A POCKET GUIDE TO THE BRITISH FERNS HORSETAILS tfCLUB-MOSSES BY EDWARD STEP F.L.S. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES • • THE WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND JX J$ SERIES WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS Broad Buckler-fern. Nepbrodium dilatatum. Frontispiece. Wayside and Woodland Terns A POCKET GUIDE TO THE BRITISH FERNS HORSETAILS AND CLUB-MOSSES BY EDWARD STEP, F.L.S. 1 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS, " WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES ETC., ETC. WITH COLOURED FIGURES OF EVERY SPECIES BY MABEL E. STEP AND SIXTY-SEVEN PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR SECOND IMPRESSION LONDON FREDERICK WARNE & CO. AND NEW YORK 1922 {All rights reserved) "We have the receipt of Fern-seed." SHAKSPEARE. PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 52. 7 PREFACE. THERE are few if any departments of Nature-lore upon which so many volumes have been published during fifty years as have been produced dealing with our native Ferns — some good, some indifferent, others bad. Why, it may be asked, add another to a sufficiently long list ? I have no particular defence to offer, except to say that many readers of the " Wayside and Woodland Series" demanded such a handy volume, and the publishers regarded the demand as a reasonable one. No doubt the publishers would also say there are points in the production of this work that fully justify its appearance : such as the handy pocket size, and the novel plan of giving not only a drawing in colour of each species, but also a photo- graphic representation of most of the plants growing amid their natural surroundings. In a word, it is a book for the Nature-lover, not the Nature-destroyer for whom most Fern- books have been written hitherto. For that reason only the facts of general distribution so far as the British Islands are concerned are given. Such data are sufficient to enable the intelligent Nature-lover to get on the track of the good things he desires to see growing wild ; but the way is not made too plain and easy for the exterminator, from whom the country has suffered so grievously. ( v ) B 908779 VI PREFACE Additional plates are provided in which are depicted the varied forms of fruit characteristic of the several families, the process of reproduction, the degrees of complexity in frond division, and so forth. These, it is hoped, will assist the reader to obtain a clear idea of Fern organization and relationships without giving the work too technical a character. In a large number of cases the drawings have had to be made on a scale of considerable reduction, but a reference to the text will always show what are the usual natural dimensions of the frond. The greater number of the photographs were taken by the author in the woodlands, on the mountain side and the sea- cliff ; but some are from garden-grown specimens. CONTENTS. FAGB PREFACE ••«....... v INTRODUCTION 3 THE FILMY FERNS 15 THE MAIDENHAIR 22 BRACKEN ,24 PARSLEY FERN 28 HARD FERN . 30 THE SPLEENWORTS 32 HART'S-TONGUE 51 THE WOODSIAS 53 THE BLADDER FERNS 56 THE SHIELD FERNS 60 THE BUCKLER FERNS 65 THE POLYPODIES 80 ANNUAL GYMNOGRAM . 90 ROYAL FERN 91 ADDER'S-TONGUE 94 MOONWORT 98 PlLLWORT 100 THE HORSETAILS. 103 C i ) 2 CONTENTS. PACK THE CLUB MOSSES 119 THE QUILLWORTS 128 CLASSIFIED INDEX TO NATURAL ORDERS, GENERA, AND SPECIES 131 GENERAL INDEX 133 INTRODUCTION. To the non-botanical Briton the term " Fern " stands for a plant with delicate, much-divided leaves — apparently a mere arbitrary distinction based on external form, without any essential difference between it and other plants. Therefore he permits himself to speak of the Flowering Fern, and has no sus- picion that he is using a contradiction in terms. So, also, he allows the nurseryman to impose upon him with Asparagus sprengeri as the Asparagus Fern, and as he strolls along country lanes in spring he may impose upon himself by accept- ing the leaves of Beaked Parsley as the fronds of ferns. On the other hand, he regards the Hart's-tongue as a kind of dock, and wonders why some persons call it Hart's-tongue Fern, He would have similar ideas regarding the Adder's-tongue Fern if it were sufficiently large to attract his attention as he walks through the pastures. Having regard for this prevailing confusion of ideas, we propose before dealing with each native species of fern in turn, to try to set before our readers some fairly clear notion of fern- organization, showing in what respects these plants differ so emphatically from flowering plants that it becomes almost inexcusable to mix them up or mistake them. For there are really such prominent " outward and visible signs of an inward ( 3 ) 4 INTRODUCTION. and spiritual grace" — if one maybe allowed the quotation — that no one need be guilty of the solecism involved in speaking of ferns in terms of flowering plants, and vice versa. A flowering plant, whether its flowers be showy or incon- spicuous, produces its blossoms as a necessary stage in the pro- duction of fertile seeds. Each seed contains within its several wraps what is essentially a detached bud, including root, stem, and leaves in embryo ; and only requires to be placed under suitable conditions of warmth and moisture, when it will germi- nate or begin to grow into a plant that differs from its parent only in the matter of size. To produce that seed it was neces- sary that the grains of protoplasm (pollen} produced in the anthers of the flower should mingle with those (ovules) produced in the ovary — the ordinary process of fertilization common throughout both animal and vegetable series of organisms. The cardinal point in the differences between flowering plants and ferns is that the latter do not produce seeds, or detached buds, directly, so there is no need for flowers. How, then, is the succession kept up? How does each species continue to exist, generation succeeding generation ? This important matter is very fully provided for by an analogous process ; but it is not performed in immediate con- nection with the fern as we all know it. There is a phenomenon known to naturalists as the " alternation of generations," and it prevails throughout the various families of ferns. Of four suc- cessive generations of fern-life, generations i and 3, though agreeing each with the other, will differ widely from genera- tions 2 and 4, though they are all in the direct line of descent one from another. It is not an easy task to make this matter plain to those who are not botanists, but as a clear under- standing of it is essential to a proper appreciation of the INTRODUCTION. 5 true nature of ferns and allied plants, we shall make the attempt. If we examine the backs of a number of fern-leaves (fronds) we shall find that some of them are definitely ornamented with raised dots or lines of a reddish-brown or blackish tint, accord- ing to species. These are heaps of minute capsules (sporangia), each filled with microscopic bodies called spores. Each heap is known as a sorus (plural sort), and is at first covered in most species with a pellicle, which is an outgrowth from the cuticle of the frond, and known as the indusium. The indusium varies greatly in form, but is constant in all the individual plants of the same species, and its characters are utilized in the classifi- cation of the ferns. In the Bladder-ferns, for example, it is inflated, and attached by its broad base. In the Filmy-ferns it forms a capsule split into two valves ; whilst in the Killarney- fern the cup is undivided. The Shield-ferns have a circular indusium attached by the centre of its underside, and the Buckler-ferns have the attachment in a notch in the margin. In the Bracken and the Parsley -fern it is an extension of the turned-down margin of the frond divisions. On detaching a single sporange from the sorus it will be seen to be a somewhat globular pouch, with a slender stalk, girdled by a series of specially thickened cells (the annutus, or ring), the thinner portions of which contract by exposure to dry air. They thus exert a strong pulling force upon the walls of the sporange, which ultimately give way and the annulus coils in the opposite direction, the contained spores being scattered by the rupture. The figure (Plate 4) of a sporange of the Male- fern, greatly enlarged, will make the general appearance and structure plain. The spores contained in a sporange are, throughout the 0 INTRODUCTION. greater number of British genera, normally sixty-four irregular- shaped, rough-coated microscopic bodies. These spores are of uniform structure, and are simple cells. On the absorption of moisture the contained protoplasm bursts through the double walls at one point, and spreads into a minute green, heart- shaped scale called a prothallium. The greater part of this body consists of a single layer of cells, and the growing point lies in the notch at the broader end of the heart-shape. In the Moonwort (Botrychiutri), however, the prothallium is an under- ground tuberous body, producing sexual organs on its upper surface ; and in the Filmy Ferns (Trichomanes and Hymeno- phyllunf) it is reduced to a branching thread. In the Brittle Bladder Fern {Cystopteris fragilis) there are two forms of pro- thallium — a smaller producing male organs (antherids) only, and a larger with female organs (archegones] and male organs. In the Horsetails (Equisitince\ though the spores are all alike, some produce male prothallia, others female prothallia. In the Water-ferns (Hydropteridce) and Club-mosses (Lycopodince) there is a similar sexual distinction of prothallia but a difference in the spores, the male prothallia being produced by smaller spores (microspores). These sexual organs are really the counterparts of the anthers and ovaries of the flowering plants, and are of tolerably uniform structure in all the species. With the exceptions noted in the foregoing paragraph, they will be found on the underside of the prothallium projecting from a thickened cushion just behind the notch and growing point. The antherids are spherical bodies with a lid, and contain each a small number of ribbon- shaped antherozoids, which are provided in front with fine filaments (cilia) of protoplasmic gossamer. These antherozoids agree in value with the pollen-grains of flowering plants, though PL 2. B6. Wayside Ferns in the New Forest. Bracken, Mountain Buckler, Prickly Shield, Male and Hard Ferns. INTRODUCTION. 7 the latter have to depend upon external agencies for aid in fulfilling their mission. The antherid is ruptured by pressure from within forcing off the lid-cell, followed by the escape of the antherozoids (Plate 5). The archegones consist of an enlarged basal portion em- bedded in the prothallium, and containing an egg-cell (posphere\ From the oosphere a canal runs through circular cell-walls and communicates with the air. The canal is filled with a mucilage resulting from the breaking up of cells which formerly occupied the centre. As this mucilage pours out from the mouth of the canal, a discharge of an acid excretion attracts the antherozoids, and they find their way through the mucilage in the canal, until coming to the egg-cell they pierce and fertilize it. The egg-cell then invests itself with a cell-wall and begins to develop into an embryo, from which minute and simple fronds are produced in succession, each getting less simple than its predecessor, until finally they attain to the form and degree of subdivision characterizing the adult fern on which the spore was produced which developed into the prothallium. And so the cycle is completed. The first generation gave rise to the second by a purely vegetative process ; the second genera- tion produced the third by a sexual process ; and the third in turn produces a fourth vegetatively again. In the following pages we propose to describe the native species of ferns and some allied plants which, though differing from the ferns greatly in appearance, agree with them in their methods of reproduction and in other respects. This group, known to botanists as the Pteridophytes, are the most highly organized of the flowerless plants (Cryptogamia\ differing from the mosses, the seaweeds, and the fungi of all kinds in the fact that, whilst these are built up of simple cells only, the 8 INTRODUCTION. Pteridophytes have vessels of various sorts, and are therefore known also as Vascular Cryptogams. Cryptogam, by the way, is the general name applied to all the flowerless plants, and means a hidden marriage, the term being suggested by the comparative obscurity of the fertilizing process — indeed, at the time Linnaeus invented and applied the term, the process was much more than obscure ; in only a few cases was its existence known. The ferns are chiefly perennial herbs ; one only on the British list is an annual, and that (Gymnogramme leptophylla) is only politically British, as in these islands it is restricted to Jersey. A few species have shrubby stems or roots, and the Tree-ferns are well known to have woody trunks. So far as the British ferns are concerned they may all be described as herbs. Ferns vary greatly in their habitats, but broadly they may be said to be plants of the rocky hillside and the moist wood- land. Each species, however, has its own special liking, and it will be useless to search for it in a district where the favoured conditions do not exist. Thus the Aspleniums (with the excep- tion of the Lady Fern) may all be regarded as affecting rocks and the crevices of stone walls ; the Adder's-tongue and Moon- wort must be sought in pastures and on grassy banks ; the Royal Fern and Marsh Buckler-fern in bogs and swampy woods ; the other Buckler-ferns in woods and hedgerows ; and so forth. It must be admitted with sorrow that ferns are far less plentiful in our land to-day than they were in the memory of many still living. The senseless cupidity that impels people to possess themselves of anything they know to be rare without considering whether they can make any use of it, has led to the needless destruction of a number of species. In the vicinity of PL 4. h Fern Fruits (1). Son of (1) Hard Fern, (-2) Bladder-fern, (3) Shield-fern; oporange of (4) Royal Fern, (5) Male Fern ; (6) Spore, (7) Spore germinating. Reproduction 1. Prothallium (lower surface) with antherids and arehegonas •2. Antherid, enclosing antherozoids. 3. Archegone. PL 6. Frond Division. 1. Harf s-tongue ; 2. Scaly Spleenwort ; 3. Male Fern; 4. Common Polypody; 5. Bracken. PI. 7. Vernation. 1. Male Fern ; 2. Adder's-tongue. /; 9- INTRODUCTION. 9 some of our larger towns and cities, where ferns were formerly abundant, not one is now to be found, except perchance the Bracken. The hawker, the exchange-club botanist, and the town amateur gardener have been largely responsible for this condition of things, and now we have an additional menace in the multiplication of Nature-Study classes, which in some cases might be more fitly named Nature-Suppression classes, for the main outcome of their efforts is the destruction of many thousands of specimens. The series of books to which this volume belongs has been designed to spread true Nature-study — and we believe has largely succeeded in that ambition — but we should deeply deplore if it has added to the number of those who collect specimens for the mere joy of acquisition, without troubling to make themselves acquainted with the natural history of their specimens. For many years we have taught that where ferns are wanted for ornamenting a rock-garden or greenhouse, there is a much better, though a slower, plan than that of stripping a woodland bank to acquire the plants. It is a plan that can be carried out anywhere, in restricted space, with simple appliances and inexpensively, though for purposes of real Nature-study nothing can surpass it. That plan is the home-breeding of ferns from spores. A walk in ferny places will furnish material from which you may raise many thousands of graceful plants with which to furnish your own and your friends' fern gardens. All you need is to take a few envelopes with you, and when you come across a fern examine the backs of the fronds for sori. Carefully remove a frond or part of a frond that bears the spore-heaps, and enclose it in an envelope, on which you should note the name of the species and the date. By this means fern-collecting may be pursued without unduly interfering 10 INTRODUCTION. with Nature, or spoiling the beauty of the country ; and the spores of many species if stored in a dry place may be kept until you are ready to sow them. The spores of others, how- ever, as Ostnunda, contain chlorophyll, and perish if not sown within a few days of ripening. When they are sown under suitable conditions, and germination has commenced, you are at the beginning of an experiment that will provide you with the means of making yourself fully and practically acquainted with the process of fern development from the spore and the prothallium through the oophyte and sporophyte generations, and will leave you with a batch of exquisitely beautiful young plants. The modus operandi is of the simplest. The appliances are : a seed-pan (size immaterial), a bell-glass of such diameter as will allow it just to stand in the seed-pan ; a small irregular block of peat. The peat should not be more than a third of the size of the bell-glass, and it should be baked or scalded to destroy any animal or vegetable germs it may contain. Then, if baked, soak it in water until moist throughout, pour about an eighth of an inch of water in the seed-pan, stand the peat-block as an island in the centre, and over its wet surface shake out some of your fern-spores by tapping the other side of the fern- frond over it. Cover all with the bell-glass and stand in a shady place. No further care is needed ; it is an automatic contrivance by which the peat is kept watered by the evapora- tion of the water and the condensation of the vapour. Peering through the bell-glass, it will be seen in due course — a few days in the case of Osmunda, a few months in some other species — that a green tinge is creeping over the peat, and a little later, if this is examined through a pocket-lens, the greenness will prove to be due to the presence of little prothallia. From this INTRODUCTION. 