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S OF GREAT BRITAIN:

ILLUSTRATED

BY

JOHN E. SOWERBY,

PROPRIETOR OF SO‘VERBY’S ENGLISH BOTANY.

E DESCRIPTIONS, SYNONYMS, &c.

BY

CHARLES .I‘OHNSON, ESQ.,

BOTANICAL LECTURER AT GUY’S HOSPITAL.

L O N D O N :
Y Gr. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

MDCCCLIX.

TO

THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS

OF

THE LINNEAN SOCIETY,

THIS WORK
IS
WITH THEIR PERMISSION
MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

BY

THEIR OBLIGED AND OBEDIENT SERVANT,

THE PROPRIETOR.

4% r; a;

f 4’51“»

THE

ERNS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

 

INTRODUCTION.

FERNs constitute a series of vegetable productions of consider-
e extent, amounting to upwards of two thousand known species,

greater proportion of which is found in tropical climates, but
y unequally distributed; the general habit of the fern leading it.
develop most freely under the joint influence of shelter from the

and wind, and an atmosphere replete with moisture. Hence

open prairie, the pampa, and the steppe offer conditions most
favourable to their growth; while the land covered with dense
ests, or the mountain with its rocky clefts and caverns, affords

requirements upon which it depends, especially where such
ur in association with a warm and vaporous climate. The pro-
tion that ferns bear to the aggregate vegetation of difl'erent
ntries, though in some measure dependent upon such circum-
nces, conveys no definite idea of their real numbers: thus, when
learn that in the British Islands they compose 313th of the con-
cuous vegetation of the land, and in tropical America 316th, we
not to conclude that the numbers in the two countries at all
roximate, but that amidst the exuberant development of the
rid zone the ferns maintain an equal proportion to that which

,1 -» A
x)

2

they have in our less productive region. The actual amount of
species, indeed, almost constantly diminishes with the increase of
latitude beyond the tropics.

In a work intended as an aid to the less scientific observers and
admirers of natural productions, it is not considered desirable to
enter into those minutiae of organic composition, by which the
physiologist is guided in his studies of the relative structures and
affinities of the various groups composing the vegetable kingdom;
but, as certain general characters appertain to that before us, and as,
in describing families and species, it is convenient to employ a few
conventional terms, expressive of features and conditions not be-
longing to other plants, a concise View of the peculiarities by
which ferns are collectively distinguished, becomes a necessary in-
troduction to their examination in detail.

‘With much of the aspect belonging to the higher orders of vege-
tation, and occasionally rivaling in port and habit the more ma-
jestic of their forms, ferns have a structure indicative of a much
lower grade in organization, and may be regarded as occupying an
intermediate position, or rather as representing the most compli-
eated type of that class characterized by the absence of flowers.
They are, with slight exception, perennial plants, but vary much in
habit, and especially in the development of the stem 3 this is gene-
rally either procumbent or it extends itself below the surface of the
soil, and from its root-like appearance is denominated a rhizoma,
though some writers designate it as the caudew. Rarely, and almost
exclusively in very warm and humid climates, ferns are arborescent,
the stem growing erect like the trunk of a tree, when it is called
the stipes, and in some species attaining a height of forty or fifty
feet: it is cylindrical, of equal diameter throughout, and bears
leaves only at the summit, like a palm, the necessary result of its
growth being only from the termination of the axis. Occasionally
a tendency to upright elongation of the rhizoma is observed in
some of the larger species of the British Ferns. The leaves, usually

3

termed fronds, are generally more or less divided in a wing-like
manner, rarely simple or entire: when the divisions extend to the
rachis or continuation of the leaf-stalk or its branches, the fronds
are described as pinnate, bipinnate, or tripinnate (once, twice, or
thrice winged), the first or primary divisions being called pinnw,
the subsequent ones pinnules ; when they are only partial, the
fronds are said to be pinnatifid or wing-cleft, and the divisions are
denominated lobes or segments. The disposition of the leaves of
plants in the bud, generally regarded by botanists as an important
feature, is called their carnation, and in the ferns is circz'nate (except
in one small group), the divisions as well as the entire frond being
coiled inwards previous to expansion like the spring of a watch, a
disposition beautifully exhibited by those of some of the larger
species. 4

