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VII
1. Adiantum capillus-veueris. * 2. Scolupeudrium vulgare.
Ex Libris
C. K. OGDEN
BRITISH FERNS
THEIR ALLIES:
THE " POPULAR HISTORY OF BRITISH FERNS,
AX7> COMPBISING THS
Jtnts, <3llb-
THOMAS MOORE, F.L.S., F.H.S.,
ATJTHOE OP " THE HANDBOOK OF BEITISH FEBNS,"
'THE FERNS OP GEEAT BRITAIN AND lEBtAND, NATUEB FEINTED,"
" THE OCTAVO NATUBE-PBINTED BBITISH FEENS," BTC.
m\fy Colourtb |Ilstratiovts bg 2S5R. g. oltmsn.
NEW EDITION.
LONDON :
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,
THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE.
NEW YOEK : 416, BHOOME STREET.
MBMVI
BATIK., EDWARDS AND CO., PRINTERS, CHASDOS STREET,
OOTBKT GABDBW.
52
7
7
PREFACE.
THIS little volume, which is virtually an abridgment of
the Popular History of British Ferns, having been
provided for the use of beginners in the study of these
charming wild plants, it has been made an especial
object to avoid technicalities as far as waa possible,
and to afford plain, and, it is to be hoped, easily under-
stood, descriptions of the plants.
The varieties which are now known to occur among our
wild Ferns, are so numerous, that only a few of the more
striking have been noticed. A full enumeration of them
would have taken up much space, and would only have
distracted the attention of the learner from the species
which it is important he should first become acquainted,
with.
Being intended as a first book, many details of structure,
of distribution, &c., have also been omitted with the view
of simplifying the main features of the subject. When
these have been well mastered, the inquirer will meet with
iv PREFACE.
additional useful information in the more extended Popular
History of British Ferns* already mentioned.
As a help to those readers who may not be familiar
with the scisntific names derived from the Greek and
Latin languages, these names have all been accentuated
in the Index.
* A POPULAR HISTORY OF BRITISH FERNS, and the Allied Plants. By
THOMAS MOORE, P.L.S., F.H.S. 3rd and revised edition. London:
Routledge, Warae, and Koutledge, Farringdon Street.
BRITISH PERNS.
CHAPTEK L
POPULARITY OF FERNS STRUCTURE STEMS ! CAUDEX, RHIZOME
FRONDS VENATION FRUCTIFICATION.
THE native Ferns of Great Britain have undoubtedly become
attractive objects of inquiry and of study, amongst those
who take interest in natural objects. Among the many
causes which may have conduced to bring about this result,
probably the most active is this, that these plants are for the
most part objects of exquisite elegance. This fact is, indeed,
apparent, whether they are superficially examined as to
their external appearance, or whether they are investigated
with the view to analyse their minute structure. Then,
again, they have become fashionable ; and they are, more-
over, neither very numerous, nor very inaccessible, and con-
sequently their study opens a field which even those who
have not much leisure may hope to compass, and for which
the greater part, at least, of the materials may be obtained
without much difficulty. To these inducements, it may be
added, that they are plants for the most part very easily
cultivated, and of all others perhaps the best adapted to
parlour or window culture. Hence it follows that, besides
the interest that may arise in the collection and preservation
of the British Ferns in the herbarium, and in the study of
them in the dried state, there is to be added the pleasure to
be derived from their cultivation, and the opportunities
thereby afforded of studying and admiring them in the
living state. Those who desire a thorough knowledge of
them should certainly, if possible, adopt the latter method
of study, as it reveals many curious and interesting features
which are not to be learned from the most patient investi-
gations, which are carried on by the aid of the dried plants
alone. Notwithstanding, however, the advantage of study-
ing the plants in the living state, it is to be borne in mind,
6 BKITISH FERNS.
that all the essential points necessary for the recognition of
the species may be present and available in well-selected
herbarium specimens, so that those who have not conve-
nience for cultivating them, may yet store up in their cabi-
nets ample materials for amusement and instruction in
leisure hours.
There is something peculiarly fascinating in the graceful
outline and disposition of parts so common among the
Ferns. Gay colours are indeed generally wanting to them,
and they wear while in life a livery of sober green, which
can scarcely be said to gain ornament from the brownish
scales, with which in some of our native species it is asso-
ciated. In some of the Ferns of tropical countries, how-
ever, as for example in some species of Cfymnogramma and
Cheilanthes, the lower surface is covered more or less with a
silvery or golden powder, which adds considerably to their
beauty; and there is among exotic Ferns considerable
variety, even of the tints of green. The more sober-tinted
natives of our northern latitude have, however, but compa-
ratively little of such variety of hue ; so that it is not in the
colouring that their attractions rest, nor is it in their endur-
ance, for a large proportion of the native species lose all
their beauty as soon as the frost reaches them, and for
nearly one-half of the year are dormant unless artificially
sheltered. We may conclude, then, that it is the elegant
forms and graceful habits of the majority of the Ferns,
native and exotic, which render them so generally pleasing,
even to those who are slow to perceive beauty apart from
rich and gaudy colouring.
The number of species of British Ferns may be taken at
from forty to fifty, according as some of the more doubtful
forms are ranked as species or varieties. There are, how-
ever, a much larger number of curious and interesting varia-
tions.
What is a Fern ? This question will be best answered by
means of a familiar comparison.
Every reader of this book, aided by that intuitive percep-
tion which has grown up with the growing faculties and
acquired strength from the little experiences of childhood
and youth, will know what is meant by a flower. We must
take for granted, that all those into whose hands these pages
may fall, are familiar with such natural productions as the
Buttercup, the Poppy, the Brier-rose, the Daisy, the Dande-
lion, and others, so profusely dispersed over the meadows
and corn-fields, along the hedgerows, and by the waysides ;
STRUCTURE OP PERNS. 7
even the young ears of corn and the spikes of the meadow
grasses must be well-remembered objects. Now, these all
afford examples of flowers, either separate or collected into
groups of varied form and character. The Daisy and Dan-
delion heads have been often plucked to be made into floral
chains, and the Buttercups, the Roses, and various other
flowers have been as often gathered for the rural garland.
The plants which bore these brilliantly coloured parts which
the tiny fingers chiefly desired to gather, bore other parts
which were mostly green ; in these latter the same intuitive
perception learned to recognise the leaves. Now, besides
the stem which bears them all, these two kind of
" organs,'' as they are called the leaves and the flowers are
the principal conspicuous parts of plants.
What, then, is a Fern 1 A Fern may be described, in a
popular way, as a plant which bears leaves only, and no
flowers. Still there remains the difficulty of how to distin-
guish a Fern which never bears flowers, from some other
plant which does bear flowers, but from which they are
temporarily absent. A little patient and attentive observa-
tion will overcome this seeming, and to the beginner real,
difficulty. The course to be taken is this : Search for what
seems to be a full-grown plant : it will rarely happen that
young plants, not in the fertile state to be presently men-
tioned, will occur without mature ones in the vicinity ; exa-
mine the under surface of the leaves, and brown dust-like
Eatches, round or elongated or in lines, will be seen placed
ere and there, and generally arranged with much regula-
rity. These patches are in reality heaps vast accumula-
tions of the minute seeds.
Now, as the leaves of those plants which NEVER bear
flowers, bear these dust-like patches of seeds or spores, as
they are technically termed, it is on their presence that the
novice must depend for the assurance that his plant is a
Fern. Imperfect as this test may be, and unsatisfactory as
it doubtless is to the advanced student, there is in truth no
other available guide-mark at the starting-point, nor until
the eye has become familiarized with the peculiar appear-
ances by aid of which Ferns may be recognised at first
sight. The ready recognition of a Fern from other plants at
first sight must be the result of experience gained by ob-
servation, towards the acquirement of which good and cha-
racteristic figures are valuable helps.
Ferns, then, are flowerless plants. They are furnished
with roots, by wlu'ch they obtain nourishment from the soil.
8 BRITISH FERNS.
They have steins, by which their conspicuous parts are
borne up and supported. They have leaves, or fronds, to
which their elegance is due ; and these leaves bear on some
part of their surface, but usually on the lower face, the seeds
by which the plants may be propagated. These are the
several parts or external organs of the plants.
The proper roots of Ferns are entirely fibrous, and they
proceed from the under side of those stems, which assume
the prostrate or creeping mode of growth ; but when the
stem grows erect, they are produced towards its lower end
on all sides indifferently, and proceed from among the bases
of the decayed leaves or fronds. Fibrous roots are so called
from their consisting of little thread-like parts or fibres ;
these, as they extend by growth at their points, insinuate
themselves into the earth, so that in process of time it be-
comes filled with their ramifications. They often form en-
tangled masses, but are not always sufficiently numerous for
this. The fibres of Ferns are mostly of a rigid or wiry tex-
ture ; and in the younger portions are often more or less
covered with fine, soft, downy hairs, which become lost as
they get older. It is by means of these organs chiefly that
Ferns, and all the more highly developed races of plants, are
nourished.
The stem of a Fern forms either an upright stock, called a
caudex, which in our native species seldom elevates itself
above the surface of the ground, but in certain exotic ferns
reaches from thirty to fifty feet or more in height, and gives
a tree-like character to the species ; or it extends horizontally
either on or beneath the surface of the soil, and forms what
is called a rhizome or creeping stem. These creeping stems,
when not buried in the earth, are generally clothed with
hairs or scales, and sometimes to such an extent as to become
quite shaggy ; they vary greatly in size, some being as thick
as one's wrist, and others, as in our native Hymenyphyllums,
as fine as threads.
The common Polypody has the thickest rhizome of any of
the creeping British species : in this it is nearly as thick as
one's thumb; but that of the common Bracken, or Pteris, which
is forme,d under ground, creeps the most extensively. The
Osmunda, or Flowering Fern, as it is called, is, of the native
upright-growing species, that which most readily gains height ;
and very old plants of this may sometimes be found with
bare stems of a foot or more in length. The stems of the
common Male Fern, of Lastrea montana, and of Polystichum
angulare, have also a tendency, though ina less degree, to this
FKONDS. 9
upright mode of growth; but it never becomes apparent, ex-
cept in the case of very aged plants.
The leaves of Ferns are generally called fronds, and as
this latter term is much the more appropriate, we shall
henceforward adopt it, with this general explanation, that it
means the leaf-like organs which are borne on the proper
stem. The leaf-like character they bear has led some per-
sons to reject the term frond altogether, and to consider them
as true leaves ; but since they grow by development from
their apex, which botanists say leaves do not, and since they
produce, from some part of their surface, what in their case
stands in the place of flowers, there is no more reason why
they should be called leaves, than should the leaf-like
stems of Cactuses, or of the curious hot-house plants called
Xylophylla, each of which afford examples of plants bearing
flowers on what appear to be leaves, but which are in reality
stems. The frond or leafy part of a Fern is, however, not to
be classed among stems ; and hence, since it is of interme-
diate character between a leaf and a stem, the distinctive
name of frond seems to be conveniently applied to it.
As there are no proper flowers produced by the Ferns, it
is in the fronds that we must seek for that ornamental
aspect which renders them such general favourites. The
fronds alone, however, afford almost endless variety. In
some cases they are very large, in others very small ;_ some
are quite simple and not at all divided, others are divided
almost beyond computation into little portions or segments,
and it is these much-divided fronds which, generally speak-
ing, are the most elegant.
Even in the few species which are natives of Britain, this
variety of size and form is very obvious, some kinds not
being more than two or three inches, while others are from
five to six feet or more in height ; some are quite simple, and
others are cut into innumerable small segments. There is
much variety of texture too ; some being thin and delicate,
almost transparent, others thick and leathery, and some per-
fectly rigid. There is again variety of colour ; some are pale
green, some are deep green, some are blue-green, some dark
brownish, scarcely green at all ; some are smooth and shining,
others opaque ; and some few are covered with hair-like
scales.
The duration of the fronds of many species is compara-
tively short ; they come up in spring, and in some cases the
earliest of them do not last till autumn ; in others they con-
tinue until touched by frost, from which the more robust of
10 BRITISH FERNS.
them shrink, even as the tender sorts do from drought as
well as frost. Others are much more durable, and the plants,
if in a moderately sheltered situation, become evergreen.
These latter should be most extensively adopted for culture
where ornamental effect is an object.
The fronds of Ferns consist of two parts the leafy por-
tion j and the stalk, which fatter is called the stipes. The
continuation of the stalk, in the form of a rib extending
through the leafy portion, and becoming branched when the
frond is divided, is called the rachis. If the frond is com-
Eound, that is, divided, so that there is another set of ribs
esides the principal one, the latter is called the primary
rachis, and the former the secondary rcichis. In but few
cases are our native species more highly compound than
this. In practice, when the outline or division of the frond
is mentioned, it is generally the leafy portion only that is
referred to, exclusive of the stipes.
The stipes is generally furnished more or less with mem-
branous scales, which are sometimes few and confined to the
base, and at other times continued along the rachis. Some-
times these scales, which are generally brown, are large and
so numerous that the parts on which they are situated acquire
a shaggy appearance. The form of the scales, as well as
their number and position and even colour, is found to be
tolerably constant in the different species or varieties, and
hence they sometimes afford marks of recognition. When-
ever they are produced along the rachis, as well as on the
stipes, they are invariably largest at the base, and become
gradually smaller upwards.
In some species the leafy portion of the frond is undi-
vided, that is to say, the margins are not scalloped or cut
away at all : an example of this occurs in the common Hart's-
tongue. More commonly, however, the margin is more or
less divided.
The simplest mode of division is that where the margin
of the frond is deeply divided or scalloped out at short in-
tervals, the incision extending inwards nearly to the rachis,
but not reaching it : this slightly divided form is called pin-
natifid.
The fronds are sometimes divided down to the rachis,
which is, as it were, quite bared of the contiguous leafy ex-
panded portion, and when this occurs, the frond is said to be
pinnate ; and in this case, each of the distinct leaf-like divi-
sions is called a pinna. When these pinnae are divided again
upon precisely the same plan, the frond becomes bipinnate,
FRUCTIFICATION. 1 1
or twice pinnate ; but if the pinnae are only deeply iobed
they, like the frond when similarly divided, are said to be
piiinatifid.
When the fronds are thrice pinnate, they are called tri-
pinnate; and in all other more intricate forms, they are
called decompound; but this seldom occurs in our native
kinds, the nearest approach to it being in very vigorous
plants of the common Bracken, and in some of the Lastreas,
when very largely developed.
The young fronds of the Ferns before being developed are
arranged in a very curious manner, the rachis being rolled
inwards volutely from the point to the base. In the com-
pound sorts the divisions are each again rolled up in a
similar way. This arrangement is what is called circinate.
All the British species, with two exceptions, are folded up
in this way, so that their development consists of an un-
rolling of the parts of the frond. The exceptions mentioned,
are the Moon wort and the Adder's-tongue, in both of which
the fronds in the undeveloped state are folded straight.
The substance of the fronds is traversed by veins variously
arranged ; in some species forming straight, nearly parallel
lines, in others joined together like network. The manner
in which the veins are disposed is called the venation, and
the nature of this venation affords useful data in the division
of the Ferns into family groups. It is from some part of
these veins, determinate in position, that the clusters of
fructification proceed, the part to which they are attached
being called the receptacle.
A correct appreciation of the nature and position of the
receptacle with reference to the veins, is of considerable im-
portance in the study of the family groups and the indivi-
dual kinds. In some, though few of the native kinds, it is
projected beyond the margin, and the little cases of seeds
are collected around the extremity of the vein, which pro-
jects outwards from the edge of the leaf. More commonly,
however, the veins stop within the margins, and the seed-
cases grow in round or elongated clusters, sometimes placed
at their ends, sometimes along their sides, appearing on the
lower surface of the fronds.
No flowers are produced, but the plants bear, generally,
great abundance of seed-like bodies, which are technically
called spores, and are contained in little hollow cases of very
singular construction. Collectively, these cases and their
contents are called the fructification ; and the cases them-
selves are attached in the different species to certain deter-
12 BRITISH FERNS.
minate portions of the veins, which are thickened and form
the receptacles. Each separate mass or cluster of the seed-
cases is called a soitis, but being generally spoken of collec-
tively, the plural term son' becomes much more frequently
used. The sori are marginal when they project beyond the
margin, and dorsal when occupying some part of the under
surface of the frond.
The seed-cases called also spore-cases, or sporangia, or
ihecce are mostly minute roundish-oval bodies, containing
one cavity, and nearly surrounded by a jointed vertical band
called a ring, which is continued from the base so as to form
a short stalk, by which they are attached. When they have
reached maturity, the elasticity of the ring bursts the case
by an irregular transverse fissure, and the seeds or spores, in
the shape of fine dust, which is almost invisible, become dis-
persed. This occurs in the majority of the native species.
In Trickomanes and Hymenophyllum, however, the elastic
band is horizontal or oblique, not vertical ; and in Osmunda,
Botrycltium and Ophioalossum, the spore-cases are two-valved,
and destitute of the elastic ring.
In a considerable proportion of the known species of
Ferns, and in the majority of those which are natives of
Great Britain, the sori are covered in the earlier stages of
growth by what is commonly called the indusium. This is
mostly a thin transparent membranous scale of the same
general form as the sorus itself, at first completely covering
or enclosing the young seed-cases, but eventually, by their
growth, becoming disrupted at its margins and thrust back,
or not unfrequently cast off before the maturity of the seeds.
Some species, however, never bear any visible indusium,
even in their earliest stages. The presence or absence of an
indusium, or cover to the seed-heaps, is consequently one of
the technical points by which Ferns are divided into groups
of moderate extent.
In some Ferns the indusium, or cover, or at least what is
considered analogous to it, is cup-shaped, containing the seed-
cases ; but this form is of very rare occurrence among the
native species, and exists only in Trichomanes and the
HymenophyUums.
Taking now a retrospective glance, we have seen that the
Ferns are, as regards external structure, flowerless plants,
having erect or creeping stems, which bear the leaf-like
fronds ; and on some part of the surface of the fronds, usually
the lower side, but sometimes the margin, are borne the
clusters of seeds, which, in the majority of the native species,
PROPAGATION AND CULTURE. 13
are, when young, furnished with a membranous scale-like
cover.
The subject of internal structure we may here pass over
with the remark that the Ferns belong to the lowest group
of vegetation, which is especially remarkable for its loose
and often succulent texture, owing to the absence, or the
paucity, of those tissues which give firmness and elasticity
to the higher orders of plants. The Ferns, however, are the
highest members of this lower group, and hence we find
them possessing, to some extent, both woody and vascular
tissue, mixed up with the more succulent cellular tissue
What these tissues are, may be found explained in any
elementary book on physiological botany.
CHAPTER IL
PROPAGATION AND CULTURE TOPOGRAPHICAL ASPECT USES PRE-
SERVATION FOR THE HERBARIUM.
NATURALLY Ferns are propagated by means of the spores.
These spores, which are somewhat analogous^o seeds, being
like them endowed with that mystery the vital germ, when
placed under fitting conditions, become developed into young
plants ; but they differ from seeds in some important par-
ticulars.
All true seeds have a determinate structure. They have
an embryo, provided with special organs ; there is the plu-
mule, or germ of the descending axis, the origin of the stem,
and there is the radicle, or germ of the descending axis, the
origin of the root. When a seed is planted, in whatever
position it may chance to have been deposited in the soil,
the young root or radicle strikes downwards, and the young
stem or plumule grows upwards.
The Fern spores have none of these determinate parts,
but are, as it were, homogeneous atoms ; and when placed
under circumstances which induce germination, that part
which lies downwards produces the root, and that part
which lies upwards produces the rudimentary stem. The
spores themselves are minute vesicles of cellular tissue. As
they grow, this vesicle becomes divided into others, which
again multiply and enlarge, until they form a minute green
leaf like primordial scale or germ-frond, technically called
the prothallus. From this the axis with its roots and stem
are eventually developed,
14 BEITISn FERNS.
In annual Ferns the mature character is soon attained,
but in others, two or more years of growth is required before
they reach maturity, and a much longer_ period is of course
necessary to the maturity of those which acquire tree-like
stems. They, however, in most cases, soon begin to assume
something of their peculiar appearance.
In these minute and almost invisible atoms, no less than
in the more ponderous materials which surround us, we dis-
cover the impress of Almighty and Creative power. They
teem with life ! No commixture of elementary matter no
electric shock guided by human agency, can originate that
vitality. Truly, the hand that made them is Divine !
The requisite conditions to induce the germination of the
spores of Ferns, in addition to the degree of heat proper for
the particular species to which they belong, is simply con-
tact with a continually damp earthy surface. Diffused light
is favourable to the young growth as soon as it begins to form.
It matters little in what way the principal conditions are
supplied. In confined situations congenial to Ferns, the
spores, which are shed as soon as they reach a certain degree
of ripeness, germinate freely on any undisturbed surface
with which they come in contact, whether it be the damp
soil, or damp brickwork, or the sides of the pots in which
the plants are growing. They grow very readily on the
rough surface of a piece of sandstone rock just kept
moistened.
The most convenient way, however, to raise Ferns from
the spores, where cultivation is_the object, is to so w them on
the surface of moist loamy soil, in pots of convenient size,
the surface of the soil being kept an inch or more below the
level of the pot rim, so that a piece of flat glass may be laid
over the top, to secure a close and constantly moist atmo-
sphere, and prevent rapid evaporation. The pots should be
set in pans or feeders, in which water should be kept, so that
the soil may be constantly damp. The spores are to be
thinly scattered over the rough surface of the soil, and then
kept covered with the glass.
A simple and convenient contrivance for sowing the spores,
by which the progress of germination might be very readily
watched, would consist in inverting a porous flowerpot in a
shallow dish or pan of water, large enough to take also the
rim of an enclosing bell-glass, which should cover some sur-
face of the water. A small cup or vase, set on the top of the
inverted pot, with two or three worsted siphons, would keep
its sides always damp; the spores scattered over the sides
ffiOPAGATTON AND CULTURE. 15
of this moistened porous earthenware would find a proper
nidus for their development, which might thus be watched
with great facility, it is to be borne in mind, however, that
the seedling plants are not so readily transplanted from an
earthenware or stone surface, as they are when growing on
the soil.
The general features of culture which it will be sufficient
here to notice are shade, shelter, and abundance of mois-
ture. Neither of these are, however, essential to all the
species ; but when judiciously combined, they produce con-
ditions under which all the species admit of being very suc-
cessfully grown.
In the garden, Ferns seem only appropriately introduced
on what is called rockwork, which generally means a bank
of earth irregularly terraced with misshapen blocks of stone,
or by masses of some other hard porous material, the vitri-
fied conglomerations formed in the burning of bricks being
that most commonly employed. With taste in the distri-
bution of these and such-like materials, and in the planting
of the Ferns, a very pleasing effect may be produced ; and
on rockwork of this kind, if it be erected in a shaded and
sheltered situation, and liberally supplied with percolating
(not stagnant) water, and if the soil be of a texture which
will admit of being thus constantly moist without becoming
soddened, nearly all the English Ferns may be grown suc-
cessfully. _ The most sunny, most exposed, and least mois-
tened positions on the rockwork should be appropriated to
those species which grow naturally in situations to which
these conditions afford the nearest resemblance ; while, on
the other hand, the kinds which naturally prefer the deepest
shade and the dampest soil, should be placed in the positions
where these conditions are most nearly imitated.
The most interesting mode for the amateur Fern-grower
consists in the cultivation of the plants under glass, either
in pots, or planted in a Wardian case. All the species admit
of being grown in pots, and when developed under the pro-
tection of a covering of glass, acquire more than their natural
delicacy of appearance. For the hardy Ferns, the frame or
case in which they are grown should have a northern aspect.
mi ie plants must be kept cool in summer, by shading, by
rinkling, and by removing all impediments to a free circu-
tion of air at night, not quite closing the frame even by
Wardian cases for Ferns, in which they may be planted
it on rockwork, may be either of the size and nature of n
out on
16 BRITISH FERNS.
small detached greenhouse, or of those window or balcony
greenhouses made by enclosing within a projecting sash, a
greater or smaller area external to the window ; or they may
be of smaller size and more finished workmanship, for the
interior of dwelling-rooms, for staircase landings, or any
other situation within doors where they can be moderately
lighted.
The most proper soil for Ferns grown in pots or cases,
consists of the native earths called peat or bog earth, and
sandy loam, mixed in about equal proportions, with a further
admixture equal to an eighth of the whole mass for the
coarser sorts, and of a fourth of the whole mass for the more
delicate sorts, of any pure granulated silicious matter, which
is used for the purpose of preventing the too close adhesion
and consolidation of the particles; the clean white sand
called Reigate sand is that most generally employed. They
are not benefited by manure.
The supply of water to Ferns under artificial conditions
is a very essential matter ; they must never lack moisture,
or their fragile texture shrinks as before a burning blast ;
nor, with few exceptions, must the soil about them be kept
continually wet with stagnant water: indeed, stagnant
water is in all cases much better avoided.
The head-quarters of Ferns are the humid forests of tro-
pical islands, in some of which they acquire a giant size, and
in their tree-like habit become rivals to the noble Palms.
The tree Ferns are not, however, very numerous compared
with those of dwarfer growth.
The dwarf herbaceous Ferns are characteristic of the tem-
perate and colder zones ; but even in the temperate regions
some of these herbaceous Ferns attain considerable height, as
is the case with the common Bracken, which, in the hedge-
rows of sheltered rural lanes in the south of England,
reaches the height of eight or ten feet, and assumes the most
graceful habit that can be conceived.
Wherever the Ferns occur, whether it be the herbaceous
species of temperate climates, or the arborescent species of
the equatorial regions, or the epiphytal species which clothe
the trunks and branches of the trees in tropical forests, they
add a marked and peculiar character of beauty and luxu-
riance to the scenery, and that to an extent which is not
realized by any other race of plants.
The uses of Ferns do not form a long catalogue. Two
of our common native species, the Filix-mas and the Bracken,
especially the former, have the reputation of being remedies
PRESERVATION FOR THE HERBARIUM. 17
against intestinal worms ; their properties being bitter and
astringent. Another native Fern, the Koyai Fern, is much
used as a rustic vulnerary and as an application to sprains
or bruises. The Maidenhair is employed in the form of
Capillaire, which is prepared by pouring boiling syrup over
the fronds, and flavouring the infusion with orange flowers.
This preparation is considered pectoral, though, if too strong,
it is said to be emetic. The common Adder's-tongue is
gathered by country-people for the preparation of adder's-
spear ointment, which is a popular remedy for recent
wounds.
Both the common Bracken and the Male Fern abound in
alkali, which is applied to various economic uses, as the
manufacture of soap and glass. From their astringency they
are employed sometimes in the dressing of leather, &c.
These species have also been used in the preparation of beer.
Ferns are amongst the best of all plants for preservation,
in the dried state, in the form of an herbarium ; for, in addi-
tion to their elegant appearance when nicely arranged on
sheets of white paper, they are less liable than most plants
to the attacks of the destructive pests in the shape of insects,
which commit great havoc among dried plants in general.
The plants should be dried quickly, under moderately
heavy pressure, among sheets of absorbent paper, which
must be replaced daily by dried sheets as long as the plants
continue to give out moisture. The thicker the bulk of
paper placed between the specimens whilst under pressure,
the better. Two or three changes will generally be suffi-
cient, if the substituted sheets be in each case perfectly dry.
The smaller growing kinds should be gathered, if possible,
in the tufts as they grow, preserving the whole mass of
fronds, with the stem and roots, the fronds being spread out
in an easy and graceful form, and as far as possible kept
quite flat. If entire tufts cannot be obtained, and single
fronds have to be substituted, they should be taken quite to
the base, and must be removed from the stem with care, so
that the scales, or hairs, or farinose powder, which may be
nt on the stalk, may be preserved equaDy with the
Of larger-growing species, single fronds only are manage-
able, and these, when of larger size than the folios in which
the specimens are to be kept, must be folded to somewhat
less than the length of the papers, whilst yet fresh. Of the
gigantic species, portions only of the fronds, corresponding
in size with the paper to be used, can be preserved ; but all
B
18 BRITISH FERNS.
our native species, except in cases of extreme luxuriance,
may, we believe, with a little judgment in the selection of
specimens, be folded so as to allow of their being preserved
in ordinary folios measuring eighteen inches by twelve
inches, or thereabouts.
It is sometimes recommended to select specimens with the
fructifications mature. We should rather, as a general rule,
advise their being gathered just before the masses of spores
reach their full growth. If, however, more than a single
specimen of each kind is preserved, the perfectly mature and
the incipient states of fructification should also be gathered :
but in the majority of cases the intermediate state will afford
the best materials for subsequent examination and recogni-
tion. Certainly the fructification is to be preferred in an
early rather than a late stage of development.
Of course, when the species produces two or more kinds
of fronds, examples of each must be preserved, as, for in-
stance, in the Allosorus crispus, the fertile fronds of which
alone would convey but a very indifferent notion of the
plant.