1 1 point the contents of the bell-glass should prove of continuing interest. There are so many prothallia that one may be sacrificed now and again in order that the underside and the appearance of antherids and archegones may be noted. When three or four little fronds have appeared on each sporeling, the plants may be dug out of the peat with the point of a pen-knife, and " pricked out " in a pan of leaf-mould and silver-sand, at sufficient distance to allow of further growth, and covered at first with a sheet of glass, which may be gradually raised and finally removed in order to harden the young ferns. After the first few months young ferns so raised come on rapidly, and may be used for the outdoor fernery, which should have a greater interest if many or all of its occupants have been raised from spores under our eyes. The method is a practical one which we have tried for many years, and it may be varied according to circumstances, provided the principle of it is retained. If a bell-glass be inaccessible or too large, an ordinary "tumbler" will do, and a piece of porous stone, or even soft brick may be used in place of the peat, but in that case the young ferns cannot be removed without injury to- their roots, with a consequent retarding of their growth. In addition to the normal process of reproduction already described, ferns exhibit three other methods known as Budding, Apogainy, and Apospory. The phenomenon of Budding is similar to what takes place in many flowering plants, a bulbil being produced on some part of the plant, such as the angle between leaf and stem, and when dropped to earth send- ing out roots and leaves, and so producing a new plant without the process of fertilization. Cystopteris bulbifera, a native of North America, frequently grown in cool greenhouses, produces- 12 INTRODUCTION. such bulbils freely on the under surface of some of its fronds, so that the introduction of a single plant in a greenhouse is soon followed by an abundance of young plants on the floor and shelves and in the pots of other plants. Several exotic species of Asplenium develop these bodies on their fronds, and may be seen in cultivation with the upper surface of the fronds crowded with young plants, each bearing four or five fronds and furnished with roots. Several species of our native ferns in cultivation have pro- vided examples of the phenomenon known as Apogamy in which the prothallium instead of producing Antherids and Archegones has developed buds which have grown into perfect fern-plants. In the following native species yet another abnormal process — Apospory— has been observed: Lady Fern, Angular Shield- fern, Male Fern, Hart's-tongue, Common Polypody, Mountain Bladder-fern, and Bracken ; this consists in the development of prothallia from fine outgrowths at the tips of the fronds. As these cases are exceptional and have occurred chiefly under cultivation, there is no need to deal with them at length in this work. In studying technical works on ferns the general reader finds a difficulty in readily remembering the significance of the terms which denote the degree of frond division. We must, to a large extent, use the same terms, for they have no equivalents in single English words ; but the matter may be much simplified by means of a few illustrations. Starting with such an unfern- like frond as that of the Hart's-tongue, we have the frond in its simplest form. It is strap-shaped, with a heart-shaped base. We may take the opportunity to note that whilst the stalk is known as a stipes, its continuation through the frond proper— the leafy expansion — is styled the rachis. Here the rachis, like INTRODUCTION. 13 the entire frond, is simple. In some other species we shall find it is branched, and this branching of the rachis plays an important part in producing the great variety of form in the fronds ; at the same time it should be noted that even with the simple rachis a good deal of variety is attained. For example, in the Ceterach we get an entirely different-looking frond by the simple expedient of notching the margins almost to the rachis. A similar arrangement is seen in the Common Poly- pody, but in the Hard Fern there is a slight advance, for whilst the upper notches fall short of reaching the rachis, the lower ones are cut right up to it. A frond completely divided into a number of lobes symmetrically arranged is wing-like or pinnate, such as we find in the Maidenhair Spleenwort ; but as in the Ceterach and the Polypody the lobes are not quite separate, they are only regarded as cut in a pinnate manner, and the frond is therefore pinnatifid. The Male Fern affords us an example of a distinctly pinnate frond in which the pinnae (as the primary divisions are called) are themselves either pin- nate or pinnatifid. If pinnate the whole frond is said to be bi pinnate. The frond of Royal Fern is also bipinnate ; whilst that of the Brack jn is either tripinnate or quadripinnate (3 or 4 times pinnate). Fronds that are divided to this extent are also referred to as decompound (Plate 6). In early spring, when first the annual renewal of activities begins to manifest itself outwardly, the crowns of those species with tufted rootstocks are worthy of attention. There the new fronds will be found neatly coiled up and packed together, each clothed with chaffy scales which have protected them during the winter. If one of the more advanced of these frond-buds be broken off and unrolled, it will appear as though a previously expanded frond of very thin and delicate texture had been 14 INTRODUCTION. carefully rolled up so as to occupy the minimum of space — the pinnules on the pinnae, and the pinnae towards the rachis, which in turn had been rolled up from its tip until with the stipes it had been coiled right down to the junction of the latter with the rootstock. Of course, this is quite the opposite of what really takes place, as the frond has been formed in its rolled-up condition, and the gradual expansion of all its parts as the stipes and rachis gradually straighten out is an interesting sight. The packing of the incipient foliage of plants in their buds is indicated by the botanical term Vernation, and as the rolling up is the prevailing type among ferns they are often said to be of Circinate Vernation. In the Adder's-tongue and the Moon- wort, however, the vernation is straight — that is, the incipient frond is rolled or folded lengthwise from the edges to the centre (Plate 7). In the following descriptive pages we have scarcely mentioned the -varieties of the native species. Such abstinence is due to a desire to render the subject as simple as possible. The pursuit of varieties comes as a rule when one has become fully acquainted with the typical forms of some natural group, and the description and discussion of them may therefore be left to more advanced works which may be consulted at home rather than in the field. Since the propagation and hybridization of such varieties have become the study of a Pteridological Society, the lists of varieties, natural and controlled, have grown into hundreds for some of the species ; but though such a study is of some scientific interest, it is outside the domain of the field naturalist. , .." 3 PL 10. 8 14 Fern Fruits (2). 1. Capsule of Tiinbridge Filmy-fern ; 2 Do. of One-sided Filmy-fern ; 3. Indusium and Sorus of Maidenhair ; 4, 5. Capsule of Killarney Fern and interior of same PI. II. Tunbridge Filmy-fern. Hynienophyllum tunbrulgense WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. Filmy Ferns (Hymenophyllea). This tribe of Ferns is represented in Britain by three species only : the Tunbridge Filmy-fern, the One-sided Filmy-fern, and the Bristle Fern. They are characterized by very thin translucent fronds that are only one cell thick, and by the spore-cases being girt by a complete ring, and enclosed in an urn-shaped indusium (Plate 10). Tunbridge Filmy-fern (Hymenophyllum tunbridgense). Our two Hymenophylhims grow in continuous sheets of matted threads from which arise the small pellucid fronds. They are more like mosses in their habit than ferns, clinging .to the surfaces of rocks and tree-roots rather than rooting in them. The rootstock is long and slender, no thicker than a piece of fine thread, and the fronds arise from it singly at intervals. Those of the Tunbridge Fern are of such delicate texture that they require to be perpetually bathed in an atmosphere heavily charged with moisture, and where no stray sunbeam, nor, indeed, any strong light can fall upon them. Their favourite habitat is the near neighbourhood of a waterfall where the spreading branches of tall trees shut out all light that has not been filtered by passing through their tender foliage. Here, C is ) C 1 6 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. where they are further sheltered from strong top-light by pro- jecting masses of rock, and the exposed thick root-limbs of the trees, you may find the Tunbridge Filmy-ferns growing not as individuals but as a tapestry of associated hundreds. The fronds vary from an inch to three inches in length. In exceptional cases and in cultivation they may exceed the larger measurement, but as a rule the smaller size is the prevailing one. The most conspicuous feature of the somewhat egg- shaped, dark-green frond is the midrib and its alternate but nearly opposite side branches. These are dark and of firm texture, and are winged on either side with a very thin and pellucid membrane, of such delicacy that it readily shrivels on exposure to a dry atmosphere. This membrane is without the stomata or breathing pores usual in fronds and leaves, the material being so thin that gases can be absorbed through the cell-walls. It extends down each side of the rachis and some distance down the stipes. Each of the pinnae or wings is cut into several narrow lobes with spine-like teeth along their margins. In the angles between the upper pinnae and the mid- rib will be found a slightly stalked urn-shaped brown body consisting of two valves whose upper edges are toothed. These toothed edges are an important character, helping to distinguish this species from the next. The spores are ripe in June or July. On opening one of these urns we shall find within it a short central column on which are crowded a number of spore cap- sules, each with a broad elastic ring (running obliquely round the capsule) whose rupture disperses the contained spores. It is interesting to note, by the way, that the spore in this genus on germinating does not give rise to the heart-shaped, scale-like prothallium already mentioned as the prevailing type among ferns. There is a prothallium, of course, but in the Filmy Ferns it is long and slender, like the first shoot from a moss- spore. It may be remarked of both species of Filmy Ferns, that all the published drawings we have seen — our own excepted — PI. 13. One-sided Filmy-fern. Hymenophyllum unilaterale. C 17. ONE-SIDED FILMY FERN. \J give a veiy incorrect idea of the growing plants. The artist has to show the form of the frond and all its divisions ; and to do this appears to have drawn from flattened dry specimens and has made it appear erect-growing. In reality the fronds lie one over the other, and as they mostly grow on vertical surfaces the tip of the frond is lower than its base. Here the value of a nature photograph comes in to supplement the drawing, for it shows a part of a colony in its natural position and the atti- tude of the fronds when growing, and their relation to the surroundings. The Tunbridge Filmy-fern has an extensive, but somewhat peculiar, range in these islands. Its northern limits appear to be Stirling, Mull, and Argyll, from which it extends south as far as West Yorks and South Wales. Then there is a break, but far south it is found sparingly in Kent, Sussex, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. In Ireland it is rare, but has been found in counties Clare, Cork, Kilkenny, Connemara, Galway, and Wicklow. It also occurs in the Channel Islands. In vertical range it appears to extend to only 1000 feet above sea-level. The popular and scientific names of this fern have reference to the fact that it was first noted as a British species growing in the neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells. It was formerly known as the Tunbridge Goldilocks. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek utnen, a, membrane, and phyllon, a leaf, in allusion to the filmy character of the frond (Plates 1 1 and 12). One-sided Filmy-fern (Hymenophyllum unilaterale). The One-sided Filmy-fern is even less fern-like than its Tunbridge congener, its fronds lying more depressed and over- lapping, and having a drier and more withered appearance. It does not shun the light so much as the other, and in the Snowdon district we have found large sheets of it extending 1 8 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. up the vertical faces of exposed rocks far from any protecting trees or shrubs. Such colonies, of course, are frequently bathed in the mists that visitors find too much of a hindrance to their examination of natural objects at high elevations, and when the air is sufficiently dry and clear to permit so small an object as a Filmy-fern to be seen, it appears dry and lifeless, like many of the mosses that company with it. It is more likely to be seen by the moss-collector than by the inexperienced fern-hunter, for it looks more like one of the brown moss colonies that are so plentiful in the same habitats. Doubts have been expressed whether the two Filmy-ferns are really distinct, or merely sub-species of one. There is a good deal to be said for the second view ; at the same time it should be pointed out that the differences in " habit " and the character of the indusium render them so distinct that a beginner in fern-lore would have no difficulty in separating them. In unilaterale there is a strong tendency for the pinnae on opposite sides of the midrib to bring their under surfaces together, which, of course, greatly contributes to its withered appearance. Then, too, whilst the toothed urns of tunbridgense remain almost in the same plane as the back of the frond, those of the present species stand out conspicuously at right angles from the midrib, and have a more swollen form. The frond is also of a stiffer substance and darker hue ; more oblong in shape, and the pinnae are divided mostly on the side nearest to the tip of the frond. The urn-like body is here more obvious, not only because of its superior size, but largely as a result of the way in which it stands out on its distinct footstalk from the curved surface of the frond. The two valves of which it is composed are, moreover, entirely without the teeth which interrupt the upper margins of tunbridgense. These capsules are sufficiently large and so placed that they may be seen clearly in some parts of the photograph, though the fronds, from their dark green and admixture of brown, make very ! - , •*• .- • H , One-sided Filmy-tern. Hymenophyllum imilaterale. KILLARNEY BRISTLE-FERN. 19 difficult subjects for the camera. The frond does not fully develop during the first year, and it lasts for several seasons, so that the plant may be regarded as an evergreen. The capsules are ripe when the frond is two years old, and the spores are dispersed in June and July. The distribution of this species is more extended than that of its congener, especially in a northerly direction, for it is found as far as Unst, the farthest from the mainland of the Shetland group, whence it reaches down to Yorks. It occurs again in Staffs, Shropshire, North and South Wales, Devon, Cornwall, and Ireland. In the Hebrides it has been found at an elevation of 2800 feet, and at 2400 feet in Ireland. It was long thought that H. tunbridgense was the only British species, but the late Mr. W. Wilson pointed out the differences, and the elder Hooker described the present plant as a distinct species under the name of H. wilsont, by which name it is still distinguished in some of the books. The name unilaterale, however, had been bestowed upon it by Willdenow, the German botanist, over a hundred years ago, and that name has precedence. It refers, of course, to the more or less one-sided character of the frond (Plates 13 and 14). Killarney Bristle-fern (Trichomanes radicans}. The Killarney Fern is essentially a Filmy-fern, though included in a distinct genus on account of the different form of indusium. It is one of the prizes of the fern-collector, and the majority of the tourists who visit Killarney are desirous to bring back specimens, solely because it is rare. The question whether it is possible for them to grow it does not enter into their calculations. They are afflicted with that form of insanity which regards a thing as desirable only because it is difficult to obtain, and whose possession consequently cannot be shared by all their acquaintances. The lamentable result is that 20 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. Trichomanes radicans grows yearly more rare at Killarney, and probably no more plentiful in private collections. We beg our readers to help in the work of preserving the indigenous flora of the British Islands by abstaining from such practices. If it is desired to grow such a difficult species, and the necessary contrivances are available, specimens brought from the Canaries, the Azores or Madeira, where the fern grows abundantly, are quite as good for the purpose, and can be obtained for a trifle from the florists. The Killarney Fern has a slender wiry rootstock, which runs along the lower surfaces of wet rocks, often to a length of two or three feet, and is densely clothed in dark bristle-like scales. Where the growth is luxuriant these rootstocks form a net- work by their branching and crossing, and their delicate and abundant rootlets cling closely to the rock in all directions. At intervals the fronds arise singly from the rootstock, and usually assume a drooping or inverted position. The stipes, or stalk portion, is winged along each side, except towards the base. The rachis, or midrib, is also winged, and in truth the whole of the leafy portion is merely the translucent wing of the rachis continued round its stiff, wire-like branches and their further divisions. The frond as a whole may be described as three or four times pinnately divided, and wedge-shaped, from six to eighteen inches long— of which one-third is the length of the stipes and two-thirds the rachis. Although apparently so fragile, the fronds are of a more permanent character than most of our native ferns, subsisting for several years, and coming to their full development very slowly. The character that separates the Bristle-ferns from the Filmy- ferns is afforded by the indusium, which is not divided into two valves as in Hymenophyllum, but undivided and cup-shaped. It is produced by an expansion of the translucent tissue of the frond round an extension of one of the nerve branches. This forms the receptacle upon which the sporanges are PI. 1 6. Killarney Bristle-fern Trichomanes radicans. C 20. "T^l 0-' /'/. 