The reproductive germs of the flowerless plants are very minute,
indeed generally microscopic, and, notwithstanding the gigantic
size of some members of the Fern tribe, no exception occurs in
this respect; their production apparently taking place under dif-
ferent laws to those which regulate the fructifying function in
flowering plants: they are not called seeds, but spares or sporules,
and are enclosed in little cases denominated thecce ; which, in the
ferns, are mostly aggregated in small clusters of different size and
shape, termed sari, and arise from the veins on the under surface
of the frond, or from their extremities upon its margins: in some
instances the thecae, instead of forming sori, are associated in spikes
or clusters called panicles, formed by the dcpauperation of the
fructifying frond or of its lobes. The primary development of the
thecae takes place in immediate contact with the vein, and beneath
the epidermis or outer covering of the leaf, which is forced up by
their enlargement in the form of a whitish membrane, constituting
the indusium or protecting cover of the sori. During the advance,
of the fructification towards maturity, the indusium separates partly
or wholly from the surrounding epidermis, and subsequently either

A 2

4

shrivels and becomes hidden by the bursting of the thecae, or falls
off altogether. In some instances, the opening takes place in the
centre, the indusium investing the sorus like a cup, when it is
styled, though erroneously, an involucre ; while in others, the epi-
dermis from both surfaces of the leaf extends beyond the margins,
including the thecae between them, and fulfilling the office of indu-
sium without being regarded as such: occasionally this marginal
separation and extension of the leaf-membrane takes place unin-
terruptedly along the whole edge, but it is often only local and
about the soriferous extremities of the lateral veins. In a few
genera the indusium cannot be traced, the sori appearing to be
produced externally; but this, probably in all cases, arises from

the very early period of growth at which the disruption takes.

place, as careful examination of some species of Polypodium readily
discovers. ' '

The application of the term frond to the leaf of a fern is
objected to by some botanists; but the association of organs, that
in other plants are simply conservative, with the reproductive
function in those before us, is a feature sufficiently remarkable
to justify the distinction, and it has thus become almost universally
adopted.

The elegance and variety of the foliage of ferns, rendering them
valuable objects in amateur cultivation, with the modes of treatment
that experience has proved most successful, will be found in detail,
accompanying the descriptions of the several species ; but, as a
previous provision of material is requisite, and a few general rules
applicable in most instances, much repetition may be avoided by
a short preliminary notice. No plants are better adapted than are
the hardy species of ferns, for filling up shaded nooks in the garden
and shrubbery, and for covering the sheltered parts of ruins,
grottos,'and rock-work, or the margins of ponds and fountains;
shade and moisture being generally favourable to their develop-
,ment, as is evinced by the natural localities affected by most of the
species, which flourish especially under the shelter of woods and

NEE-“23'7"- .J-' . . ‘~

5

ckets, in the crevices of rocks, and in the mouths of wells,
es, and caverns, where they have little light, and enjoy an
osphere of almost uninterrupted humidity. But while moist-
is an important agent in securing, and even enhancing, that
uty which belongs to them in the wild state, drainage is no
s necessary to the preservation of the greater number, and must
so far provided as to prevent the lodgement of water in a stag.
t state about the roots. The subjoined materials will be found
re or less requisite to those engaging in the cultivation of this
eresting tribe: viz.

As draining media. _

. Shards, or fragments of gardenipots broken to the size of an
h, or larger. - '

. Fragments of sandstone, limestone, slate, &c. for forcing into

soil around the roots, in planting.

. Charcoal, broken into pieces, from the size of a filbert to that

walnut.

As soil.

. Peat, or bog-earth. The best is that of a blackish or dark-
wn hue, and spongy texture.

. Decayed leaf-mould, or rich garden soil.

. Loam. The best is of a yellowish hue, containing much
etable fibre.

. Sand. The white or silver sand being preferable, though not
ntial. '

. Mortar from old buildings.

here the collection is large or increasing, a compost, prepared
ixing the first four in equal proportions, is desirable, as being
ys at hand, and capable of modification as necessity may re-
6. The old mortar is onlv for occasional use, but a small

6

quantity may generally be added with advantage. The compose
should be kept slightly moist, but not wet. In potting, the shards
must occupy at the least one or two inches of depth at the bottom 3
and it is better to place over them a thin layer of moss, to prevent
the soil from falling between and interfering with the ready
passage of the superfluous water. A few fragments of charcoal
should be placed over the moss 3 and the soil being then thrown
in lightly around the root of the fern, and some pieces of stone
or slate forced into it vertically, the whole may be settled by
watering.