After being thoroughly dried under pressure, the speci-
mens, according to their size, should be arranged, singly if
large, or in groups resembling the natural tufts if sufficiently
small, on one side only of a series of sheets (technically
half-sheets, i.e., single leaves) of stout white paper, to which
they should be fastened by a few thread ties, or gummed
straps, or they may be fastened down with glue. The speci-
mens, no doubt, admit of a much more convenient and
searching examination when kept loose in a folded sheet of
paper ; but if there should be frequent occasion to handle
such loose specimens, they will be found much more liable
to become injured and broken than such as are fastened to
the paper.
The specimens should be fully labelled, the labels giving
at least their names, the locality where gathered, and the
date; and the labels should be fixed so as to be readily
referred to by turning up one of the corners of the sheets of
paper.
The papers to which the specimens are affixed are to be
enclosed in paper covers, formed of whole sheets, i.e.,^ two
leaves, each genus being put in a separate cover. These
covers should be placed either on the shelves of a cabinet,
or in drawers, or in any convenient place where they may
be protected from dust, and Preserved against the attacks of
insects and other casualties
GENERA OP BRITISH FERNS. 13
CHAPTEK IIL
TABULAR ARRANGEMENT OP THE BRITISH PERNS GENEKA
SPECIES VARIETIES.
THE Ferns, it will be recollected, are flowerlcss plants,
bearing seed-vessels (spore-cases) on their leaves (fronds),
and these spore-cases are placed either on the back of the
frond (dorsal) or on their margins (marginal). The British
Ferns belong to groups which are called Polypodiaccce,
Osmundacece, and Ophioglossacecc.
L POLYPODIACE^E. This group consists of Ferns having
the leaves rolled up in a circinate or crosier-like
manner while young ; and the spore-cases girt with an
elastic ring, and bursting by an irregular transverse
cleft. It comprises several lesser groups or sections
called Polypodiece, Gymnogrammece, Aspidiece, Aspleniece,
Blechneos, Pteiidece, Adiantece, Cystopteridece, Woodsiece,
and Hymenophyllece.
PoLYPODiEM=Ferns whose round dusters of spore-cases
have no special membranous cover (indusium).
1. Polypodium='Dor:$al-fraited Ferns, with the circular son
exposed, i.e. without covers.
2. .4^osors=porsal-fruited Ferns, with the roundish sori
becoming laterally confluent beneath the reflexed,
unaltered margins of the frond.
GYMNOGRAMMEj^jPb-ws whose linear
cases have no special corer.
3. Gymnogramma=DoTsa,\-frmi,ed. Ferns, having the sori
linear, forked, naked.
AsPipiEM=J?erns whose sori have special indiisia, of a
circular or roundish foi*m, and springing here and
there, from the back of the veins.
4. PoZysfo'c/iwm=Dorsal-fruited Ferns, having circular peltate
indusia, attached by their centre.
5. _asraz=Dorsal-fruited Ferns, having reniforin indusia,
attached by their indented side.
AspLENiEJE= J Ferns whose sori have special indusia, of an
oblong or elongated form, and springing from the sides
of the veins.
C. ^Ay?'mm=Dorsal-fruited Ferns, having oblong reniform
BS
20 BRITISH FERNS.
indusia, attached by their concave side, the detached
side fringed with hair-like segments.
7. Asplenium=lL>orsal-fmite(i Ferns, having the indusia
straight and elongate, and attached by the side to-
wards the margin of the pinnae or pinnules.
8. Scolopendrium=DoT&a.l-frmted Ferns, haying the sori
elongate, and proximate in parallel pairs, the indusia
opening along the centre of the twin sori.
9. Ceterctch = Dorsal-fruited Ferns, having the indusia
obsolete, and the sori hidden among densely imbri-
cated, rust-coloured, chaffy scales.
BLECHNEjEz^-Z^enw whose sori have special indusia, form-
ing longitudinal lines between the midrib and margins
of the leaflets or divisions of the frond.
10. j5ecAwMm=Dorsal-fruited Ferns, having the spore-cases
in a continuous line between the midrib and margin
of the divisions of the frond, covered by linear
indusia.
PTERJDEJE = Ferns^ the margin of whose frond is sori-
ferous, and continuously or interruptedly changed into
a special indusium,
11. P&?'is=I)orsal-fruited Ferns, having the spore-cases in a
continuous line at the edge of the frond, beneath
indusia, formed of the altered margin.
ADiANiEM=Ferns, the margin of whose fronds bears re-
flexed lobes, which are changed to indusia, and bear
t/te spore cases on tlieir under surface.
12. .4(&'<mfem=:Dorsal-fruited Ferns, having the spore-cases
in patches, on the reflexed, altered apices of the lobes
of the fronds, which form indusia.
CYSTOPTERIDE^:=: Ferns whose sori have special ovale
indusia affixed behind tJie sori, and inflected hood-like
over them.
13. Cystopteris = Dorsal-fruited Ferns, having cucullate or
hooded semi-involucriform indusia, attached by
their broad base.
WooDSTEM=Ferns whose^ sori have special involucriform
or semi-involucriform indusia, roundish, and springing
from the back of the veins.
14. TFoocfcia=Dprsal-fruited Ferns, having the indusia
involucriform, i.e., attached beneath the sori, and di-
vided at the margin into hair-like incurved segments.
HYMENOPHYLLE^E = Ferns whose sori are produced
around the ends of veins projecting from the margin,
SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF BRITISH FERNS. 21
and surrounded ly urn-shaped or two-valved mem-
branes.
15. Tnc/iOTOa/ies:=Marginal-fruited Ferns, having the sori
surrounded by urn-shaped expansions of the frond.
16. IfymenophyUum=NaTginal-fmited Ferns, having the
sori surrounded by two-valved expansions of the
frond.
IL OSMUND ACE^E. This group consists of Ferns having
the young leaves circinate, the spore-cases destitute of
an elastic ring, and bursting vertically by two regular
valves.
17. 0s#iM^a=Marginal-fraited Ferns, having the regular
valved spore-cases in irregular, dense, branching
clusters, terminating the fronds.
III. OPHIOGLpSSACELE. This group is composed of
Ferns having the young leaves folded up straight,
the spore-cases destitute of an elastic ring, and two-
valved.
18. .5ctfrycAttm=Marginal-fruited Ferns, having the spore-
cases in irregularly branched clusters, on a separate
branch of the frond.
19. C^Aio^/fosswm^Marginal-fruited Ferns, having the spore-
cases sessile in two-ranked simple spikes terminating
a separate branch of the frond.
Genus 1. POLYPODIUM, Linnceus.
1. P. mdgore. Fronds oblong pinnatifid.
Var. semttacerum. Fronds pinnatifid, lower segments
again pinnatifid, upper fertile.
Var. cambricum. Fronds pinnatifid, segments again
pinnatifid, all barren.
2. P. Phegopteris. Fronds pinnate below; pinnae pin-
natifid.
3. P. Dryopteris. Fronds ternate, deltoid, glabrous.
4. P. Robertianum. Fronds subternate, elongate, deltoid,
glandular-mealy.
5. P. alpestre. Fronds bipinnate, lanceolate.
Var.Jiexile. Fronds narrow, flaccid ; pinna deflexed.
Genus 2. ALLOSORUS, Bernhardi.
1. A. crispus. The only British species.
Genus 3. GYMNOGRAMMA, Desvaux.
1. G. leptopliylla. The only British species.
22 BRITISH FERNS.
Genus 4. POLYSTICHUM, Roth.
1. P. Lonchitis. Fronds pinnate, spiny-serrate.
2. P. aculeatum. Frond bipinnate, rigid; pinnules ovate
subfalcate, auricled, acute, acutely wedge-shaped at the
base, nearly all distinct.
Var. lobatum. Fronds narrower, pinnules nearly all
decurrent.
3. P. angulare. Fronds bipinnate ; lax ; pinnules oblong or
ovate subfalcate, auricled, bluntish or acute, obtusely
angled at the base, stalked.
Var. subtripinnatum. Fronds ample lower pinnules
deeply pinnatifid, otherwise normal.
Var. proliferum. Fronds bearing bulbils ; pinnules
narrow, acute, deeply pinnatifid, with distant at-
tenuate lobes.
Var. imbricatum. Fronds narrow ; pinnules oblong-
obtuse, overlapping.
Var. alatum. Fronds normal in outline ; pinnules con-
nected by a broad wing, which obliterates the stalk.
Genus 5. LASTREA, PresL
1. L. Thelypteris. Fronds pinnate, not glandular ; sori sub-
marginal on more or less contracted fronds; caudex
creeping.
2. L. montana. Fronds pinnate, covered with sessile glands;
caudex tufted.
3. L. Filix-mas. Fronds sub-bipinnate or bipinnate, broadly
lanceolate ; indusium plain.
Var. incisa. Larger, pinnules elongate, with deep
serrated incisions.
Var. paleacea. Larger, pinnules truncately-obtuuc,
entire ; stipes very scaly.
Var. pumila. Smaller, pinnules contracted, con-
_ fluent.
4. L. i^igida. Fronds bipinnate, without spinulose serra-
tures, glandular ; indusium fringed with glands.
5. L. cristata. Fronds narrow linear, pinnate or sub-
bipinnate, pinnules oblong, with aristate teeth, the pos-
terior and anterior ones nearly equal ; scales ovate, pale.
Var. uliginosa. Fronds (fertile) narrow linear-lanceo-
late, b'ipinnate at the base, pinnules oblong, acute,
with aristate teeth, the posterior and anterior ones
nearly equal ; sterile fronds as in 5 ; scales ovate,
pale.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF BRITISH FERNS. 23
Var. spinulosa. Fronds oblong-lanceolate, bipinnate,
with spinulose serratures ; posterior pinnules much
largest ; scales ovate, pale.
6. L. dilatata. Fronds oblong, or ovate-lanceolate, bi-tri-
piunate, with spinulose serratures ; scales lanceolate.
Var. dumetorum. Fronds oblong-ovate or ovate-trian-
gular, dwarf, very glandular; scales pale, two-
coloured, narrower.
Var. collina. Pinnules ovate, blunt, bluntly mucron-
ate-serrate scales dark-centred.
Var. Clianterice. Fronds lanceolate, narrowed below,
and caudate at the apex ; pinnae and pinnules dis-
tant.
Var. glandulosa. Fronds lanceolate-ovate, tall, very
glandular ; scales pale two-coloured, broader.
7. L. cemula. Fronds triangular, bipinnate, pinnules con-
cave above ; scales lanceolate, laciniated.
Genus 6. ATHYRIUM, Roth.
1. A . Filix-foemina. The only British species. Fronds bi-
pinnate ; pinnules flat, linear-oblong, lobed.
Var. rhceticum. Pinnules narrow, distinct, linear,
convex, lobed.
Var. latifolium. Pinnules broad ovate, crowded, irre-
gularly lobed.
Var. marinum. Fronds narrowed to the base, de-
cumbent, pinnules oblong, with simple marginal
teeth, rachis winged.
Genus 7. ASPLENIUM, Linnceus.
1. A. septentrionale. Frond linear-lanceolate, two-three-
cleft.
2. A.germanicum. Fronds linear, alternately pinnate, pinnae
narrow wedge-shaped ; indusium entire.
3. A. Euta-muraria. Fronds bipinnate, pinnules wedge-
shaped at the base ; indusium jagged. _
4. A. viride. Fronds linear, pinnate, rachis green above.
5. A. Trichomanes. Fronds linear, pinnate, rachis black
throughput.
Var. incisum. Pinnas deeply lobed.
6. A. marinum. Fronds pinnate, rachis winged.
7. A. fontanum. Fronds bipinnate, narrow lanceolate,
rachis winged, smooth.
8. A . lanceolatum. Fronds bipinnate, broad lanceolate, rachis
not winged, scaly.
24 BRITISH PERNS.
Var. microdon. Pinnae only lobed or subpinnate at
the base, wavy.
9. A. Adiantum-nigrum. Frond bipinnate, triangular;
segments wedge-oblong.
Var. acutum. Fronds tripinnate, triangular, much
acuminate ; segments linear, acute.
Genus 8. CETERACH, WiUdenow.
1. G. officinarum. The only British species.
Genus 9. SCOLOPENDRIUM, Smith.
1. S. vulgare. The only British species. Fronds strap-
shaped, entire.
Var. polyschldes. Fronds long, narrow, irregularly
lobed, fertile.
Var. marginatum. Fronds long, narrow, lobed, with a
double, i.e. split margin, fertile.
Var. crispum. Fronds elongated, much undulated at
the margin, usually barren.
Genus 10. BLECHNTJM, Linnaeus.
1. B. Spicant. The only British species.
Genus 11. PTERIS, Linnaeus.
1. P. aquilina The only British species.
Genus 12. ADIANTUM, Linnceus.
1. A. Capillus-Veneris. The only British species.
Genus 13. CYSTOPTERIS, Bernhardi.
1. C.fragili*. Fronds lanceolate, bipinnate, pinnules ovate,
acute, toothed or lobed sori central.
Var. dentata. Pinnules ovate, obtuse, bluntly toothed,
distinct ; sori marginal.
Var. Dickieana. Pinnules broad, obtuse, slightly
, blunt-toothed, overlapping ; sori marginal
2. G. regia. Fronds lanceolate, subtripinnate, segments
linear.
3. G. montanct. Fronds triangular, tripinnate.
Genus 14. WOODSIA, R. Brown.
1. W.Uvensis. Fronds lanceolate, hair-scaly; pinnse oblong,
deeply lobed.
2. W. alpina. Fronds linear, almost smooth ; pinnae bluntly
triangular, lobed.
Genus 15. TRiCHOMANES, Linnceus.
1. T. radicals, The only British species.
THE POLYPODIES. 25
Genus 16. HYMENOPHYLLTJM, Smith.
1. H. tunbridgense. Pinnae vertical ; involucres compressed,
serrate.
2. H. unilaterale. Pinnae deflexed; involucres inflated,
entire.
Genus 17. OSMUND A, Linnaeus.
1. 0. regalis. The only British species.
Genus 18. BOTRYCHIUM, Linnceus.
1. B. Lunaria. The only British species.
Genus 19. OPHIOGLOSSUM, Linnceus.
1. 0. wdgatum. Fronds ovate.
2. 0. lusitankum. Fronds very small, linear-lanceolate,
obtuse, fleshy.
CHAPTER IV.
THE POLYPODIES.
THE Polypodies are named POLYPODIUM by botanists. They
are known from all the other British Ferns, by their having
the spore-cases arranged in little round patches placed on
the back of the frond, these patches not being at any
stage of their development covered by the membranous film
called an indusium; hence they are said to be naked, or
non-indusiate. This family includes five distinct kinds, and
there are many variations of the common sort. In some of
the species the fronds continue green through the winter, so
that they are evergreen ; while in others they last but from
spring to autumn in each succeeding year.
The technical name Polypodium given to this family is
derived from the Greek, and literally means many-footed.
This has been explained to apply to the branching of their
creeping stems, and also to the protuberances on them which,
in the earlier stages of development, have some supposed re-
semblance to the feelers of Polypes.
COMMON POLYPODY. [Plate L]
The name which this plant bears among botanists is Poly-
podium vulgare. It has also been called Ctenopteris vul-
garis. The Common Polypody grows with a creeping stem
nearly as thick as one's finger, and covered over with pale
brown chaffy taper-pointed scales. From the upper side of
this stem, or rhizome, spring the fronds, and from its lowei
26 BRITISH FERNS.
side cliiefly the branching fibrous roots by which it clings to
its support. The fronds, if exposed to frost, perish ; but if
at all sheltered, they remain green during winter, and until
after young ones have been produced, which happens gene-
rally towards the end of May. The stipes, or stalk, of the
full-grown fronds is usually nearly equal in length to the
leafy portion ; the entire frond measuring from six to eigh-
teen inches in length. The leafy part of the frond is lance-
shaped in outline, but cut in from the margin along both
sides nearly as far as the midrib or rachis, and thus becomes
what is called pinnatifid. The portions into which it is di-
vided are called the lobes, or segments, or divisions of the
frond; and in this case they are usually oblong in form,
generally rounded at the end, but sometimes tapering to a
blunt point, and occasionally notched along the margin.
Each lobe has a slightly wavy midvein producing alternate
lateral veins (venules), which generally have about four vein-
lets or little veins disposed alternately ; it is the lowest of
these veinlets, on the side towards the point of the lobe,
which produces the sorus when it is present ; the rest, which
are barren, terminate in club-shaped heads, which are very
readily seen when a fresh frond is held between the eye and
a strong light. Most of the fronds of this kind of Fern pro-
duce fructification, which, however, is usually confined to
the upper half of the fronds, and has generally become ma-
ture by the end of September.
It is an evergreen Fern, growing abundantly on pollard
trunks, mossy banks, moist rocks and walls, and old thatched
roofs ; and is pretty generally distributed over the United
Kingdom. It may be recognised by the comparatively large
circular patches of golden spore-cases ; no other native sort
having the fructification at all similar in appearance.
The most remarkable variety is cambricum, commonly
called the Welsh Polypody, named Polypodium cambricum,
by Linnaeus. In this the lobes of the frond are broader, and,
instead of being simple, are deeply and irregularly lobed a
second time, the segments being rather sharply toothed.
This form, which is certainly only a variety of the common
Polypody, is always found without fructification. Under
slight shelter, where its fronds are persistent, it is one of the
most beautiful of what are called hardy Ferns. The Irish
Polypody, an equally elegant form, called semttacenim, is
found in Ireland and elsewhere ; in this the lower half of
the fronds are a second time lobed, and the upper half
usually fertile, and not twice-lobed. There is a form resem-
FIG. 1.
THE POLYPODIES. 27
bling cambricum, but differing in yielding fertile fronds,
which is called omnilacerum.
The plant varies in many ways. In some forms the lobes
are more or less regularly two-cleft at the apex ; in others
the margins are deeply saw-edged, or wavy or irregular;
in some the margin has rounded notches ; and the segments
are occasionally drawn out to a long narrow point. A com-
plete enumeration of the varieties of this and the other of our
native species of Ferris, which would occupy too much space
here, will be found in the new edition of our Handbook of
British Ferns.
The species and its varieties grow readily under cultiva-
tion, either planted in pots, or on rockwork in a shady situ-
ation. They should have a light open soil.
MOUNTAIN POLYPODY, OR BEECH-FERN.
The proper name of this plant
is Polypodium Phegopteris. It .
has, however, been variously
called Lastrea Phegopteris, Po-
lystichum Pliegopteris, Gymno-
carpium Phegopteris, Phegopteris
polypodioides, and Phegopteris
vutgaris.
The plant has a slender but
extensively creeping and slightly
scaly stem, producing black
fibrous roots. About May these
stems throw up delicate hairy
pale green fronds, which, when
full grown, measure from six
inches to a foot in height. The
stipes, which is fleshy and very
brittle, is generally twice as
long as the leafy part of the
frond. Near its base are a few
small almost colourless scales.
The fronds are triangular, ex-
tended into a long narrow point.
In the lower part they are pin-
nate ; but this distinction of the
parts is seldom carried beyond
the two lowest pairs of branches,
those of the upper portions of the frond being connected at
the base, in what is technically called a pinnatifid manner :
28 BRITISH FERNS.
lience this Fern is said to be subpinnate, which, in this case,
means partially pinnate, or pinnate at the very base only. The
pinnae have a narrow and acutely lance-shaped outline, and
are deeply pinnatifid ; they usually stand opposite each other
in pairs, the lowest pair being directed downwards, towards
the root, and set on at a short distance from the rest. The
united bases of the pairs of the other pinnae, when they hap-
pen to stand exactly opposite each other, exhibit a cross-like
figure more or less obvious ; and by this mark, in conjunc-
tion with the triangular outline and subpinnate mode of di-
vision, this species may be known from the other British
Polypodies. The veins in the lobes of the pinnae are pin-
nate ; that is to say, there is a slender midvein, from which
alternate venules, mostly unbranched, extend to the margin,
those near the base of the lobes bearing each one small cir-
cular sorus near their extremity the fructification thus be-
coming almost marginal.
This is a somewhat fragile plant, enduring no longer than
till autumn, or the appearance of the first frosts. It grows
wild in moist mountainous situations and in damp woods,
often common enough where present, but rather limited in
its range ; occurring however in England to the southward,
westward, and northward; pretty generally distributed in
Scotland ; but rarely met with in Ireland.
It is a very delicate and graceful Fern for pot-culture or
for a Wardian case, and requires plenty of percolating mois-
ture. On the damp, shady sides of sheltered artificial rock-
work, in the open air, it grows with tolerable vigour.
SMOOTH THREE-BRANCHED POLYPODY, OR OAK-FERN.
This species is named Polypodium Dryopteris by botanists.
It is sometimes, but less frequently, called Lastrea Dryopteris,
Polystichum Dryopteris, Gymnocarpium Dryopteris, and Phe-
gopteris Dryopteris.
The fronds of this delicate little Fern grow from a slendei
creeping stem, which often forms densely matted tufts.
They are quite smooth, and of a bright light green colour,
supported by stipes, which are usually about twice as long
as the leafy part, and are slender, brittle, and dark-coloured.
The outline is almost pentagonal, the frond being divided
into three branches, each of which is of a triangular form.
One peculiarity about this species, which is in a slight de-
gree shared by its near ally P. Robertiamim, is the deflexion
of the rachis at the point where the lateral branches of the
TI1E POLYPODIES. 29
frond take their rise, but this feature is much more obvious
111 P. Dryopteris. The fronds are divided so that each branch
is pinnate at the base, and pinnatifid towards its point ; the
pinnae are also pinnate at their base, then pinnatifid, becom-
ing acute and nearly entire at the point ; the pinnules and
ultimate lobes are oblong and obtuse. The pair of pinnules
at the base of each pinna, close to the principal rachis, are
placed so that when the pinnae are exactly opposite they
stand in the form of a cross ; the two towards the apex of
FIG. 2.
Polypodiiem Dryoptorit.
the branch being smaller than the opposite pair, and more
nearly parallel with the rachis. The pinnules, or lobes, have
a rather wavy midyein, from which the venules branch out
alternately, being, in those of moderate size, simple, with a
sorus near their extremity, and in those which are larger and
more compound, branched, with a sorus on the lower branch.
The fructification is very unequally produced in different
seasons and localities, being sometimes crowded, and at other
times very sparingly scattered over the fronds.
This is at once known among the Polypodies by having
30 BRITISH FERNS.
its fronds smooth and divided into three branches. When
the fronds are but partially developed this latter character-
istic is very obvious ; for the three branches are seen to be
rolled up separately at the end of these little wire-like stalks,
the whole supported by one which is longer and stouter. It
is a slender and delicate plant, its height being commonly
not more than six inches, often less, though sometimes more,
and its texture fragile. 'Hence it is at once destroyed by
frost, and soon becomes rusty and withered by exposure to
heat and drought. When growing in a cool, shady situation,
however, it continues fresh and cheerful-looking from April,
when it usually starts into growth onwards until it is
affected by autumnal cold. In pots, in Wardian cases, or
on sheltered shady rock-work, it is alike desirable for culti-
vation.
P. Dryopteris is not an uncommon species, but it occurs
only in mountainous situations and the drier parts of clamp
woods : in England mostly in the north ; in Scotland distri-
buted pretty generally ; very rare in Ireland.
LIMESTONE POLYPODY.
The proper name of this Fern is Polypodium Robertianum,
but it is more commonly known as P. calcareum, that name
having been much used by English writers. Other names
applied to it are Lastrea Rdbertiana, Phegopteris calcarea, and
Gymnocarpium Robei1,ianum.
The Limestone Polypody grows from six inches to a foot in
height. The fronts are nearly triangular, with the base
shorter than the sides, the stipes about equalling the leafy
portion in length. They are partially three-branched, but
the lateral branches are much smaller than the central one,
and attached to the stipes by a more slender rachis. The
lower branches are pinnate, with pinnatifid pinnae; the
upper branch pinnate, with its lower pinnae again pinnate,
and the upper ones pinnatifid, as also is the apex of the frond
and of the lower branches. The pinnules, or lobes, have a
distinct midvein, with simple or slightly branched venules,
near the termination of which, in a marginal series, the son
are produced.
This Fern is known from P. Dryopteris, to which it is so
nearly related, that some botanists do not consider it dis-
tinct, by having its fronds less decidedly, though somewhat
three-branched, and by having its surface covered with small
stalked glands, which give a mealy appearance to every part.
In addition to these points of difference- the fronds of this
THE POLYPODIES.
31
are of a dull deep green, more rigid, and without the marked
deflection of the rachis so obvious in P. Dryopteris ; and the
young fronds, instead of being rolled up in three little balls,
have their pinnae all rolled up separately. The glandular
surface of the frond is very readily seen with a good pocket-
lens, which is a necessary aid to the study of Ferns.
Fia. 3.
^. Polypodium Rolertlanum.
This is one of the few Ferns which are found in calca-
reous or chalky soils. It is rare, and local in its distribu-
tion, being, we believe, almost confined to rocky limestone
districts, and occurring chiefly in the northern and western
parts of the island-
In cultivation, this species does not require so much mois-
ture and shade as most other Ferns, but a limestone soft is
not at all essential to its well-being;
32
BRITISH FERNS-
ALPINE POLYPODY.
This plant is the Polypodium alpestre of botanists ; it has
also been called variously, Aspidium alpestre, Athyrium
alpeslrc, Pseudathyrium alpestre, and Pktffopterit alpestris.
TIC.
The Alpine Po- FIG. 5.
lypody has a short
decumbent
root-
stock, producing
fronds in tufts
from the crown.
They are from six
inches to three
feet or more in
height, broadly
lance-shaped and
attached by com-
paratively short
stipes, clothed
with broadish-
pointed mem-
branous scales.
They are bipin-
nate, or some-
times subtripin-
nate. The lower pinnae are gra-
dually shorter, so that the outline
is truly lanceolate. The pinnae are
linear-lanceolate, taper pointed,
spreading at an obtuse angle with
the rachis. The pinnules are nu-
merous, ovate-oblong, acute, vari-
ously pinnatifid, the segments
j notched with sharp, coarse teeth ;
"* rarely the pinnules are ovate-lance-
olate, and in the most vigorous
fronds they are so deeply pinnatifid
as to become almost tripinnate.
The pinnules have a slightly wavy
midyein, from which alternately
branch the veins which ramify in the lobes ; these veins, in
average specimens, are pinnately branched, with a simple
venule directed towards each marginal tooth. The son are
sometimes produced only on the lowest anterior venule of
alpestre.
THE ROCK BBAKES. 33
each lobe, and they then form a series on each side the mid-
vein ; but sometimes more of the venules are fertile, and the
sori then range in short lines near the margin of the lobes.
This Fern has so remarkably the aspect of the common
Lady Fern, that although common on the Scotch mountains,
it has been till very recently overlooked, the plants having
been supposed to Belong to that species. It would appear
to be plentiful on the higher parts of the mountainous dis-
tricts of the counties of Perth, Forfar, and Aberdeen, in
company with the Lady Fern in its lower range, but without
it at higher elevations. The fronds appear in May, and
perish early in autumn.
The very distinct and remarkable variety called foxile
called by some Pseudathi/rium flexile, differs in its lax spread-
ing habit, narrow fronds, short deflexed pinnse, and fewer
pinnules. The plant as seen in cultivation produces stalk-
less or almost stalkless fronds, which often bear their sori
abundantly at the base, but scarcely if at all upwards.
These latter marks the sessile fronds, and basal sori dis-
appear in some instances both in the wild and cultivated
specimens. A very imperfect indusium has been observed
on some of the sori in the plant under culture, but occurs
on the least perfect sori. The sori, as also sometimes
happens in P. alpestre itself, is not in all cases punctiform,
but occasionally, though rarely, lateral on the veins. It was
first found in 1852, in Glen Prosen, by Mr. Backhouse and
Mr. Westcombe ; and the same botanists again found it
plentifully in the same district of the Clova Mountains, in
the summer of 1855.
CHAPTER V.
THE ROCK BRAKES.
THE technical name of the family to which the Eock
Brakes belongs, is Allosorus. The family is known from all
other British Ferns by the coincidence of the following fea-
tures : It bears fronds of two kinds, one being leafy and
barren, i.e., without sori ; the other contracted, and bear-
ing sori, and hence called fertile ; then the edges of the
lobes of the fertile fronds are rolled under (which is what
gives them the contracted or narrowed appearar/ce), and
cover the sori in the stead of an indusium ; and moreover,
the sori when young form distinct circular clusters beneath
o
34 BRITISH FERNS.
this recurved margin of the frond ; but as they grow they
join laterally (in technical language, become confluent), form-
ing two lines of fructification lengthwise the segments of the
fronds.
The name Allosorus is compounded from the Greek, and
comes from two words, which means various and a heap ; the
intention no doubt being to indicate the variation in the ar-
rangement of thcsori, occurring among the plants originally
thought to belong to this family. It may also apply to the
apparent difference of arrangement in the sori of this plant
at different stages of development, the young sori forming
distinct roundish patches, and the older becoming effused into
larger shapeless masses.
ROCK BRAKES, OR MOUNTAIN PARSLEY. [Plate H. fig. 1.]