17. 6' 21. Fern Fruits (3). 1. Indusiunj and Soms of Woodsia; 2. Iwlusia and Sori of Buckler-fern: Sori of (3) Polypody and (4) Gyuinogram. KILLARNEY BRISTLE-FERN. 21 clustered at the bottom of the cup, and it extends beyond the mouth of the cup until it is several times the length of the latter. In the typical form of the Killarney Fern the indusium has a slight wing corresponding to the wings of the stipes ; but in the var. andreivsii, found in Kerry, there are several more pronounced wings to the indusium, and the receptacle is longer ; the frond is more lance-shaped also. Mr. Druery mentions a variety he names proliferum, which bears bulbils from which he has reared plants. Although popularly supposed to be restricted to Killarney — where in these islands it was first discovered — the Killarney Fern is happily of wider range. In the Irish counties of Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Limerick, and Wicklow, as well as the Arran Isles, it may be found ; also in Argyll and Wales, North and South. More precise indications it is inadvisable, for obvious reasons, to publish. The charm of finding such a fern is much enhanced by the fact that it has had to be searched for care- fully ; and those who really desire to see it in its proper habitat will not grudge the trouble of exploring, knowing that such trouble is the price that must be paid if such rare species are to retain their places in the British flora. It must be sought for in the neighbourhood of waterfalls, where the rocks stream with water and the atmosphere is kept moist with spray. In some cave where the direct rays of the sun are shut out, or under some rock just above running water, where the mere trophy-hunting tourist is not likely to observe it, is the place where the real lover of Nature may hope to find it. If he find it, let him be content with sketching or photographing it, or at most with carrying off a frond and leaving the rootstock undisturbed. In vertical range it extends to about 1200 feet above sea-level. The name of the genus is one that was applied by the ancient Greeks to certain species of ferns, whose identity, however, cannot now be ascertained. It was applied to the present 22 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. genus under the belief that it was derived from T/trir, trixos, a hair or bristle, and manos, flexible ; but doubt exists as to whether this is the correct derivation. Radicans, the specific name, refers to the abundance of the root-hairs all along the creeping rootstock, which are more in evidence than in most ferns. Withering calls it Wing-stalked Goldilocks (Plates 15, 16). The foregoing three species are the sole British representa- tives of ferns with translucent thin fronds, constituting the Hymenophyllea. The succeeding twelve genera, constituting the Polypodiece, have more or less opaque, leathery fronds. The sporanges are on the back of the frond or along its margins, and are not completely encircled by the elastic ring, which in this group is vertical (Plate 17). The twelve genera include over thirty species, among which are the most widely diffused and best-known of our native ferns. Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris). Though a very familiar object as a cultivated plant, the Maidenhair Fern growing in its natural haunt is a rare sight for the botanist in this country. It has probably never been plentiful with us, as it is unable to survive our winter climate except in a few sheltered places near the sea on our south-west and western coasts. But to-day, even in such places, its only chance of survival lies in its selection of a cave or nook on some part of the cliffs difficult of access. Everybody knows the cultivated Maidenhair, and the sight of the graceful fronds of our native species hanging out from a cleft of the rock would be too much for the cupidity of most persons. Like the Killarney Fern, the Maidenhair has a creeping rootstock covered with scales and branching frequently. The new fronds arise from the growing points of these branches, and are at first delicate, naked, reddish balls. The lengthening slender stipes rapidly assumes a purplish-black hue, and PL 1 8. €22. Maidenhair Fern. Adiantum capillus-veneris. /V. 19. Bracken. Pteris aqiiilina. •— J PL 20. 1. Unrolling frond of Bracken: Indusia and Eori of Bracken: 3. Do. of Parsley Fern : 4. Do. of Forked Spleenwort : 5. Do. of Hart's Tongue. PI. 21. Bracken I>HH». Pteris aquilina. c 23. MAIDENHAIR FERN. 23 becomes hard as wire and polished. It does not branch until about half the ultimate full length of the entire frond has been reached, and then the pinnae are given off alternately. The pinnules are wedge-shaped, the free margin unequally toothed. The upper pinnae are also wedge-shaped, but undivided, so that they are easily confused with pinnules such as are on the lower pinnae. The rachis and its branches, though wiry and hard, are as fine as hairs ; and the blue-green expansion of the pinnae, though thin and delicate-looking, is somewhat leathery, with a rather dull surface from which water rolls off without wetting it. The frond is often thrice pinnate, and in its natural haunts it is evergreen (Plate 18). The sori are round and are disposed in a row along the margin of a lobe of the pinnule, which is turned down over them to constitute a somewhat kidney-shaped indusium. The turning down of the lobe appears to have the effect of prevent- ing the development of the green colouring matter in the turned-down portion, for it is colourless until the spores are ripe, when it becomes brown. The spores may be found from May to September. The fertile and barren fronds in this species are similar in appearance. Few ferns can boast of economic uses, but the Maidenhair affords a refreshing drink called Capillaire, and a wash for promoting the growth of hair. The home of the Maidenhair is in nooks and niches of moist rocks, chiefly by the sea, or at least within the influence of the moisture-laden sea-breezes. But it is only in isolated places in Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Barry Island (Glamorgan- shire), the Isle of Man, the West of Ireland, and the Channel Islands, that it has been found in recent years. The search for it in suitable places would give a decided zest to the study of ferns ; but we would beg any of our readers who may be successful in such search to be content with the glory of having tracked it, and to leave the Maidenhair untouched in the hope that it may increase in numbers. 24 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. This is the only native representative of the genus Adiantum, of which there are many species in all the temperate and tropical regions of the earth. The present species is found all along the western and southern sides of Europe, and is specially abundant along the Mediterranean and in the isles of the Atlantic, as well as in more distant parts of the earth. The name is an old Greek one, and derived from adiantos, dry, in allusion to the non-wettable character of the foliage. The species-name, captllus-veneris, means the hair of Venus, and is sufficiently explained by a reference to the rachis and its branches. Bracken (Pteris aqutiina). There are those who make a distinction between Bracken and Ferns, the former, as they commonly find it growing on the exposed heath, being regarded as too coarse and large to come into the same category with the Maidenhair, the Lady Fern, and the Spleenworts, which exhibit all the grace and delicacy that are rightly regarded as characteristics of the Fern family. Much, however, depends upon environment ; and the delicate Lady Fern and the graceful Broad Buckler-fern, if taken from the moist shelter of the wood and exposed to drying wind and scorching sun on the open heath, lose all their delicacy and grace. Conversely, if we seek the Bracken in the right place, that is to say in the woods, where there is a light leafy canopy overhead and a good depth of leaf-mould under foot, the tender seven-feet fronds exhibit but slight resemblance to the rough and stunted Bracken of the exposed common. This pheno- menon of the influence of environment is one that ought to have impressed itself upon the mind of the public years ago, for many thousands of woodland ferns have been torn up by the roots where they were things of beauty, and transported to the dry sunny borders of exposed gardens where they were expected to retain their attractiveness. The result, which ought C24- Bracken frond expanding rteris afimlina. PL 23, Parsley Fern. Cryptogramme crispa. <725. BRACKEN. 25 to have impressed the fern-loving gardener, is that the fronds became at first shrivelled, then scorched, and a libel upon their race. And so for a few years they dragged out a miserable existence, and then died and made way for fresh victims to man's blind ignorance. If we cannot offer them such substi- tutes for the natural conditions as will at least enable these beautiful plants to exist in tolerable health, we have no right to despoil their natural habitats of them. The chief disqualification that the Bracken suffers from is that it is too common, too plentiful, too ubiquitous. It grows over great expanses of forest land, fringes the wood and copse, competes with heather and gorse on the open heath and moor- land, and covers many a hedgebank. It grows in such profusion that it is worth while in autumn to harvest its dry fronds and stack them after the manner of hay, to be used for bedding cattle. And yet, in spite of its commonness and its reputation as a coarse plant, it can be so grown — as Nature herself frequently grows it— that it is one of the most graceful and delicate of all our native ferns ! The Bracken is like the Polypodies, inasmuch that it forms no crown, but has a fleshy creeping stout stem from which the great fronds arise at somewhat distant intervals ; but unlike the Polypodies, the Bracken stem creeps underground instead of along the surface. One might assume from this fact that the Bracken is less hardy than those species that run along the ground or have exposed crowns. If not less hardy, it needs the protection of the earth to make up for the covering of chaffy scales that most of the aerial crowns and undeveloped fronds are provided with. We ought, perhaps, to put the case the other way and say that the aerial crowns and rootstocks have developed protective scales, because during winter they have not the shelter of the soil as the Bracken has. Another modifi- cation produced by the different habit is seen in the shape of the unexpanded frond. Whilst that of the aerial species is 26 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. circular in outline, that of the Bracken more closely resembles the shepherd's crook, a form that is better adapted for pushing through the earth (Plate 20). The fronds appear in May, and it is no uncommon thing for them to be quite spoiled by late frosts. They expand slowly, giving time to the great length of stipes and rachis to harden before too great a strain is put upon it by the spread-out pinnae. Then, the side branches of the rachis unroll in pairs, so as to maintain the symmetry and equilibrium of the frond (Plate 22). At first these branches appear to be too remote from each other for beauty, but when the pinnules have unrolled, the pinnae — each large enough for an entire frond— slightly overlap, and the appearance of the fully expanded frond is fine indeed (Plates 21, 24). The fully developed Bracken frond is of triangular shape and a rather leathery consistence. When growing in exposed situations it becomes quite harsh to the touch, but in the woods it is no harder than that of the Male Fern. In height it may be anything from a couple of feet to nine feet. It has been recorded as long as twelve feet (E. J. Lowe), but the usual height is four or five feet, of which the stipes will account for about two-fifths. It is normally thrice pinnate, occasionally four times. The pinnae are opposite, and the expanse of the lowest pair is almost equal to the entire length of the leafy por- tion of the frond. The pinnules are alternate, and very deeply cut pinnately, so deeply that they are at times quite pinnate. The stout stipes is very dark towards the base — purple deepen- ing to black — with a slightly raised line down each side, which has the power of cutting like a razor-edge when drawn through the hand. The sori form a continuous line along the margin of the pinnules on the back of the frond, the indusium being con- tinuous with the edge of the pinnule. The produce of a single frond is enormous, but the best idea of the profusion of spores may be obtained in August or September by walking through a C26. Bracken. Pteris aquilina. BRACKEN. 27 small colony of Bracken, when the costume will be changed to a rusty hue by the spores it has gathered in passing. The Bracken is a social fern, uniting to form very extensive colonies, and it is very rarely that one meets with a single plant. For this reason it is a difficult matter to find a well-developed frond to photograph, the majority of fronds having their pinnae entangled with those of their neighbours on either side (Plate 19). It may be remarked that among the botanists before the days of Linnaeus the Bracken was known as the Female Fern {Filix fcemina). The bundles of woody tissue are so well-marked a feature of this fern that if the subterranean stem or the stipes be cut across, they will be found occupying a central position. Their darker colour and constant outline have attracted atten- tion among the rustic folk who have always been on the look- out for fortuitous likenesses or " signatures," which may give them some sort of raison d'etre for natural things. Some will tell you that the figure is that of a double-headed or spread- eagle, and this idea appears to have appealed to the early botanists, for it has been crystallized in the specific name. Others, who look back with regret to the days of the virtuous Stuarts, will tell you that it represents Charles II. hiding in the oak-tree, and that it has been placed there as a perennial reproach to the Bracken, which failed to seclude Monmouth when hiding among its fronds after Sedgemoor. Another school of rural thought regards this mark as a miniature representation of the devil's hoof; but we are not sure what significance attaches to this "signature." Still another in- terpretation is that it is a monogram of the letters J. C. In some parts of Sussex they get all sorts of initials out of these marks, and use them for divining the name of future husband or wife, whose initials are thus revealed. The distribution of the Bracken is general throughout the country, and it is to be found in every one of the 112 provinces into which the British Islands have been divided for botanical 28 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. purposes. In the Highlands it is found at an elevation of 2000 feet, and at all altitudes between this and the sea-shore in other places. It is almost equally ubiquitous outside these islands, for it is found all over Europe, even in the Arctic portions, in all the temperate regions of the earth, and also in some of the Tropics. It is the sole British representative of a large genus, whose name Pteris^ from the Latin pteron^ a wing, was suggested by the wing-like form of the expansive fronds. The specific name, aquilina, as already hinted at, has reference to the spread-eagle semblance of the woody tissue. The popular name Bracken is sometimes spelled Braken, Brakens, Brecken, Breckon, or shortened into Brake or Brakes, which appears to be the original form applied generally to the larger species of ferns. Burns, when contrasting his own beloved Scotland with the vaunted glories of foreign countries, says : — " Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green Breckan, Wi' the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom." Other folk-names are Adder-spit (Sussex), Lady Bracken (Dumfries and Roxburgh), Brake-fern (general), Ern-fern = Eagle-fern (Scotland), Farn (Gloucestershire), Oak-fern (Norfolk), and Common Fern. A very beautiful longitudinally striped caterpillar — the larva of the Broom-moth (Hadena pisi} — may often be found feeding upon the Bracken. Parsley Fern (Cryptogram** crispo). The Parsley Fern, or Rock Brake, is one of the most delicate and graceful species. It is one of those which exhibit a strong contrast between the barren and fertile fronds to the advantage of both. The comparison with Parsley, suggested by the popular name, is not inapt, for there is considerable general resemblance of form ; yet we are of opinion that this, being the more beautiful PI. 26. Hard Fern. Lomaria spicant. C28. ft. 27. Hard Fern. Lomaria spicant. C29. PARSLEY FERN. 29 