposition, as neither plant seems to possess either pectoral, or any other active virtues. This Fern may be increased by planting in pots of lime rubbish, but sometimes requires shelter in the winter. E.)

(From Opi, Tixos, hair. Respecting the latter part of the name etymologists are not agreed. The term, so far as intelligible, would seem to refer to the slender shining stalks common to most Ferns, which occasioned such plants to be called capillary herbs; and also to the reputation of improving the growth of human hair, an inference equally futile with many others deduced from analogous appearances. E.)