The scientific name Allosorus crispus is that preferred by
us for this Fern. Others prefer to use one of the following
Cryptogramma crispa, Pteris crispa, Osmunda crispa, the first
of these three being however now mostly used, when Allo-
sorus is passed over.
This elegant little plant, which has considerable first-sight
resemblance to a tuft of parsley, and is hence sometimes
called Mountain Parsley, grows in a dense tuft, throwing up
its fronds in May or June, and losing them in the course of
the autumn. The fronds average about six inches in height,
and are generally somewhat three-cornered in outline, with
a longish, slender, smooth stalk. They are, as already stated,
of two kinds ; both kinds being twice or thrice pivuate, ana
of a pale green colour. The segments into whicL the sterile
fronds are cut, are more or less wedge-shaped, and notched
or cleft at the end. The fertile fronds have the segments of
an oval or oblong or linear form. The divisions of the fer-
tile frond have a slightly tortuous midvein, producing simple
or forked venules, which extend nearly to the margin, each,
for the^most part ; bearing near its extremity a circular sorus.
There is no true indusium, but the sori are covered by the
reflexed and partially bleached margins, which sometimes
almost meet behind, so that the spore-cases are quite con-
cealed. The patches of spore-cases are at first distinct, but
ultimately they spread out and become more or less confused
and blended.
The Rock Brakes is a mountain Fern, choosing to grow in
stony situations. It is comparatively rare and local ; most
abundant in the nortli of England and Wales, and less plen-
tiful in Scotland and Ireland.
THE GYMNOGKAM. 35
This plant grows readily in pots, and also n a Wardian
case not too confined ; for either of these modes of cultiva-
tion its small size and elegant aspect render it a very desir-
able object. It is, however, very impatient of root moisture,
CHAPTEE VL
THE GYMNOGKAM.
THIS plant belongs to a "amily of which nearly all the
species are tropical. One jinall annual kind has, however,
been found to inhabit Jersey, and is thus brought politi-
cally, not geographically^ within the limits of the British
Flora. The peculiarity in this genus is that the spore-cases,
which are not covered, are scattered in lines along the veins,
extending, in many cases, below the point where the latter
separate into branches. The sori thus become what is tech-
nically called linear and forked, as well as naked.
The name is derived from two Greek words, signifying
naked and a line; the lines of spore-cases, without covering
membranes, which are the peculiar features of the group, are
thus distinctly indicated.
SLENDER GYMNOGRAM. [Plate TL fig. 2.]
This little Fern bears the scientific name of Gymno-
gramma leptophylla, which is the one most commonly used.
It has, however, received several others, such as Polypodium
leptophyllum, Acrostichum leptophyllum, Grammitis lepto-
p/iyUa, Asplenium leptophyllum, &c. The apparent contra-
diction arising from the use of so many confuting names,
is explained by the different stages of growth in which the
plant has been examined by the botanists _ who imposed
them, as we 1 > as by the less precise information existing at
the date when many of them were given.
The Gymnogramma leptophylla, is a small Fern, of short
duration, springing up from the spores in the autumn of
each year, attaining maturity early in the following summer,
and becoming afterwards quickly dried up and disappear-
ing. Each plant consists of a tuft of about half a dozen
fronds, of which the latest, and largest, are from three to
six inches high, and bear fructification. Some of the early
fronds are short and fan-shaped, divided only into two or
three lobes : the succeeding ones grow an inch or two long,
C2
36 BRITISH FERNS.
and become pinnate with obliquely fan-shaped three-lobed
pinnse ; and finally, the fertile fronds which are taller and
more erect in growth, are ovate, and two or three times pin-
nate ; the pinnse being alternate, ovate, with alternate pin-
nules ; the ultimate pinnules roundish, wedge-shaped, three-
lobed at the apex, the lobes rather distinct, and usually
notched at the end. The veins in each pinnule are branched,
so that one of the small veins proceeds towards each of the
teeth into which the pinnule is divided ; and the spore-
cases are borne along these branches of the veins. The lines
of sori on the pinnules often become united into a mass,
after they have been some time developed.
Though a minute species, this fern is widely scattered
over the face of the globe ; it is plentiful in many parts of
the South of Europe, and extends as far northwards as
Jersey.
It grows readily, as an annual, sown in sandy loam, and
kept in a rather warm damp situation.
CHAPTEE VH
THE SHIELD FERNS.
THE Shield Ferns are called Polystichum. They form a
small and very distinct group of evergreen Ferns, some of
which rank among the most beautiful of our native species.
They once formed part of the genus Aspidium, in conse-
quence of their having round seed-patches covered by a scale ;
but that family, as far as the British kinds are concerned, is
Broken up by modern botanists, in whose ideas we coincide,
into two groups, called Polystichum and Lastrea. The Poly-
stichums are known from the allied Lastreas, by their having
the scale-like cover of the sori circular, without a lateral
notch, its attachment being by a little stalk in the centra
of the under side. This form of attachment is technically
called peltate. To a practised eye they are also known by
their more rigid texture, and by their haying altogether a
more spiny appearance than even the spinulose species of
Lastrea. Our alpine species, P. Lonc/iitis, is strictly ever-
green, and the other species acquire this character when in
a sheltered situation ; but if they are much exposed, the
fronds are killed by severe frosts. In general, however, they
all retain their fronds without much disfigurement from
THE SHIELD FERNS.
37
frost, quite through the autumn, and often far into winter.
The British species of Polystkhum are three in number, but
of one of them there are very many highly interesting varie-
ties ; for an account of which we must again refer to our
Handbook of British Ferns.
The name Polystichum is compounded of two Greek words,
signifying many, and ordei'; and it is applied to these plants
in allusion to the numerous regular lines of sori, which are
seen distributed over the fronds.
ALPINE SHIELD FERN, OR HOLLY PERN.
This Fern bears the scientific name Folystichwn Lonchitis.
Synonymous with this, but less often used, are Polypodium
Lonchitis, and Aspidium Lonchitis.
This Holly Fern is a rigid and
prickly-looking species, whence comes
one of its English names. It has a
scaly tufted stem, from the crown ter-
minating which, the young fronds are
produced early in each spring. The
fronds remain fresh and vigorous, until
after those of the succeeding year are
developed, so that the species is truly
evergreen in its habit of growth. _ The
size of the fronds is very variable;
sometimes they are not more than six
inches long, and cultivated plants do
not often much exceed this stature.
In damp and but slightly elevated
situations it becomes more luxuriant,
the fronds sometimes attaining a foot
and a half in length, and then having
a vigour and robustness of aspect never
acquired, as far as we know, in culti-
vation, at least in England. The cli-
mate of Ireland seems more congenial
to it. The fronds are narrow in out-
line, their figure being linear-lanceo-
late ; they are once pinnate, the pinnae
being short, crowded, and between
sickle-shaped and crescent-shaped, the
upper side at the base having an ear-
shaped projection, called an auricle,
the lower side being, as it were, cut away. The margin is
set with spinous teeth. The veins are twice branched, the
Polystichum Lonchitit.
38 BRITISH PERNS.
branches extending to the margin without joining with
others. The clusters of sp_ ore-cases form a line parallel with
and on each side of the midrib, and are covered each by a
membranous circular scale, which is attached by a short
central stalk.
This is a true rock-Fern, occurring on the bleak moun-
tains of Scotland and in the milder climate of Ireland, as
well as, rarely, in the north of England and Wales.
The Holly Fern is very distinct, and, when vigorous and
healthy, not inelegant, but it is difficult of cultivation, and
is seldom seen thriving under artificial treatment.
COMMON PRICKLY SHIELD FERN.
This is Polystichum aculeatum, the Poly podium aculeatum
and Aspidium aculeatum of the older writers.
Fia. 7.
Polystichum aculeatum.
The plant is almost evergreen in a sheltered situation,
and is one of those specie which are well suited by boldness
of character for the decoration of rocky scenery. It is a
jtout plant, having the fronds a couple of feet or more long,
and springing from a stout tufted stem or crown, whence
they grow up in a circle, about the month of April, and take
a somewhat erect position. They are lance-shaped in form
THE SHIELD FERNS. 39
iii the most perfect state of the species broadly lanceolate,
but in the variety lobatum very narrowly lanceolate. The
texture is harsh and rigid, the upper surface dark green and
shining, and the short stipes densely enveloped in rust-
coloured membranous pointed scales. The fronds are bi-
pinnate, with alternate pinnae, these pinnae being again
more or less perfectly divided into a Aeries of pinnules,
which are either decurrent, that is, insensibly merging
in the substance of the rachis which, supports them, or
else, are tapered to a wedge-shaped base and attached to
the rachis by the point of the wedge. The general form of
these pinnules is somewhat elongately crescent-shaped, the
upper base being extended into a small auricle, or enlarged
lobe, and the lower base as it were cut away; while the
apex is tapered off to an acute point, and the margin is
serrated with spiny teeth. The veins are alternately branched,
and do not join together or anastomose, but extend free to
the margin ; and the fructification, which is generally abun-
dant, and often crowded, is ranged in a line on each side the
midrib of the pinnules, and also on the larger pinnules
on each side the midvein of the basal lobes or auricles.
The indusium is circular, and attached by a little depression
or stalk in its centre.
The variety lobatum, considered a distinct species by some,
differs chiefly in the narrow outline of the frond, ana in tho
pinnules being much more decidedly decurrent that is, run
together at the base ; every possible variation in the consoli-
dation of the pinnules is to be met with, between the typical
bipinnate form of Polystichum aculeatum, and a simply pin-
nate form of the species, which, from its resemblance to P.
Lmwhitis has been called lonchitidoides. This latter form,
7\ving its origin to the peculiar circumstances of growth
only, cannot be considered as a permanent 'variety, but tho
intermediate state that is, the plant called lobatum which
is the most common of these aberrant forms, is at least
sufficiently different to be noticed as a variety.
This common and free-growing Fern is found in hedge-
banks, and similar situations; and being abundant, easily
cultivated, nearly evergreen, and withal possessing consi-
derable elegance of growth, has ^much to recommend its
admission to a prominent position in the Fern garden.
SOFT PRICKLY SHIELD FERN. [Plate IV.]
The Soft Prickly Shield Fern, sometimes called the Angular-
lobed Shield Fern, is. in scientific language, called Poly-
stichum, angulare. It has many synonymous names, among
4:0 BRITISH FERNS.
which Polypodium angidare, Aspidium angulare, and Poly
stichum setiferum, are more commonly in use than the rest
It is a strong-growing, tufted stemmed species, sometimes
forming large masses. The fronds are lanceolate, from two
to four or five feet high, persistent through ordinary winters
and in sheltered situations retaining their verdure unim-
paired until the new fronds are produced. It is one of the
most graceful of all the native species. The stipes, which
varies from a third to a fourth of _the length of the entire
frond, is very shaggy, with reddish chaffy scales, which
scales, though of smaller size, are continued throughout the
upper parts of the frond. The fronds are bipinnate, with
numerous tapering, distinct pinnae, having their pinnules flat,
soirewhat crescent-shaped, from the prominent auricle at
the anterior base, often bluntish at the apex, but sometimes
acute, always with spinulose marginal serratures, and some-
times, in a few of the lower pinnules, with deep lobes, so
that the pinnules become pinnatifid. The pinnules are
tapered to a broad-angled base, the lines of which usually
exceed a right-angle, and they are attached to the rachis of
the pinna by a short, distinct, slender stalk, which does not
form a line with either margin. The pinnules have branched
free veins ; and the sori are generally ranged in a row on
either side the midrib, and are covered by a peltate scale or
indusium.
The highly developed form of this species alluded to, as
having its basal pinnules deeply lobed, is the variety sub-
tripinnatum. It does not differ in any other particular, but,
being rather more lax than the other forms, is one of the
most elegant of them all. It is not uncommon. The variety
decompositum is still more divided in the same way.
The variety proliferum is another very elegant and highly
developed form. This has the pinnules narrowed and atte-
nuated, more or less lobed; and the stipes bears above
ground little buds, which become young plants. It has beeii
found in Devonshire.
The variety imbricatum is a very remarkable form, differing
from the type, in the very narrow linear-lanceolate outline
of the frond, as well as in having the pinnules, which arc
roundish-oLloug, so closely placed that they overlap each
other. It also bears young plants on the stipes above the
surface of the soil. It was found in Somersetshire.
The variety alatum is another exceedingly curious form.
In this the fronds are small ; and the pinnules are connected
by a very obvious leafy expansion which margins the rachis,
THE BUCKLER FERNS. 41
orming along the side of the latter what is technically
called a wing. This is also a Somersetshire variety.
The variety ciistatum is one of much beauty. The point
of the frond, and the points of all the pinnae, are expanded
into tassel-like tufts, as occurs in the tasselled or crested
varieties of the Male Fern and Lady Fern.
There are many other variations. Sometimes the pinnules
are acute, sometimes blunt and rounded. In other forms
the pinnules are deeply serrated, and in some they are very
conspicuously spinulose. In some very elegant forms the
pinnae and the pinnules are exceedingly irregular in size
and form. The variations are, however, so numerous, that
we can only refer for an account of them to our Handbook,
previously mentioned.
This normal form of this species is not an uncommon
Fern ; it grows in hedge-banks and in lowland woods, pre-
ferring, like most of the larger Ferns, the presence of plenty
of free (not stagnant) water.
As a cultivated plant, either for pots or rockwork, the Soft
Prickly Shield Fern is a most desirable plant ; and acquiring,
as it does, considerable size, it maybe made to produce some
striking effects in ornamental scenery.
CHAPTER VHL
THE BUCKLER FERNS.
WE have already mentioned that the old genus Aspidium, to
which the English name Shield Fern was applied, has been
in modern times broken up into two groups. One of these,
the genus Polystichum, to which the name Shield Fern is
retained, formed the subject of our last chapter. The other
group is called Lastred, and we distinguish them by the
popular name, Buckler Fern.
The Buckler Ferns are known from the Shield Ferns by
having the indusium, or seed-cover, round in outline with a
notch at the hinder part, thus becoming kidney-shaped, and
by having these covers attached to the frond by the notched
part. This group includes some of the largest and most
common of our native species. They are nearly all of them
remarkable for their elegance, and several of them retain
their fronds through the winter in sheltered situations ; but
with one exception, they are not strictly evergreen, and in
exposed situations become bare during winter.
BRITISH FERNS.
The estimated number of British Lastreas varies according
to the value put upon certain differences in the plants, by
different authors ; we admit seven to the rank of species.
The name has been applied in honour of M. Delastre, a
zealous French botanist and microscopical observer.
MARSH BUCKLER FERN.
This Fern is the Lastrea Tlielypteris of botanists ; and has,
among other synonyms, those olAryidium Thelyptcris, Poly-
podium Thelypteris, Polystichuth 'Thelypteris, T/ielypteris
pcdustris, and Hemestlieum TMypteris.
This plant is called the Marsh
FIG. 8. Fern from its growing in marshes
and boggy situations. It has a
slender, extensively creeping
stem, which is usually smooth
and of a dark colour, producing
matted fibrous roots. The an-
nual fronds produced about May
and perishing in the autumn,
usually grow about a foot high,
the fertile ones taller : but some-
times, when the plants are vigor-
ous, they reach the height of
two or three feet. They are of
a delicate pale green, lanceolate,
pinnate, the pinnae mostly oppo-
site, and pinnatifidly divided
into numerous entire rounded
lobes. The lobes in the fertile
fronds appear narrower and more
pointed than those of the bar-
ren, on account of their margin
being rolled in. The venation
of the lobes of this Fern con-
sists r\ a ^distinct, somewhat
wavy inidvein, from which alter-
nate usually forked venules
branch out, and both branches
bear a sorus half way between
the margin arid the midvein.
The sori often become confluent,
and are partially concealed by
the bent-back margin. The indusium, or cover of the spore
Lculrea Thelypterit,
THE BUCKLER FERNS.
43
cases, is, in this species, small, thin, and shapeless, and is
soon thrown off and lost.
The Marsh Buckler Fern has a FIG. 9.
wide geographical range, and in
England and Wales occurs in nu-
merous localities; in Scotland and
Ireland it is rather uncommon.
It is not a very attractive spe-
cies for cultivation, but grows freely
enough if plentifully supplied with
moisture, and allowed room to
spread.
MOUNTAIN BUCKLER FERN.
This Fern is named Lastrea mon-
tana, or perhaps more commonly
L. Oreopteris; it has also the sy-
nonymous names Aspidium Ore-
opteris, Polypodium Oreopteris, Po-
lypodium montanum, Polystichum
montanum, Lastrea montana, He-
mestheum montanum, and Phego-
pteris Oreopteris.
This is a very elegant species, ^-
growing shuttlecock fashion around
the central crown which terminates
the stem, to the height of from two
to three feet ; and it is, moreover,
so fragrant, when drawn through
the hand, as to be recognised from
its kindred by this circumstance
alone. The fragrance is due to
the presence of numerous minute
tlandular bodies on the lower sur-
ice, which being bruised when
the plant is handled, give out
strongly a peculiar balsamic fra-
grance by no means disagreeable,
accompanied by the peculiar
starchy odour which many Ferns
possess. The fronds are annual,
springing up about May, and en-
during through the summer. These
are erect, lance-shaped in their out-
line, pinnately divided the stipes Lastrea montana.
44 BRITISH FERNS.
is unusually short, the leafy part being continued nearly
down to the ground, and the lower pinnae are so short that
the frond tapers downwards as much or perhaps more than
it does towards the point. The pinnae generally stand oppo-
site, and are narrow, tapering, and pinnatifidly divided,
bearing their fructification almost close to the margins of the
segments, and generally very abundantly. Each segment
or lobe has a distinct and slightly sinuous midvein, which
is alternately branched, the branches simple or divided, and
bearing the spore-cases in clusters near their extremity.
This plant is found most luxuriant in woods, but occurs
profusely on mountainous heaths. It may be considered
common in England, Wales, and Scotland, in the latter
country often very profuse on the mountain-sides ; but in
Ireland is much more rare.
As a garden plant, the Mountain Buckler Fern is effective
for shady rockwork, and when established, grows freely if
kept sufficiently moist.
MALE FERN, OR COMMON BUCKLER FERN. [Plate HI.]
This is the Lastrea Filix-mas. Other names are Aspidium
Filix-mas, Polypodium Filix-mas, Polystichum Fitix-mas,
Dryopteris Filix-mas, and Lvphodium FUix-mas.
The Male Fern is so called from its robust appearance, in
contrast with the more delicate, though similar. Lady Fern,
or Filix-foemina. It is one of the species which grow up
annually, the fronds being destroyed by the frosts of winter,
unless the situation be very sheltered, when the old fronds
often remain green until the young ones are produced in
spring. It is a robust-growing plant, producing its fronds
in a tuft around a central crown, and when vigorous and
perfectly developed is a very striking object, though its
ornamental qualities are often unheeded, on account of its
commonness. The stipes is densely scaly. The fronds
average about a couple of feet in height, and are of a broad
lance-shaped figure. In division they are what is called
bipinnate, though less decidedly so than occurs in some other
species ; for here those pinnules only which are nearest to
the main rachis are separate from each other. The pinnae
are narrow and tapering, with a few of the lowest pinnules
distinct, the rest united at the base : these pinnules are of
an obtusely oblong form, and serrated on the margin. The
fructification of this plant is generally very copious, and is
usually confined to the lower half of the pinnules, where it
is crowded.
THE BUCKLER FERNS. 45
This is one of the best species to study with the view of
understanding the fructification of Ferns ; for here the indu-
sium, a very important organ, is remarkably evident in
fronds which have about reached their full development. In
that state the indusium is as yet closed over the cluster of
spore-cases, and will be seen to consist of a lead-coloured,
tumid, kidney-shaped, conspicuous scale, which, at the
proper time, becomes elevated on one side, to allow the dis-
persion of the spores. This may readily be noticed by
watching the progress of the fronds after they have reached
the stage just adverted to ; or if they are gathered in that
state for preservation in the herbarium, they are almost-
certain to burst, more or less, in the process of drying, before
they yield up their vitality. These covers are at first little
white scales.
The veins of this species are also readily seen, and each
pinnule will be found to have a flexuous midvein, with
alternate venules, which are simple or forked, or sometimes
three-branched in different parts of the pinnule, the three
branched ones, if present, occurring at the base, and the
unbrancliecl ones at the apex. The sori are borne on the
branch towards the apex of the pinnule, and form a line of
dots at a little distance on each side of the midvein.
The variety incisa of our Handbook of British Ferns, named
Lastrea erosa, L. Filix-mas erosa, and L. ajfinis by others,
is a magnificent Fern, much larger than the commoner
form of the plant, growing four or" five feet in height, and
having the same general features as those already described,
but larger in every part ; the pinnules more elongated and
tapering towards the point, and more deeply cut along
the margin ; the branches of the venules more numerous ;
and the sori produced over a larger proportion of the surface
of the pinnule, usually reaching almost to its apex.
The variety paleacea, by some called Borreri, is remark-
able for the abundant and usually golden-coloured scales
which clothe its stipes and rachis ; and for its blunt pin-
nules, and its inflexed indusium.
The variety pumila has the pinnules changed into small
rounded lobes, and the fructification reduced to a single row
of spore-cases on each side the rib of the pinna.
The variety cristata is a very curious and very handsome
Slant; it has the points of the frond and of the pinnw
ilated into a fringe or tassel, which is a very curious trans-
formation, and is quite constant. There arc several otliei
varieties known.
46 BRITISH FERNS.
The Male Fern is found abundantly all over the country
in shady situations ; the larger varieties are met with here
and there in similar places ; the other varieties are rare.
This is one of the most easy of Ferns to cultivate, and is
very suitable for cool, shady rockwork, or for shady walks
in woody scenery.
RIGID BUCKLER FERN.
This Fern is called by botanists Lastrea rigida. It has also
been named, at various times, Polypodium rigidum, Aspidium
rigidum, Polystichum rigidum, and Lophodium rigidum.
_ This very elegant Fern is of moderate size, growing up-
right or spreading, and from one to two feet in height. The
fronds issue from the crown of a comparatively thick stem,
and are annual in their duration, greeting the approach of
summer with the fresh green of youth, and shrinking dead
and shrivelled from the icy touch of winter. The fronds are
narrowly triangular, and bipinnate, with narrow tapering
pinnaa and oblong blunt pinnules, which are _cut into broad
rounded segments, again notched into a varying number of
pointed but not spinulose teeth. The stipes is densely scaly.
The veining is very similar to that of the large variety of
Filix-mas; the pinnules having a flexuous midvein. with
alternate venules again pinnately branched. The clusters
of spore-cases are borne on the lowest anterior branch of each
venule, that is, on the lowest veinlet on the side towards the
apex of the pinnule, and they are covered by a kidney-
shaped indusium, which does not fall away. Over the fronds
are scattered numerous small sessile glands, which, when
slightly bruised, give out a faint and not unpleasant odour.
This Fern seems confined to the limestone districts of the
north of England growing at considerable elevations. It
was first found at Ingleborough, in Yorkshir-2, and has been
since met with on the limestone ranges oi' Westmoreland
and Lancashire.
In cultivation, this is usually a free-growing plant, more
lax than in the wild state, and among the more elegant of
the larger kinds.
CRESTED BUCKLER FERN.
This is the Lastrea cristata of botanists ; and has besides
received the following among other names ; Polypodium
cristatum, Aspidiwn cristatum, Polystichum cristatum, Dryo-
pteris cristata, and Lwhodium Callipteris.
This Fern is not a very elegant plant, but is of consider-
THE BUCKLER PERNS. 47
able interest on account of its rarity. It forms a thick
creeping stem or root-stock, from which a limited number of
narrow, very upright fronds arise early in May, and attain
the average height of j couple of feet. The fronds are
destroyed in autumn by the frosts. Their outline is linear-
oblong that is, from a narrow width at the base the mar-
gins run nearly parallel almost to the apex, where they
narrow to the point ; they are supported by a longish stipes,
which is proportionally stout, and maintains this propor
tion upwards through the leafy portion of the frond; on
the lower part it has a few scales, which are blunt ovate,
membranous, and of a uniform light brown colour. The
pinnse_are elongate-triangular in their outline, the broadest
occurring at the base of the frond, the upper ones becom-
ing gradually narrower, but all of the same general form,
ZoitretL ariaiata.
namely, widest at the base, gradually tapering to the apex.
They are not divided quite down to their midrib, so as to
become, in technical terms, pinnate, but each segment is at-
tached by the entire width of its base, and connected by a
narrow extension of its base with the segment next behind
it ; all the segments haying their apices inclined rather to-
wards the apex of the pinnae. The lobes of the pinnse are
themselves oblong, with a rounded apex, and a crenately
toothed margin. The midvein of the lobes takes a tortuous
course, and gives off lateral branches which divide into
several secondary branches, one only of which, that nearest
the apex of the lobe, bears a sorus. The fructification is
confined to the upper portion of the frond, and often re-
48 BRITISH FERNS.
markably so ; less frequently it extends downwards to the
pair of pinnae next above the basal ones. The spots of spore-
cases are covered by a kidney-shaped scale or indusium,
having an entire margin, and become mature in August and
September.
The variety uliginosa is exactly intermediate in its general
appearance and characters between the normal form of the
species and the variety spinulosa. It forms a stout creeping
crown or root-stock,_ having a tendency to multiply by late-
ral offshoots. The stipes has ovate pallid scales. The fronds
grow nearly erect to the height of from two to three feet ;
these erect fronds bear the fructification. Other fronds,
however, are produced, which are barren, and these do not
grow so erect, nor put on the same form as the fertile ones ;
but closely resemble those of cristata itself, the fertile ones
having much the appearance of those of the var. spinulosa,
only that they are narrower, and have narrow pinnse. The
outline of these latter is narrow lance-shaped, the pinn<B
having a narrow tapering form, and the pinnules being
oblong-pointed, with rather deep, serrated, marginal
notches, the serratures terminating in a fine point. The
sori are covered by even-margined, kidney-shaped scales or
indusia. The barren fronds are broader, usually shorter, less
erect, and their pinnules are of a broader, blunter form, and
more closely placed, than those which are fertile. Some-
times after the growth of the first set of fertile fronds others
spring up which are also fertile, but have the appearance
described above as peculiar to the barren ones.
The variety spinulosa is also an erect-growing kind, with
a stout creeping stem or root-stock, which becomes
branched, so that several crowns are generally found forming
one mass. The stipes is sparingly furnished with semi-
transparent scales of a bluntly ovate form. The fronds grow
from one to three feet high, and are bipinnate, the pinnaa
having an obliquely tapering form from the inferior pinnules
being larger than the superior ones ; this is most obvious at
the base of the fronds, where the pinnae are broader than
they are towards the apex. The lower pinnules on the
basal pinnae are of an oblong form, somewhat narrowing
upwards, the margins deeply incised, the lobes being ser-
rated, and the teeth somewhat spinulose.
This species occurs only on boggy heaths, and that in but
few places in Britain, confined, we believe, to the counties
of Nottinghamshire, Cheshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk. The
var. uliginosa is usually found in company with it ; while
THE BUCKLER FEBNS.
spinulosa is more abundant, but always found in marshy
places and damp woods.
FIQ. 11.
Lagtrea crhtata, var. tpintdota.
This Fern and its varieties are very easily cultivated on
damp shady banks or rockwork, and they prefer peaty soil.
When grown in pots, they require to be plentifully supplied
with water.
BKOAD BUCKLER FERN.
This species is named Lastrca dilatata. It was called
Aspidium cristatum by some of the older botanists, and has
since received numerous names, amongst which occur Lastrea
mulliftora, Polystickum multiflorum, Lopliodiummultijlorum,
A-pidium dilataium, Polypodium dttatatum, and Dryopteris
dilatata.
60 BRITISH PERNS.
This is one of the most compound of our native Ferns.
It forms a large tufted stock or stem, and has broad arched
fronds, which average about a couple of feet in height,
though it is sometimes met with smaller, and often, when
luxuriant, reaches a height of five feet. They are almost
always more or less drooping or curved, and seldom grow
erect, as those of cristata, uliginosa, and spinulosa do. The
general outline is ovate-lanceolate, though in this, one of
the most variable of Ferns, the form varies considerably,
becoming sometimes narrow elongate lanceolate on the one
hand, and short broad almost triangular on the other. The more
usual form has the fronds ovate, lance-shaped in outline, on
a stipes of moderate length, much thickened at the base, and
densely clothed with entire, lance-shaped, pointed scales,
which are dark brown in the centre, but nearly transparent
at the margins. They are bipinnate, with elongate-triangular
or tapering pinnae, placed nearly opposite, and having more
or less of obliquity from the larger development of the lower
side. The pinnae are pinnate, and the pinnules near their
base often so deeply divided as to be again almost pinnate ;
the rest are pinnatifid, or in the upper parts merely deeply
toothed; but the margins, whether deeply or shallowlylobed,
are set Ayith teeth which end in short spinous points. The
veining is very similar to the_ more compound parts of the
allied species : and the fructification is produced in great
abundance. The sori are ranged in two lines crosswise the
pinnae on the larger lobes, or lengthwise on the less divided
parts, and are covered by kidney-shaped scales or indusia,
which are fringed around the margin with projecting glan-
dular bodies.