plant, should rather have given a name to Parsley. It forms large tufts of fronds, broader than high, springing from beneath a rock (Plate 23). The spreading barren fronds occupy the cir- cumference of the tuft, whilst the fertile fronds stand up in the centre. The general form of the barren frond is a wedge with its three sharp angles rounded off. Its colour is a bright green with a tinge of blue in it ; and its texture is thin. It is twice pinnate, and the wedge-shaped or fan-shaped pinnules are again divided into three or more lobes, which are further broken up into blunt teeth. The fertile fronds are twice or thrice pinnate, the pinnules taking on a spindle-shape, owing to the almost globular sori having become confluent, and the edges of the pinnule being curved back over them (Plate 20). The Parsley Fern is a distinctively mountain plant, although it may occur in mountain districts at an elevation but slightly above sea-level, yet these will be only stray specimens from the main body, which will be found from a thousand to three thousand five hundred feet up. It likes a loose soil littered with rocks beneath which its roots, and often its long, tufted, horizontal rootstock, run, so that to extract a plant intact is not an easy matter. Often it may be growing out of a dry or unmortared stone dyke, when apparently its capture is easy ; but the rootstock will be, probably, far out of reach, the naked stipes elongating enormously to bring the whole frond into day- light. The stipes of the fertile frond is about twice the length of that of the barren frond, so that the leafy portion is erected well above the barren fronds — an arrangement which allows the spores to be wafted clear of the parent plant. The fertile fronds stand about a foot in height ; the barren about half that measurement (Plate 25). The geographical distribution of the plant in Britain is from Shetland to North Devon. It occurs on Exmoor in that county ; also in Somerset, Worcestershire, Shropshire, South and North Wales, and so northwards, apparently avoiding limestone. It 30 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. is not found in the eastern half of England, and is rare in Ireland, where it occurs in Antrim, Down, and Louth. In the Highlands it attains to an elevation of 3500 feet. Beyond our islands, it is found over the northern and middle portions of the Continent, Asia Minor, and Northern India ; but in the New World it appears to have been recorded only from Alaska. The name Cryptogramme is a compound of two Greek words, Kruptos, hidden, and gramme^ a line, in allusion to the fact that the lines of spore-capsules are not so evident as in other species. The English names do not appear to have been widely used. Parsley Fern is the most generally adopted in the districts where the plant grows ; Rock Brakes and Curled Brakes also are in use, but some others that are to be found in books are not folk-names and therefore not in use among country people. Hard Fern (Lomaria spicani). Though not so plentiful, the Hard Fern is almost as widely distributed throughout Britain as the Bracken. But it is by no means so well known, for its habitat is the woodland bank, the sheltered sides of a brooklet or deep drain, or the floor of a high pine-wood. It is a well-named species, for the stiffness and firm texture of the dark-green varnished frond at once suggest hardness as a term of comparison with the other ferns. It is one of the simplest in the matter of frond division. The outline of the frond is a long and narrow lance-shape. As in the case of the Parsley Fern, the fronds that bear spores are distinct from those that do not ; the fresh-looking barren fronds spreading and more or less prostrate on the moss or heather amidst which they grow, whilst the attenuated and withered- looking fertile fronds stand erectly in the centre of the tuft. The barren fronds with the brown stipes are a foot or less in length, deeply cut (pinnatifid) above, but quite pinnate below ; the divisions between the pinnae or lobes being so narrow that Wall Rue. Asplenium ruta-mnnuia. PL 20. lowland form Wall Rue. Aspleninm rtita-mnraria. HARD FERN. 31 the latter appear crowded together. They are comparatively thick, leathery, glossy on the upper surface, and evergreen ; pale beneath. The fertile fronds are twice the length of the barren, pinnate throughout, with wide spaces between the pinnae, which are narrowed by having their margins rolled over the sori. The sori form a continuous line near the margin from which the indusium springs (Plate 4). The lower pinnas are extremely short and distant, but the upper ones are long and curved. Owing to this attenuation of the pinnae the fertile frond presents a strong likeness to the backbone of a fish, and it seems surprising that it has not been called the Fishbone Fern.* The polished brown stipes is, in both forms, slightly furnished with brown scales near the base. The fertile fronds perish after the spores have been distributed in autumn. Owing to the evergreen nature of the barren fronds, the Hard Fern is more noticeable in winter, when few other species are to be seen. Then on stony moorlands we may find it in abundance. In pine-woods on the greensand hills in Surrey we have found it covering acres of ground, the plants growing so closely together that their rootstocks were entangled, and it was difficult to detach a single specimen from the mass. Some of the most luxuriant specimens we have seen were at Wood- stock, Co. Kilkenny. Excavations had been made here and there in the sloping bank to get stone for mending that beautiful woodland road beside the river Nore ; and the Hard Fern had taken possession of the recesses so left, and had covered their walls with drooping barren fronds from amidst which the fertile fronds of great length towered aloft. It reaches its highest development on a sloping bank where its roots can obtain abundant free moisture, and its fronds be bathed occasionally in mists (Plates 26, 27). It is found throughout the British Isles from Shetland to Jersey and Guernsey, from sea-level to an elevation of 4000 • In Cumberland it is known as Herrin'-bone Fern. D 32 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. feet in the Highlands. Beyond it is spread over Arctic Europe and throughout the North Temperate Zone. It is the only native representative of the genus, whose name is derived from the Greek loma, a fringe, suggested by the way in which the sori form a fringe to the pinnas. The specific name spicant is Latin, and refers to the spiky aspect of the pinnae. Hard Fern appears to be only a modern book-name that has got into general use by reason of its appropriateness. Parkinson (1640) says it is called Foxes' Fern in many places. In the New Forest it is the Snake Fern, but, as in the same district that name is also applied to Osmunda regalis, it has little practical value. Withering calls it Rough Spleenwort and uses no other English name. The Spleenworts (Aspknium}. The Spleenworts are merely a large genus of the Polypodiese, but as they are represented in our flora by no fewer than ten species a few words on those characteristics common to them all seems called for. In this genus the sori form short lines on the back of the frond, and are always situated on a lateral vein at some distance from the midrib (Plate 20). They are at first covered by a thin indusium of a slender or oblong shape which is attached by its side to the vein, and opens towards the midrib. The rootstocks are mostly short and tufted, but the fronds exhibit considerable variety both in size and shape. The name of the genus is the Greek Asplenon, from splen, the spleen, several of the species being anciently prescribed as medicine in ailments of that organ and the liver, as well as in " all other griefes proceeding of oppilations or stoppings whatsoever.-'' The Ceterach was the original Spleenwort, and this is the kind indicated by old writers on medico-botany. Some of the others were so little known that they never had folk-names. WALL RUE. 33 Wall Rue (Asplenium ruta-murarid). The Wall Rue, or Rue-leaved Spleen wort, is one of the smallest of our ferns, and one that is easily overlooked by the tyro. Usually only two or three inches in height — though in favoured localities as much as six inches — it does not force itself on our attention, but must be looked for. Naturally, it is a sub-alpine species, growing in the crevices of rocks ; but it has also taken possession of many an ancient wall and bridge where the partial decay of the mortar has left minute crannies into which it can thrust its delicate rootlets, whilst its short scaleless rootstock nestles among mosses and lichens. It is, indeed, far better known as a wall-plant than as a rock-plant (Plates 28, 29). The general outline of the dull-green frond is somewhat wedge-shaped, but it is very variable and often irregular. It is evergreen, very stiff and leathery, and is twice pinnate. The stipes accounts for about two-thirds of the entire length of the frond, and is naked throughout its length. The pinnas have stalks, and though the upper pinnae are scarcely divided, the lower ones are broken up into from three to seven wedge-shaped pinnules, whose broad top may be rounded or toothed. The veins in the pinnules so fork that they describe a fan-shape, and there is no distinct midrib. The sori form thick lines, of which there are from two to five on each pinnule. The indusium may have a clean cut or a ragged edge. The spores are produced from June to October. The Wall Rue is pretty generally distributed from north to south throughout these islands, though it is less frequent in the eastern half of England. It is found at an elevation of 2000 feet in the Highlands. Specimens found on walls in the lower- lying districts are always small — an inch or two in length — but when growing from the clefts of elevated rocks, as in North Wales, Derbyshire, the Lake District, and the Highlands, it 34 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. attains its full dimensions. Its wider distribution includes Arctic Europe, Temperate Africa, Northern Asia, and North America. By Gerarde the plant was also called White Maidenhair, from the fronds sometimes becoming glaucous. Tentwort is another old name, originally Taintwort, from its use as a remedy for the taint or rickets. The specific name ruta-muraria is Latin for Wall Rue, a name obviously suggested by the resemblance of its pinnules to the leaflets of Rue, and to the fact that it is best known as growing upon walls. This name is found in Turner's "Names of Herbes" (1548), and Lyte in the "Niewe Herball," thirty years later, calls it Stone Rue. Alternate-leaved Spleenwort (Aspknium germanfcum). This is one of the rarest of our native ferns and one of the smallest. Its general appearance suggests the Wall Rue, though in an attenuated and drawn-up condition. The rootstock is more tufted, but like that of the Wall Rue, creeping and with- out scales. The pale-green fronds vary from four to seven inches in length, of which about half is due to the stipes. They are lance-shaped and simply pinnate, the pinnas distant, and from seven to nine in number on each frond, placed alternately. They are wedge-shaped with the broad end more or less lobed or toothed, but there is a good deal of difference in this respect between the upper and lower pinnas. Further, the " thin end of the wedge " in the lower pinnas becomes a footstalk ; but the upper pinnas are stalkless. There is no distinct midrib, and each pinna bears from two to four sori, similar to those of Wall Rue, but with a clean-edged indusium. The lower part of the stipes is black and naked ; and the frond grows erect. It fruits from June to September (Plate 32). The plant has a very limited range in this country, is never found but sparingly, and mostly in company with the next PL Alternate-leaved Spleenwort. Aspleniuru germanicum. Green-ribbed Spleenwort Aspienium viriut-. FORKED SPLEENWORT. 35 species (Asplenium septentrionale), growing in the clefts of rocks. It has long been a bone of contention whether this is a genuine species or a hybrid between the Wall Rue and the Forked Spleen wort (A. septentrionale). For more than fifty years doubt has existed on this point— a doubt that gains strength when one observes how the characters of both those species are combined in this form, and how the Forked Spleen- wort is almost invariably found in its neighbourhood. The late Mr. E. J. Lowe, a well-known grower and hybridizer of ferns, confessed that he had been unable to raise it from the spores. Should this be a general experience it would support the contention that the Alternate-leaved Spleenwort is a hybrid, for it frequently happens that hybrids are infertile. It is to be presumed that spores being produced, these developed into prothallia, but that the fertilizing process failed. It has been reported from Somerset, Denbigh, Carnarvon, Yorks, Cumberland, Northumberland, Roxburgh, Perth, Fife. It has not been found in Ireland or the Channel Islands. It appears to be generally distributed over Europe with the exception of Greece and Turkey ; and is also found in Himalaya and China. The specific name germanicum, though usually regarded as indicating that this fern is especially a native of Germany, may be more appropriately accepted as indicating its close relation- ship to the preceding and following species. The English name is only to be found in modern books ; no folk-name is known for it. Forked Spleenwort {Asplenium septentrionale}. As we described the Alternate Spleenwort as being in appearance a drawn-out and attenuated form of the Wall Rue, so we may with equal propriety say that the Forked Spleenwort offers an illustration of what might be expected from a con- tinuation of the drawing-out process. It is, indeed, the most attenuated fern that we have, and in its native haunts it is not 36 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. likely to attract the attention of any but the botanist. With its rootstock hidden far in a crevice of the rock, or in a deep re- cess of the " dry " stone wall, it throws out its fronds so that the upper ends of them curve up against the stone above its cell, and they look like the last efforts at foliage on the part of a starving Buck's-horn Plantain (Plantago coronopus). (Plate 30.) The rootstock forms a thick tuft of the bases of former fronds, from among which numerous new ones arise. Newman speaks of a plant he found in Denbighshire with at least three hundred fresh fronds upon it, and an equal number of old ones. The frond is from four to six inches long, two-thirds of the length being provided by the stipes. In outline it is very narrowly lance-shaped, undivided except for two or three stout teeth at its extremity, or with two or three long, slender, erect pinnas, similarly toothed at the broader upper end. It is leathery in texture, deep green in colour, and evergreen ; the stipes black at the base (Plate 34). The sori are similar to those of the foregoing species, but rather longer. There may be one, two, three, or four on a single pinna, with clean-edged indusia. When fully developed these sori run one into the other and cover the back of the frond. The ripe spores may be found from June to October. The specific name is Latin for northern, and was bestowed to indicate one of its characteristics as a British plant. " Forked Spleenwort" is merely a book-name, no folk-name having been recorded for it. This is a rare species and, like Asplenium germanicum, it is confined to Great Britain, so far as its home distribution is concerned. It has been found in Devonj Somerset, North Wales, where it ascends to 3000 feet in the Snowdon district, thence northward to Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. It has not been recorded from either Ireland or the Channel Islands. Outside our islands it is found over the greater part of Europe, Asia (North and West), Himalaya, and North America. PI. 34- Forked Spleen wort. Asplenium septentrionaie. Pi- 35- Sea Spleenwort. Aspleniuw nmrinnm. MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT. 37 Maidenhair Spleenwort (Aspleniiim trichomanes). It is somewhat unfortunate that the word Maidenhair has been used in the popular names of three of our ferns, with the result that there is a certain amount of uncertainty, sometimes confusion, in speaking of them to those who are not acquainted with the scientific names. This species, at least, can claim a long title to the name, for in Turner's " Herball" (1568) there is an unmistakable portrait of it with the name " English Mayden's Heare." But to call it English Maidenhair is to imply that Adiantum capillus-'veneris is not a native ; so we think Maidenhair Spleenwort the more distinctive name — the other not being a Spleenwort. Here again, however, a similar difficulty crops up with regard to the popular name of Asplenium adiantum-nigrum — the Black Maidenhair Spleenwort — and in that case we counsel the omission of the word Maidenhair altogether, on grounds that will be stated in a later page. In the Maidenhair Spleenwort we have a frond that is very slender and long, from six to fifteen inches long, according to locality, the leafy portion being from one-third to three- quarters of an inch broad, and broken up into from seven to twenty pairs of dark-green pinnae, with, of course, an odd pinna terminating the rigid, dark-brown, or black, polished and keeled rachis. The pinnae are glossy, evergreen, of roundish-oblong or oval shape, the edges with rounded teeth. They are connected to the rachis by stalks so exceedingly short that they are only visible upon a close examination. When the pinnae have fulfilled their mission they fall, and leave the rachis black and bare. It may have been the sight of a plant from which most of the pinnae had fallen, leaving a shock-head of stiff wiry stalks, that suggested the name of " Mayden's Heare," but if so the mediaeval maidens must have been very untidy. (Plate 36.) The midrib of the pinna is not quite central, and from it a 38 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. few veins are given off, upon which the short, oblique sori are produced on the back of the pinna with a pale-brown indusium. These sori may be found from May to October, and when mature cover the greater part of the pinna. Note that the veins fork before they reach the sori. The Maidenhair Spleenwort is naturally a rock plant, but like several of its congeners, it is equally at home on old walls with its roots between the masonry as in the crevices of rocks. (Plate 31.) It is distributed from extreme north to south of our country, including Ireland and the Channel Islands ; and has been found at an elevation of 2000 feet in Wales. It is not so frequent in the Eastern Counties as in the West of England and Ireland. It is found throughout Europe, in the Caucasus, Persia, India, the Atlantic Islands, South Africa, Australasia, the American Continent, and the West Indies. The scientific name has been dealt with, as far as possible, in connection with the Killarney Bristle-fern (page 22). Its English names include several variations of Maidenhair — such as Common Maidenhair and English Maidenhair. But Gerarde in the Appendix to his " Herball," also mentions it as Water- wort : " Waterwort is Maidenhayre " — but the suitability of the name is certainly not obvious, and it does not appear to have survived to these days. Green-ribbed Spleenwort (Asplenium viridc}. There is a striking resemblance between this species and the Maidenhair Spleenwort. There are, indeed, not wanting botanists who consider them but forms of one species, and there is much to be said in favour of their view. Sir Joseph Hooker says : " Perhaps an alpine sub-species of A. trichomanes, distinguished by its more flaccid habit, pale rachis, shorter, paler, and shortly stalked pinnas." We agree that the difference between the two are scarcely sufficient to warrant PI. 35. Maidenhair Spleenwort. Aspiemum trichomanes. PI. 38. Black Spleenwort. As]>lenhmi adianunn-nterur PL 39. Green-ribbed Spleenwort. Asplenium viride. GREEN-RIBBED SPLEENWORT. 