Without referring to the variety of adaptations of which a fern
garden is susceptible on a large scale, either as ornamental, or as
affording place for the reception of species of every kind of habitat,
from the river-side and the swamp to the mountain-rock and the
church-tower, I will confine my suggestions as to out-door plant-
ing, within the compass attainable by those who have only a small
space wherein to operate. Selecting a spot in the garden sheltered
from the direct rays of the sun, but if possible not subject to the
drip from trees 3 a bank of loose soil, or common garden-mould
mixed with brick-rubbish and old mortar, may be thrown up to
the height of from two to four feet above the general level 3 in
which, when settled by the rain or copious watering, so as to avoid
farther sinking, excavations of different depths may be made for
the reception of those species that require the most moisture,
keeping up the surrounding soil with fragments of stone or burs
from the brick-kiln. In planting, it is sufficient, in a general way,
to supply the compost soil to the extent of five or six inches around
the ball of root, as most of the larger ferns readily spread their
radicles into the looser and rougher material of the bank. Around
the deeper and larger excavations for the marsh and flowering
ferns, a wall of loose porous stones or old bricks, with a mixture of
sandy peat and decayed mortar spread between them, will afford a
congenial site for the smaller rock species, especially those of the

7

germs Asplem'um ; and, if the wall be carried up higher than the
adjoining part of the bank, so that the latter may be raised against
it, the Common Polypody will be induced to overrun the slope
with luxuriance and pleasing effect, its matted rhizomes being at
first kept firm, by disposing here and there a few heavy pieces of
chalk-flint, or other stones.

It must be understood that the chief recommendations of such a
bank, are the facility with which it is constructed, and the insurance
of good drainage. Of course the water readily running off the
higher parts, renders it necessary that evaporation should be
checked as much as possible, and in order to effect this, irregular
masses of stone, and cemented brick, from the kiln or the old
furnace, may be scattered upon the surface around the roots of the
ferns; these will not only retain a considerable degree of moisture
beneath, but afford shelter to the foliage, and, carefully selected
and disposed, may be rendered more subservient to the picturesque
than elaborately constructed rock-work.

Many persons, in following out fancies of the latter kind, with
more of the grotesque than good taste, employ the vitrified clinkers
from the potteries and glass-works; but, as the object to be ob-
tained is less ornament than utility, I prefer the brick, on account
of its porosity and the quantity of water it is capable of retaining 3
and that the ferns have a similar preference, is evident from the
complicated masses of root—fibre and spongioles that form on the
surface of the soil, and even ramify into the pores and crevices of
these rude masses wherever they have remained for a few months
undisturbed.

The classification of the Ferns being very arbitrary and unsettled,
and our View comprising only those of a particular locality far from
rich in‘the number of species, I have not considered it requisite to
disturb the sequence of the genera by allusion to it in the body of
the work. As at present constructed, the British Ferns are in-

8

cluded in three principal groups or orders, the characters and
genera of which are stated below.

I. POLYPODIACEZE.

Thecae collected in sori on the back or margin of the frond, pel-
lucid, reticulated; invested by an articulated, elastic, more or less
complete annulus or ring. Vernation circinate.

The annulus is a continuation of the stalk of the theca 3 in other
words, it is the middle vein of the minute circinate leaf that forms
the latter, which is torn open by its extension.

* Annulus vertical.

1. Polypodium. 6. Athyrium. 11. Pteris.

2. Woodsia. 7. Asplenium. 12. Allosorus.
3. Lastrea. 8. Scolopendrium. 13. Adiantum.
4. Polystichum. 9. Ceterach.

5. Cystopteris. 10. Blechnum.

** Annulus lzorz'zontal or oblique.

14. Trichomanes. 15. Hymenophyllum.

II. OSMUNDACEE.

Fructification developed upon depauperated portions of a more
or less compound frond. Thecae stalked, membranaceous, reti-
culated, destitute of annulus, opening vertically with two valves.

V ernation circinate.
16. Osmunda.

III. OPHIOGLOSSACEiE.

Fructification developed upon depauperated simple or compound
fronds. Thecae sessile, coriaceous, opaque, without any trace of
annulus or reticulation, bivalvular. Vernationstraight.

17'. Botrychium. 18. Onhioglossum.

Genus 1 . POLYPODIUM.

GEN. CHAR. Sori circular, naked. Margin of the frond not re-
flexed.

One of the most extensive and diversified genera of the order,
chiefly distributed over the tropical countries of the Western hemi-
sphere. Of the four British species, three have been occasionally
referred to other genera, on account of the supposed presence of
an indusium, noticed by Roth, a celebrated German botanist, but
certainly not to be detected, in any stage of development, in those
specimens that have passed under my own observation, either wild
or cultivated, which latter I have diligently examined at every
period of their growth. .