One of the varieties of this Fern has the fronds shorter,
almost triangular in outline, and often remarkably convex ;
it has, moreover, usually a dark green colour, often with a
brownish tinge. It is found in more exposed places than
the normal form, and is not uncommon. Another, some-
times called naiia, seems chiefly remarkable for its small
size, seldom^exceeding six or eight inches in height, which
peculiarity it is said to maintain under cultivation. It is
rather rare, or at least local in its occurrence.
The variety collina, which has been called Lastrea collina,
has the fronds ovate, drawn out to a long narrow point, or
narrow oblong-lanceolate, and the pinnules, which are ob-
tusely ovate and have_a broad attachment at the base, havo
the serratures on their margin broader and less spinulose
than in the common form. It has narrow scales with a
THE BUCKLER FERN3. 51
darker centre. It was first noticed on the hills of West-
moreland.
The variety glandulom is of larger growth, its surface
covered with glands, and the scales of its stipes broader and
paler, so that it approaches the spinulosa form of L. cristata,
This has been called Lastrea glandulosa; and was originally
found in the Forest of Dean.
The variety dumetorum is comparatively small, with
oblong-ovate or ovate-triangular fronds, covered with glands,
the stipes clothed with narrow, pointed, pale-coloured scales.
It occurs on the hills of Westmoreland and Wales, and what
seems the same plant, from the Isle of Arran, has been called
L. maculata.
A more detailed account of these, and several other varia-
tions of this species, will be found in our Handbook of
British Ferns, and in The Octavo Nature-printed British
Ferns.
The common forms of this species, though found in drier
E laces than spinulosa, are nevertheless partial to moisture,
ciiig found in damp, shady hedgebanks and woodlands.
This is a hardy Fern, and easily cultivated in almost any
soil
HAY-SCENTED, OR TRIANGULAR BUCKLER FERN.
The scientific name of this Fern is Lastrea ccmula. The
plant has, however, had many others, of which the best known
are Lastrea foenisecii, Lastrea recur va, Lophodium recurvum,
Nephrodium foenisecii, and Aspidium recurvum.
Lcutrea amula.
The plant is of moderate size and very elegant, drooping
in habit, and possessing a crisped appearance from the
recurving of the margins of all the segments of the fronds.
It grows from one to two feet high, a spreading circle of
triangular fronds being produced from its tufted stem. The
D2
52 BRITISH FERNS.
stipes is thickly clothed with small, narrow, jagged, pait-
coloured scales. The fronds are bipinnate, the lowest pair
of pinnae always longer and larger than the rest, and the
pinnules on the inferior side of the pinnae larger than those
on the superior side. The pinnules are of an oblong-ovate
figure, and the lowest of them often divided again into a
series of oblong lobes, for the most part decurrent, but some-
times slightly stalked ; the margin is cut into short spinous-
bointed teeth. The veins of the pinnules are alternately
branched from a sinuous midvein, and these veins give off
two or three alternate venules, the lowest anterior one bear-
ing the sorus. The exact ramification of the veins depends
upon the degree in which the pinnules or lobes are divided.
The fructification is distributed over the whole under sur-
face, the sori being pretty evenly distributed in two lines
along each pinnule or lobe ; they are covered by small reni-
form indusia, which have their margin uneven, and fringed
with small, round, stalkless glands. The whole frond is
covered with similar glandular bodies.
This Fern, which is most abundant in Ireland and the
western parts of England, occurs in damp sheltered woods,
and on shady banks and rocks.
It is of an elegant drooping aspect, and is cultivated with-
out difficulty. ^ It is the more valuable as a pot plant, from
its moderate size and its evergreen character.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LADY FERN.
THE genus Aihyrium is that to which the Lady Fern is re-
ferred. It is one of the most variable among our native
Ferns, all the various forms being plants with delicate and
beautiful fronds of annual duration. They vary in size from
tufts of a few inches high, to plumy masses of the height of
three or four feet. The texture is thin, and almost trans-
parent, on which account the nature of the venation and of
the connexion of the parts of fructification may be here very
well seen and studied. These plants serve to connect the
AspidiumAike and the Asplenium-like groups of Ferns, from
the former of which they differ in having the sori elongate
instead of round. The sori, which form short lines, are
sometimes curved at the end, or even horse-shoe-shapcd ; and
THE LADY FERN. 53
being in age short and often dilated, approaching the rounded
form, the Lady Fern has, by many writers of discrimination,
been placed in the old genus Aspidium ; but if examined
while young, immediately before or after the indusi-um has
burst, its true character will readily be seen. We here have
an illustration of the inconvenience which arises from the
preservation as herbarium specimens, only of such as have
the fructification quite mature.
The affinity of the Lady Fern is properly with the Aspla
niums. The mark by which the Aspleniums and their allies
are known, in addition to the elongated form of the sorus,
is its position on the side, not the back, of the veins ; the
receptable being said to be lateral. The present group is
distinguished by having its indusium fringed on the free
margin with capillaiy segments, and by the frequently horse-
shoe-shaped sori, while in Asplenium, the margin of the in-
dusium is without the fringe, and the sori are not turned
back. There is only one indigenous species of Lady Fern.
The name is derived from a Greek word signifying opened,
the allusion being to the turned-back position into which the
indusium is forced by the swelling spore-cases, bursting out
as it were like an opened door.
COMMON LADY FERN. [Plate V.]
The Lady Fern is named Athyrium Filix-foemina by bota-
nists; other synonymous names being Polypodium Filix-
foemina, Aspidium Filix-foemina, and Asplenium Filix-foemina.
The Lady Fern, on account of the exquisite grace of its
habit of growth, the elegance of its form, and the delicacy of
its hue, claims precedence over every other British species.
The plant is tufted, the caudex of the larger varieties often
with age acquiring some height, and elevating the circlet of-
fronds on a rude pedestal a few inches in length. The fronds
are developed from the summit of this stem about May or
June, a score or upwards being often produced by strong old
plants ; they reach maturity early in the summer, during
which time a few additional fronds are generally developed
from the centre ; and the whole of them are, under ordinary
circumstances, destroyed by the autumn frosts. The fronds are
lanceolate, more or less broad, bipinnate ; the pinnae lanceo-
late, more or less drawn out at the point, and again pinnate,
though sometimes with the bases of the pinnules connected
by a narrow leafy wing, but not so much so as to render
them merely pinnatifid. The pinnules, however, are more
54 BRITISH FERNS.
or less lobed or pinnatifid, the lobes being sharply toothed
in a varying manner.
From the delicate herbaceous texture of the fronds the
venation is very distinct ; and is seen to consist, in each pin-
nule, of a wavy midvein, from which proceed alternate veins,
which again produce alternate venules, and on the anterior
is borne an oblong sorus. In the larger and more divi
pinnules the veining is more compound. The sori are them
selves oblong, a little curved, the basal ones usually hippo-
cr^piform or horse-shoe shaped ; they are covered by indusia
of the same form as the sorus, and in the case of the curved,
or horse-shoe shaped sori, the indusium becomes apparently
almost circular with a lateral notch, in which state it resem-
bles a Lastrea. On one side the indusium is fixed longitudi-
nally to the side of the vein which forms the receptacle ; its
other margin, which is fringed, or split into a number of
hair-like segments, becomes free. This description applies
to the commoner forms of the Lady Fern, which, however,
are very variable in size, according to the situation and cir-
cumstances which influence their development, sometimes
scarcely exceeding a foot in height, and at other times reach-
ing the height of four or five feet, the latter being the result
of growth in a damp, shady situation, the former the conse-
quence of a more exposed and drier locality.
The variety rhceticum, sometimes called convexum, differs
in its fronds, its pinnae, and its pinnules being narrower or
narrower-looking than in the common forms. The fronds,
which seldom exceed two feet in height, are erect, and their
form is narrow-lanceolate ; the pinnae are taper-pointed ; the
pinnules set quite clear of each other, very narrow, that is,
linear, with sharp points, the margins bluntly toothed, but
rolled under so that very little of the toothing is seen ; the
sori are very often confluent. It occurs in boggy places.
The variety latifolium, also a very distinct and strong-
growing form, differs from the common sort, in the elongate
or oblong-lanceolate outline of its fronds, and in the broad,
leafy, crowded development of its ovate irregularly lobed
pinnules, which are deeply toothed at the margin, with the
curved sori lying near the sinuses of the lobes. It was found
in Westmoreland.
The variety marinum has rather small fronds, usually
about a foot, or a foot and a half long, lanceolate, and re-
markable for the manner in which they taper from their
broad centre, equally towards the base and apex. These
THE SPLEENWORfS. 55
fronds have a spreading or horizontal mode of growth ; their
pinnules are oblong and bluntly toothed, the teeth being
almost always quite simple, not two or three-notched as is
usual in the other forms ; they are attached closely together,
at right angles with the continuously winged rachis of the
pinnae. The sori are very short, often curved in a horse-shoe
form, and crowded. It was found near Aberdeen.
There are, besides, several curious monstrous varieties of
considerable horticultural interest. One called muUifidum,
of which several variations have now been discovered, has
the tips of all the pinnae, as well as of the frond itself, mul-
tifid or tasselled, which gives it a very elegant appearance.
Another, called depauperatum or ramosum, is smaller, with
the pinnae reduced and irregularly tasselled, and the apex ot
the frond more deeply split into ragged-looking tasselled
lobes. Another, called crispum, is a dwarf tufted plant, no
larger than a bunch of curled parsley, which it much resem-
bles, its fronds being curiously branched, crisped, and tas-
selled. These, which are, strictly speaking, monstrosities,
have retained their characteristics for many years in cultiva-
tion, and are very elegant. See Handbook of British Ferns.
The common Lady Fern is abundant in warm moist woods
and hedgerows throughout Great Britain, and especially so
in Ireland ; it also occurs throughout Europe, and in Asia,
Africa, and North America.
None of our native Ferns are more easily ciiltivated than
this. A rather boggy soil suits it best, and it loves shade
and moisture ; indeed, these latter conditions being fulfilled,
soil becomes a secondary consideration. The moisture, how-
ever, though abundant, should not be stagnant. The Lady
Fern is occasionally seen planted in the mouth of a cave or
recess, by water, among shady rockwork ; nothing is so lovely
as a finely-grown plant of it so situated. As a pot plant it
requires plenty of room, both for its roots and fronds, and
must be liberally watered.
CHAPTER X.
THE 8PLEENWORTS.
THE Spleen-worts are called Asplenium by botanists. The
British Aspleniwm are small evergreen Ferns, with long
narrow single sori lying in the direction of the veins wliich
56
BRITISH FERNS.
traverse the fronds and by these marks they may be known
from all other indigenous Ferns, excepting the Ceterach,
which latter is readily distinguished from them by having
the back of its fronds coated with brown scales, among which
the sori are hidden. They are the types of the tribe Asple-
niece, which consists of Ferns having the elongate masses of
fructification attached along the side of the veins, and covered
by an indusium of the same elongated form as the sori them-
selves. There are nine species of 'Asplenium indigenous to
Britain, all of them small plants, interesting to the cultivators
of Ferns.
The word Asplenium comes from the Greek a&plenon ; a
name applied by old authors to some kind
FIQ. 13. O f Fern possessed of supposed virtues in
curing diseases of the spleen.
FORKED SPLEENWORT.
This Fern is named Asplenium, septen-
trionale. It has also borne the several
names of Acrostichum septentrionale, Scolo-
pendrium septentrionale, and Amesium sep-
tentrionale.
A rare and diminutive Fern. The habit
is tufted, large masses being sometimes
formed; the fronds themselves are very
small, from two to four or six inches long,
seldom longer, slender, dull green, with a
longish stipes, which is dark purple at the
base. The leafy part if, indeed, it can
here be called leafy is of a narrow elon-
gate lance-shaped form, split near the end
into two or sometimes three alternate
divisions, or in the smaller fronds into
the same number of teeth ; each of the
divisions of the frond has its margin cut
into two or more sharp-pointed teeth, the
points of the larger teeth being very fre-
quently bifid. The veins are reduced to a
minimum ; one vein enters each lobe, or
if the frond is not lobed the stipes is
continued upwards in the form of a vein ;
this becomes forked so as to send up one
vein to each of the teeth into which the
part is divided ; and three or four long
linear sori are produced in a very crowded
Asplenium tepten-
THE SPLEENWORTS.
57
manner within this small space, so that when from age the
sori burst open the indusium, the spore-cases form a con-
fluent mass over the whole under-surface.
The confluent mass of spore-cases arising from the crowded
position of the sori, has led some authors to consider this
plant an Acrostichum, the mark of which is to have the whole
under-surface thus covered. Some of the sori being face to
face, growing as they dp from the inward side of each vein,
and almost in juxtaposition, has again led other botanists to
think it a Scolopendrium, the mark of which is to have the
sori confluent in pairs face to face. If, however, the plant is
gxamined while young, it will be seen that these resemblances
are unreal, and that it is truly an Asplenium.
This rare Fern is found in the West of England, but more
abundant in the North and in Ireland. It is found on rocks
and walls.
In cultivation it requires sandy peat-soil FlG - 14 -
mixed with rubbly porous matter ; and in
uncongenial situations the shelter of a
close-frame, or bell-glass.
ALTERNATE SPLEENWORT.
This is Asplenium germanicum, its syno-
nyms being Asplenium alternifolium, Asple-
nium Breynii, Scolopendrium alternifolium,
and Amesium germanicum.
It is one of the rarest of our native Ferns,
and perfectly distinct from A. Ruta-mura-
ria, of which some botanists have thought
it to be a variety. It grows in little tufts,
the fronds being from three to six inches
high, sub-evergreen, narrow-linear in form,
pinnate, divided into distant, alternate,
wedge-shaped pinnae, one or two of the
lowest having generally a pair of very deeply
divided lobes, the upper ones more and
more slightly lobed, all having their upper
ends toothed or notched. The fronds are
quite small, and the parts narrow, which,
added to their opacity, renders the venation
indistinct ; there is no midvein, but each
pinna or lobe has a vein entering from the
base, which becomes two or three times
branched as it reaches the broader parts
upwards, six or eiglit veins generally lying
58 BRITISH FERNS.
close together, in a narrow fan-shaped manner, in each of the
larger pinnas, the smaller ones haying a proportionately less
number. Two or three linear sori are produced on a pinna,
and these are covered by membranous indusia, the free
margin of which is entire, or slightly sinuous, but not jagged ;
the sori at length become confluent.
It grows, but very rarely, in Scotland, and in the Lake
district ; and is found, but very sparingly, in other parts of
Europe.
This kind is not only rare, but one of those which does
not fully yield to artificial culture. It grows tolerably freely
if potted in sandy peat-soil well-drained by an admixture of
rubbly matter, and kept under a bell-glass in a shaded frame,
or greenhouse ; but the plants are very liable to die in winter.
The safeguard is, not to allow any water to lodge about their
crowns, nor to keep the bell-glass too closely or too constantly
over them, especially in winter.
KITE-LEAVED SPLEEN WORT, OR WAIL RUE. {Plate VI. Fig. 2.]
This is Asplenium Ruta-muraria, with the following among
other synonyms: AmesiumEuta-muraria^ndiScolopendrium
Rida-muraria.
A very diminutive plant and not very attractive, occurring
abundantly on old walls, often in such situations little more
than an inch high. It grows in tufts, insinuating its wiry
roots, as is the case with all the mural species, into the cre-
vices and joints of the masonry, and is not easily removed
from such places in a condition suitable for planting. The
fronds are numerous, of a glaucous-green, varying between
one and six inches long, with a stipes about half the entire
length, the leafy part usually triangular in outline, and bi-
pinnate. The pinnaa are alternate, with rhomboidal, or
roundish ovate, or obovate pinnules, sometimes wedge-shaped
with the apex abruptly cut off. The more luxuriant fronds
are once more divided, so as to become almost tripinnate, the
pinnules being deeply pinnatifid, and the lobes formed like
the ordinary pinnules. When the plants are quite young, the
fronds are simple and roundish kidney-shaped. At a later
stage of development, they are occasionally only once pin-
nate, with pinnatifid pinnaa. The upper margins of the pin-
nules are irregularly toothed. The veins are rather indis-
itnct, and there is no midvein, but a series of veins arise
from the base, becoming branched in their progress towards
the apex, the number of ultimate branches usually corre-
sponding with that of the marginal teeth. Several sori are
TH3 SPLEENWORTS. 59
produced near the centre of the pinna, covered by indusia.
which open inwardly with a jagged or irregularly sinuated
margin.
A common species, confined to rocks and walls, occurring
throughout Europe and in many parts of North America.
It is not difficult to cultivate in pots or on well-drained
^ockwork.
GREEN SPLEENWORT.
This elegant little Fern is the Asplenium viride of bota-
nists.
The plant has such a general resemblance Fl - 1 5 -
to A. ^VicAomemes as to have been mistaken
for it by casual observers. It is, however,
quite distinct, and is most readily known
from A. Trichomanes by the colour of its
rachis, which is green in the upper part,
while in the latter it is black throughout.
It is an evergreen tufted species, pro-
ducing narrow, linear, simply _ pinnate
bright pale green fronds, ranging from
two to eight or ten inches in length, sup-
ported by a short stipes, which is dark-
coloured at the very base, but otherwise
reen, the rachis being entirely green.
The pinnse are small, generally roundish-
ovate, rather tapered towards the base,
and attached to the rachis by the nar-
rowed stalk-like part, the margin being
deeply crenated.
The venation is distinct : the midvein
sends off alternately a series of venules,
which are either simple or forked, bearing
the sori on their anterior side. The sori
are oblong, covered at first by membra-
nous indusia, which are soon pushed
aside; the free margin is jagged or crenate.
A native of moist, rocky, mountain-
ous districts in England, Scotland, and
Wales; occurring, also, though less fro Asphniumviridt.
quently, in Ireland, and throughout Europe.
This Fern is not difficult to cultivate in pots in a close,
damp, cold frame ; or on moist, shady rockwork, if covered
over by a bell-glass. If exposed, it is apt to suffer from
occasional excessive wet, which often does not properly drain
CO
BRITISH FERNS.
away ; and also from the dry hot air of our summers. The
object of covering il with a glass is to avoid both these casual-
ties, and provided it is not kept too close it will then thrive
well. The proper bell-glasses for these half-hardy Ferns are
those with a small opening in the crown, which may be
closed or not at pleasure, but, in general, is best left open.
In pots it should have a gritty, porous soil.
COMMON MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT.
This Fern is called Asplenium Trklwmanes. It has also
had the names of Asplemum, melanocaulon, and Asplenium
saxatile.
__ ._ It is rather a diminutive plant, but
has a very interesting appearance, from the
black stipes and rachis, and the regularity
with which the bright green pinnas are dis-
posed. It grows in tufts, naturally intro-
ducing itself into the joints of old masonry
and among .the crevices of rocks, and pro-
ducing numerous small slender fronds, of
a linear form, in its most vigorous state
nearly a foot long, but generally from three
to six inches. They are evergreen, simply
pinnate, on a rather short stipes, which is
of a purplish-black, the rachis also being of
the same dark colour. The pinnae are deep
green, small and numerous, equal-sized, of
a roundish-oblong figure, attached to the
rachis by a stalk-like projection of their
posterior base ; the margin is rather entire
or crenated. The pinnae are jointed to the
rachis, and when old are readily displaced,
so that eventually the black rachis is left
denuded among the tuft of fronds. A dis-
tinct midvein passes through each pinna,
giving off on each side a series of venules
bearing veinlets, the anterior of these pro-
ducing the linear sorus just within the
margin of the pinnae. The sori, which in
the young state are covered by thin indusia
having a somewhat crenulated free margin,
A " P man ,?**"" ver y frequently in a later stage become
confluent, and cover the whole of the
under surface.
A very rare and very curious variety of this species, named
THE SPLEENWORTS. Cl
tncisum, has the pinnae deeply pinnatifid, with linear notched
segments. Another, equally rare and still more beautiful,
has the ends of the fronds tasselled : this is called cristatum.
The species occurs rather plentifully, growing on rocks,
old walls, and ruins, and less frequently on hedgerow banks.
It is pretty generally distributed throughout the United
Kingdom and Ireland ; and also occurs throughout Europe,
and in each of the other divisions of the globe.
When once established, this plant grows readily either
in pots or on rockwork; but its roots being wiry, and
generally inserted into the crevices of the walls or rocks
on which it grows, it is sometimes found to be difficult to
transplant. In general the smaller and younger plants
may be removed with greater success than the larger and
older ones. The newly transplanted roots should be kept
rather close, if possible, for a short time ; but after they
are established, shade is not so essential to this species as
to most other Ferns, although it grows most vigorously
under the influence of shade and shelter. In a Wardian
case, for which its size is suitable, it should have the upper
and drier parts of the rockwork.
SEA SPLEEN WOKT. [Plate VI. Fig. 1.]
The proper or scientific name of the species is Asplenium
marinum.
It is a very handsome evergreen maritime Fern of tufted
habit, with linear or linear-lanceolate fronds, usually six or
eight inches long, of the deepest glossy green, with a smooth,
rather short, dark brown stipes. The fronds are simply
pinnate, with stalked pinnae, connected at their base by a
narrow wing which extends along the rachis ; their form is
either obtusely ovate or oblong, unequal at the base, the an-
terior base being much developed, while the posterior is, as
it were, cut away, the margin being either serrated or
crenated. They are of leathery texture, but the veins are
nevertheless tolerably evident, each pinna having a midvein,
from which venules are given off alternately on either side,
these again producing a series of veinlets. The sori are pro-
duced on the anterior side of each venule, lying obliquely,
and forming two rows on each side the centre ; they are
oblong or linear, covered by a persistent indusium, which
opens along the anterior margin as the spore-cases grow to-
wards maturity.
The chief variation to which this Fern appears subject is
that of the elongation of its parts. Sometimes the pinnae
62 BRITISH FERNS.
are much elongated, tapering to a narrow point- sometimes,
besides being narrowed, they are aurieled at the base, and
deeply Ipbed.
This is a maritime species, occurring profusely on our
south-western rocky coasts and in the Channel Isles, and
extending to France and Spain, to Ma-
FIG. 17. deira and the Canaries.
In cultivation this Fern thrives most
luxuriantly in the atmosphere of a damp
hothouse, where it forms, in a compara-
tively short time, a dense ma,ss of the
deepest green, and often reaching a foot
and a half in length. In a cold frame, if
kept closed, well-established plants will
continue in health, progressing slowly, and
never acquiring half the size of those grown
in heat. In the climate of London it does
not prosper, nor, as far as we know, sur-
vive, if planted on exposed rockwork.
This species, with the Lanceolate Spleen-
wort and the Maidenhair, are exceedingly
well adapted for Wardian cases in warm
sitting-rooms. All of them enjoy the
warmth and being all evergreens of mo-
derate size, and very elegant in structure,
they supply just what is wanted in such
situations. They should be planted on
elevated rockwork, in sandy peat-soil lying
in the interstices between the fragments of
stone; and when once established will
grow freely, provided they are not much
exposed to the sun, which they do not
like.
SMOOTH EOCK SPLEENWORT.
This is the Asplenium fontanum of bo-
tanists. Among its other names occur
Asplenium Halleri, P oly podium fontanum ,
Aspidium fontanum, ana Aikyrium fonta-
num. _
It is a small tufted-growing species,
seldom seen more than three or four inches
high. The small fronds are evergreen,
and mostly grow nearly upright ; they aro
tanum. of a narrow, lanceolate form, rather rigid
THE SPLEEN WORTS. 63
in texture, of a deep green above, paler beneath, and sup-
ported on a very short stipes, which has a few narrow,
pointed scales at the base. They are bipinnate, the pinnae
oblong-ovate, and the pinnules obovate, tapering to the base,
the superior basal pinnule of each pinna having the margin
divided by four or five deep, sharp teeth, the rest of the
pinnules and lobes having from one to three similar teeth.
The main rachis of the frond, as well as the partial rachis
of each pinna, have a narrow leafy expansion along their
sides, throughout their length ; and this is perhaps the most
obvious technical point, except size, by which to distinguish
the present plant from A. lanceolatum. In structural details
they very much resemble each other.
The fronds being rigid and opaque, the venation is often
less evident than is usual in Ferns. It consists, in each
pinnule, of a central or principal vein, which throws off a
venule towards each lobe or serrature. On two or more
of these veins a sorus is produced, which in form is short
compared with those produced by most of the genus ; the
form being oblong, rather flat on the side by which they
are attached, and covered by an indusium of similar form,
which is waved and indented on the free margin. Sometimes
the sori keep quite distinct, but it is not uncommon for them
to become confluent so as to cover nearly the under-surface
of the whole of the little pinnules.
There are some who doubt this species being really a
native of Britain, on the ground that it is not now to be
found in the places where it is said to have been originally
met with. Considering the exact record of its discovery, and
considering, moreover, that it is a very small plant, and that
the places where it would < be most likely to occur are
generally the most inaccessible, and, therefore, the least
likely to be searched ; considering, further, the many pro-
bable localities which exist, and have not been carefully ex-
plored by any keen botanical eye, we are not justified in
rejecting the statements which the older botanists have left
us, although it has not recently been found in wild localities.
This species grows freely planted in a well-drained pot,
and kept in a close cold frame ; in a damp hothouse it suc-
ceeds well, becoming much more vigorous under the influ-
ence of heat.
LANCEOLATE SPLEENWORT.
This is the Asplenium lanceolatum. It has recently been
called Taradda lanceolata. An evergreen Fern of variable
Ci BRITISH FERNS.
size. Its fronds are from four or six inches to a foot in
length, bipinnate, lanceolate in form, supported on a brown-
ish-coloured stipes on which as
FIG. 18. well as on the rachis are scattered
small bristle-like scales. The
more vigorous plants are nearly
erect, though sometimes some-
what spreading in growth. The
pinnae spread at nearly right
angles with the rachis, often op-
posite, and have an ovate-lan-
ceolate form. The pinnules are
of irregular form, often obovate,
or nearly so, sometimes un-
equally quadrate, but always
indented on the margin with
deep, sharp teeth, the larger
pinnules being first lobed, and
the lobes toothed, the smaller
ones simply toothed. The vena-
tion is tolerably distinct ; the
pinnules each having a tortuous
midvein, which produces forked
venules, and these produce vein-
lets, one of which extends to-
wards each serrature. The sori
are at first oblong, and covered
by an indusium of the same form, having a lacerated free
margin; but as they become old the sides become bulged out
so as to give them a roundish form, and the indusium
becomes obliterated.
The variety microdon, a very rare plant, has pinnate fronds,
the pinnae being only undulated and lobed, not again pinnate.
This is rather a local species, being found only in the
southern and western parts of England, and in Wales, almost
always near the coast. It is found very luxuriant in the
Channel Islands.
As might be expected, it evidently requires a mild and
sheltered climate, so that in a hothouse, where the tempera-
ture is not kept too high, or jn a green-house, it grows
freely; this cannot always be said of plants kept in a cold
frame, and never of plants fully exposed, unless the locality
is very favourable.
Asplenium lanceolatum.
iHE SPLEENWORTS.
Fio.
BLACK MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWOBT.
The Black Maidenhair Spleen wort is the Asplenium Adian-
lum-nigrum of botanists, and has, moreover, been called
Tarachia Adianturrwiigrum, and Asplenium lucidwm.
^ It is a rather common evergreen
Fern, and a very conspicuous orna-
ment of the situations where it
occurs in a vigorous state. The
fronds grow in tufts, and vary much
in size, from a height of three or
four inches when it occurs on walls,
to a foot and a half and even two
feet including the stipes, when it
occurs on shady hedge-banks in
congenial soil. They are triangular,
more or less elongated at the point,
the shining dark purple stipes being
often as long as, or longer than,
the leafy portion ; but in stunted
plants growing in sterile situations
very much shorter. They grow
erect or dropping, according to the
situations in which they occur.
They are bipinnate, or some-
times tripinnate; the pinnae pin-
nate, triangular-ovate drawn out at
the point, the lower pair always
longer than the next above them.
The pinnules, especially those on
the larger pinnae, are again pin-
nate ; the alternate pinnules being
deeply lobed, and the margins
sharply serrate. Each pinnule has
a distinct mid vein or principal vein,
bearing simple or branched venules,
on which the sori are produced.
At first the sori are distinct, and
have the elongate narrow form
common to this genus, but as they
become older they often spread and
become confluent, so that almost
the entire under-surface of the
frond is covered with the spore-
Tke indusium is narrow, with its free margin
BRITISH FERNS.
entire; this soon becomes pushed away by the growing son,
and is lost.