39 their separation as distinct species, but against the suggestion that viride may owe its differences to its more alpine habit, it may be pointed out that though viride has been found at an elevation some 800 feet greater than trichomanes, they may also frequently be found at the same level. They may, indeed, be found growing on the same mass of rocks, and in that case trichomanes will most probably be found in a higher, drier position, whilst viride occupies crevices near the base where moisture is abundant. (Plates 33, 44.) On a superficial glance the two plants are exactly alike, but considered more intimately the Green-ribbed Spleenwort will be found to carry its fronds more horizontally. A. trichomanes bears its upper fronds erectly against the rock with a lateral curve, and its lower ones with a downward curve. A. viride affects curves much less, and its smaller fronds are of a paler green. The most obvious distinction, however, is to be found in the rachis. The stipes may be brown or purple as in trichomanes, but the rachis is as green as are the pinnae, more slender, not keeled, and less broadly grooved. The pinnae are more regularly oval, the teeth more rounded, and the footstalks more developed. The fruit clusters are similar to those of trichomanes, but the indusium appears to be less lasting, and the veins do not fork (if at all) before they reach the sori. It is in fruit from June to September. (Plate 39.) The Green-ribbed Spleenwort will not as a rule be found upon walls, but in the crevices of mountain rocks that are pretty continuously moistened. It is a northern fern, and its range in this country is from Shetland southward to South Wales and Derbyshire. It also occurs in the West of Ireland. Beyond our borders, it is distributed over Arctic Europe, the Alps and Pyrenees, North and West Asia, and North America. Our forefathers appear to have considered it as identical with A . trichomanes, for it has no folk-name. The English name we have adopted is that used by Withering. Most modern authors 40 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. have called It Green Spleenwort, but as the Maidenhair Spleenwort is green all but its rachis, Withering's name seems preferable as affording a clue to the chief difference between the two plants. Sea Spleenwort (Asfknium marinum). In striking contrast with the slender fronds and small pinnae of the foregoing Spleenworts, we have the thick and substantial- fronded Sea Fern, with its unbranched rachis and its double series of egg-shaped pinnae. The frond pattern follows much upon the lines of the Maidenhair Spleenwort, but here it is much larger and the texture firm and leathery. Luxuriant specimens have fronds little less than a foot and a half in length, of which about one-third belongs to the stipes ; more frequently the complete frond measures about six or eight inches. The root- stock is woody, clothed with loose purplish scales, and wedged in a crevice of the rocks, into which its wiry roots penetrate far. Often this will be in the roof of a sea cave from which the fronds grow with downward curves ; or, if growing about the mouth of the cave, the fronds will dispose themselves partly in an erect, partly in a drooping or spreading manner. This is a tantalizing plant to the fern-collector, for so often it grows where it may be seen well, but where it is difficult of attainment even by a good rock climber. This is just as well, for the roots are mostly left in the crevice when the rootstock has been secured, so that collected specimens are commonly doomed on this account ; but, in addition, the species does not grow well away from the sea, and specimens taken to inland towns seldom live long, unless kept in a close case. (Plates 35, 41.) The Sea Fern has a stout polished stalk to its fronds, the lower part of which is red-brown or purple-brown, the upper part and the continuing winged rachis a bright green. The toothed or lobed pinnae are oval, from an inch to two inches PL 41. Sea Spleenwort. Asplenium marinum. SPEAR-SHAPED SPLEEN WORT. 41 long, the wedge-shaped base of each with an ear on its upper margin. The pinnae near the apex of the frond are not distinct but run together, so that the upper part of the frond is only pinnately cut. As in most thick-fronded ferns, the midrib of the pinna is not conspicuous. The sori are large, rust- coloured, and placed obliquely along each half of the pinnae ; they are covered with thick indusia, which are at first white. In a few instances the Sea Spleenwort has been recorded as growing naturally at some distance inland ; but these exceptions only go to emphasize the maritime character of the species, for instead of the long, graceful characteristic form of the frond, we have in these examples very dwarfed and less divided fronds. It is found in these islands as far north as Shetland, and extends down the east coast only as far south as Yorkshire ; on the west coast it is distributed generally all the way to Land's End, and thence along the south coast as far east as Hampshire and Sussex. It is found all round the coast of Ireland ; and especially fine examples have been recorded from the Channel Islands. Its broader distribution is mainly in the south and west of Europe and North Africa ; but it is not confined to the Old World, for it appears in the North American flora, and also on some of the islands between Africa and America. Spear-shaped Spleenwort (Aspleniwn lanceolatum). Like the Sea Fern, the Spear-shaped Spleenwort exhibits a strong partiality for the neighbourhood of the sea, and especi- ally for the sea that laps our western shores. Its English name — which after all is only a book-name — though it might be made to apply to several other of our native ferns, is at least a suitable one. Like its congeners it is a rock fern, and it prefers rocks that are always more or less wet with water running from greater elevations, though in a few localities it has been found in dry situations. From the crevices of the rocks there issues a crowd 42 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. of bright evergreen fronds which are not arranged in any definite order. These fronds arise in May from a short, thick rootstock that is covered with long awl-shaped scales, and they vary from eight to eighteen inches in length. They are very different from those of the Sea Fern in consistence, lacking the leathery thickness of that species. The stipes of the Spear-shaped Spleenwort is comparatively short (2 to 4 inches), of a rich ruddy-brown tint, with a polished surface. The frond proper is long and slender, and lance- shaped. It is twice pinnate, the numerous pinnae almost opposite. The lowest pair is much smaller than those imme- diately above, which are the largest of all. From this second pair of pinnae upwards the others gradually diminish in size, so that the frond is finished in an acute point. The pinnae are attached to the rachis by short stalks, and are cut up into egg-shaped pinnules, which in turn have their margins deeply cut into sharp teeth. The sori, which are produced from June to September, are at first short and oblong, but at length run together. It is important to note as a distinctive feature that the sorus is produced above the forking of the veins, and extends nearly to the margin of the pinnules. In the Black Spleen- wort, which is frequently mistaken for this and vice versd, the sorus is situated below the fork. To the botanist these two species are very distinct, but they do not appear to be so to the unscientific fern-lover. Up to little more than a hundred years ago even botanists regarded A. lanceolatum as merely a variety of A, adiantum-nigrum. We may have more to say respecting the differences between them when we deal with the next species, but we would here note that a comparison of the relative breadth of the fronds at the base of the leafy portion should be sufficient evidence on which to separate them at sight. In the present species the second pair of pinnae from the base gives the greatest breadth to the frond ; in the Black Spleenwort the lowest pair greatly exceeds all the others, so ' - yv. 42. Scaly Spleenwort. Aspleniiini ceterach PL 43- Spear-shaped Spleenwort. Asplenium lanceolatum. BLACK SPLEENWORT. 43 that in general outlines the two fronds are altogether unlike each other (Plates 37, 43). Its distribution in these islands is limited to the southern kingdom, its most northern station being in Yorkshire, just over the Derbyshire border. Then it runs down the coast of North and South Wales, is rare in Gloucestershire, abundant in parts of West Cornwall, more widely distributed in South Devon, where it extends up to the moors. It has also been recorded for Somerset, and years ago for Tunbridge Wells in Kent, but is no longer there, though a few years ago it was found in the same neighbourhood over the Sussex border. It occurs generally in the Channel Islands ; but in Ireland it is restricted to the county of Cork. Its wider distribution is limited to Europe and North Africa. Black Spleenwort (Asplenium adiantum-nigrum). Although this fern is so widely distributed from end to end of our islands, and in places is exceedingly abundant, it does not appear ever to have had a genuine folk-name. In recent years it has been styled in the books Black Maidenhair Spleenwort, but this, besides being a cumbrous, is a misleading name. Its dark, glossy, and somewhat stiff fronds bear no general re- semblance to those of the Maidenhair, and the only detail which suggests a likeness to Adiantum capillus-'ueneris is the polished purple-brown stipes ; but the maiden who had hair in any way approaching it in coarseness would not consider it as her glory. Lyte, in his " Niewe Herball," mentions this fern under the names of Black Oak-fern and Petty-fern, but whether these names were in use among the people at that date (1578) is very doubtful. Gerarde, 20 years later, says that Black Oke-fern was a name of the Herbarists. " Unlearned apothecaries," he says, used it for Adiantum of Lumbardie, " but these men do erre." We have elected to call it simply Black Spleenwort, as 44 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. we already have the prefix "Maidenhair" to one species of Spleenwort, and we have found that this similarity of popular names causes great confusion among those with whom the botanical names are not in general use. The Black Spleenwort is, strictly speaking, a rock fern like the Spear-shaped Spleenwort, but the rocks it affects are drier than those selected by its congener; often its rootstock will be under a mass of stone that projects out of the hedgebank. But it has taken kindly to man's work, and may frequently be found growing out of a wall. In Cornwall, where it is specially abundant, many of the hedgebanks in the hollow lanes are of the distinctly rocky order, the road in places having been cut through solid rock to reduce steep gradients. Here the Black Spleenwort will be found growing all up the rock-walls, springing from every crevice. But it will be found in greatest profusion where one of the clever Cornish hedgers has built up a long unmortared boundary wall with flakes of rock set on their edges and worked in archaic designs. To such a wall the Black Spleenwort often lays entire claim, and covers it with a shining dark-green tapestry, the rootstocks being quite hidden away, far back between the stones. These rootstocks are stout and covered with awl-shaped scales. The stipes or frond-stalk is very long to enable it to pass through the stony passage between the rootstock and the outer air where the leafy portion of the frond expands. The entire frond varies from a foot to twenty inches or so, and of this length about one-half is accounted for by the stipes. In consequence of this great proportion of stalk, the extraction of a Black Spleenwort from one of these recesses (a matter of considerable difficulty) causes great disappointment to the fern- hunter. It is the case of Humpty-dumpty — all the king's horses and all the king's men cannot set the Black Spleenwort up again. The slender stalks refuse any longer to support the heavy fronds, but snap or twist under the weight that had -t*<,5*£ 'j»ir"*, ;$Wi&* - s^ife Siyil LADY FERN. 45 formerly been so nicely balanced, and the fronds hang ungrace- fully and limp. The rachis is without the hair-like scales that are present on the stalks of A. lanceolatum, (Plates 38,40,46.) The frond proper is wedge-shaped, rich dark-green in colour, firm and leathery in texture, evergreen, and twice pinnate. The two lowest and longest pinnae have their pinnules divided into secondary pinnules. The pinnules are shortly stalked, then deeply cut in a pinnate manner and their margins sharply toothed. The veins are pinnate. The brown sori are more slender than in A. lanceolatum, more in the centre of the pinnule, but ultimately by coalescing almost cover the back of the frond. They are produced from June to October. The Black Spleenwort is a widely distributed species ex- tending from the extremes of east to west, and north to south ; but its distribution is patchy and local. In many places it grows very sparingly. It occurs in many of the Irish counties, and in the Channel Islands. In the Highlands of Scotland it has been found at an elevation of 1900 feet above the sea. On the Continent its distribution is pretty general, whence it extends into Africa (North and South), Western Asia, and the Himalaya. The specific name adiantum-nigrum is partly borrowed from the generic name of the Maidenhair, and has not the remotest fitness for this plant, whilst the nigrum is in allusion to the supposed blackness of the stipes. It must be confessed that its sponsors have not been at all happy in their choice of names. Lady Fern (Aspleniwn filix-famind). The ancients had their Male and Female-ferns, their Filix- mas and Filix-fcemina, but the latter name was applied to the Bracken, whose lace-like arching frond gave it a suggestion of female grace and delicacy as compared with the more robust 46 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. and virile-looking Male Fern. By Linnasus the name filix- fcemina was transferred to the present species as being a more fitting representative of feminine characteristics. We doubt whether he was justified in doing so, for, apart from the confusion caused when comparing references in old and new literature, there is the fact, to which we have already called attention, that when the Bracken is growing in damp woods, such as the Lady Fern loves, it will bear comparison in delicacy with almost any of its smaller congeners. The Lady Fern varies greatly according to the conditions under which it is growing, the form that grows in open boggy places being entirely different in appearance from the specimens that grow about a shaded woodland rill. In the former con- dition we have a rather narrow frond with reddish stipes and the pinnas all curled and convex when viewed from the front. The well-shaded woodland specimens that get an abundant supply of moving water have fronds four or five feet in length and a breadth equal to nearly one-third of the length. This form (var. intisum), which has usually a strongly developed vertical rootstock, and an abundance of fronds, is characterized by the full flat expansion of all its parts and the semi-transparent delicacy of its tissues. The lower pinnae, too, are again pinnate. The rootstock is stout, covered with large rusty scales, and more or less erect. Normally the frond of the Lady Fern is twice pinnate, of a broad lance-shape, with a moderate but variable proportion of stipes, which is equally variable in colour from pale-green to purple-brown. It is of very soft texture, very brittle, and of a bright green colour. The pinnae are either opposite or nearly so, without footstalks, lance- shaped, with very slender tips. The close-set pinnules are coarsely toothed, and in the lower part of the frond cut pin- nately. The veins are also pinnate, and to their upper sides are attached the kidney-shaped indusia with torn margins, which are turned back when the abundant small black sori PL 46. Black Spleenwort. Asplenium adiantum-nigrurn. Hart's-tongue and Soft Prickly Shield-fern. £47. LADY FERN. 47 are developed. The kidney-shaped indusium is responsible for a lot of trouble among botanists, some of whom have placed the Lady Fern in the genus Aspidium in consequence of it. The shape of the indusium which rules in Asplenium is linear or oblong, straight or but very slightly curved, and, therefore, some authors, in consequence of the greatly curved indusium of the Lady Fern, have placed it in the genus Athyrium, whilst others regard Athyrium as only a sub-genus of Asplenium^ as we have considered it here. Those who are opposed to this view find considerable support in the fact that whereas other Aspleniums are little given to variation, the Lady Fern is one of the most variable of ferns (Plates 3, 45, 50). The varieties of the Lady Fern that have arisen under cultiva- tion are a legion, and many of them have been so crossed and modelled by fern-growers that they no longer present any like- ness to the natural types. They are more admired by certain persons on that account ; but we are of opinion that the native grace of the wild fern is superior to all the cultivated mongrels and monstrosities. The new fronds make their appearance from the bare crowns of the rootstocks in April or May, a large number rising simultaneously and unrolling with great rapidity. At this time they are thickly clothed with red-brown scales, most of which wither or fall off at a later date, and as they unroll they give off the peculiar ferny odour of new meal in considerable strength. In the autumn, at the first touch of frost, or sometimes without it, the entire frond turns yellow and shrivels away. The Lady Fern is pretty generally distributed throughout the British Islands, wherever there is moisture ; and in most places it is to be found in abundance. We meet with it in the swampy copse, the wet meadow, crowding the roadside drains, jutting out in luxuriant plumy masses from a crevice between the boulders of a waterfall, perched on a stone that divides the turbulent waters of a mountain torrent, down in the valley 48 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. bottom, or up the mountain-side 3000 feet above sea-level. Outside these islands its European range is general, and beyond it may be found in most parts of the world. The name filix-fcemina, as already indicated, means literally female fern. It is singular that so common a species as this should be without a single genuine folk-name. The inference is that the country-folk have been blind to its individual beauty, and have regarded it merely as "fern." A species resembling the Lady Fern in many respects, but differing in the absence of an indusium, is by most authors included on that account in the genus Polypodinm. (See Alpine Polypody, p. 88.) Scaly Spleenwort (Asplenium ceteracK). So distinct is the individuality of this fern among British plants that, given a drawing of its frond, no description is needed. None the less, we shall give that description, if only for the sake of uniformity of treatment. Several other of our ferns, i.e. the Hart's-tongue, and the Adder's-tongue, are so distinct that they cannot be mistaken for any other native species of fern, yet on a cursory glance they may be confused with the leaves of certain flowering plants. Quite apart from the pattern of the frond, the dense coating of chaffy scales on the under side renders the Scaly Spleenwort distinct from all the others, and for this reason, combined with the character of the indusium, it is placed in a sub-genus by itself, which some authors elevate into a genus separate from Asplenium, regard- less of the fact that this is the true and only original Spleenwort. The rootstock is quite short and proportionately stout, wedged in crevices of dry rocks and the joints of old walls. The fronds are tufted, and vary in length from about three to six inches, of which about one-fourth belongs to the scale-clad, tough, black stipes. The leafy portion is cut pinnately, but not quite PL 48. £48 Scaly Spleenwort. Asplenium ceterach, /'/. 49 E 49. Oblong Woodsia. Woortsia ilvensis. SCALY SPLEENWORT. 49 pinnate. The lobes are half-oval and alternately placed, their margins usually free from teeth or other indentations. The general outline of the frond, ignoring the sinuosities, is a narrow lance-shape, and its texture thick and leathery. The colour of the upper surface is a rich deep green, but the under- side is so completely covered by the overlapping scales that there is scarcely a suggestion of green visible. For the same reason the sori must be carefully looked for, and it will be seen that owing to the protection afforded by the scales the plant has felt justified in reducing the indusium to very slender pro- portions. Sometimes, indeed, it is represented by a mere ridge along the nerve from which the sorus springs. The veins form a network by their branches uniting. (Plates 42, 44, 48.) When the new fronds unroll the scales have a silvery appearance, which deepens into pinky-brown as they get older. The development of the sori gives a distinctly red hue to the underside and justifies the name Rustyback. There is no doubt that this scaly coat is of use to the plant in preventing excessive evaporation from its fronds in continued dry weather. From its occurrence on dry rocks and walls it must be at times sub- jected to considerable trials in this respect. Its lobes then curl over towards the rachis, which also curls on its length, and it wears precisely the aspect of a dead and withered plant. But a fall of rain will cause the fronds to expand again and present their opaque green surfaces to the light. In this apparently dead condition the fronds have been gathered and used as an artificial bait in sea-fishing. The Scaly Fern is pretty generally distributed in England, but it is rare in the Eastern Counties and the Midlands. It is most plentiful on the west side of the island, and it extends northwards as far as Argyll and Perthshire. It occurs in Ireland, especially south and west, in some districts becoming one of the most familiar weeds — thickly studding the walls and stone dykes, frequently in company with Wall-rue Fern and jo WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. Maidenhair Spleenwort. It is also found in Jersey. On the Continent it is widely distributed, except in the north ; it is a plant of North and South Africa, Western Asia, and the Himalaya. Few plants have had so many names bestowed upon them as this little fern. And yet in 1568 Turner could write that he had heard of no English name for it, though the ancient name of Asplenum and the French (!) Ceterache were familiar to him. He says : " It maye well be called in English Ceterache or Miltwaste, or Finger feme, because it is no longer then a manne's finger ; or Scale ferae, because it is all full of scales on the inner syde." Ceterach or Chetherak is said to be of Arabic origin, and probably handed down by the apothecaries, who had frequently to supply it as a medicine for troubles of the spleen and liver. It was said that if pigs ate the rootstock of the fern it would cause their spleen (or milt) to waste away, so one of its early names is Miltwaste. Du Bartas, in his '* Divine Weekes," has a couplet referring to this belief : — " The Finger-feme, which being given to swine, It makes their milt to melt away in fine." It does not appear to have occurred to those who wrote of swine eating the rootstocks, that this would be a matter of some difficulty seeing that the fern is embedded between stones, and therefore not accessible as a terrestrial species would be. Brown-back, Rusty-back, and Scale-fern are names whose origin will be obvious to any one examining the plant. Stone- fern is suggested by its habitat, and Saxifrage (Stone-breaker), which appears in the " Crete Herball" (1526), from an idea that it helped in the disintegration of the rocks, as all rock plants undoubtedly do to some extent. n. 50. Lady Fern, Asplenium filix-foeniina. HART'S-TONGUE. 5 1 Hart's-tongue (Scolopendrium vulgare). The general idea of a fern is a plant whose leaves are more or less intricately dissected, and therefore young plants of Beaked Parsley and other umbelliferous plants are often gathered as ferns. On the other hand the fronds of the Hart's-tongue are as frequently passed over as belonging to "some kind of Dock," because they are quite undivided and strap-shaped. Springing from a short, stout, and more or less erect root- stock, these fronds grow in a tuft, and vary ordinarily from a foot to two feet in length, including the stout scaly stipes, but depauperated specimens may sometimes be found on dry walls only four or five inches in length, whilst on moist ditch banks and about wells and springs they may measure over three feet. Such specimens — common in Cornwall and the South of Ireland — have a very fine appearance when growing at a height of four or five feet on a moist woodland bank where their broad fronds hang mainly downwards, a few growing erect adding to the imposing character of the effect (Plates 47, 52, 54). But little further description of the frond is needed, yet it may be added that its margins are almost parallel, the heart- shaped base being slightly broader and the last few inches at the further extremity tapering to a tip. It is stout and firm in texture, plane in the small narrow varieties, but undulating at the margins in the large broad examples. The veins start out at right angles from the thick midrib, and fork on their way to the margin, the branches often uniting with their neighbours. Though not to be classed as an evergreen fern, the Hart's- tongue is in evidence continuously, for its old fronds do not die until the new have expanded. There is a good deal of variation to be discovered in the wild Hart's-tongues quite apart from the matter of size. A common departure from the type is the branching of the rachis. This 52 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. may be a simple forking so that the frond ends with two tips, or the branching may be carried to such an extent that there are twenty tips, or any intermediate number. Sometimes the division starts with the stipes, so that two or more fronds are developed from one bud. Under cultivation this tendency to variation has run riot, and there are lists of hundreds of such abnormalities, some of them exceedingly remarkable in character. The sori appear in pairs at right angles to the rachis, being produced from contiguous veins. The narrow greenish-white indusia open opposite each other, and at first appear to be double ; but as development of the sori proceeds the indusia are pushed farther apart and their distinctness is made obvious. The spores are amongst the most easy to germinate in a covered seed-pan. The young plants have the first half-dozen or so of their fronds more or less oval or kidney-shaped, but gradually tend towards the strap-shape with each successively new frond. The unrolling adult fronds are prettily coated with silvery hair- like scales, and whatever may be the future inclination of the frond they all start their expansion in a perfectly erect attitude. The Hart's-tongue, though very widely distributed throughout these islands, is only locally abundant ; and in vertical range it does not appear to attain a greater altitude than about 600 feet above sea-level. Its distribution outside Britain is throughout Europe from Scandinavia southwards, North Africa, the Azores, Western Asia, Japan, and North-western America. Like the Scale Fern it has been richly endowed with names which vary with localities, but the resemblance of its frond to the shape of the tongue in certain mammals is the ruling idea in these names. In this category we find Hart's-tongue, Hind's-tongue, Fox-tongue, Lamb's-tongue, Horse-tongue, and, in Devonshire, Adder's-tongue, though this rightfully belongs to Ophioglossum. Then there are the descriptive Long-leaf, and Buttonhole, the latter suggested by the raised lines of the PL Hart's-tongue Tern. Kcolopendrimu vnltfi; : e. Alpine Bladder-fern. Cystopteris alpina THE WOODSIAS. 53 sori. It is also called Seaweed-fern (Surrey) from its resemblance to small fronds of Laminaria; and Snake-leaves (Somerset). In Co. Meath, where it is employed as a remedy for burns, it is known as Burnt-weed ; and in Guernsey it has the remarkable name of Christ's-hair. This name is explained by snapping the stipes and pulling out the solitary black fibro-vascular bundle. The old Latin name for the plant was Lingua cervina, whence Hart's-tongue is derived as an English equivalent. The Greeks called it Scolopendrium from the resemblance of the back of the frond, with its parallel lines of sori, to a centipede (Scolopendra). The species name -vulgare refers in Latin to its commonness. This is the only native species of its genus, which is represented on the Continent by one other, Scolopendrium hemionitis. The Woodsias (Woodsia). These are ferns whose fortune or misfortune it was to escape the notice of our early ancestors, and so until recent times they had no English names. There were several reasons for this oversight, chief among them the fact that these plants do not grow at a lower elevation than about 2000 feet above the sea, which alone would take them out of the purview of the ordinary person. Then, again, the appearance of the fronds is such that on a cursory glance they might be passed over as the foliage of one of the Louseworts (Pedicitlaris), or if more closely scrutinized be set down as seedling forms of some larger fern. Even among the elect — the botanists of a hundred years or so ago— they were regarded as members of the genus Polypodiunt. The reason for this will be seen when we reach that genus, whose chief distinguishing character is the absence of an indusium to cover its undeveloped sori. These ferns were long held to be so characterized, but in the year 1813 Robert Brown showed that the indusium was present, though . in an unusual position, and he created the genus Woodsia to receive ferns with this 54 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. character. The name was not borrowed from the Greek as usual, but chosen to immortalize and do honour to his contem- porary, Joseph Woods, best known to the public as the author of The Tourisfs Flora. The indusium in Woodsia is underneath the sorus, thus, as Francis expresses it, at first inclosing the mass of spore-cases in a bag ; it then becomes split into numerous segments which look like hairs interspersed with the capsules, and were so con- sidered until Brown showed their true nature (Plate 17). The worn-out fronds break off by a clean articulation or joint above the base of the stipes, just as the leaves of forest trees are detached in autumn. In this way a palisade of frond stumps is left around every crown. There are only two native species, and these are by some authorities considered as forms or sub-species of one. Many writers, however, have dealt with them as distinct, and we shall treat them separately here, although we agree more with those who regard Woodsia ilvensis as a sub-species of IV. hyperborea. Alpine Woodsia (Woodsia hyperborea). This is quite a small fern, with a stout rootstock and tufted fronds, which grows in the clefts of wet alpine rocks. The fronds are from one to four inches long with a polished reddish stipes, sparsely clothed with slender rust-coloured scales. The leafy portion is lance-shaped in general outline, but broken up into oval or oblong pinnae, which are sparingly lobed and rather distant one from another. The lower pinnae have rounded teeth at their base. The back and margins of the frond are furnished with distant hairs. The fronds are shed at the approach of winter. (Plate 57.) The sori are round, placed near the margins of the pinna- lobes, at first seated in a thin cup, the indusium, whose edges are torn into hair-like segments. This tearing process extends PI. .54- Hart's-tongue Fern. Stages in development from Prothallium. £54- PI. 55. Mountain Bladder-fern. Cystopteris jKcntana. PI. 56. Holly-fern. Aspidium loncbitis. PL 57- Alpine Woodsia. Woodsia hvuerboret £55 OBLONG WOODSIA. 