The variety acutum differs, prin-
ts- 20. cipally, in the more decidedly three-
cornered fronds, which, in conse-
quence of their shortness and
breadth, and the high development
of their basal pinnules, form a nearly
equilateral triangle; in the very
much attenuated apices of the
fronds and their pinnae, which are,
in fact, what is called caudate ; and
in the extreme narrowness of the
ultimate segments into which the
very much divided frond is cut,
these segments being narrow, linear,
and acute. The fronds grow a foot
or upwards in length, including a
long brown stipes. In large spe-
cimens the leafy portion is about
six inches long, and as much across
the base, triangular, tripinnate. The
lower pinnae are considerably larger
than the next pair, and elongately
triangular. The primary pinnules
are ovate-acuminate ; the secondary
pinnules lozenge-shaped, these latter
being cut down almost to the centre
into linear sharply two- to five-
toothed segments. The venation consists of a vein, which
enters each lobe of the pinnule, and branches alternately
into as many nearly parallel venules as there are marginal
teeth, one venule being directed into each tooth. The narrow
linear elongate sori are borne, rather close together, on these
venules. It is a very rare plant, having been found in a few
Irish counties, and in Jersey. It is met with in the North
of Europe, and more plentifully in the Canaries, the Azores,
and Madeira.
The ordinary forms of the plant are very commonly met
with growing on rocks or old walls, and on hedge-banks in
a sandy soil. The latter situations, where they grow most
vigorously, are often beautifully adorned by their drooping
tufts. _ The extreme forms are more rare.
This is one of the more useful evergreen Ferns for shady
rockwork, as it will grow with freedom if planted in sandy
Asplenium Adianf.um-nigrum,
car. acutum.
THE HART'S-TONGUE FERN. 67
soil, which is just kept moistened either by natural or arti-
ficial means. As a pot plant it is easily manageable. The
variety is rare, and has hitherto been treated as a frame or
greenhouse plant.
CHAPTER XI.
THE HART'S-TONGUE FERST.
THE botanical name of the Hart's-Tongue Fern is Scolopen-
drium. The genus is botanically very distinct from all our
other native Ferns ; and from other points of view is ex-
ceedingly interesting. There is only one British species, but
of this there are numerous varieties, which have a perfectly
distinct aspect, owing to peculiarities in their development.
They are all evergreen, and on this account, as well as by
reason of their hardiness and bold striking appearance, they
are among the most ornamental of all Ferns for out-door
rock-work. The genus is known by the peculiarities of its
sori, which, though forming parallel oblique lines at intervals
on each side the midvein, and having the appearance of
being single if seen when mature, are in reality composed of
two sori, set face to face, and so close together as to become
confluent along their whole length. The fructification,
technically speaking, consists of sori confluent in pairs,
placed face to face.
Scolopendrium is merely an alteration of Scolopendra, the
scientific name of the centipede : and the name is applied
from a fancied resemblance (in the position we _ suppose) be-
tween the feet of a centipede and the lines of its fructifica-
tion.
COMMON HART'S-TONGUE. [Plate vii. hinder fig.]
The proper name of this plant is Scolopendrium vulgare,
but many others have been given it, as Scolopendrium officinar
rum, Scolopendrium Phyttitis, Asplenium Scolopendrium, &c.
The Hart's-Tongue Fern is a common plant; neverthe-
less, in consequence of its shining bright green, though
simple fronds, contrasting so beautifully with the feathery
aspect much more common among the Ferns, it does not
want for admirers whether seen in a wild or cultivated
state. It grows in tufts. The fronds, which are evergreen,
vary in length from six inches to a foot and a half, and even
more, and are either stiff and erectish when growing under
68 BRITISH FERNS.
circumstances which render them dwarf, or more or less
spreading and drooping when in situations which are fa-
vourable to enlarged development : in the former case the
fronds are thicker and more leathery in texture ; in the
latter, thinner and less rigid, from being produced in very
damp shady situations. The usual form of the fronds is
what is called strap-shaped, that is, narrow oblong-lanceo-
late, much elongated ; they taper towards, and are acute at,
the apex, narrowing a little downwards, and becoming cor-
date at the base; the margin is entire, or very slightly
wavy, and they are supported on shaggy stipes averaging
about a third of their entire length. The fronds have a
strong midrib or costa, extending throughout their whole
length, from which are produced forked veins, the branches
of which (venules) lie parallel, and proceed direct towards
the margin, terminating just within the edge in a club-
shaped apex. The sori, which are oblong patches of un-
equal length, lying in the direction of the veins at short in-
tervals along the upper two-thirds of the length of the
frond, are each composed of two proximate lines of fructifi-
cation laterally united ; each line, however, consisting of a
complete sorus, so that the two united are properly called a
twin sorus. The indusia which cover these, have their at-
tachment on the upper and lower sides of their respective
venules, the other edges overlapping one the other.
This is the ordinary form of Scolopendrium ; but there are
a great number of very curious and some very distinct
varieties, differing only, however, in the form of the frond.",
and not in the fructification, where it is present. These
varieties, which are noticed at length in our Handbook of
British Ferns, are for the most part perfectly constant under
cultivation, although they have, no doubt, originated in
aberrations that is to say, accidental variations, from the
original species, which have been perpetuated naturally or
by art. It is moreover a curious fact, that most of them are
reproduced from spores.
The variety crispum is one of the most beautiful of them ;
in this, the same outline of frond prevailing, the leafy por-
tion is so much more developed than the midrib, that the
margin becomes excessively undulated, giving the fronds a
very elegant curled or crisped appearar.ce. This sort is
barren.
The variety polyscliides is very curious and distinct. The
fronds of this are linear, and blunt at the apex, much nar-
roTvfr than in the common sort, and the margin is deeply
THE HART'S-TONGUE FERN. 69
and irregularly lobed and crenated. This sort is fertile, and
its sori are short, forming two irregular lines on each side
the midrib.
The variety marginatuin is another curious and very beau-
tiful form, lobed in the same manner as polyschides, but
having the fronds broader ; it is remarkable also in having,
behind, a longitudinal excurrent membrane on each side be-
tween the midrib and margin, on which membrane as well
as exterior to it, the short interrupted sori are produced.
Another striking variety is multifidum. This has the
fronds forked either near the apex or sometimes near the
base ; each branch is again more or less repeatedly forked,
and the apices of all the forks are developed into irregular
fan-shaped leafy expansions, to which the term multifid is
applied. Sometimes the fronds are merely forked once or
twice, without being multifid ; in other cases the stipes itself
becomes forked, bearing multifid branches, and this nas been
called ramosum. This multifid sort is fertile ; and occurs in
many variations.
The variety laceratum is a dwarf and highly ornamental
form ; in this the fronds are often nearly as broad as long,
with the margin deeply gashed into irregular lobes, the lobes
being numerous, crowded, and much undulated, sometimes
tapering, sometimes more or less dilated at the apex, the
basal pair often considerably enlarged, and so much developed
as to produce an approach to the palmate form.
The common Hart's-tongue is an inhabitant of hedge-
banks, of old walls, and sometimes of the interior of wells,
in which latter situation it acquires great luxuriance. It is
one of the more commonly distributed species in England
and in Ireland, less abundant in Scotland ; and also found
all over Europe. The varieties are rare in a wild state, and
are better known as cultivated plants.
An evergreen, and a plant of free growth, the Hart's-
tongue is one of the most desirable hardy Ferns we possess
for open rockwork. Its simple fronds contrast well with
the more compound forms ; and its varieties all have a diffe-
rent aspect, combined with the same good qualities of har-
dinfiss and endurance. Shady and rather humid places are
those in which this plant most delights, although, as is evi-
dent from its sometimes growing on walls, it will live in
more exposed and arid situations. The plants, however,
never acquire much vigour under such circumstances, and
have mostly a starved and stunted aspect. They are not
particular as to soil, sandy loam containing fibrous or half-
70 BRITISH PERNS.
decayed vegetable matter, is much preferable to soil which is
much spent and comminuted, as indeed is the case with re-
spect to all Ferns.
CHAPTEE XIJ.
THE SCALE PERN.
THE adopted botanical name of the Scale Fern is Ceterach Of
this genus there is only one British species, and this plant is
so different from all others as to be distinctly recognised at
a glance. The mark by which it is known is this : the back
of every frond is covered by densely-packed, brown, pointed,
chaffy scales. Among these scales, and concealed by them,
lie the elongate sori, which are anomalous, in regard to their
relationship, in having no indusium. The affinity of Ceterach
is without doubt with the A$plenium-\\kQ Ferns, this being
the case they ought to have an indusium. No indusium,
however, exists here, unless it be represented by a kind of
membranous ridge, which is to be found on the receptacles
just behind the sori, and is the part which has sometimes
been called an indusium. The probability is, that it does re-
present that organ, which is not largely developed in conse-
quence of the presence of so dense a covering of scales, these
not only serving the purpose of a cover to the sori, but per-
haps, from their crowded position, preventing the proper
formation of the usual form of cover.
The name Ceterach is an alteration of the word Chetfierdk,
which was applied to this plant by Persian and Arabian
medical writers.
COMMON SCALE-FERN, OK SCALY SPLEENWORT. [Plate VI. fig. 3.]
This species has many names. That most to be preferred
is Ceterach officinarum, but it has also been called Asplenium
Ceterach, Scolopendrium Ceterach, Grammitis Ceterach, Noto-
lepeum Ceterach, and Gymnogramma Ceterach.
It is a dwarf, evergreen, distinct-looking and very pretty
Fern, growing in tufts. The fronds when fresh are thick and
fleshy, and from this cause they are perfectly opaque when
dry. Their size varies, according to the circumstances of
their growth, from two to six inches in length, rarely exceed-
ing the latter. They grow on a short scaly stipes, and are
cither pinnatifid, as is commonly the case, or more rarely
pinnate, the difference being, that in the latter tJh frondfe
THE HARD FERN. 71
are divided rather more deeply than in the former. The
upper surface is a deep opaque green ; and the under surlace
is densely covered with rust-coloiired brown closely-packed
overlapping scales, which, being just seen projecting from
the margin, and still more fully in the exposed under surface
of the young partially-developed fronds, prettily contrast with
the deep green of the upper surface. The pinnae or lobes are
of an ovate form, and either entire or lobed on the margin.
The opacity of the fronds renders the venation indistinct,
and indeed it is only to be made out by examining young
fronds, removing the covering of scales, and the outer skin
of the frond itself. It is then seen, that from the lower
corner the principal vein enters, taking a sinuous course to-
wards the upper side of the apex ; it branches alternately,
the venules being again branched, and the veinlets becoming
joined more or less near the margin. The sori are borne
along the sides of the venules in a very irregular manner,
the majority of them being directed towards the apex of the
Einna. At first, the son are quite concealed by the scales,
ut the spore-cases ultimately protrude between them.
The Ceterach is a mural species, occurring on the walls of
old buildings and ruins, and in rocky places. It is nretty
generally distributed in the United Kingdom, but is consi-
ered somewhat rare in Scotland. It occurs also throughout
central and southern Europe, and in the north of Africa.
Like other wall Ferns, this is often difficult to establish
in cultivation when first transplanted ; but when once this is
overcome its cultivation is not difficult. It is best grown in
a cold frame, potted rather high, among loam mixed with a
large proportion of brick-rubbish, and not over-watered.
CHAPTER XHL
THE IIABD FERN.
THIS plant is referred by some authors to Bleclmum, and by
others to Lomaria. We think it most nearly related to the
former, although in the contraction of its fertile fronds it
undoubtedly resembles the latter. Among the British Ferns
the only species of this genus is known by having its fructi-
fication extended longitudinally on the pinnae, so as to form
a linear or continuous sprus on each side the midvein, and
about midway between it and the margin. No other British
72 BRITISH FERNS.
Fern has its fructification in extended lines lying parallel
with the midrib, except the Pteris, or Bracken, in which how-
ever the sorus is on the margin, and not within the margin
and near the midvein, as in Blechnum. The Blechnum may,
however, be at once known from the Pteris, by the division
of its fronds, which are merely pinnate, while those of Pteris
are decompound.
The name Blechnum is an adaptation of the Greek Ueck-
non, which signifies a Fern.
COMMON HAED FERN. [Plate Yin. right-hand fig.]
This plant is the Blechnum Spicant. It has also the fol-
lowing names : Blechnum boreale, Lomaria Spicant, Asple-
nium Spicant, Onoclea Spicant, Acrostichum Spicant, Stru-
thioptcns Spicant, Osmunda Spicant, and Osmunda borealis.
The common name of this species is very appropriate,
from the rigid harshness of its texture. It is one of the few
native kinds which produce two distinct-looking kinds of
frond fertile and barren. The fertile ones have their pinnae
much narrowed, or contracted, as it is called, while the fronds
themselves are considerably taller than the barren ones.
These fronds grow in large tufts, and being very gracefully
bestowed, the plant becomes one of the most ornamental of
our wild species during the summer season, when its fronds
are in a fresh state. Both kinds of fronds are of a narrow
lanceolate form ; the barren ones being only deeply pinna-
tifid, while the fertile ones are pinnate ; but the segments in
both are long and narrow, like the teeth of a comb. The
barren fronds, which are from one-half to two-thirds the
height of the fertile ones, assume a spreading or horizontal
position, and are attached to the caudex by a very short scaly
stipes. The fertile ones, which are situated in the centre of
the tufts, are erect, from one to two feet high, the stipes,
which is sparingly furnished with long pointed scales, being
nearly half the length, and of a dark brown colour. The
veins are not very evident in the fertile fronds, on account of the
contraction of the parts, but they resemble those of the bar-
ren ones, except in having a longitudinal venule on each side
the midvein, forming the receptacle to which the spore-cases
are attached. The midvein is prominent, and produces a
series of venules on each side, these becoming forked, and
extending almost to the margin, terminating in a club-shaped
head. In the fertile fronds the veinlets are necessarily
shorter, and connected, as already mentioned, by the longi-
tudinal venules which bear the fructification. The spore-
THE BRAKES, OR BRACKED. 73
cases are thus arranged in two linear sori, one on each side
the midvein ; these are distinct while young, but soon be-
come confluent, covering the whole under-surface of the
pinnae. The indusia, by which they are at first covered,
when mature, burst along that side towards the midrib, and
eventually become split across here and there, at points op-
posite some of the venules.
The hard Fern is a rather common plant, occurring in
heathy and stony places, and preferring localities which are
rather damp than otherwise. It is found in variou* 1 *>arts of
Europe.
In cultivation, this is a very suitable plant for damp shady
rockwork, and in such situations, planted in peaty soil, it
grows freely, and without requiring any special attention.
CHAPTEK XIV.
THE BRAKES, OK BRACKEN.
THE Pteris or Bracken is the most common of all our Ferns.
It is that which occurs almost everywhere iu woods and in
sandy wastes, often appropriating to itself the whole surface
of the ground. It is variable in appearance, owing to diffe-
rences in its size and development dependent on the circum-
stances in which it grows. Its more usual size is from three
to four feet in height. Sometimes in dry, very sandy soil,
the plant becomes a pigmy, not reaching a foot in height,
and being merely bipinnate. The opposite extreme occurs
when the plant is growing on damp hedge-banks in warm,
shady lanes, where it attains eight or ten feet in height, and
is proportionately compound in its development. Under
circumstances which favour the most luxuriant development,
this common and usually vulgar-looking plant combines the
most noble and graceful aspect, perhaps, which is borne by
any of our indigenous species, its fronds scrambling up among
the bushes which sustain them at the base, while their grace-
ful feathery-looking tops form overhead a living arch of the
tenderest green.
The Pteris is known among our native Ferns by having
the edges of all the little divisions of its fronds furnished
with a line of spore-cases. No other of our native species
has the fructification arranged in continuous lines except
Ptcris and Bfahnum; and the Pteris may be readily known
?4 BRITISH FERNS.
from that by the lines being in it confined to the margin,
leaving the centre unoccupied, while in Eleclmum the ex-
treme margin is unoccupied by the sori.
Ptet^is is a Greek name for a Fern, and is derived from
another Greek word, which signifies feather; and, of course,
is applied in reference to the graceful feather-like aspect
which the fronds of Ferns generally possess. When the
plant is very luxuriant this name is quite as applicable to
the Bracken as to any other known Fern. This consideration
is perhaps enough to justify the application to this species,
by the older writers, of the name of Female Fern, which
scarcely seems appropriate to the commoner uncouth-looking
form which the plant more usually bears.
COMMON BRAKES, OR BRACKEN. {Plate IX.]
The botanical name of the bracken is Pteris aquilina;
that of Eupteris aquilina has also been proposed.
This Fern has a caudex that creeps very extensively be-
neath the surface of the soil. This caudex is thickish, black-
looking, and succulent, containing a good deal of starch.
From it are produced, at intervals, the annual fronds, which
generally make their appearance about the latter end of May.
The fronds themselves have been variously described, and
often erroneously, for they are not unfrequently said to be
three-branched ; but except when very much starved and
stunted, do not approach that form very nearly. They are,
in reality, bipinnate, or when very luxuriant tripinnate, the
pinnae standing opposite in pairs, each pair in succession
becoming fully developed, while the main rachis is extending
upwards, and the next pp.ir is beginning to unfold. The
mature fronds are thus twice or thrice pinnate, with the pairs
of pinnae standing opposite. The stipes is downy while
young, and the part under ground is black, like the creeping
stem itself, and spindle-shaped just at the base. Average
specimens of the fronds are tripinnate, that is, they produce
a certain number of pairs of branch-like pinnae, which
branches are bipinnate. We must confine our further
description to one of these branches, selected from the lower
part of the frond. The general form is ovate, a little elon-
gated ; that of its pinnae (the secondary pinnae) narrow
lanceolate. These latter are placed rather closely together,
and are again divided into a series of pinnules, which are
either undivided or more elongated, and deeply pinnatifid or
sinuate. Each pinnule of the undivided form has a distinct
midvein, producing alternate lateral venules, which become
THE MAIDEN-HAIR FERN. 75
twice forked, and extend to the margin, where they meet a
longitudinal marginal vein which forms the receptacle.
The indusium consists of a bleached, membranous, fringed
expansion of the upper skin or epidermis of the fronds, which
reflexes so as to cover the spore-cases, but there is here
another membrane which lies beneath the spore-cases.
This, which is the most abundant of our indigenous
species, is also widely distributed in other parts of the world,
and bears a variety of names, from having been supposed to
be distinct by those who have met with it from such widely
separated localities.
Being so common, and in an ordinary state uncouth-look-
ing, it is not a plant for cultivation to any extent. In warm,
clamp, wilderness-scenery, however, where it would attain
great luxuriance, and the situation is such as would enable
it to develope the arching character already mentioned, it
might very properly bo introduced.
CHAPTER XV.
THE MAIDEN-HAIR FERN.
THE Adiantum, or Maiden-hair Fern, may be known by its
almost fan-shaped leaflets or pinnules, which are attached by
their narrow end to the little black hair-like stalks. This,
however, though sufficient by which to recognise it, among
the very limited number of kinds which are found in a wild
state in Britain, is not its proper distinctive mark. The
real characteristics lie in the veins and in the son. The
former may be readily seen by holding a pinnule between
the eye and a strong light, and the latter by lifting up the
little reflexed lobes which occur here and there at the margin
on the under sitrface. The veins are dichotomously forked,
that is, separating into two equal branches, beginning from
the base upwards, the forking being several times repeated.
The sori are produced on the reflexed (or bent under) mem-
branous expansions of the margin of the fronds, which form
the indusia, these indusia being traversed by veins which
bear the sori. There is only one native species whica
possesses these characteristics, and this is certainly one of
the most beautiful, as it is also one of the rarer of our Ferns :
and being of small size and of evergreen habit, it is one oi
the most desirable of all for culture in a "Wardian case.
76 BRITISH FERNS.
The name of the genus comes from a Greek word, which
signifies dry, or unmoistened, and is applicable to these plants,
from their possessing in a remarkable degree the property of
repelling water.
COMMON MAIDEN-HAIR FERN. [Plate VIL front fig.]
The common Maiden-hair Fern is the Adiantum Capillus-
Veneris of botanists.
It is a small evergreen species, furnished with a very short
creeping stem, which is clothed with small black scales, and
bears delicate, graceful, somewhat drooping fronds, of six
inches to a foot high. These fronds are usually of an irre-
gularly ovate form, sometimes elongate, occasionally
approaching to linear. The fronds are twice or thrice pin-
nate ; with alternate pinnae and pinnules. The ultimate
pinnules or leaflets are very irregular in shape, but for the
most part have a wedge-shaped or tapering base, and a more
or less rounded and oblique apex, and they have generally
some variation of a fan-shaped or rhomboidal outline. The
margin is more or less deeply lobed, the apices of the lobes
in the fertile pinnules being reflexed and changed into mem-
branous indusia, whilst the lobes of the barren fronds are
serrated ; their texture is thin and membranaceous, their
surface smooth, their colour a cheerful green. The stipes,
which is about half as long as the frond, and furnished with
a few small scales at the base, is black and shining, as also
are the rachides, the ultimate ramifications of which are
small and hair-like.
The veins throughout the pinnules are forked on a dicbo-
tomous or two-branched plan, from the base upwards. The
sori are oblong, covered by indusia of the same form, each
consisting of the apex of one of the lobes of the frond,
changed to a membranous texture, and folded under.
The Maiden-hair is a local plant, though it has a wide
geographical range. It is found here and there in the
warmer parts of Great Britain and Ireland, evidently pre-
ferring cavernous and rocky situations within the influence
of the sea. The same species is found in the warmer parts
of Europe, in Asia, in the north of Africa, and in the Canaries
and Cape de Verd Islands.
It is, moreover, a tender plant, and does not thrive under
cultivation in the climate even of the south of England,
unless sheltered in a frame or greenhouse, or by being
covered with a glass. In a Wardian case it grows well ; and
attains great luxuriance in a damp hothouse. The proper
THE BLADDER FERNS. 77
soil for it is very light turfy peat, mixed with a considerable
proportion of silver sand, and it is beneficial to plant it on
or around a small lump of free sandstone.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE BLADDER FERNS.
THE botanical name of this group is Cystopteris. The
species of Cystopteris are all small, fragile Ferns, yet, not-
withstanding, they are very beautiful and very interesting.
They are much more delicate and herbaceous in their texture
than the majority of our native species, and hence are well
adapted for the purpose of minute investigation into the
nature of their venation and fructification. Their texture
alone almost suffices to tell a practised eye their family posi-
tion, but the tyro needs a more precise characteristic, and
this is found in the structure of the scale or indusium which
covers the sori. The sori of these plants are round, as in
Lastrea and Polystichum, all, equally with _ Cystopteris, once
included under the old family name of Aspldium ; but here,
instead of being almost flat and circular, the cover is inflated
or bulged out like a hood, and is attached at the back (to-
wards the base of the pinnule) of the sorus by its broad base,
covering the spore-cases while in a young state, but becom-
ing ultimately reflexed at the point, which is more or less
jagged or fringed. Hence these plants are called Bladder
Ferns. There are three native species, of one of which
numerous distinct forms or varieties occur.
The technical name comes from two Greek words, which
respectively mean bladder and fern ; so that in this case the
English appellation is a literal translation of the scientific
name.
BRITTLE BLADDER FERN, [Plate X. fig. 2.]
This Fern, generally known among botanists as Cystopteris
fragilis, has a host of other names. Some of these are
Cyathea fragilis, C. cynapifolia, C. anthriscifolia, C. dentata;
Cystea fragilis, C. angustata, C. dentata ; Polypodium fra-
gile, P. cynapifolium, P. anthriscifolium, P. dentatum. P.
rhoeticum; Aspidium fragile, A. dentatum, and A. rhceticum.
The Brittle Bladder Fern is a tufted-growing plant,
spreading, if undisturbed under congenial circumstances,
. 21.
78 BRITISH FERNS.
into large patches of numerous crowns, each of which throws
up a tuft of several fronds, growing from six inches to afoot,
sometimes more, in height. The
stipes is very brittle and shining,
with a few small scales at the base.
The frond is lanceolate, bipinnate,
the pinnae lanceolate, the pinnules
ovate acute, cut more or less deeply
on the margin, the lobes furnished
with a few pointed teeth. In some
of the plants, and usually owing to
their vigour, the pinnules are so
very deeply cut as to become pin-
natifid, almost pinnate, the lobes
themselves then resembling the
smaller pinnules nearer the apex of
the pinnae and frond. The vena-
tion in ordinary-sized pinnules con-
sists of a somewhat tortuous mid-
vein, which gives off a lateral branch
or yenule to each of the lobes into
which the margin is cut, these ve-
nules branching again into two,
three, four, or more veinlets, accord-
ing to the size of the lobes ; and
each branch generally bearing a
sorus at about midway its length.
The sori are thus generally nume-
rous, and rather irregularly dis-
posed; and it often occurs that
they are so numerous as, when fully
grown, to become confluent into a
mass of fructification covering the
whole under surface of the frond.
Cystopterit fragile,
DieMeana.
The sori, which are nearly circular, are covered while young
by a concave or hood-shaped indusium, which usually
becomes torn or split at the point into narrow segments,
and the whole soon becomes pushed back or cast off by the
growing spore-cases.
The variety dentcda is generally smaller, and almost
always blunter in the form of its parts ; this grows from six
to eight inches high, and has ovate-lanceolate pinnae, with
ovate, obtuse, pointless pinnules, which are again divided on
the margin into a series of short blunt notches or teeth ; the
venation is more simple, and the fructification is more
THE BLADDE3 PERNS. ?9
marginal, than in any of the preceding forms. It is repro-
duced from the spores.
The variety Dickieana is of a more compact habit than
the preceding, and grows from four to six inches in height ;
the outline almost ovate, terminating in a point ; the pinnse
ovate-lanceolate, deflexed, overlapping each other ; the pin-
nules decurrent, broad, obtuse, with
a few shallow, marginal notches ; the Fl< >- 22 -
texture very delicate and herbace-
ous; and the fructification margi-
nal. It is of a deep green. It is a
constant variety uiider cultivation,
and is reproduced by spores.
The usual forms of this species
occur abundantly in moist moun-
tainous districts, and also on walls,
but generally in moist rocky situa-
tions throughout the United King-
dom, Ireland excepted, where it is
comparatively rare. The same spe-
cies is very widely dispersed in vari-
ous parts of the world. The varie-
ties are more rare. Cystopteris
fragile may be said to have rather a
preference to limestone.
Under cultivation it is one of the
most manageable of the smaller sorts,
growing freely on rockwork or in
pots. Its fronds are produced very
early in spring, are often renewed
during summer, and continue to
grow up in succession until the
frosts cut them off.
ALPINE BLADDER FERN.
The name of this species is Cys-
iopteris regia. Cystopteris alpina is
another name for this elegant plant,
which has also been called Cyathea
regia and Cyatftea incisa, Gystea
regia, Polypodium regium, Polypo-
dium alpimim, Aspidium regium,
and Polypodium trifidum.
This diminutive but elegant
plant is quite a gem. It ha Cyitopterii
80 BRITISH FERXS.
a close tufted stem, producing from its crown numerous
bright green fronds, usually four to six, but sometimes as
much as ten inches high. These grow up in May, and die
away in autumn. Their form is lanceolate, the mode of di-
vision bipinnate, with the pinnules so deeply pinnatifid as to
render them almost tripinnate. The stipes is short, smooth,
and scaly at the base. The pinnae are nearly opposite, with
a winged rachis, ovate, divided into bluntly ovate pinnules,
these latter being deeply cleft, almost down to their midvein,
into short, blunt, linear lobes, which are either entire, or
have two or three blunt teeth. The midvein of the pin-
nules is nearly straight, with a venule, simple or divided,
branching off to each lobe, one branch extending to the point
of each marginal tooth. The small roundish sori are rather
numerous, but not confluent, borne near the margin, and
covered by a concave membranous indusium.
This species, which may be cultivated without difficulty
in pots, under shelter, provided they are guarded against the
effects of damp in winter, has been found on an old wall at
Leyton, in Essex. It occurs in the alpine parts of southern
Europe.
MOUNTAIN BLADDER FERN.
The mountain Bladder Fern is Cystopteris montana. Its
synonyms are Polypodium montanum, Aspidium montanum,
Cyathea montana, Cystopteris Attioni, and Cystopteris myr-
rhidifplium.
This is the rarest of our native Ferns. It is a small
species, growing with a slender creeping scaly stem. The
fronds are from four to six or eight inches high, triangular in
outline, from the great development of the lowest pair of
pinnae ; tripinnate in the lower part, and bipinnate upwards,
the pinnae spreading, and standing opposite in pairs, the
lowest pair considerably larger than the next above, and un-
equally developed, the inferior side being very much larger
than the superior. The lower pinnae, on the inferior side,
are first divided into ovate or lanceolate pinnules, and these
are again cut into a second series of pinnules, of an ovate or
oblong form, these ultimate pinnules being coarsely and
irregularly notched or toothed ; on the upper side, the pin-
nules correspond with the secondary pinnules of the lower
side. The inferior pinnules of the next pair of pinnae also
correspond in size, outline, and subdivision with the secon-
dary pinnules of the lower pinnae ; and above this the parts
become gradually smaller and less divided up to the apex of
THE BLADDER FERNS.
81
the frond. The whole texture of the frond is delicate and
herbaceous, as in the more common species, and hence the
veins show very distinctly: in the ultimate pinnules the
central vein is somewhat flexupus, and gives off alternate
lateral veins, one of which is directed towards the sinus or
marginal indentation between two serratures. The sori
Tio. 23.