55 until we have simply the sorus surrounded by a circle of filaments that curve over and protect it. This circumstance, as already mentioned, led to the belief that there was no indusium, and the filaments taken in conjunction with the real hairs on the back and fringing the edges, led one early writer to call it the Hair Fern. The sori are mature in July and August, when by their increased size they become confluent, and almost cover the small pinnae. This must be considered as one of the very rarest of our ferns, having only a few stations in this country and these at the highest elevations. Lhuyd first discovered it in 1680 growing on the precipitous flanks of Clogwyn-y-Garnedd, part of the Snowdon Range. There it is still said to hold its position. There is little danger in giving continued publicity to this locality for it, for " Clogwyn-y-Garnedd " covers a con- siderable acreage and affords some of the most dangerous work for the Snowdon climbers. Other British stations are in Scot- land—Rannoch, Ben Lawers and Ben Chonzie in Perthshire ; Glen Isla and Glen Fiadh in the Clova Mountains of Forfarshire. It has not been reported from Ireland. Beyond our borders it is found in Arctic and Northern Europe, as also in the Alpine regions of Central Europe ; in Northern Asia, Himalaya, and North America. The name hyperborea is Latin, and means far north, a name that accords well with its strictly alpine habit. The English name is merely a book-name. Oblong Woodsia (Woodsia ilvensis). This species differs but slightly from the Alpine Woodsia, and some botanists deny its distinctness. The general details of habit, rootstock, jointed stipes, etc., given as applying to the last species, apply equally to this. But the frond is somewhat larger (i to 6 inches), the pinnae longer and more oblong, more 56 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. deeply cut into blunt lobes, and the back scaly as well as hairy. The pinnae are more nearly opposite (Plates 49, 59). It grows in similar situations to the last, but has a larger number of stations, some at a lower elevation than 2000 feet. At Llyn-y-cwn, on Glyder-vawr near Snowdon, is a well-known station for it, where several lives have been lost in the attempt to gather specimens from the precipitous rocks. It has also been found at Clogwyn-y-Garnedd on the other side of the Pass of Llanberis ; in Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Durham. In Scotland it is recorded from near Loch Skene, Moffat ; the hills between Dumfries-shire and Peebles-shire, Ben Chonzie, Perthshire, and the Clova Mountains, Forfarshire. Its world range includes Arctic and Northern Europe, and the mountainous countries generally. In Asia it occurs in Siberia, and Dahuria ; also in Japan, Canada, and the United States. The specific name ilvensis is the Latin form of Elba, in which island was found the first specimen identified as distinct. The Bladder Ferns (Cystopteris}. Though presenting something of a likeness to the Lady Fern in their fragility of stipes and rachis, and the delicate texture of their pinnae, a glance at the back of the newly expanded frond reveals a great difference in the indusia of the Bladder Ferns as compared with the Lady Fern. In Cystopteris the small globular sori are at first covered by a long tapering and inflated indusium, which is attached by its broad end to the vein underneath the sorus. The bulging centre of this cover has the appearance of a blister or bladder, and this has suggested the name Cystopteris, derived from the Greek Kystis, a bladder, and pteris, a fern. When the spores are ripe, however, the indusium turns back with its long point as far from the sorus as possible (Plate 4). 59- Oblong Woodsia. \Yootisia ilvensis. BRITTLE BLADDER-FERN. 57 The rootstocks are of the creeping order, but while in some species the fronds arise at a distance apart, in others they are all produced close to the growing point, which gives them a tufted appearance. The fronds have pinnate or forked veins, and the degree of dissection varies from simply pinnate to four times pinnate. They are all deciduous, that is, their fronds die on the first approach of winter. They are rock-plants that prefer cool moist situations. Bladder-fern is merely a book-name, being a translation of the Greek Cystopteris. Brittle Bladder-fern (Cystopteris fragilis). The distinctive epithet "brittle" does not apply specially to this species as contrasted with its congeners ; but in the absence of folk-names, authors, upon whom is laid the necessity of providing some English title, are glad often to fall back upon a translation of the Greek or Latin words chosen as the scientific label for the species, as has been done in this case. The Brittle Bladder-fern has a prostrate rootstock thickly covered by pale-brown lance-shaped scales ; at the growing point these scales being new are orange-coloured. The new fronds arise from near the growing point, and so give the plant a tufted appearance, though no proper " crown " is formed as in the case of the Male Fern, etc. The frond is lance-shaped, and from six inches to a foot in length, of which about a third consists of the brittle brown stipes, clothed at the base only sparingly with golden scales. There is a slight expansion of the midrib in the upper part ; and the greatest breadth of the frond is about its middle. (Plates 51, 61.) The frond is usually twice pinnate. The pinnae are triangular, pinnate, and the pinnules are pinnately cut into lobes which are very close together. The sori are produced in varying numbers on each segment ; there may be two or a dozen, or any number 58 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. between. They are situate in the centre of the side branches of the pinnule veins. When numerous, they coalesce as they enlarge, become dark brown, and nearly cover the back of the frond. The spores are ripe in July and August. It is a very variable fern. A few of the varieties have been recognized by science, and one or two have been described as distinct species. The Alpine Bladder-fern, separately treated below in deference to the views of some authorities, is one of these. The Brittle Bladder-fern is a plant of the Northern type. It is widely distributed between Yorkshire and Orkney, but south of Yorkshire it keeps to the western half of the country, extending as far south as Devonshire. In the Highlands it has been found at an elevation of 4000 feet. It is found also in the Arctic and Northern portions of Europe, the Alpine districts of Middle Europe, Northern Asia, the Himalaya, and North- America. Alpine Bladder-fern (Cystopteris alpina). Although given a separate reference here, we incline to the view that C. alpina is a variety of C.fragilis sufficiently distinct to be regarded as a sub-species, but with differences too slight to constitute a claim to specific rank. Its principal departure from the type will be found in the finer divisions of the frond, the pinnules being nearly pinnate, and their divisions being further pinnately cut. These final divisions are more distinctly separated than in the type. The stipes is also less brittle. Another distinction is claimed by the " splitters " in the direc- tion taken by the final branches of the veins : in C. fragilis they run in a line with the tip of the teeth ; in C. alpina they terminate at the notch between the teeth. The stature of the plant is less than that of the type. (Plates 53, 63.) In any case, its inclusion in the British flora is mainly a PI. 61. Brittle Bladder-fern. Oystopteris fragilis. MOUNTAIN BLADDER-FERN. 59 matter of historical interest, for though Mr. Backhouse records it from Teesdale, Durham (1872), and Prof. Babington certified the correctness of identity, it was long retained in our lists on the strength of its undoubted occurrence for many years on old walls at Leyton in Essex — one of the most unlikely spots in which to find an alpine fern. There can be no doubt that it had been introduced, and had held its own for over fifty years, for the published records for that station extend from 1788 to 1840. Mountain Bladder-fern (Cystopteris montana). This species is very distinct from the Brittle Bladder-fern and its sub-species, presenting a superficial likeness to the Limestone Polypody (Polypodium robertianuni) both in the division of its fronds and the way they are produced at distant intervals along the creeping rootstock. The rootstock, which is only sparingly clothed with scales and is almost black in colour, creeps over wet rocks at elevations between 2300 and 3600 feet. The delicate pale-green fronds are produced singly, and vary in their entire length between 10 and 15 inches, but nearly two- thirds of these measurements are contributed by the slender stipes, the lower portion of which has a few scattered scales. The leafy portion of the frond is triangular and as broad as long. The pinnae are alternately arranged, but the lowest two are nearly opposite. The pinnules on the lower side of the midrib of these are much more de- veloped than those above, the pinnules are themselves pinnate and their divisions are strongly toothed. The sori are round and small, and on the large lower pinnae there will be found from eighteen to twenty-four of them, arranged on the final branches of the veins. It is in fruit in July and August. This must be considered as one of the rarest of ferns, both at home and abroad. In these islands it has only been found 60 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. in three Scottish counties at considerable elevations. First recorded by Mr. W. Wilson about eighty years ago on Ben Lawers, Perthshire, it has frequently been found there since, and other localities have been discovered for it in several glens of the Breadalbane Mountains in the same county, as also in the Clova Mountains of Forfarshire, and near Braemar, Aber- deenshire. Neither England, Wales, nor Ireland can boast of a station for it ; but on the Continent it occurs on most of the mountain systems of Northern and Middle Europe ; and in Kamchatka and the Rocky Mountains. (Plates 55, 65.) As in the other species of Cystopteris, the English name is only a translation of montana, the specific Latin name. The Shield Ferns (Aspidiiim). The Shield Ferns are of a more robust and sturdy nature than those we have been just considering, so much so that in most of their natural haunts they retain one year's fronds until the next year's growth is fully expanded. The principal character of the genus is found in the indusium, which is circular and attached to the frond by a central stalk on the underside (Plate 4). In botanical language it would be said to be " orbicular and peltate," both terms being well exemplified in the familiar leaf and stalk of the Garden Nasturtium (Tropaolunt). There are over fifty known species in the genus, of world-wide distribution. The question whether there are two, three, or four British species is one of the vexed points in botanical classification and nomenclature, and much confusion exists in books on Ferns respecting the name of the genus. In some works it is correctly set down as Aspidium, in others as Poly- stichum. The explanation— which we make for the benefit of fern-lovers who may be puzzled by this state of things — is, that the genus Aspidium of Swartz has been subdivided on secondary points of resemblance. The British species belong to the PL 63. Alpine Bladder-fern. Cystopteris alpina. HOLLY FERN. 6 1 section Polystichum, and some authors, giving these sections the value of generic distinction, have adopted the word Poly- stichum in preference to Asp^d^^^m. One well-known living author has gone so far as to use one name in the classification tables of his " Introduction," and the other name in his descrip- tive chapters ; yet he gives not a word of explanation that will reconcile the discrepancy to his distracted readers, who may imagine that he has omitted a genus from his classification and another from his description. The name of the genus is founded on the Greek word aspis, a shield, and has reference to the form of the indusium. Holly Fern (Aspidium lonehitis). Holly-fern is probably as good as any other name that could be found for this species, but we dislike it because it is deceptive, inasmuch that the resemblance to a holly-leaf suggested by it does not exist. It is true that the teeth of the pinnae end in a spiny point, which in a drawing may look hard and formidable, but it is really soft. Barberry-fern would be a much more happy name, except that Holly-fern is now a thoroughly well- known title to thousands who have never seen the plant. And so we let Holly-fern stand in this book for Aspidium lonchitis, making this explanation solely that fern-hunters may not miss the plant because they are looking for one whose fronds are like a holly-branch. The Holly-fern is a rock-plant that does not appear to grow naturally at a lower elevation than 1000 feet, and is usually found between 2000 and 3000 feet. Its short, stout rootstock is in a cleft of the rock, with long rootlets penetrating any cavity or spreading over the moist surface. The simply pinnate fronds often form a dense tuft, some quite erect, whilst others are horizontal or drooping, as in our photograph of one of the 62 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. Snovvdon specimens. They vary from six to eighteen inches in length, with a very short scale-clad stipes, and in form they are a very slender oblong, the lateral outlines being almost parallel, owing to the uniformity in length of all the pinnae excepting a few at each extremity. If the thick leathery pinnae were more symmetrical they might be described as narrow-egg- shaped, but the upper margin is concave and the lower convex, whilst the base has an ear-like lobe projecting on the upper margin. These ears are more noticeable when the back of the frond is in view, as the lower edge of one pinna usually overlaps and hides the ear of the pinna next below it. The margins are also beset with long teeth that end in spine-like hairs. The pinnae have a dark-green, hard and slightly polished surface, but are pale and dull underneath. It is not much subject to variation except in point of size. One variety (Jjulbiferum) is worthy of note as producing bulbils from the base of the lower pinnae. (Plates 56, 58, 66.) The sori are produced only on the upper pinnae of the frond, forming one or more rows on each side of the scaly rib of the pinna. They appear from June to August. The Holly-fern is a distinctly northern species. The photo- graph here reproduced (Plate 56) is from probably one of its most southern examples, growing at an elevation of about 2500 feet on the rugged escarpment of Crib Goch, one of the spurs of Snowdon. It occurs very sparingly in several spots similarly difficult of access in the same part of Carnarvonshire. Then its next stations are in West Yorks, Durham, and Westmoreland round the lakes. In Scotland, from Stirling to Caithness, it is more abundant, and the specimens attain a larger size. In the Highlands it has been found up to 3200 feet. It is rare in Ireland, where it has been reported from Donegal, Tyrone, Leitrim, Sligo, Meath, and Kerry. It occurs throughout Europe from the Arctic to the Mediterranean, in Northern and Western Asia, the Himalaya, and sparingly in North America. /'/. 64 . 62. Soft Prickly Shield-ferr Aspidiura angulare. PI. 65. Mountain Bladder-fern. Cystopteris rnontana. PRICKLY SHIELD-FERN. 63 The specific name lonchitis is from the Greek, and indicates a supposed resemblance in shape between the frond and a spear. Prickly Shield-fern (Aspidium aculeatuni). The Prickly Shield-fern at a distance may be taken for the Male-fern, for the frond is similar in shape, and the erect shuttlecock habit is the same in both species. A closer inspection, however, or a comparison of a frond from each, will at once dispose of any liability to confuse them. It is a fern of the woodland and the hedgerow ; in the former situation growing more erectly, and in the latter partly or wholly horizontally. The rootstock is short and stout, and in old specimens very hard and woody. The fronds are lance-shaped, from one foot to three feet in length, and from 4 to 12 inches across at the broadest part. The stipes is from 2 to 4 inches, and both that and the entire tough rachis is densely clothed in rust-coloured scales. The pinnas also are lance-shaped, set close together, and pinnate, the pinnules obliquely oval with an acute-angled base, deeply cut at their free ends, the long teeth ending in fine points which give them the spiny appearance suggesting the names. It is important to note that in the typical form the pinnules are attached to the midrib of the pinna without the intervention of a footstalk, and there is a well-developed "ear" to each pinna, owing to the lowest pinnule being larger than its fellows. The leafy portions of the frond are of a hard leathery texture with a glossy dark-green upper surface, paler and dull beneath. The sori form a row along each side of the midrib of the pinna. (Plates 60, 68.) There is a sub-species of this known as the Narrow Prickly Shield-fern (Aspidium lobatum), with narrower fronds, shorter and less scaly pinnae, larger, stiffer, and darker-green pinnules, 64 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. of which the upper basal pinnule of each pinna is larger than its fellows (Plate 70). A variety of this (var. lonchitidoides) has still narrower fronds and only a few of the pinnae are divided into pinnules. This variety has in consequence frequently been mistaken for the Holly-fern. We are inclined to suggest that it may possibly be a hybrid between Aspidium aculeatttm and Aspidium lonchitis. Soft Prickly Shield-fern (Aspidium angiilare). There can be little doubt that this is only another sub-species of the preceding, but it is so commonly regarded as distinct, that we have given it a separate heading. In general structure the two are alike with the exception that the material of which the frond is composed is in the one case hard and rigid, in the other soft and yielding. The rootstock is similar, and the clothing of large scales on stipes and rachis the same. The fronds are broader than in A. aculeatum proper, and of a much paler green, the pinnae less crowded, owing to the fact that the pinnules are smaller. The pinnules have also short stalks, and the bases form an obtuse angle ; the teeth are large and end in long hair-like points. (Plates 62, 64, 72.) Extreme northern and southern forms of these two Shield- ferns (Aspidium aculeatum and A. angidari) are fairly distinct from each other, but there are so many intermediate forms which only a skilled pteridologist can allocate to this or the other so-called species with confidence, that there can be little doubt that the serious botanist is right who regards them as sub-species with numerous connecting varieties. Sir William Hooker declared many years ago that he had in his herbarium a series of specimens which showed every gradation of variation between the extremes which have been called species, and he had no hesitation in uniting aculeatum, lobatum, and angulare in one species. Climatic conditions doubtless play their part Pt. 66. Holly-fern. Aspidium lonchiti Ft*. PI. 67. Male Fern. Nephrodinm fllix-nms. /•OS- THE BUCKLER FERNS. 