Cyttopterii montana.
have the roundish form common in this genus, and, being
often numerous, they then become very conspicuous when
full-grown ; but though crowded they do not appear often to
become confluent. These sori are covered, in the young
state, by a blunt, concave, jagged-edged indusium.
This rare species occurs only among the Breadalbane
mountains of Scotland, and in the Clova Mountains in For-
farshire. In the European Alps it is met with, most abun-
82 BRITISH PERNS.
dantly northwards : and it also occurs on the Rocky Moun-
tains of the New World. It grows in very wet shady places
on the ledges of rocks.
.CHAPTER XVH
THE WOODSIAS.
THE WootMas form a family group consisting of two di-
minutive kinds, which, however, possess much interest
among the British species on account _ of their extreme
rarity. These Ferns are furnished with indusia, and by the
peculiar construction and position of this organ, they may
readily be known. The peculiar nature of the indusia con-
sists in their being placed not as a cover to the sori, but at-
tached underneath them ; when very young they indeed en-
close them, but subsequently they split from above into
narrow scale-like segments not easily distinguished, without
optical assistance, from the hairs which occur along with
them on the fronds. In the full-grown state, the sori are
consequently seated in the centre of a spreading tuft of
hair-like scales, which are formed of the lacerated margins
of the indusium the latter being attached to the frond at
the point beneath the capsules. No other native Ferns pos-
sess a structure at all approaching to this. _
The name Woodsia was given in compliment to a veteran
English botanist, Joseph Woods, Esq., author of a very use-
ful Tourist's Flora.
OBLONG WOODSIA. [Plate vm. left-hand fig.]
This is the Woodsia ihemis._ It has been called Acrosti-
chum ilvense, and Polypodium ilvense.
This Fern is a deciduous species, dying down to the
ground annually in winter, and reviving with the returning
spring. Its very short stems form _ tufted masses. The
fronds average about four inches in height, and are less fre-
quently found larger than smaller than this. Their, form is
lanceolate, more or less broad ; they are pinnate, 'che pinnaa
usually set on nearly or quite opposite in ^ pairs, and having
an obtusely oblong outline, with a cleeply-iobed or pinnatifid
margin. They are more or less clothed on both surfaces, but
especially on the veins beneath, with minute bristle-like
scales, and shining jointed hairs, among which the sori are
THE WOODSIAS. 83
almost concealed. The stipes is also scaly, and, as occurs in
a whole group of these Woodsias, has a joint or articulation
at a short distance from its base, at which point separation
takes place if the fronds are left on to attain a good old age,
the lower part remaining attached to the caudex, while the
upper part falls away. The yeining of the segments of the
pinnae consists of a rather indistinct midvein, from which
the venules, either simple or branched, proceed towards the
margin, near to which the sori are produced.
ALPINE WOODSIA,'
The name of this species is Woodsia alpina. It has also been
called W. hyperborea. Their rarity rather than their beauty
invests these plants with interest for the cultivator. They
require to be kept in a cold shady frame, to be potted in
porous soil amongst lumps of stone, to be carefully guarded
against drought or stagnant moisture, and to be rarely dis-
turbed at the root.
This is a diminutive species, never ex- Fio.24.
ceeding a few inches in stature, and renew-
ing its fronds annually in the spring, the
older ones being destroyed by the frosts
and cold of winter ; the fronds are cast off
at the articulation or joint near _ the base
of the stipes, which occurs in this family.
The plant grows in a tufted manner, send-
ing up several fronds from the crown. The
fronds are longish and narrow ; they are
pinnately divided into several roundish tri-
angular pinnae, which are shallowly lobed
on the margin, and are usually set on alter-
nately along the opposite sides of the stalk
or rachis ; those towards the lower part are
usually placed at a greater distance apart
than those near the upper end. They are
nearly smooth on the surface, and, in this
respect, unlike those of the kindred species,
which have a much more hairy appearance ;
small hair-like scales, in company with
hairs, are however present in this species,
The midvein of the pinnae is indistinct, and
throws out venules into each lobe, these venules being more
or less branched according to the size of the lobes. The
eori are placed near the extremity of the venules, and are
81 BRITISH FERNS.
often abundantly produced, so as to become crowded on tha
pinnae.
The two species of Woodsia are found only in high moun-
tain regions, where they grow from the crevices of the mois-
tened rocks. They are both rare, though, from the inacces-
sible localities in which they only occur, they may really be
more abundant than is generally supposed.
CHAPTER XVIIL
THE BRISTLE FERN.
THE Trichomanes, or Bristle Fern, is one of the most rare among
our native Ferns ; the one indigenous species being among
the few which are very seldom met with, and that within a
very narrow range. Unlike in texture all the other native
kinds excepting the Hymenophyllums, being quite pellucid,
and of the most delicately crisped appearance imaginable,
it may be distinguished from them by this mark alone. The
fructification, too, is here totally unlike that of all others,
except the Hymeno2)hyllums. The technical mark distin-
guishing Trichomanes and Hymenophyllum from the other
British Ferns, is found in their spore-cases being contained
within deep urn-shaped pits or recesses at the margin ; the
fructification therefore being at the margin instead of at the
back of the fronds. Trichomanes is known from Hymeno-
phyllum by its urns, or involucres as they are called, being
entire, while those of Hymenophyllum are split lengthwise
into two valves. In both, the spore-cases are clustered
around hair-like receptacles, which are the ends of the veins
of the fronds projecting into the urns. In Trichomanes it is
usual for these receptacles to project more or less, so that
the fronds become somewhat bristly when very full of fruc-
tification j and hence has arisen the common name of Bristle
Fern, which is applied to the group.
The name Trichomanes itself has the same signification :
it comes from two Greek words, meaning hair, and excess, in
reference to these projecting hair-like bodies.
EUROPEAN BRISTLE FERN. [Plate X. fig. 1.]
This Fern, like many others, has had many names. Tricho-
manes radicans is here adopted ; but more or less in use will
be found Trichomanes speciosum and Trichomanes brevisetum.
THE BRISTLfi FfiRN 85
and among the more ancient names Trickomanes alatum and
ILyinenopliylhim alatum occur.
This very beautiful plant exists only in the immediate
neighbourhood _of waterfalls, and in situations where a con-
stant moisture is maintained. Such conditions are, indeed,
quite necessary to it, on account of its semi-membranou:3
texture, which shrinks before an arid atmosphere ; and hence
it can only be successfully cultivated when kept quite close,
and constantly wetted over-head. This species has a creeping,
wiry, black-looking stem, clothed with scales. The fronds
are three or four times pinnatifid, cut up into small linear
segments, which are entire or bifid at the apex, and have a
Btout nerve or vein running up their centre, and rendered
very conspicuous in consequence of the thin pellucid texture
of the leafy expansions which surround it. Or the frond
may be described as consisting of a series of three or four
times branched rigid veins, margined throughout by a thin,
pellucid, cellular expansion or wing, a greater or less number
of the apices of the veins becoming surrounded by the cel-
lular membrane in the form of an urn or vase, and within
them bearing the fructification.
The fronds are pendulous, and vary from an angular-
ovate to a lanceolate form, the divisions being considerably
undulated, so that they acquire a crisped appearance. The
first series of lobes are usually of an ovate-lanceolate form ;
the next series shorter, more ovate, and the third series of
divisions narrow, more or less linear. The ultimate branches
of the veins which extend into the divisions of this third
series, end just at or within the apex of the lobes if they are
barren ; but if they are fertile, they are produced beyond
the margin, and surrounded at the base by the urn-shaped
involucre, within which the spore-cases are placed. Some-
times the involucre is so placed as to appear immersed within
the margin, but it more frequently projects. The length of
the bristle-like receptacle is variable.
The variety Andrewsii is the lanceolate form of this plant,
in which the pinnae or first set of lobes are narrow and dis-
tinct.
The Sister Isle now claims, so far as the British Isles ari
concerned, sole parentage of this lovely, half-transparent
species ; there, amidst dripping rocks, it thrives with a de-
gree of luxuriance which charms every one who lias seen it
creeping over their shelving ledges. It is said to have been
formerly found in Yorkshire. The same species is widely
distributed in the warmer parts of the world\
86 BRITISH FEENS.
The variety and elegance of this plant make it a favourite
species for cultivation. The conditions of success are, a close
atmosphere, shade, moderate warmth, constant but not stag-
nant moisture, and a porous surface to which the roots may
cling.
CHAPTEK XIX
THE FILM FEENS.
THE British Hymenophyllums, or Film Ferns, are small
moss-like plants, with pellucid fronds, distinguished, along
with Trichomanes, by having their fructification at the edges
of the fronds ; and known from that genus by having the in-
volucres which surround the clusters of spore-cases, two-
valved instead of urn-shaped or entire. They are the smallest
of all our native Ferns, and, being somewhat rare, or at
least local in their distribution, they have always been re-
garded with much interest. Two native species are recog-
nised, much like each other in general aspect, and distin-
guished by one or two rather minute technicalities, which,
however, are sufficiently obvious to those who have learned
how to look for them.
The name Hymenophyllum is compounded from the two
Greek words which mean a membrane, and a leaf; and is ap-
plied to those plants with much propriety, from the mem-
branous texture of their leaves or fronds.
TUNBETDGE FILM FERN. [Plate XII. fig. 2.]
The name of this species is Hymenophyllum tunbridffense,
the Trichomanes turibridgense of older writers, so named in
consequence of its having been found in the neigbourhood of
Tunbridge, though occurring also in many other parts of the
United Kingdom.
It grows in the form of matted tufts, on the surface of
damp rocks, in the sheltered humid localities which are
congenial to it : the black, wire-like, creeping stems being
entangled together, and interlaced with the mosses and allied
plants which are often found in its company. The fronds
are very short, from one to three or fix inches long, mem-
branous and semitransparent, almost erect, and of a dull
brownish-green even when fresh, which gives them in some
measure the appearance of being dead. These fronds are
lanceolate, or somewhat ovate ; they are pinnate, with the
THE FILM PERNS.
87
FIG. 25.
pinnae pinnatifid or bipinnatifid, and having their branches
mostly produced on the upper side, though sometimes alter-
nately on each side the pinna. The fronds are virtually, as
is the case with the Trichomanes, a branched series of rigid
veins, winged throughout, except on the lower part of the
short stipes, by a narrow, membranous, leafy margin. The
clusters of spore-cases are produced around the axis of a vein,
which is continued beyond the margin of the fronds, this
vein or receptacle being enclosed within an urn-shaped in-
volucre, consisting of two nearly orbicular compressed valves,
which are spinosely serrate on the upper margin.
This species is widely distributed throughout the United
Kingdom, and is found in many other parts of the world.
The Hymenophyllums require the same conditions for their
successful cultivation as does the Trichomanes, to which
genus the reader is referred.
WILSON'S FILM FERN.
The name of this species is Hymenophyllum unilaterale.
It is perhaps more commonly known as If. Wilsoni,
It is a small moss-like plant, with
numerous creeping filiform stems,
generally growing in dense tufts, and
producing a crowded mass of semi-
drooping, brown-green, half-trans-
parent fronds, averaging three or
four inches in height. The fronds are
cf a linear-lanceolate form, and pin-
nate ; the rachis is usually somewhat
curved, and the pinnae are convex
above, all turned one way, so that
the fronds become more or less uni-
lateral ; the outline of the pinnae is
wedge-shaped, cut in a digitate-pin-
natifid way, the lobes being linear-
obtuse with a spinulose-serrate mar-
gin. The rigid veins, branching
from the principal rachis, which is
very slightly winged in the upper
part, become themselves branched
so as to produce one venule to each
segment; or, in other words, the
veins are twice branched, and
throughout their entire length after
they leave the central rib they are furnished with a narrow
Hymenophyllum unilaterale.
88 BRITISH FERNS.
membranous leafy wing or border, the rib itself being almost
quite without any such border. The clusters of spore-cases
are collected around the free ends of veins, which usually
occupy the place of the lowest forward segment, and are
included within an urceolate in vv lucre, which is divided into
two oblong convex inflected valves, which are quite entire at
the flattened edges where they meet.
This kind of Film Fern is equally diffused with the allied
species ; indeed, it seems to be the more common of the two
in some parts of Scotland, and in Ireland. It is widely dis-
tributed in other parts of the world.
CHAPTER XX.
THE ROYAL FERN.
THE Osmunda is called the Royal Fern, and well it de-
serves the regal honours, for it is the most majestic of our
indigenous Ferns. It is known by its large size, by having
its fronds entirely leafy in the lower part, and entirely fertile
at the top, the pinnae or branches at the apex of the fronds
being changed from the ordinary leafy form, into dense
masses of spore-cases, arranged in the aggregate in the same
way as the leafy pinnules would have been. This mode of
bearing the fructification renders it so strikingly obvious at
first sight, and gives the plant an aspect so entirely different
from that of those in which the fructification is more or less
concealed by its position on the under surface, that the
Osmunda, though one of what are classified as flowerless
plants, is often anomalously called the Flowering Fern.
In truth, the contracted chocolate-coloured apex looks not
unlike a dense panicle of small brown flowers crowning the
tall straight stem, whose lower pinnae have much the ap-
pearance of broad green leaves. There is but one native
species.
The name of the genus has given rise to some speculation.
Some derive it from the Saxon mund, which they say signi-
fies strength. Others consider the word expressive of
domestic peace, and derive it from the Saxon os, house, and
mund, peace. Others, again, have thought it commemora-
tive, as the following legend sets forth : " At Loch Tyne
dwelt the waterman Osmund. Fairest among maidens was
the daughter of Osmund. Her light brown hair and glow-
THE ROYAL FERBT. 89
ing cheek told of her Saxon origin, and her light steps
bounded over the green turf like a young fawn in his native
glades. Often, in the stillness of a summer's even, did the
mother and her fair-haired child sit beside the lake, to watch
the dripping and the flashing of the father's oars, as he
skimmed right merrily towards them over the deep blue
waters. Sounds, as of hasty steps, were heard one day, and
presently a company of fugitives told with breathless haste
that the cruel Danes were making way towards the ferry.
Osmund heard them with fear. Suddenly the shouts of
furious men came remotely on the ear. The fugitives rushed
on. Osmund stood for a moment ; then snatching up his
pars he rowed his trembling wife and fair child to a small
island covered with the great Osmund Royal, and helping
them to land, bade them to lie down beneath the tall Ferns.
Scarcely had the ferryman returned to his cottage, than a
company of Danes rushed in ; but they hurt him not, for
they knew he could do them service. During the day and
night did Osmund row backwards and forwards, ferrying
troops of those fierce men. When the last company was put
on shore, Osmund kneeling beside the bank, returned heart-
felt thanks to heaven for the preservation of his wife and
child. Often in after years did Osmund speak of that day's
peril: and his fair child, grown up to womanhood, called the
tall Fern by her father's name."
OSMUND ROYAL, OR FLOWERING FERN. [Plate XI.]
The scientific name of this noble Fern is Osmunda regalis.
This plant has a very stately aspect, growing to the ave-
rage height of three or four feet, but sometimes found eight
or ten feet high. The stem by degrees acquires height, so
that in very old and luxuriant plants there is a trunk formed
from a foot to two feet high. From the crown of the trunk,
whether seated close to the ground, or elevated, grow the
fronds. When young the fronds have generally a reddish
stipes, and a glaucous surface. These fronds, which are
annual, growing up in spring, and perishing in the autumn,
are lanceolate, bipinnate ; the pinnae lanceolate or ovate-
lanceolate, with pinnules of an oblong-ovate form, somewhat
auricled at the base, bluntish at the apex, and saw-edged
along the margin. Some fronds are entirely barren, and
these differ from the fertile ones only in having the leafy
pinnules continued all the way to the apex, instead of
having the apex contracted, and bearing the spore-cases :
The usual condition of the fructification is, that a few of tho
90 BRITISH FERNS.
shortened pinnae, which form the apex of the frond, are
contracted and soriferous throughout.
The venation, as seen in the barren fronds, consists of a
prominent midvein, bearing once or twice forked venules
proceeding to the margin in direct lines. In the fertile parts
of the frond, only the midrib of the pinnules is fully deve-
loped, and the spore-cases are attached to a small portion of
the venules which becomes developed just to serve as a re-
ceptacle. The spore-cases are subglobose, shortly stalked,
reticulated, and two-valved, opening vertically.
The Osmund Royal is a widely- distributed plant, occurring
in favourable localities, that is, marshy and boggy situations,
throughout the United Kingdom, and, as already mentioned,
extremely abundant and luxuriant in some parts of Ireland.
It is common throughout Europe.
This plant is especially suited, in cultivation, to occupy the
base of rockwork abutting upon a piece of water, where its
roots may be placed within the reach of the water. It
should have peat earth for its roots. The best way to esta-
blish it is, to procure strong vigorous patches from localities
where it abounds, and these, if removed carefully, will suc-
ceed perfectly.
CHAPTER XXL
THE MOONWORT.
THE Botrychium or Moonwort is a small and very distinct plant,
easily known by two circumstances, first, it has two fronds or
rather two branches of its frond, the one of which is leafy, the
other seed-bearing; and secondly, the pinnae of the leafy
branch are crescent-shaped, with the outer margin jagged.
There is no other native plant which has these peculiar fea-
tures, and hence the Moonwort is a plant very easily recog-
nised when it is met with. There is another peculiarity in
this Fern which also serves to distinguish it, and its near
ally the Ophioglossum, from all other native species the ve-
nation is straight, not circinate ; that is, the fronds, before
they are developed, are not rolled up spirally, unrolling
as they expand, but in the incipient state the parts are merely
folded together by a flat surface. Only one species of Botry-
chium is indigenous.
The name of the genus is derived from a Greek word sig-
nifying a clmter.
THE ADDER'S TONGUE. 01
COMMON MOONWORT. [Plate xn. fig. 3.]
The usual name of the Moonwort is Botrychium Lunaria.
It was formerly called Osmunda Lunaria.
This is a.very peculiar, almost stemless plant, furnished
with a few coarse brittle fibres, and a bud springing from
the permanent point which represents the stem. The new
fronds spring up annually, and perish before winter, and in
the majority of cases are not very conspicuous ; they vary
from three to eight or ten inches in height, the lower half
consisting of a smooth, hollow stipes; above, the frond is
separated into two branches, one of which is spreading, pin-
nate, leafy, oblong ; the pinnse crescent-shaped, or some-
what fan-shaped approaching to lunate, filled with a radiat-
ing series of forked veins. The other branch is erect, fertile,
divided into branches corresponding with the pinnse, and
into another series of branchlets, on which, distinct,
but clustered, the globose stalklels spore-cases are produced.
The spore-cases are two-valved, and open transversely when
ripe ; the valves are concave.
This species is widely distributed, but local, occurring in
open heaths and pasture, where the soil is peaty or sandy,
and not wet. The same plant occurs in other parts of Europe,
and also in North America.
The Moonwort is not very easily cultivated. It may,
however, be preserved in pots in a cold frame, if transplanted
while dormant, or when just starting, into peaty or sandy
loamy soil, and kept from either of the extremes of drought
or saturation. The roots should not be disturbed when once
established.
CHAPTER xxrr.
THE ADDER'S TONGUE.
THE Ophioglossum or Adder's Tongue is very nearly related
to the Moonwort, though at first sight having a very different
aspect. The points in which it agrees are, that the parts are
folded up straight in the young undeveloped state, and the
fronds are two-branched, one branch being leafy, the other
fertile. It differs most obviously in its parts being all
simple, while those of Botrychium are compound. Its habit
of growth is precisely the same, but the fructification is very
92 BRITISH FERNS.
different, consisting of a two-ranked spike of imbedded spore-
cases. There are but two native species.
The name Ophioglossum literally means Adder's-tongue,
which is the English name borne by this plant. It is de-
rived from Greek words which mean a serpent, and a
tongw.
COMMON ADDER'S TONGUE. [Plate xn. fig. 1.]
This is the Ophioglossum vulgatum of botanists.
It is a small stemless plant, producing a few coarse brittle
roots from a central crown which annually produces a bud
from which, about May, a new frond arises. The fronds
grow from six to ten or twelve inches in height, with a
smooth, round, succulent stipes below, and becoming di-
vided, in the upper part, into two branches, the one of which
is leafy, entire, ovate-obtuse, traversed by veins which form
elongated meshes. The fertile branch is erect, contracted,
about half its length being soriferous, forming a linear
slightly tapering spike of two lines of crowded imbedded
spore-cases. The spore-cases are considered as being pro-
duced on the margins of a contracted frond ; when mature,
the margin splits across at intervals corresponding with the
centre of each spore-case ? so that eventually the spike resem-
bles a double row of gaping roundish cavities.
The Adder's-tongue is very abundant in the localities
where it is found, which are damp meadows and pastures, on
a loamy soil. It is generally distributed over England, but
is less abundant in the other parts of the United Kingdom.
The species is a common European plant.
There is no difficulty in cultivating the Adder's-tongue,
whether in pots, or among an out-door collection of Ferns ;
the essentials are a stiff loamy soil, and the constant pre-
sence of water enough to prevent drought.
DWARF ADDER'S TONGUE.
The Dwarf Adder's Tongue is the Ophioglossum lusitanicum
of botanists.
This species is technically distinguished by the small lan-
ceolate fleshy barren branch of its fronds ; and by its being
altogether much smaller than the common species. From
the crown of the rhizome the frond rises to the height of
about one and a half to three inches, and is divided above
into a barren leafy branch, and a spicate fertile branch.
Occasionally a barren radical frond, of lanceolate form, ac-
companies the two-branched frond. The barren branch is
FIG. 26.
THE BRITISH CLUB-MOSSES. 93
spreading, lanceolate, narrowing towards, but bluntish at
the apex, and tapering at the base ; from three-fourths of an
inch to an inch and a half long, thick when
fresh, so that the slender veins are not
seen ; they are, however united in very
much elongated meshes. The fertile branch
or spike is somewhat taller than the barren
branch, supported by a footstalk, which is
thickened upwards ; itself about half an
inch long, linear, with a tapering apex, and
bearing along each margin about six imbed-
ded spore-cases, which at length burst trans-
versely.
The existence of this curious little plant
in Guernsey, was first made known in 1854.
One remarkable feature of the plant is the
very early period of the year at which its
growth is made. By the middle of January
it is fully developed, and the fronds no
doubt perish early in the spring. The range
of this Ophioglossum appears to be exten-
sive ; for it is recorded to inhabit the sandy
coasts, both of Europe and Africa, washed
by the Mediterranean Sea ; and to extend
to the Canary Islands and Madeira. It is not
improbable that a diligent search might be
rewarded by its discovery in the western
counties of England, or in Ireland. Its early development
and speedy decay should, however, be borne in mind by those
who may undertake the search.
CHAPTEK XXm.
TUB BRITISH CLUB-MOSSES.
THE Club-mosses are, as the name implies, moss-like plants
mostly of creeping or prostrate habit ; with slender fork-
branched stems, which are throughout their whole length
clothed with leaves so placed as to overlie each other like
the tiling of a roof. The fructification is produced in the
axils of some of these leaves, in most of the species confined
to those at the apex of the branches, where it forms a cone-
94 BRITISH TERNS.
like head. The organs of reproduction at once distinguish
the Club-mosses from all other plants.
The family group of the Club-mosses consists of two
genera, or less comprehensive family groups, which are
technically called Lycopodium and Selaginetla. The true
Lycopodiums are known by having kidney-shaped spore-
cases, containing minute powdery or granular spores ; these
have been called antheridia. In the Selaginellas, an addi-
tional kind of spore-case is produced, which contains three
or four roundish fleshy spores, many times as large as the
granular spores just mentioned, and marked at the apex by
three elevated ridges ; these larger bodies are called oopho-
ridia. The true explanation of these parts is a matter of
doubt ; all that seems certainly known being, that the larger
spores or oophoridia, germinate, or at least vegetate. It has
been usual to regard both sets of organs, when present, as
axillary to the leaves or bracts, and so they may be considered
for all practical purposes ; but a different theoretical expla-
nation has been given of them.
These plants, like the Ferns, are most abundant in hot,
humid, and especially insular situations in the tropics, be-
coming scarcer northwards, but often even in very northerly
regions covering large tracts of land. Our native species,
with one exception, are found most abundantly on the high
lands of the north, decreasing in quantity as they advance
southwards. Many of the tropical Club-mosses and Sela-
ginellas are extremely beautiful : some are of scandent
nabit, and many of them attain considerable size.
Though of humble growth, and altogether unattractive in
appearance, the Club-mosses are not without their use.
More than one species is used in dyeing operations, and
several have a medicinal reputation. The powdery spores,
often called pollen, produced in considerable quantities by
one common species, are highly inflammable, and used in
pyrotechny under the name of vegetable brimstone. Being
of a drying and healing nature, this ' pollen' is also used to
prevent excoriation ; and in pharmacy is used sometimes for
coating pills, as it is with difficulty wetted. The Common
Club-moss is emetic, and the Fir Club-moss is a cathartic and
a powerful irritant ; the former is used in the treatment of
cutaneous disorders, and is a reputed remedy for a dreadful
disease called Plica Polonica.
The species of Club-mosses now existing have been
thought to be the direct representatives of the great tree-
like Lepidodendra of a former age met with in a fossil state,
THE BRITISH CLUB-MOSSES. 95
which must have rivalled our coniferous trees. The evi-
dence in support of this view has been questioned ; but there
seems no good reason to doubt, at least, that there is a very
close affinity between the two races ; and, indeed, some of
the most skilful investigators of this subject find an almost
complete agreement between them.
The British species are with one exception included in the
genus Lycopodium, the name of which comes from lycos, a
wolf, and podos, a foot, and is given in allusion to the sup-
posed resemblance of its forked fertile stems to the claw of
some animal, as of the wolf. Hence one species, and that
which probably suggested the name, has been called Wolfs-
claw. The name Selaginella is a diminutive of Selago, the
specific title of one of the common species of Club-moss.
THE FIR CLUB-MOSS.
This is the Lycopodium Selago of botanists. It is one of
the commonest of the species, and is usually of upright
growth^ the others being decumbent. This upright habit,
which is evidently natural to it, often, however, gives way
before the force of gravity, and in such cases the lower part
of the stems is found to be somewhat recumbent, while the
upper parts retain an upright position. The stems vary
from three or four to six or eight inches high, and are
branched two or three times in a two-forked manner ; they
are stout, tough, rigid, nearly of equal length, producing a
level-topped tuft, and thickly clothed with imbricated leaves
which are arranged in eight rows. These leaves are lance-
shaped, acute, shining green, leathery in texture, and smooth
on the margin ; in plants which have grown in exposed
places they are shorter and more closely pressed to the stem-
while in plants developed in more confined and humid
situations they are longer, less rigid, and more spreading.
The fructification is in this species not borne in terminal
spikes as in the other kinds, but is produced in the axils of
the leaves at the upper part of the stems. The spore-cases
are rather large, sessile, kidney-shaped, two-valved, and
filled with minute pale yellow spores.
Besides the ordinary spores, the plant is furnished with
other means of propagation in the shape of deciduous buds,
produced for the most part in the axils of the leaves, about
the apices of the branches. These buds separate sponta-
neously, fall to the ground, and there vegetate, first produ-
cing roots, and then elongating into a leafy stem. They
are formed by an altered leaf, which, becoming somewhat
06 BRITISH PERNS.
swollen on the outside, protrudes from its inner margin five
smaller lanceolate leaves or teeth, the whole being elevated
on a short hardened footstalk. Within this is a whorl of
five parts representing a gemma or bud ; the three inner
lobes of this series are large and prominent, and of an ovate
oblong acute form ; the two outer lobes are very small, scale-
like, one closely appressed to the anterior, the other to the
posterior surface of the bud. In the centre of the three
inner lobes, in due time, appears a thickish oblong body,
which is in reality the undeveloped stem, and eventually
elongates, puts out small leaflets, and becomes a plant.
These buds are capable of growth either while attached to
their parent stem or when detached and in contact with the
soil ; and they appear to be the chief means of propagation
possessed by this species, for the statements which have
been made respecting the germination of the spores of the
Fir Club-moss are open to much doubt. Probably it was
these buds which were caused to germinate.
There is no doubt this plant possesses some medicinal
properties, though it is not now used in regular practice. It
is powerfully irritant, and is used by country-people, in the
form of an ointment, as a counter-irritant in parts near the
eye, for diseases of that organ ; it appears to be also some-
times employed as an emetic and cathartic, but not without
danger. A decoction is, on the authority of Linnaeus, used
in Sweden to destroy vermin on cattle. It is also employed
for dyeing, and to fix the colour of woollen cloths.
THE INTERRUPTED CLUB-MOSS.