65 in this variation, and it has been pointed out that whilst lobatum is chiefly found in Scotland and the North of England, where it is the prevailing form, in the Midlands its place is largely taken by aculeatum, which gradually merges into angulare as we come farther south, the latter form not appearing north of the Clyde. One or the other of these three forms (or their intermediates) may be found in suitable places anywhere between the extreme north and south of these islands, from Orkney to Jersey and including Ireland. Their further distribution includes Europe, Northern and Western Asia, the Himalaya, and North America. The English names are all book-names. It is probable that our forefathers would not distinguish this from the Male-fern, and the generic Fern or Farn would be applied, as it still is in the country, to cover most of the species that have no strikingly conspicuous appearance that suggests a distinctive name. In Cornwall, however, we met with Lace-fern as a name for A . angulare, and think it may be a genuine folk-name, for it is very expressive of the natural appearance of the soft fronds. The scientific names are so closely related to words adopted in everyday speech that it is scarcely necessary to explain them. Aculeatum is the Latin for prickly ; lobatum from lobus, a lobe ; and angulare the Latin form of angular. The Buckler Ferns (NepJirodium). The distinguishing feature upon which the genus Nephrodium is separated from Aspidium is again the form of the indusium, which here takes the conventional kidney-shape, the attachment to the vein of the pinnule being at the notch in the margin of the indusium (Plate 17). There are seven British species, of which some authors make nine. This is a case in which all the Continental species of the genus occur in this country. The genus as a whole is a very large one, and it has been split up 66 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. into sub-genera as we mentioned was the case with Aspidium, and similarly because all the European species fall into the sub-genus Lastrea they are referred to in some of the books as Lastreas. The Male-fern (Nephrodium filix- mas) is the best known of all our native species, and has stood for the typical fern. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek word nephros, the kidney, in allusion to the shape of the indusium. Male Fern (Nephrodium filix-mas). When all is said about the distinctive claims of this or that species to be considered the most beautiful, the most graceful or the most delicate, it will probably be admitted that the Male- fern is the most popular of our native ferns. Its sturdy habit, its robust growth and commanding appearance, as it towers over the lesser plants of the hedgerow or copse, make it a very noticeable plant, and leads to the desire to transfer a fine specimen to the garden, to which change in its condition it accommodates itself more readily than any other species. As already indicated under the head of Bracken, that species is not regarded when the non-botanical are discussing ferns, and so the Male-fern has come to be regarded as the Fern, or the Common Fern. Its ubiquitous character — so far at least as these islands are concerned — has had much to do with this, for wherever ferns will grow, there we may rely upon meeting with the Male-fern. The Male-fern's rootstock becomes solid and bulky with age, owing to the bases of the fronds remaining attached to it, though the active portion— the fleshy rhizome — is of much more slender proportions, and runs through the centre of the hard mass. The unexpanded fronds form a broad tuft from which they arise in shuttlecock fashion to a height of two or three — sometimes four or more — feet. They are lance-shaped, with a short stipes more or less densely clothed with pale brown PI. 68. Prickly Shield fern. Aspidium aculeatum F66. n. 69. Rigid Buckler-fern. Nephrorlium rigidnm. F67. MALE FERN. 67 scales, which are continued sparingly along the rachis in the type, but more abundantly in some of the varieties. The lance form of the frond is properly tapered to a sharp point above, but below its tapering is more gradual and ends rather abruptly. It is twice pinnate, the pinnae being narrow and running to a long slender point. Only the pinnules towards the base of the pinna are really distinct, the upper portion of the pinna being merely pinnatifid instead of pinnate. The pinnules are oblong, blunt, their free ends toothed. The sori are large and round, arranged in a line on each side of the midrib of the pinnule, and parallel with it. They are coveted with the smooth, convex indusium, which is at first pale, then lead-coloured, and finally brown. The spores are ripe in July or August. (Plates 9, 67, 75.) There are several well-marked varieties that have long been recognized as such, but which some writers have elevated to the status of species. This point of view is chiefly upheld by those to whom the most microscopic and temporary aberrations of growth are sufficient to justify insertion under a compound name in their interminable lists of varieties. Most botanists are content to accept the three forms referred to as well-defined varieties or at most as sub-species. These forms maybe briefly referred to : — Var. affinis. Fronds long, drooping ; pinnules oblong, lance- shaped, deeply cut, less crowded. Var. paleaceum. Rachis very scaly ; frond yellowish, pinnules oblong with almost square ends, scarcely toothed along the sides (Plate 67). Var. abbreviata. Frond pinnate, only the lowest pinnules being separate ; pinnules broad and blunt. Probably a more alpine form of var. paleaceum. The Male-fern is the species around which centres all the delightful old nonsense concerning the invisibility-conferring powers of fern-seed, which could only be obtained on St. John's Eve by the careful observance of certain precautions. The 68 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. Male-fern, too, has the distinction of retaining a place in the modern pharmacopoeia as an anthelmintic, though Maiden- hair and Ceterach have long been excluded. In the matter of names, also, the Male-fern has an advantage over many other species. It is so called in the " Niewe Herball" of Henry Lyte (1578), and appears to be in common use. It was apparently named with regard to its robust habit in contrast with the more graceful drooping of the Bracken, which was then the Female-fern. There are several other names in use locally, such as Basket-fern in Cornwall and Hampshire ; Fearn Brackins in Cumberland. In the Border country it is known as Dead-man's Hands, from the resemblance of the unrolling frond-buds to a clenched fist. Filix-mas is merely Male-fern in Latin. Little need be said about the distribution of the Male-fern, which is general throughout the British Isles, and the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is also to be found in India, Africa, and in parts of America, North, Central, and South. In Yorkshire it has been found at an elevation of 2400 feet. Rigid Buckler-fern (Nephrodium rigidum). The Rigid Buckler-fern is one of our rarest species, and one that is little likely to attract attention except from those who are specially on the look out for it. The probability is that it will be taken at first sight for some form of Nephrodium spinulostitn. A glance at the teeth of the pinnules, however, serves to settle that point, for in rigidum the teeth of the pinnules do not end in long spine-like hairs. The rootstock is tufted, and covered like the stipes with long reddish-brown scales. The entire frond is from a foot to two feet in length, of which as much as one-half may be ap- pointed to the stout stipes. The dull-green frond is in outline PL 70. Narrow Prickly Shield-fern. Aspidium lobatum. F6S. Created Buckler-fern. Nephroflium cristatum. CRESTED BUCKLER-FERN. 69 either lance-shaped or a long narrow triangle. The lance- shape is partly due to the lowest pair of pinnae being of equal length with the next pair ; the triangular aspect is given by the lowest pinnae being slightly longer than those above, a condition more noticeable in young plants. The pinnae also are lance- shaped, two or three inches long. The oblong pinnules, though cut right to the rachis, are not stalked. On the underside there are stalked glands which give out a pleasant, though by no means strong odour. The sori are attached in two rows close to the rib of the pinnule, and the indusium is covered with glands and has fringed margins. (Plates 69, 77.) The Rigid Buckler-fern is singular among the British members of its genus in that it is a genuine rock-plant, growing out of fissures. It is also among the number of our ferns notable for the narrow limits of their distribution. It is true that it is found in three English counties — Lancashire, West- moreland, and Yorkshire, but the haunt of this fern is just where these three counties adjoin, so that together they only constitute a small district for it. There it must be sought on limestone rocks at elevations between 1200 and 1500 feet. It does not occur in either Scotland or Ireland ; its con- tinental range includes Norway, and several parts of Southern Europe. It is also found in Western Asia and North America. The name Rigid Buckler is of recent book origin, as must of necessity be the case with a species whose range is so circum- scribed and out-of-the-way. It is a mere translation of the Latin name which was bestowed on account of its stiffness. Crested Buckler-fern (Nephrodmm cristatum). We now come to a group of ferns which are almost certain, in some of their natural varieties, to cause trouble to the fern- hunter. In most books they are treated as three or four species ; 7O WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. but there are authorities who consider them as all sub-species of one. Their point is that, though certain forms regarded as species stand out so distinctly from each other as to warrant specific rank when considered apart from intermediate forms, yet that when the four so-called species and their varieties are all regarded together we get a series whose forms merge into each other, so that it is difficult to say where Nephrodinm cristatum ends and N. spinulosum begins. The position is not rendered more simple by the existence of Nephrodium remotum, a sub-species of N. spinulosum which connects the latter with the Male-fern. (Plates 71, 79.) The Crested Buckler-fern at first sight suggests affinity with the Prickly Buckler-fern (N. spimilosuni), though the narrow- ness of the fronds makes it sufficiently distinct to arrest the attention of those whose walks lie in the few districts of this country where it grows. It is a fern of boggy or marshy ground, where the short scaly rootstock creeps just below the surface and divides into several heads, each producing its tuft of a few fronds. The fronds are from twelve to eighteen inches long, of which length nearly one-third is contributed by the pale scaly stipes. The scales, investing not only the stipes but the root- stock also, are large, pale, and bubble-like. The leafy portion of the frond is oblong lance-shaped, pale green and polished. The pinnae, which are almost opposite, are reduced in length very gradually upwards from the lowest pair but one, which are slightly larger than the lowest. The largest pinnae are about two inches long, of triangular form, and attached to the rachis by short footstalks. The pinnules are oblong, deeply and sharply toothed, and attached by the whole width of their base. There are barren and fertile fronds, the former being broader and softer. The fertile fronds bear on the pinnules two rows of sori, near to the midrib. The indusium is quite smooth, without glands or fringe ; and the spores are ripe in August. A peculiarity of this species is seen in the unrolling frond, Soil Prickly Shield-fern. Asmdinm aru,'viiar«. Prickly Buckler-fern. Nephrodinm spinulosnm. % 75- Male Fern. Nephrodium filix-mas. PRICKLY BUCKLER-FERN. 71 when the pinna? expand in advance of the rachis and spread out flat on either side, as if embracing the coiled portion. The Crested Buckler is a rare fern in this country, its range being restricted to the English counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Huntingdon, Nottingham, Yorkshire, and Cheshire, and of Renfrewshire in Scotland. Its wider distribution includes Europe, Western Siberia, and North America. There is a well-marked variety — uliginosa — which has some- times been described as a distinct species. It has the pinnules divided to a greater extent than in the type, so as to become pinnate, and the teeth approach more to those of N. spinulosum in having hair-like points. In addition to the distinct barren and fertile fronds, there are others produced later in summer which have blunt pinnules, and may be either barren or fertile. This form is exactly intermediate between N. cristatum and N. spin ulosum, but as it is found growing with typical specimens of the former, and both are true bog ferns, they are classed together. The Latin name, cristatum, means plume-like or feathery, but it has no fitness special to this species, more than to many other ferns. The English name, Crested, is simply one of the equivalents of cristatum, and is a book-name. Prickly Buckler-fern (Nephrodium spinulosuin). An inhabitant of moist woods where there is a good depth of leaf-mould, and a fair amount of shelter from wind and sun, the Prickly Buckler-fern is one of our most graceful ferns. Its favourite position is on or around the small stumps of trees that have been felled in the thinning of the wood. There the dead leaves get heaped up by the winter winds, and decay into light leaf-mould which is soon covered by feather-mosses. There the spores of Prickly Buckler-fern find a suitable nidus, and in time the stump is surrounded — perhaps surmounted — by this 72 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. fern, whose broad lance-shaped fronds assume varying attitudes of grace in order not seriously to overlap their neighbour fronds. The stout rootstock is half erect, covered with pale brown oval scales, which are also found on the stipes and very sparingly on the lower part of the rachis. What we have said as to the branching of the rootstock of N. cristatum applies also to this species. The fronds may be as long as three or four feet, of which about one-third is the stipes, and the form may be described as lance-shaped, broadest at the base, or oval with the narrow end continued gradually to a point. They are twice pinnate, the pinnae lance-shaped, the lowest pair some- what triangular. The pinnules and upper pinnae almost pinnate, cut to the rachis into oblong lobes with sharp teeth that end in hair-like points. The sori are produced chiefly on the upper pinnules of the frond, and form a row on each side of the midrib. The indusium is smooth, without glands or fringe. The spores are ripe about August and September. The stipes of this species, though not succulent like that of Lady-fern, is very brittle, so that in any exposed position the plant has often a tumbled appearance. In a sheltered place where it is not overshaded the Prickly Buckler has much grace, for the fronds growing semi-erectly from the rootstock arch gently backwards. It has a special beauty when perched on some mossy boulder in the midst of a brawling torrent that pours down the foot of a mountain, as we have seen it both in Wales and Ireland. (Plates 73, 81.) The Prickly Buckler-fern is widely distributed, extending north as far as Aberdeenshire and Dumbartonshire, much more plentiful in the South than in the North, and not very abundant in Ireland. It occurs in Central and Northern Europe, North- Eastern Asia, South Africa, and Arctic America. The name spinulosum is from the Latin spinula, a little thorn, in reference to the appearance of prickliness given by the hair- like teeth, and the English name is merely a rough equivalent. Hay-scented Buckler-fern. Xephvodiimi ii'innlnin. F12. PI. 77- Rigid Buckler-fern. Nephrodium rigidum. BROAD BUCKLER-FERX 73 Broad Buckler-fern (Nephrodium dilatatum). Though by some writers regarded as a species quite distinct from N. spinulosum, we believe that those botanists are right who hold that the Broad Buckler is at most a sub-species of the last-named. Of some specimens it is easy to say at once : this is dilatattun, or spinulosum, as the case may be ; but with respect to many other examples one requires to make a careful and critical examination before making a statement, and then probably only to the effect that it may be as correctly set down as either one or the other. Roughly speaking, N. dilatatum may be described as N. spinulosum with fronds more highly developed. Its rootstock does not creep, and is more erect. The scales on crown and stipes are more abundant, narrower, have a dark brown centre and pale margins, instead of being uniformly pale as in N. spinulosum. The frond is darker and brighter in colour, much broader and more triangular. There are glands on the under- side of the pinnae, and the indusium is fringed with glands. This latter character must be sought before the spores are ripe, as the indusium falls off early. The majority of specimens have fronds a foot or two feet long, but vigorous old plants may be found with fronds up to five feet in length. The general proportion of width at base is about one half of the length. The pinnae are closer together, often slightly overlapping, and the pinnules are more deeply cut. The lowest pinnae are obliquely triangular, and the pinnules on the lower side of the midrib longer than those on the upper side. (Plates i, 74.) The Broad Buckler-fern is more plentiful than the Prickly Buckler-fern, and will be found in most moist woods, and beside ponds, streams, and waterfalls wherever it can get a good depth of leaf-mould. It ascends to 3700 feet in the 74 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. Highlands. There are several so-called varieties, chiefly modifications produced by lack or excess of vigour due to the situations in which they are found. On this point it would not be amiss to quote the late Mr. E. J. Lowe, F.R.S., who was an enthusiastic raiser of fern varieties and hybrids, and therefore more inclined to be a "splitter" than a "lumper." He classes the Broad Buckler, and the Hay-scented Buckler (Nephrodium