The Lycppodium, annotinum of botanists. A very distinct
plant, easily recognised by the interrupted leafing of its
stems, the leaves being at distant intervals much diminished
in size and less spreading in their direction, these points in-
dicating where the annual growths have commenced and
terminated. It is known by its narrow leaves spreading out
from the stem on all sides, and arranged in five indistinct
rows. It is a large-growing species, often a foot high, with
irregularly branched stems, which, after they have produced
fruit-spikes, or have reached an equivalent age, become de-
pressed, rooting and throwing up another series of upright
branches. The annual increase of the stems is well marked
by the closer-pressed and shorter leaves which occur at the
upper part of each growth, and this is what gives the inter-
rupted appearance to the stems. The leaves, which do not
decay for several years, are linear-lanceolate in form, and
THE BRITISH CLUB-MOSSES. 97
have their margins minutely serrulate, or finely saw-toothed,
and their apex drawn out and terminating in a rigid point ;
they are attached directly to the stems without stalks, and are
arranged in an indistinctly spiral or somewhat five-ranked
order. The lower leaves, that is to say, those remaining on
the older portions of the stem, are more spreading than those
on the younger growth, and indeed on the oldest portions
often become somewhat bent back.
The spike of fructification is in this species perfectly stalk-
less, being seated directly; on the termination of the leafy
branch. It is about an inch long, oblong, consisting of
closely overlapping bracts, of a roundish-ovate form, having
a long narrow point and jagged membranous margins. In
the axil of these bracts is produced a large reniform capsule,
containing numerous minute pale yellowish spores. The
bracts become reflexed when these spores have escaped from
the burst capsule.
This is a rare species, confined to wild Fia - 27>
mountainous localities, occurring in the
Scottish Highlands and the Northern Isles,
and in Carnarvonshire and the Lake dis-
trict. It is plentiful in the pine-forests
of the north of Europe, and in some parts
of North America.
THE COMMON CLUB-MOSS.
This is the Lycopodium clavatum of
botanists. It is of procumbent habit,
having vigorous creeping stems often
many feet in length, much branched, and
attached to the soil here and there by
means of tough pale-coloured wiry-look-
ing roots. The young branches, which
are very thickly clothed with leaves,
grow rather upwards at first, but soon all
become prostrate, and cross and interlace,
forming a close matted tuft, whence comes,
in fact, the name it bears in Sweden
Matte-grass, or mat-grass. The stems arc
densely clothed with small, narrow lance-
olate, flattish leaves, which remain fresh
through the winter ; they are smooth on
the margin, and terminate in a long white
point. The upright stalks supporting the Lycopodi
spikes are bare of leaves, but have at
y BRITISH PERNS.
intervals whorls of similar smaller bodies called bracts, closely
pressed to the stalk.
The spikes of fructification are usually over an inch in
length, and are supported by a stalk of twice or more their
own length. They are commonly produced in pairs, though
sometimes singly, and occasionally three together on the
same stalk. These spikes are cylindrical, erect, consisting of
crowded triangular-ovate acuminate bracts of a pale yellow
colour, having membranous serrated margins. In the axils
of these bracts the spore-cases are produced, and these are
subreniform, two-valved, and filled with innumerable sul-
phur-coloured powdery spores. The bracts become reflexed
after the spore-cases have shed their contents.
This is a common species, growing in moors and heathy
places in mountainous and hilly tracts of country through-
out England, Wales, and Scotland j and frequent, though less
abundant, in Ireland.
The leafy stems of this species are used for dyeing pur-
poses, as well as to fix colours in the stead of alum. The
long slender stems, used under the name of Stag's-horn
Moss, are formed into pretty ornaments for the houses of
rustics, and for decorating their fire-places during summer.
Linnaeus relates that in Lapland the boys have their heads
decorated with chaplets formed of it, which the twin spikes
projecting on all sides have the effect of calling up the
idea of groups of fauns and satyrs. Indeed, the long
flexible stems are not badly adapted for various decorative
purposes.
THE MAESH CLUB-MOSS.
This is the Lycopodium inundatum of the botanists ; a
diminutive and common plant, very frequent on moist
heaths and commons in the southern parts of England, less
common northwards,_ comparatively rare in Wales and Scot-
land, and not found in Ireland. It prefers to grow on spots
from which the turf has been pared, and is of prostrate habit,
with simple stems two or three inches long, growing close to
the surface of the ground, to which they are firmly attached
by a few short stout roots. They are thickly clothed with
narrow linear-lanceolate acute-pointed entire leaves; those
on the barren horizontal stems are curved upwards. The
plant extends itself at the point, throughout the growing
season, the other end meanwhile undergoing a process of
decay, so that in winter, when the growth is arrested, the
decay still going on, the living stem is much reduced, and a
THE BRITISH CLUB-MOSSES. 99
small portion only remains over to produce new foliage the
following season.
The spike of fructification, which is produced towards
autumn, is seated at the top of an erect branch, clothed
throughout with leaves of the same shape as those on the
horizontal stems ; the branch and the spike nearly of equal
thickness throughout, the spike about an inch long, the
branch rather more. The spike is green, and is formed of
narrow linear-lanceolate bracts, rather dilated at the base,
and sometimes having one or two shallow teeth on each side.
The spore-cases are in the axils of these bracts.
THE SAVIN-LEAVED CLUB-MOSS.
This, the Lycopodium alpinwn of botanical writers, gets
its trivial name from the resemblance between its branches
clothed with the closely-pressed leaves, and those of the
Savin, Juniperus Sabina. It is a pretty little evergreen
plant, forming thick wide-spreading patches of round, tough,
creeping, sparingly leafy stems, bearing numerous other erect
stems, which are repeatedly fork-branched, growing erect,
from three to six inches high. The branches are set with
small smooth sessile leaves, whose form is lance-shaped,
ending in a point ; and on the lower ones these leaves are
more closely placed, but arranged in four tolerably regular
lines, so as to give a squarish form to the branches. The
little tufts of branches are for the most part level-topped,
those which bear spikes of fructification being however
longer than the barren ones.
The fructifications consist of little spikes, terminating a
portion of the branches, erect, close, cylindrical, yellowish-
green, and sessile on the branches, that is, joined to the leafy
ertion below, without any intermediate stalk-like part.
ie spike consists of a number of bracts closely packed
together, each having in its axil a capsule containing nume-
rous minute pale yellowish spores. The bracts become re-
flexed after the spores have been dispersed. The plants are
firmly fixed to the soil, by means of tough strong wiry
branched roots, produced at intervals along the prostrate
stems.
The head-quarters of this species is in elevated moun-
tainous tracts. It occurs very abundantly in Scotland and
Wales ; in the northern isles ; on the hills of the north, and
extending into the south-west of England. It is less com-
mon in Ireland. It also occurs throughout the Alpine dis*
tricts of Europe and Northern Asia.
02
100 BRITISH FERNS.
The Savin-leaved Club-moss is a bitter plant, with a
somewhat aromatic flavour, and possesses emetic properties ;
it is, however, seldom applied to any use. According to Sir
"W. J. Hooker, it is used in Iceland as a dye for woollen
cloths, to which it gives a pale and pleasing but not brilliant
yellow. The process is simply that of boiling the cloth in
water, along with a quantity of the Lycopodiwn, and some
leaves of the Bog Whortleberry.
THE PEICKLY MOUNTAIN MOSS.
This is the Selagindla spinosa of scientific botanists,
though it is probably more generally known by the name of
Lycopodium selaginoides, which it formerly bore. It has a
slender, procumbent, often branched stem, the barren
branches short and wavy, the fertile ones ascending or erect,
and from two to three inches high. They are clothed with
lance-shaped leaves, of a delicate texture, jagged along the
margins with spiny teeth ; those on the decumbent stems
being shorter, as well as more distant and spreading, than
those of the fertile branches.
The inflorescence, as in the other species, is a terminal
spike of about an inch in length, consisting of lance-shaped
jagged-edged bracts, larger and more closely pressed than the
leaves of the stem. These bracts protect two kinds of fruc-
tification ; the lower ones bear in their axils large three-
celled spore-cases containing three globular oophoridia, and
the upper ones bear subreniform spore-cases, containing the
minute pulverulent pollen-like spores. This is the only
native Lycopod which produces the two separate kinds of
spores.
Though hardly to be considered rare, this is one of the less
common species. It is found in the north of England,
Wales, and Scotland, in which latter country it is pretty
generally distributed. In Ireland it is rather common. The
localities which it prefers are wet boggy places by the side
of mountain rills.
The Lycopodiums are not frequently seen, in cultivation,
but they nevertheless, equally with the Ferns, would be-
come a source of much interest if brought constantly under
the eye in a living state ; and in an equal degree the study
of them in this condition- -the watching of their progress
and development day ny day would contribute to a
thorough knowledge of them and their differences.
A small Wardian case, a northern aspect, a few blocks of
THE BRITISH CLUB-MOSSES. 101
sandstone, and some peat soil, are the materials that would
be required for their cultivation. The Wardian case, which
may be rude or polished, while protecting them in some
degree from the changes of temperature incidental to a low-
land climate, would secure to them a constantly moist at
mosphere, which they all prefer. The interior should be
fitted up with an artificial mound of " rockwork," made of
lumps of porous sandstone. At the base of the " rockwork"
a little pond or pool would provide a situation in which
Isoetes and Pilularia might be cultivated. In the interstices
Df the rockwork, the smaller and alpine species, such as
alpinum, annotinum, and selaginoides, should be planted;
while about its base on the margins of the water, and con-
sequently on the lower and damper parts, should be placed
such as inundatum and clavatum.
The soil employed should be peat earth intermediate in
texture between the spongy and the unctuous kinds ; that
used among the rockwork may have in addition a portion of
the sandstone pounded and intermixed with it. That used
for inundatum in the lower part of the case will not require
this intermixture, and, in fact, will be the better with-
out it.
All parts of the soil should be kept rather moist than
otherwise, by the application of fresh water occasionally;
but as the confinement of the atmosphere in the damp state,
in a close case, might tend to produce decay in some parts of
the vegetable tissues, the little door or hinged sash may from
time to time be left open for a few hours, in order that the
stagnant moisture may be carried off, when a fresh supply
will be doubly grateful to the plants.
It must be recollected, that the soil will be exposed to
very slight drying influences, and can, therefore, never re-
quire to be very copiously supplied at any one time ; the
proper course being, rather to ventilate frequently, say once a
week, in order to carry off the accumulated dampness, and
then by a moderate fresh supply to produce a continued
change of the watery element. For the same reason, and to
prevent the souring of the soil, which always takes place
more or less when it is in contact with stagnant water, an
outlet at the bottom of the case should be carefully pro-
vided, by which all the free water at least, which drains
through after the soil has been irrigated, may be removed as
it accumulates.
As to aspect, the northern is decidedly the best, principally
for the reason that in such a situation the sun has less influ-
102 BKITISH FERNS.
ence on the temperature of the interior of the case ; and an
extreme degree of confined heat would be anything but fa-
vourable to these plants.
The appearance of the case would, no doubt, be improved
by covering the soil entirely with living Sphagnum moss,
which, if neatly packed on the surface with the tops of its
stems uppermost, would continue to grow. Most of the
species of Club-moss would prefer to grow amongst the
Sphagnum, which, to prevent its being drawn up and smo-
thering the plants, should be neatly clipped down occasion-
ally with a pair of scissors.
The interest of such a collection, so far as their appearance
is concerned, would depend of course upon the taste with
which the rockwork was designed and executed, and the
plants distributed about it; but whatever the result as a
matter of taste, the study of the living plant might be pro-
secuted without inconvenience, and which could never
happen in their wild localities all the species might be
brought under the eye at one time, for the purpose of con-
trasting them, and studying their differences.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE BRITISH PEPPERWORTS.
THE group of plants to which the name of Pepperworts has
been given, is technically called Marsileacece, and contains
but a few genera, these being of very curious structure. It
has only two representatives in tlie British flora. These two
plants belong to different genera, and are both submerged
aquatic plants of small size, agreeing in having grassy or
quill-like foliage, but differing materially in habit, the one
being a creeping grower and the other tufted.
Isoetes is sometimes classed with the Club-mosses instead
of the Pepperworts. It takes its scientific name from the
Greek word isos, equal, and etos, the year, from its retaining
its fronds throughout the year; and is commonly called
Quillwort. The genus differs from Pilularia, its nearest
ally, in having its spore-cases enveloped by the dilated bases
of its hollow leaves; some of the spore-cases containing
large and some much smaller pollen-like spores. It may
also be known, when examined in a fresh state, by its hollow
^rvyes being composed of four rows of elongated cells, which
THE BRITISH PEPPERWORTS.
103
give it a bluntly quadrangular section. There is but one
species, the I. lacustris, a stemless quill-leaved submerged
plant, which gives the appearance of a green turf to the
bottom of the water where it occurs.
Pilularia., the Pillwort or Pepper-grass, differs consider-
ably from Isoetes in the parts of fructification ; for while in
Isoetes the spore-cases are within the thickened bases of the
leaves ; in Pilularia they are quite free, and attached directly
to the stem, though seated at the base of a small tuft of
leaves ; they also differ in structure, that of Isoetes consisting
of granular and pulverulent spores, occupying ; separate spore-
cases, while in that of Pilularia the two kinds of spores are
produced within each spore-case, the larger bodies occupying
principally the lower, and the
smaller ones the upper parts. Its FlG - 28 -
name comes faompilula, signify-
ing a little pill, the spore-cases
having a nearly globular form.
THE EUROPEAN QU1LLWORT, OR
MERLIN'S GRASS.
This is the Isoetes lacmtris of
botanists, a very curious plant,
growing at the bottom of moun-
tain lakes, and having so much
the appearance of submerged
grass, that the inexperienced eye
would probably pass it by unno-
ticed. It has a fleshy tuber, nearly
globular in form, white and com-
Sact internally, but spongy and
ark-brown coloured on the out-
side. The leaves spring up from the
crown of these tubers, and grow
erect to the height of four or six
inches, or more ; they are persist-
ent, and of an olive-green colour,
and their general form is awl-
shaped, with the basal portion
dilated ; above which dilated part
they are bluntly quadrangular,
being formed of four parallel hol-
low tubes, which taper off towards
the apex, and terminate in a sharp
point,
lilies lacKttrit.
104 BRITISH FERNS.
The fructification is contained within the dilated bases of
the leaves, and varies with the position it occupies. The
spore-cases at the base of the outer leaves contain roundish
bodies or spores, marked on the top by three elevated ra-
(liating ridges. The spore-cases found at the base of the
inner leaves contain more numerous minute angular spores,
of a pale yellow colour.
It is said that fish feed on the Isoetes; and that, when
brought within the reach of cattle, it is greedily eaten by
them, and proves fattening.
The cultivation of the Quillwort presents few difficulties ;
in fact, water and a little soil are the only requisites ; In
such a miniature lake as has been recommended to be intro-
duced in a Wardian case fitted up for Club-mosses, this plant
and the Pihdaria might be made to thrive ; but the most
interesting way in which it could be grown would be in an
aquatic plant-case, with transparent sides, or in any substi-
tute for such a structure, such as a glass jar of sufficient
depth. Planted in this way, its growth could be watched,
and many interesting points of its economy could not fail
to reward a careful observer.
The aquatic plant-case admits of much variety of detail.
The most useful form is probably that of a rectangular glass
cistern of the requisite size, held together by a light metal
frame, and closed in by a glass lid or cover. This would
require to be supported on a stand. On the bottom of the
interior, or projecting from the sides, proportionate-sized
masses of coral or other rocks should be introduced, among
which a little soil introduced would serve to fix and nourish
the plants. Thus the smaller aquatic plants might, though
in their proper element, be examined without difficulty, and
at all times.
The proper situation for such a case would be the inside
of any convenient window, provided it were not too much
exposed to the heat of the sun ; for if placed where the sun
would have much influence on the temperature of the water,
the plants would probably suffer. Some of the very small
kinds of fish and the small aquatic molluscs might be intro-
duced with advantage, and they would impart something
like animation to the water. A miniature Aquarium of this
kind, stocked with miniature fish, and planted with thp
Vcdlisneria and other aquatics in the water, and with Trl-
ckomanes and other Ferns above, would furnish an object of
intense and ever-changing interest.
THE BRITISH PEPPERWORTS,
105
THE PILLWORT OE PEPPER-GRASS.
The Pilidaria globulifera of botanists, called sometimes
1'epper-grass, is a small creeping plant with grassy leaves,
growing usually in the shallow margins of lakes and pools,
where it is occasionally overflowed ; but
sometimes occurring entirely submerged.
The stem is thread-like, occasionally
branched, and producing on the lower
side, at intervals, small tufts of fibrous
roots which descend almost perpendicu-
larly into the muddy soil beneath. On
the upper part of the stem, at the same
points, occur tufts of erect leaves, which
are curled up in the incipient state, like
those of a Fern, but on unrolling assume
the erect position. These leaves are
bristle-shaped, from one to four inches
long, bright green, smooth externally, and
hollow within.
The fructifications consist of small glo-
bular spore-cases, attached by a very short
stalk to the stem at the points whence
the leaves and roots proceed. They are
densely covered externally with pale brown
jointed hairs, and are about the size of a
small pea or pepper-corn. These spore-
cases are four-celled, and when mature,
split into quarters, the four parts remain-
ing attached to the footstalk by their base.
The lower part of the spore-case is occu-
pied by the large spores, which are round- Piiularia globulifera.
ish-oblong, with a terminal nipple-like
point, and the upper part is occupied by the small spore*
which are oblong pale yellow bodies resembling pollen.
The Pillwort is widely distributed throughout the United
Kingdom, but is apparently more abundant in England and
Wales, than in Scotland and Ireland. It usually grows on
the margins of lakes or pools, where it is covered by the
water in winter, and more or less exposed during the summer;
bu>. it is also sometimes, though rarely, met with entirely
submerged.
106 BRITISH FEKNS.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE BRITISH HORSETAILS.
THIS race of plants bears an aspect altogether different from
that of the foregoing groups ; and indeed they have no very
obvious affinity with any existing order of plants. In their
mode of growth they have a certain resemblance to the
Ephedras and Casuarinas, but this resemblance is confined
to their general aspect. With Ferns and Club-mosses they
have little in common. Their most direct relationship is
with the aquatic group Chara.
The Horsetails are distinguished from other plants by the
following characteristics. They are leafless, branching, with
hollow jointed stems, separable at certain joints, which occur
at intervals where they are solid, and surrounded by mem-
branous toothed sheaths : each length, in fact, terminates
above in one of these sheaths, into which the base of the
next length fits. The sheaths seem to represent abortive
leaves. The fructification consists of terminal cone-like
heads.
The stems consist chiefly of cellular matter, coated exter-
nally by a layer of hard woody tubes, from which plates of
a similar nature project towards the central cavity. Between
the outer and inner surface of this cylinder-like stem, occur
one or more circles of tubes, or air-cavities, differing in size
and position; these afford, by their comparative size, number,
and arrangement, excellent auxiliary marks for the recogni-
tion of the species. The cuticle or skin abounds in silicious
particles secreted in the form of little warts, which impart
to the surface a greater or less degree of roughness in pro-
portion to their prominence. In some species this deposit
of silicious matter is so great, that the whole of the vegetable
Bubstance may be destroyed by maceration, the form of the
plant being preserved entire in the flinty coating. It has
been found that the ashes contain half their weight of
silica.
On subjecting a portion of the cuticle to the analysis of
polarized light under a high magnifying power, Dr. Brevster
detected a beautiful arrangement of the silicious par>/cles,
which are found to be distributed in two lines parallel to the
axis of the stem, and extending over the whole surface.
The greater number of the particles were seen to form
simple straight lines, but the rest were grouped into oval
THE BRITISH HORSETAILS. 107
forms, connected together like the jewels of a necklace by a
chain of particles forming a sort of curvilinear quadrangle ;
these rows of oval combinations being arranged in pairs.
Many of the particles which form these straight lines do not
exceed the five-hundredth part of an inch in diameter.
Beyond their employment in the arts, the Eqiiisetums are
of litle importance in an economical point of view. They
are useless as fodder, and exploded as physic, though they
have had some reputed astringent virtues. The under-
ground stems, however, contain in winter, when the plants
are inactive, a considerable quantity of starch, and they may
be occasionally eaten by animals.
The jointed tubular silicious stems, and terminal cones
of fructification, are marks by which the Equisetums may
always be readily distinguished from all other plants ; but
the species are not so easily recognised among themselves,
owing to the great sameness which occurs among certain
groups of them. The chief features relied on for their dis-
crimination, are the similarity or otherwise of the fertile and
barren stems, the number of ridges or striae which occur on
the exterior surface of these stems, and the structure of the
sheaths which surround the joints. By means of the pecu-
liarities which these parts present, the species may be cer-
tainly identified, and after a little experience has been had,
several of them may be at once known by means of those
first-sight appearances which become associated with the
plants in the mind of the attentive student.
The name Equisetum is compounded from eqtius, a horse,
and seta, a hair or bristle ; whence comes the English name
of Horsetail, a not inapt comparison with the barren stems
of some of the species.
THE GREAT HORSETAIL; OR, GREAT WATER HORSETAIL.
This plant, the Equisetum Telmateia of botanists, and
called also the Great Mud Horsetail, is one of those species
in which the ordinary fertile and the barren stems are per-
fectly dissimilar ; the former being short and quite simple,
the latter tall and compoundly branched. Occasionally a
third sort of stem intermediate between the two, is produced
late in the season.
The barren stems are very stately objects when in a luxu-
riant condition of growth. They grow erect, from six to
seven feet or more in height, and are clothed nearly to the
bottom with spreading proximate whorls consisting of from
thirty to forty branches, which are sometimes again
108 BRITISH PERNS.
branched. The upper whorls have fewer branches. The
whorls are most crowded towards the top of the stem, and
there also the branches are about the full length six or
eight inches; lower down the stem the branches become
shorter, and the whorls more distant. The stems measure
about an inch and a half in diameter at the _ stoutest part,
and from this point decrease upwards, becoming slender at
the point. The surface is smooth, with mere indications of
about thirty faint lines extending into the sheaths, and there
becoming more apparent. The sheaths set close to the
stem, or nearly so, and are half an inch long, green below,
with a dark-brown ring at top, and divided at the margin
into slender, bristly, dark-brown teeth, with paler membra-
nous edges, and frequently adhering together in twos and
threes. The branches have eight or ten ribs united in pairs,
and their sheaths terminate in four or five teeth.
The fertile stem is erect, simple, from nine inches to a foot
or more high, succulent, pale brown, and smooth. From
each of the numerous joints arises a large loose funnel-
shaped sheath, the upper ones being largest ; they are dis-
tinctly striated, and terminate in thirty to forty long, slender
teeth. The catkins are large, between two and three inches
long.
A section of the barren stem shows an outer surface with-
out ridges and furrows, and in the very narrow cylinder of
the stem occiir two circles of cavities, the outer one consist-
ing of large openings, those of the inner minute, and alter-
nating with the larger. The central cavity is very large, the
tissue of the stem being reduced to a very narrow ring.
This is a widely-dispersed and rather common plant,
occurring on moist banks and in muddy places, by the sides
of streams and the margins of muddy pools. The nature of
the soil would seem to be of small importance, provided it
has its necessary degree of moisture, for it is recorded as
occurring both in sandy and in clayey soils, as well as in
muddy pools. It is frequent in Ireland ; and is found both
in Scotland and Wales.
THE SHADE HOKSETAIL.
This plant is the Equisetum pratense of botanists ; and has
been also known in this country as E. umbrosum, and E.
Drummondii.
The fertile and barren stems are quite dissimilar in their
appearance. The former are short, quite simple, and termina-
THE BRITISH HORSETAILS. 109
ting in a cone-like head of spore-cases. The latter are taller,
and produce several whorls of long, crowded, slender
branches ; whilst a third kind produce both whorls of branches
and cones. In the production of these three kinds of stems it
serves to connect, through E. sylvaticum, that group in which
the fertile and barren stems are successive and altogether
unlike, with that in which the stems indifferently bear the
fructification.
The fertile stems grow about six inches high, and are quite
branchless; they have numerous joints, the large loose funnel-
si] aped pale-coloured sheaths produced at these points, often
almost covering the stem. The teeth, which terminate the
sheaths, are awl-shaped, pale brown, with pale-coloured
membranous margins, and number from twelve to twenty,
equalling the ribs. The fructification forms a moderate-sized,
terminal, oval, cone-like head.
The barren stems grow erect, eighteen inches or more in
height, and have on their surface about twenty sharp ridges,
with corresponding furrows, the ridges being coated with
prominent silicious warty particles, so that the stems are
very rough. The few lower joints are without branches, but
those in the upper part of the stem produce whorls of from
ten to sixteen branches, which are simple, and at first droop-
ing, but eventually become spreading. The sheaths of these
barren stems are much smaller than those of the fertile, less
funnel-shaped, and more closely set to the stem, and their
teeth are also fewer, shorter, and blunter. The branches are
slender, three or four-ribbed, and have loose sheaths, which
terminate in short, acute, membranous-edged teeth.
The branched fertile stems have their sheaths smaller than
the simple fertile ones, but larger than the barren ones
Several of the uppermost joints produce whorls of branches,
and the stem is terminated by a cone of fructification. In
these cases, however, the number of branches is less than
that produced by the ordinary barren stems, and the cone is
smaller than those produced by the ordinary fertile stems.
The section of the stem shows on the exterior a series of
sharp ridges with angular furrows ; the central cavity rather
exceeds a third of the whole diameter the cylinder of the
stem is then pierced by three circles of cavities one of
longish oblong openings opposite the furrows, one of minute
pores exterior to these and opposite the ridges, and another
of minute pores on their inner side also opposite the ridges.
Probably this species is tolerably plentiful in moist shady
woods, which are the situations it affects ; but it has as yet
110 BRITISH FERNS.
been met with only in a limited number of localities in
Ireland, Scotland, and the north of England.
THE CORN-FIELD HORSETAIL.
This is the Equisdum arvense of botanists. It is the most
common of the species, and in many places is an injurious
weed, very difficult to eradicate. It occurs here and there,
almost everywhere, in fields and waste places, especially
where the soil is sandy. It has long, creeping, underground
stems, which are a good deal branched, and are cylindrical
and jointed in the same way as the stems which rise above-
ground. The stems which appear aboveground are of two
kinds, the one simple and fertile, the other branched and
barren.
The fertile stems are quite without branches, and grow
up early in spring, in April and May, arriving at maturity and
perishing long before the barren ones have completed their
growth. They are from three to eight or ten inches in height,
hollow, succulent, and nearly smooth. The sheaths are
large and loose, widening upwards, pale-coloured, divided
into about ten dark-brown teeth, which often adhere together
in twos and threes. _ The teeth are very narrowly lance-
shaped and sharp-pointed, and correspond with the ribs,
about ten in number, by which the sheaths are marked.
These stems are terminated an inch or two above the upper
sheath, by cone-like heads, rather more than an inch long.
The barren stems are either erect or decumbent, and from
one to two feet or more in height; they are generally
branched from bottom to top. They spring up after the
fertile stems have withered, and are at first crowded with
short appressed branches, which, by degrees, become elon-
gated, and spreading, and are sometimes again branched.
The main stem has from ten to sixteen distinct shallow
furrows, with corresponding ridges, and is, as well as the
branches, studded over with minute silicious warty particles.
The sheaths, which fit somewhat closely to the stem, are
furrowed like it, and terminate in an equal number of acute
wedge-shaped dark-coloured teeth, which are often margined
by a narrow brown membrane. The branches are four-
ribbed and four-angled, and their sheaths four-toothed, the
teeth being long and acute.
The section of the stem of E. arvense shows an interior
cavity occupying only about one-third of the diameter. The
exterior surface is varied by about a dozen blunt ridges, hav"
ing corresponding shallow depressions ; within this, occupy-
THE BRITISH HORSETAILS. Ill
ing about the centre of the ring, and alternating with the
ridges, are a series of large roundish-oblong or obovate
cavities, the narrow end of which is turned inwards ; alter-
nating again with them, and consequently opposite to the
external ridges, occurs an annular series of small circular
cavities, which are placed near the inner surface of the tube.
This plant is not applied to any use ; and the harshness
of its stems renders it by no means agreeable to cattle, al-
though, in some situations, it occurs abundantly among their
pasturage ; and in cultivated ground becomes a troublesome
weed.
THE WOOD HORSETAIL.
This species is the Equisdum sylvaticum of botanists. It
is perhaps the most beaiitiful of the Equisetums ; certainly
it is extremely elegant in almost
all stages of its growth, and per- FlG - 30 -
haps never more so than shortly
after the fertile stems, with their
fructification still perfect, have
begun to develop their lateral
branches. Later in the season
these branches, which have from
the first a pendent tendency, droop
around with exquisite grace on all
sides.
The stems are erect, and in a
certain sense, those of them which
produce fructification, and those
which are barren, are similar, ex-
cept as regards this one point.
Their resemblance consists in
both growing up at the same time,
and both putting out whorls of
deflexed branches, which are, how-
ever, less numerous on the fertile
stems. In other respects they dif-
fer, as, for instance, in the growth
of the apices of the fronds ; for the
fertile ones, terminating in a cat-
kin which soon perishes, become
blunt-topped, while the barren
ones continue to elongate at the Equi$etum
point and so become pyramidal.
The barren stems are also more slender than the fertile
112 BRITISH PERNS.
ones, and have less inflated sheaths. This species, there-
fore, in its habit of growth, holds a middle place between
that group in which the fertile and barren stems are suc-
cessive and quite dissimilar, and that group in which they
are simultaneous and present no appreciable difference of
structure.
The fertile stems, when they first shoot up, are almost
quite simple, and a few of them remain so, perfecting their
cone-like head, and then perishing. More usually, by the
time the catkin has become fully grown, the whorls of
branches from the upper.joints will be seen protruded to the
length of from half an inch to an inch or rather more. Two,
three, or four, rarely more, whorls of branches are thus pro-
duced from the uppermost joints of the stem, and above these
the oblong-ovate blunt cone is seated on a bare stalk-like
portion of the stem. The stems are about a foot high, round,
succulent, pale-coloured, with about twelve slender ridges
and corresponding shallow furrows, nearly smooth, the sili-
cious particles which coat the surface being too minute
to impart much roughness ; they terminate in an oblong,
ovate cone of fructification. The sheaths are large and loose,
and are divided at the margin into three or four bluntish
lobes ; their lower half or tubular portion is pale green,
the ui
whic
length,
branches, which grow from about half an inch to an inch.
The barren stems are taller, more slender, and less succu-
lent, and also produce more numerous whorls of branches.
The sheaths fit closer than those of the fertile stems ; and
the whorls of branches are very dense, being compoundly
branched. The main branches are three-ribbed, their joints
termiiicating in three long pointed teeth ; they are about four
inches in length, constantly branched at every joint with a
whorl of branchlets averaging two inches in length, and
sometimes these branchlets put out another series of shorter
branchlets. The oiitline would be pyramidal, were it not
that the extreme point becomes so slender as to be unable to
retain itself erect. The lateral branches are all drooping or
deflexed, and hence the elegant appearance of the full-grown
plants.
The section of the stem shows a series of shallow ridges
and furrows ; opposite the latter a ring of largish cavities ;
and alternating with these on the inner side, another ring of
very minute cavities, these latter again alternating with a
THE BKITISH HORSETAILS. 113
circle of angular cavities close to the inner margin of the
tube. The central cavity measures about half the dia-
meter.
This species grows naturally in moist shady woods ; and
though local, owing apparently to the conditions necessary
to its growth,_ namely, shade and moisture combined in a
peculiar way, it is, nevertheless, a widely distributed plant,
And can hardly be considered as uncommon throughout the
United Kingdom. Its fertile stems are in perfection about
the middle of April, and its barren stems in June.
THE WATER HORSETAIL.
This, the Equisetum limosum of botanists, is sometimes
called the Smooth Naked Horsetail. It is a common species
and generally distributed, occurring principally in pools,
ditches, and marshy places, though occasionally in running
streams. It is rather tall-growing, the stems rising from two
to three feet or more in height ; these, though finely ribbed,
are smooth to the touch, the furrows being very shallow;
their smoothness no doubt arising from the coating of sili-
cious particles being much finer and less prominent than in
others which are more harsh to the touch. Sometimes the
stems are quite unbranched, sometimes furnished with irre-
gular whorls of branches along all their central portion ; and
between these two extremes there occurs every conceivable
degree of branching, from the single shoot produced here and
there, through every gradation of imperfect whorls up to
whorls of short branches almost complete. The branches,
which are simple, nearly erect, and never acquire much
length, are from four-angled to eight-angled, and are smooth
like the stem. There is no material difference between the
barren and fertile stems, except the presence of the fructifi-
cation in the one case and not in the other.
The surface of the stem is marked with from sixteen to
twenty very slight ridges, and the sheaths, which are short,
rather closely fitted to the stem, and of the same colour in
the lower part, terminate in an equal number of dark-
coloured awl-shaped teeth, which sometimes have a pale
membranous margin.
Owing to the shallowness of the ridges and furrows, the
section of the stem shows a nearly smooth exterior outline,
and the cylinder of the stem is furnished only with a row
of minute cavities near the inner margin ; this cylinder is
very thin compared with the diameter of the stem, the cen-
tral cavity being unusually large.
H
114 BRITISH FERNS.
This plant is the most fodder-like of any of the Ec[idse-
tums, OAying to its less flinty cuticle, but in this point of
view, it is, at least in this country, of very small importance.
It is, however, stated to be used in Sweden as food for
cattle, "in order that the cows may give more milk ;" and in
Lapland, it is, even when dry, eaten with avidity by the
reindeer, though they will not touch common hay. Lin-
naeus censures the improvidence of the Laplanders, in not
providing during summer a supply of this plant and of the
Keindeer Moss, for winter use ; thus making some provision
for their herds at a time when the ground is covered with
frost-bound snow, so as not to risk the loss of their most
valuable or entire possessions. An instance is related by
Mr. Knapp, in which a colony of the short-tailed water-rats
made this plant their food, and in the evening might be
heard champing it at many yards' distance.
THE MARSH HORSETAIL.
The Equisetum palustre of botanists. A common species
in boggy places and by the sides of ditches and water-
courses. The stems are erect, growing from a foot to a foot
and a half in height, the presence of fructification alone
distinguishing the fertile from the barren. They are some-
what rough on the surface, but less so than in many other
kinds ; and they are marked on the exterior by prominent
ribs, with intervening broad deep furrows, the number being
variable, from six to eight. The joints are invested with
nearly cylindrical sheaths, which are quite loose, and in the
upper parts of the plant almost twice the diameter of the
stem. The sheaths terminate in as many acute wedge-shaped
pale-coloured teeth as there are ridges on the stem. The
stems are usually, except at the base, furnished with whorls
of numerous simple branches, the number corresponding
with the furrows of the stem ; these are slender, four or
five-ribbed, and their sheaths set nearly close.
A section of the stem shows a series of prominent ridges
on the outer face ; just within these, and over against the
furrows occur a circle of moderate-sized cavities : and alter-
nating with these, and near the inner margin, is a series of
much smaller circular cavities. The central cavity of the
stem is comparatively very small, not much larger than the
series of openings near the outer surface. The resemblance
is considerable between its section and that of E. arvense.
Besides the foregoing usual form, there are some curious
variations to which this plant is liable. One of the most
THE BRITISH HORSETAILS. 115
remarkable has been called polystachyon, and is remarkable
in having more or less of the branches of the two upper
whorls -^terminating in cones of fructification ; the usual
habit of the plant being to produce only one cone, and that
on the central stem. It has been suggested that the produc-
tion of these lateral fructifications is accidental, owing to
the destruction of the top of the main stem, but this expla-
nation is quite insufficient, since they are sometimes produced
along with the central head, which moreover vanes when
accompanied by them, being sometimes of the usual size,
and sometimes reduced in size like the lateral heads. The
lateral heads are usually later in their appearance than the
central ones. Occasionally some of the branches of the
lowest whorl become elongated, and terminate in these small
cones.
Another form, called nudum or alpinwn, is a depauperated
form, differing from the ordinary plant in being altogether
smaller, the height ranging from two to four or five inches,
the lower part of the stems being decumbent, and the whole
stem almost devoid of branches ; a few being developed only
at their very base. In some states, this form has much re-
semblance to the prostrate E. variegatum, but is distinguish-
able by means of its sheaths and fructification.
THE LONG ROUGH HORSETAIL,
This species is by botanists called E. ramosum, and has
been in this country also known as E. elongatum and E.
Mackayi. It is one of those species in which the stems that
produce the fructification, and those which are barren, do
not differ in any other respect, and are therefore said to be
similar. The stems also are almost branchless, the branching
being mostly confined to the production of one or two erect
lateral stems from near the base, and this lateral branching is
by no means common. Sometimes, indeed, the upper part of
the stem is also sparingly branched, but the branches are
produced singly from the joints. The stems are slender and
erect, from two to three or four feet high, deeply furrowed,
with a double row of elevated points along the ridges, which
are usually from eight to twelve, but sometimes fourteen in
number. The sheaths are close, cylindrical, and striated
like the stem, terminating in a number of teeth equalling
the striae ; these teeth are long, slender, awl-shaped, black
with pale membranous margins, and usually, but not always,
persistent. The sheaths are, for the most part, entirely black,
but here and there they occur with a narrow greyish ring.
H2
116 BRITISH FERNS.
The section of the stem differs from that of E, hyemale, to
which it presents a general resemblance,_ in being smaller,
showing fewer ridges, and having the cavities placed rather
nearer the inner margin ; the central cavity is also _ pro-
portionally smaller. It has, consequently, on the exterior, a
series of ridges formed of twin projections representing the
double row of silicious particles which extends along each
ridge ; and a series of cavities rather nearer the inner than
the exterior surface of the ring.
This plant has been found on the moist banks of the
mountain glens of Scotland and the north of Ireland.
THE GREAT ROUGH HORSETAIL.
This plant is the Equisetum hyemale of botanists. The
'stems are of a deep glaucous green, and all alike in structure,
those which bear fructification differing in no other particular
from those which do not. They grow upright, from two to
three feet high, and are scarcely ever branched_: when this
does occur a solitary branch is produced, and this protrudes
from below the base of one of the sheaths of the stem ; they
are cylindrical, tapering off at the apex, and marked on the
thicker parts with from fourteen to twenty ridges, formed of a
double row of elevated points, consisting of crystallized sili-
cious particles ; hence the stems are very rough. In this
species the sheaths fit closely around the stems, so that they
are nearly cylindrical ; they are marked by the same number
of ridges as the stem, but they are less prominent, and ter-
minate in a series of black, membranous, bristle-shaped
teeth, which soon fall off, and leave the margin crenated.
The sheaths are at first pale green with a black margin ;
from this they change to be entirely black ; and finally they
become whitish in the middle, leaving a narrow ring of black
at the base and margin.
In this species a section of the stem shows on the exterior
a scries of distinct ridges, formed of twin projections, and
varying in number, as has been already explained ; opposite
to the furrows, between them, and occupying about the centre
of the solid cylinder, is a ring of moderate-sized cavities.
The central cavity is comparatively large.
This plant grows naturally in boggy shady places, and is
much more abundant northwards than southwards, where it
is rarely met with. Though distributed sparingly over the
United Kingdom, its occurrence is strictly local.
The steins of this Equisetum are employed in the arts as a
material for polishing, and are imported under the names of
THE BRITISH HORSETAILS. 117
Dutch Rush and Shave-grass. They are obtained from Hol-
land, where this species is planted to support the embank-
ments, which it does by means of its branching underground
stems. It has been suggested that our own sandy sea-coasts
might be profitably planted with it. The peculiarity which
gives it its commercial value, is the presence of a very hard
coating of silex, which is deposited in the form of little crys-
tals, rendering the surface rough like a rasp or file, and hence
not only woods, but metals and stones may be polished by
it. This silicious coating is so entire, and of such density,
that it is stated the whole of the vegetable matter may be
removed by maceration, or, according to others, by burning,
without destroying the form of the plant. The minute crys-
tals of silex, of which the flinty coating consists, are arranged
with a degree of regularity which, under a microscope, has a
very beautiful appearance ; they form a series of longitudinal
elevated points, and in the furrows between them are cup-
shaped depressions, at the bottom of each of which is placed
a stomate or pore.
All the species of Equisetum have a flinty coating to their
stems, and may be, and are, more or less employed in polisi
ing ; but the stems of the E. hyemale are much preferable t
those of the other kinds, in consequence of their rougher and
more hardened surface.
MR. MOORE'S ROUGH HORSETAIL.
This is the Equisetum Moorei of Newman. It differs from
the other native unbranched Horsetails in the nature of its
stems, which are not persistent through the winter, or ever
green, as they are, but die down in autumn, and are renewed,
they are therefore annual. They grow a foot and a half to
two and a half feet high, and are unbranched, except where
the apex has been destroyed, in which case branches are
sparingly produced. They are rough, and are channelled
with about twelve deep well-marked furrows. The sheaths,
which are loose, and have the same number of ridges as the
stem, are whitish, with a black ring at the base and tipped
by about twelve blackish teeth, which are rigid, bluntish,
and terminated by elongated membranous paler awns.
This plant was found growing on banks facing the sea at
Eockfield in the county of Wicklow, in the year 1851, by Mr.
D. Moore, Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Glasne-
vin, Dublin.
118 BRITISH FERNS.
THE VARIEGATED ROUGH HORSETAIL.
This species, the Equisetwn variegatum of botanists, is
found on the banks of rivers and lakes, and in sandy places
near the sea. It is one of the species whose stems are all simi-
lar, and almost quite unbranched. It extends by means of a
widely creeping underground stem, producing numerous
above-ground stems, often springing from joints in such close
proximity, that they appear in dense tufts. Though so nu-
merously branched just beneath or at the surface of the soil,
branches are seldom produced on the exposed part of the
stems ; but when this does occur, they spring singly from the
joints, and have much similarity to the stem itself. The
stem grows about a foot high ; its surface is very rough, and
impressed with from four to ten furrows, alternating with
rather prominent ridges, each ridge margined on both sides,
with a line of minute silicious points, which give it the
appearance of being grooved, and impart to it its peculiar
roughness. The sheaths are slightly enlarged towards their
margin, ribbed like the stem, green in the lower part, black
above, and terminate in a fringe of black teeth, equalling the
ribs in number, with a broad white membranous border, in
form ovate, and tipped by a deciduous bristle. A certain
number of the stems, usually the most vigorouSj terminate
in a cone of fructification. This is small, elliptic, crowned
by a prominent point or apiculus.
The section of the stem shows a small central cavity, an
exterior surface of rather prominent ridges, each channelled
so as to form two projecting angles, and a circle of moderate-
sized cavities occurring about the centre of the tissues.
A variety of this, sometimes called E. arenarium, is smaller
and more slender, its stems always procumbent, and not
having more than six furrows.
Another variety is the E. Wilsoni, which is a stouter and
taller plant, three feet high. < The section of its stem shows
the central cavity and the ring of cavities occurring in the
cylinder of the stem much larger than in the ordinary forms
of E^. variegatum. This plant grows in water at Mucruss, in
the immediate vicinity of the Lakes of Killarney. The stems
are tufted, generally simple, but sometimes sparingly
branched j they have about ten furrows, with broad inter-
mediate ridges, on which the silicious particles are less pro-
minent, so that the stems are not nearly so rough as in the
allied E. variegatum, Mackayi, etc. The sheaths are scarcely
larger than the stem, and are entirely green, except a
THE BRITISH HORSETAILS. 119
narrow, black, sinuous ring at the margin ; the teeth are
short, generally blunt, and have obscure membranous
margins, and deciduous awns.
The present species is rather a local plant, but is widely
dispersed in the three kingdoms, the larger forms growing
on the margins of lakes, canals, rivers, ditches, etc., the
smaller prostrate examples occurring on the sandy sea-coasts.
The Equisetums appear to submit readily to cultivation.
The plan is to pot them in loamy soil, and to place the pots
in a cold frame, among a collection of hardy Ferns ; or, in
the case of the aquatic species, to sink the pots just be-
neath the surface of a tank of water.
There are, it should be remarked, two sets of Equisetums,
which may be called the evergreen and the deciduous groups ;
the former consisting of E. hyemale, ramosum, and variega-
tum ; the latter including all the remaining species which die
down in autumn, and are renewed in spring.
The evergreen species are desirable plants for damp shady
rockwork, requiring no especial care or culture. Their
peculiar form and character render them interesting plants,
no less for their own sakes, than for the effect which their
distinct appearance may help to bring out in such situa-
tions.
The most desirable of the deciduous kinds for the garden
are E. Telmateia, E. sylvaticum, and E. umbrosum, these
being the most elegant of the race. They require shade, but
nothing else beyond what well-constructed rockwork would
supply.
Perhaps the most interesting way of cultivating these
plants would be as a separate group on a shady border. In
damp cool soil they would be certain to succeed. The smaller
delicate sorts, such as the procumbent E. varieqatum, should
be rather elevated between three or four rough stones, over
which they would spread ; and for the aquatic species, earth-
enware pans might be sunk, and these, half-filled with mud,
and the remainder with water, would provide all that would
be necessary for their well-being. All the other species would
grow in the ordinary soil, provided it were sufficiently moist
and cool in summer ; but the rambling propensities of the
underground stems should be checked by planting them in
pots sunk in the ground.
The raising of the 1
le Equisetums from the spores, too, would
be very interesting employment, and withal very instructive.
The spores are very curious bodies, of a somewhat oval form,
120 BRITISH FERNS.
having four elastic threads, thickened at the ends, coiled
around them. These, when the spore has become ripe, un-
roll ; and their elasticity, no doubt, contributes to burst the
case in which the spores are contained, as well as to assist in
the dispersion of these minute reproductive bodies. They
are, indeed, so irritable, that a change of temperature or mois-
ture, such as that produced by breathing on the spores, is
sufficient to produce this forcible uncoiling. The spores them-
selves are very interesting microscopic objects.
The germination of the spores has been made the subject
of experiment by several inquirers, whose observations have
been published. It appears that from three to fourteen days
after the spores are sown, they send down a thread-like
transparent root somewhat thickened at the end, and pro-
trude a confervoid, cylindrical, obtuse, articulated thread,
which is either two-lobed or simple at the apex. Some days
after this, several branches are produced, and become agglu-
tinated together, forming a body resembling a bundle of con-
fervoid threads, each of which pushes out its own root.
These confervoid threads go on growing and combining until
a considerable cellular mass is formed. _ Then this mode of
development ceases, and a young bud is formed, which pro-
duces the stem of an Equisetum, at once completely organized,
with its air-cells, its central cavity, and its sheaths, the first
of which is formed before the elongation of the stem out of
the original cellular matter.
To watch the minute atoms thus springing into life, deve-
loping by degrees their tiny stems, and gaining strength and
bulk day by day, until they reach maturity, could hardly
fail, one would think, to lead a sensitive mind to pure and
wholesome thought, calling up, on the one hand, the con-
templation of the wise and beneficent plans and the all-
sufficient power of the Creator, by whose ordaining pro-
vidence life interminably renewable had thus been made to
spring from the dust-like spore ; and at the same time
producing, on the other, a just appreciation of the un-
certainty and insufficiency of human agency. For, though
man may plant and water, yet it is God alone that giveth
the increase.
INDEX
Off SCIENTIFIC AND ENGLISH NAMES.
** 'Die vowels marked, are those upon which emphasis is to be placed in pro-
pouncing the names. When the short accent (') is used, the vowel is to be sounded
in conjunction with the following consonant. When the long accent (') is used, lha
vowel is to have an open sound as though standing alone. Non-classical readers
are reminded that every vowel represents a syllable in Latin or Latinized words :
thus aeptentrionale is not spoken sep-ten-tri-o-nale, but sep-ten-tri-o-na-le ; and
polypodioides is not po-iy-po-di-oides, but po-ly-po-di-o-i-des.
ACRO'STICHUM
PAGE
PACT.
35
nt&itri '1
. . 56
Ceterach . . .
. . 70
. . 72
Filix-foe'mina . . .
. . 53
ADDFR'S-TONGUE
91
62
. . 92
57
dwarf . . .
. . 92
. . 63
ADIA'NTUM
var. microdon . .
. . 64
35
ALLO'SORUS
. . 34
liiciduin
. . 65
. . 61
AME'SIUM
RU'TA-MCRA'EIA . .
. . 60
. . 58
. . 58
. . 56
ASPI'DIUM
. . 38
1UICHO MANES . . .
. . 32
angulare . . . . .
. . 40
ATHY'RIUM
dentatum ....
dilatatum ...
Filix-mas ....
. . 77
. . 49
. . 44
. . 63
Fl'uX-FO/MINA . .
var. rhae'ticum . .
var. latifolium . .
. . 53
. . 54
. . 51
62
, f
fragile
. . 77
87
var. depauper&tura .
. . 55
. . 80
var. muHifidum . .
. . 62
. . 43
*
R h If
. . 51
brittle
Thelypteri8 ....
ASPLE'NIUM
. . 42
mountain
BLE'CHNUM
boreale
. . 80
. 66
SPI N CANT .
. 72
!22
INDEX.
BOTRY'CHIUM
PAGE
ttl
EQUISE'TUM
PAGS
110
. 73
D ' d" ' ' '
108
BRAKES ....
. 73
. 115
BRISTLE FERN. . . .
. 84
. 116
BUCKLER FERN
41
113
broad ....
49
Mackayl . . .
115
. 44
. 117
. 46
. 114
61
115
. 42
. 115
. 43
. 108
. in
CE'TERACH
. 107
. 70
. 108
CLUB-MOSS
93
118
97
var Wilsoni . .
. 118
fir . .
. 95
EU'PTERIS
96
74
. P e
93
. 99
FILM FERN
. 86
CRYPTOGRA'MMA
. 86
31
Wilson's .
87
CTENO'PTERIS
. 25
GRAMMfTIS
CYATHE'A
Ceterach
70
. 77
35
. 77
GYMNOCA'RPIUM
dentata
. 77
. 28
fragilis .
. 77
Phegopteris
27
incisa
. 79
. 80
Kobertianura ....
GYMNOGRA'MM \
. 30
re"ia
79
Ceterach ,
70
CY'STEA
. 35
. 77
HARD FERN
. 71
fragilis .
77
HART'S TOXGUE FERN
. 67
r&jria ....
. 79
HEME'STHEUM
CYSTO'PTERIS
43
Allibni .
. 80
. 42
. 79
. 77
78
110
.,.. ' *
. 79
x
116
myrrhidifblia
80
1 ffh
. 115
. 79
. 114
Mr Moore's .
117
DRYO'PTEKIS
. 46
shade
. 108
. 118
. 113
wood
. Ill
INDEX.
123
HYMENOPHY'LLUM
PAGE
85
MAIDENHAIR FERN .
Male Fern
PAGB
. 75
44
86
. 103
. 87
MOONWORT
. 90
Wilsbni
MOUNTAIN MOSS
100
ISOE'TES
LACU'STBIS
. 103
prickly
Mountain Parsley ....
. 100
. 34
LADY FERN ....
53
NEPHRO'DIUM
foenisecii . . .
. 51
LA'STREA
NOTOLE'PEUM-
70
affinis .<....
coll'ma . .
. 45
50
Oak Fern
. 28
. 46
ONO'CLEA
. 48
. 72
var. spinulbsa . . .
. 48
49
OPHIOGLO'SSUM
. 92
. 50
. 92
51
89
var. glandulo^a . . .
Dryopteris
. 51
. 28
OSMU'NDA
* borealis
. 72
34
91
. 45
. 89
. 45
51
. 105
foenisecii
51
PEPPERWORTS .
. 102
maculiita
. 51
PHEGC/PTERIS
43
32
multiflbra .....
. 49
. 30
. 43
. 28
27
. 43
51
polypbdioides .
. 27
. 46
. 27
PILL WORT
105
42
PILULA^RIA
LOMA ( RIA
. 105
Sp'icant
LOPHO'DIUM
. 72
POLYPO'DIUM
Filix-mas
var flexile .
33
49
. 79
rccurvum
. 51
. 40
rigidum . . .
46
77
LYCOPO'DIUM
30
ALP1 X NUM
. 99
. 47
ANNO' TIN UM
CLAVA'TUM
. 96
. 97
cynapifolium ....
. 76
77
INUNDA N TUM
. 98
dilatatum ...
. 49
100
SELA'GO .
. 95
Filix-foe'mina
. S3
124
INDEX.
Filix-mas .
PAGE
SCALE FERN . . .
PAGE
SCOLOPE'NDRIUM
ilve'nse
. . 82
alternifolium ....
. . 57
. 70
Lonchitis . .
37
. . C7
43 80
Pliyllitis
. . 67
Oreopteris . . .
. . 43
27
Riita-muraria . . .
. . 58
. . 56
79
. . C7
rhse'ticum ....
. . 77
. . 68
46
69
30
(19
Thel^pteria ....
. 42
. . (59
trifidum .....
. . 79
. . C3
SELAGINE'LLA
26
. . ioa
SHIELD FERN .
rOLYPODY
. . 37
. . 32
. . 9 5
soft prickly ....
. . 39
30
SPLEENWORT
55
. . 57
smooth three- branched
POLY'STICHUM
. . 28
38
black maiden-hair . .
common maiden-hair .
forked
. . 65
. . 60
56
. . 38
. . 59
lanceolate
40
68
. . 41
. 70
var. imbricatum . .
. . 40
. . 40
sea
smooth rock ....
. . 61
. . 62
cristatura
. . 46
. . 28
STRUTHIO'PTERIS
Spicant
. . 72
Filix-mas
multifi6rum ....
LONCH1 X TIS . . . *
. . 49
. . 37
TARA'CHIA
C5
montanum *
Phegopteria . . , .
. . 43
. . 27
. . 46
lanceolata ....
THELY'PTERIS
. . 63
. . 42
setiferum
40
TRICHO'MANES
Thelypteris .
42
alatum
PSEUDATHY'RIU M
. 84
alpdstre
32
flexile ......
PTE'RIS
. . 33
var. Andrews!) . .
. . 85
84
74
. 34
g ...
Wall Rue .....
. . 68
QUILLWORT
108
WOO'DSIA
ROCK BRAKES . . .
ROYAL FERN . .
. . 33
. . 88
hyperborea . . >
. . 83
Poly podium vulgare.
II.
1. Allosorus crispus.
2. Gymnogramma leptoph^lla.
III.
IV.
Polystichum angulare.
V.
Athyrium Filix-fcemint
VI.
1. Aspleniutn marinum. 2. Asplenium Ruta-muraria.
3. Ceteracli officinarum.
VIII.
1 . Blechnum spicant. 2. Woodsia ilvensis.
IX.
Pteris aquilina.
1. Triehomanes radicans.
2. Cystopteris fra^ilis.
XI.
Osmuiida regalis.
XII,
1. Ophioglossum vulsratum. 2. Hyinenophyllum tunbridgense.
3. Botrj'chium Lunaria.
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MASTERS' READY RECKONER. i2th Thousand. Edited
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ROUTLEDGE'S PENNY TABLE BOOK
64 pages of Useful Information.
Published by George Routledge and Sons.
'S COUGH LOZENGE
TF^ VAST 1 M CREASE in tV. du.nand for ' -so COUGH LOZE
.nd ti:e numerous Testimonials constantly received, fully justify the Pr
ir. asserting they are the best and sufost yet offered to tlu Public for th
the followin- -mplnints: ASTHMA, WIMTKR CoOTfti, HOARSENESS, Suon
PBEATH, and :!.er PULMONARY M \LADIKS. ,
They have deservedly obtained the high patronage of their Majesties the
Prussia and the Kins of Hanover ; vary many also of the Nobility and Cle
of tl;i Public generally, use them, wider the recommendation of somo of t
eminent of the Faculty.
Testimonial from Colonel HEWBTT, J.P., and D.L.
GLAMOHOAN, -If.
Ditm Sim I was attacked with a severe cough, which yonr Lozenges rera
sw days. Mv servants also, hy taking your lozenges. were soon cured. I feel
(to the nubile) to offer mv testimony to tiioir efficacy, which you are at liberty to
To Mr. THOMAS KBAtiico. Voars truly. W. HE
OLD .
Dm St, Having had a severe Cough this winter, I was advised to
Loceujres, which are invaluable j htivinR purchased one box, costing only la. l
jletely set me up, and must, therefore, stronffi^ recommon(\ thorn as a certain cu
P To Mr. KBAtUa, I remain your st obedient Servar
79, St. Paul's Ohurobyard, London. W. BOBBINS,
Prepared and sold in Boxes, la. lid., and Tine, 2s. 9d., 4s. 6d., and 1
hy TltoMAS KEATING, Chemist, 79, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARl
X)S. Retail by all I v .-uggistf t Ao.
KEATING'S
CHILDEEN'S WORM TABL
A PURELY VEGETABLE SWEETMEAT, both in appearance and
iahing a most agreeable method of administering a well-known remedy
iNAL or THREAD WORMS.
It is a perfectly safe and mild preparation, and is especially adapted for
eing as harmlnss in its action as it is prompt atid certain m its effeota ;
bo taken with impunity by the most delicate constitution.
^%'" Testimonial from the Bev. J. B. Toft. FBA
MT DA SIB, T am happy to inform you that the WORM TABMMS you kindly
have with the blessing of Rod. perfectly cured my boy. I esteem it, therefore,
pure justice and candour that I should acquaint you with the liappy result. Yc
liberty to make this statement public for the benefit of others who may be
afflicted. With feelings of gratitude, I remain, yours truly,
To Mr. KIAIIKO. JOHN 8
Prepared and sold in Tins, Is. IJd. and 2s. 9<1. enoh, hy THOMAS KE.
Ohemist, Ac., 79, St. Paul's Cimrcisynrd, London, E.G., and retail by all D
Put up in Small Boxes " specially" for post, winch will be forwarded oi
of 14 Stamps.
KEATING'S
PERSIAN INSECT DESTROYING POWI
PLEAS, BUGS, COCKROACHES, BEETLES, ANTS, MOSQUI
MOTHS, Ac., are instantly destroyed by this Powder, which is quite
siimal life.
3old in Packets, Is., 2s. 6d., and 4s. Od. each; or Is. Packets, free by
-elve postage stamps, and 2s. 6d. on receipt of thirty-six. Also in Hott]
'lows, Is. 6d. and 8s. eiieh, by THOMAS KEATING, Chemist, 79, ST.
TTP.SHYARD, LONDON. B.C. ^