The generic name is formed from 7ro>u)9, many, and woC‘g, foot,
in allusion to the form of the branched rhizoma in the most common
native species.

POLYPODIUM VULGARE. Common Polypody. TAB. I.

Fronds lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid ; segments linear-lanceolate,
obtuse, indistinctly serrated, approximate.

Polypodium vulgare, Linnaeus. Ctenopteris vulgaris, Newman,
Hist. Brit. Ferns, 41.

Very frequent about the roots and moss-grown trunks of trees,
on rocks, shady hedge-banks, walls, and old thatched roofs. The
rhizoma branches in all directions, the branches, when it has grown
long undisturbed, crossing each other and forming a’thick mat-like
substance: it is at first clothed with a cuticle densely covered with
yellowish-brown, membranaceous, lanceolate scales, which, falling
off, or becoming obliterated during the winter, leaves the surface
nearly smooth and of a yellowish hue. The young fronds begin to
appear in May, rapidly attaining the full size, which varies accord-
ing to situation from the length of five or six inches to that of
twelve or eighteen: where much exposed, and at a distance from
the ground, they have generally in maturitya drooping habit, and
even become almost pendent, but in sheltered localities often retain
their original erect position throughout. The rachis is smooth,
grooved on the upper face, and bare about half or one-third of its
length.

The lateral veins of the segments are alternate, and each divides
into from three to five branches, of which the lowest, directed up-
wards, always terminates midway, while the others are continued

nearly to the margin; all of them in the barren segments being
B

10

thickened in a club-like manner at the extremity. The fructification
is, in most instances, confined to the upper divisions of the frond
only, but sometimes they are all fertile. The sori, of a bright
yellow or orange colour, changing in maturity to brown, are desti-
tute of indusium, and very regularly disposed in a line on each side
of the mid-vein, halfway between. it and the margin 3 a disposition
resulting from their development at the extremity of the first brancli
of the lateral vein. In very vigorous fronds the regular dotted line
of fructification thus formed is sometimes disturbed, by the pro-
duction of a sorus at the extremity of one or even two of the upper
branches of the same vein ; indeed, the thickening of this part seems
to be the first stage in the development of the sorus.

The fronds of this fern are in perfection from August to Novem-
ber, but are, in exposed situations, always disfigured by the first
frost. Under shelter it becomes evergreen, retaining the old fronds
until the appearance of the new ones. In cultivation it does not
generally succeed so well as do most of our native species: Mr.
Newman observes that it is somewhat parasitic, and I believe he is
right, never having been able to keep it in luxuriance, until it was
accommodated with a large proportion of decayed wood, moss, and
straw, mingled with the compost previously employed, into the
interstices of which the delicate root-fibres very soon penetrated,
lining every cavity with their brown hair-like spongioles.

Several varieties are met with, distinguished chiefly by the divi-
sion and serrature of the segments, viz. :

1. bifidum, in which each segment is divided at the extremity
into two diverging lobes,—not an uncommon occurrence, indeed,
in the fronditself.

2. serratum, characterized by the more distinct or deeper ser-
ratures.

3. Cambricum, IVelsh Polypody, with a broader frond and the
segments irregularly cleft: this is always barren. Linnaeus, by
whom it was first described, regarded it as a distinct species.

4. Hibernicum, Irish Polypody, distinguished by the broader
frond being bi- or tri-pinnatifid and fertile. A very striking and
beautiful variety, found by Mr. Mackay, in the Dargle, in the
county of Wicklow, Ireland.

Intermediate varieties connect all of these with the normal or
common form.

The rhizoma is mucilaginous and has a sweetish flavour, but by
long boiling it becomes bitter. An infusion of it in a recent state
is sometimes administered in the country as a mild cathartic. It

was once highly esteemed by the faculty as an expectorant, and.

especially recommended for hooping-cough ; but although still
occasionally employed as a domestic remedy, it has long been
excluded from the list of orthodox medicines.

 

urk .--n~t--.. .. L A, g .7 '_

 

11

POLYPODIUM PHEGorTERIs. Mountain Polypody. TAB. II.

Fronds triangularly lanceolate, acuminate, subpinnate: pinnae
linear-lanceolate, acute, deeply pinnatifid, with obtuse, entire lobes ;
the lowest pair distant, deflexed. Sori nearly marginal.

Polypodium Phegopteris, Linnaeus. Polystichum Phegopteris, Rot/z.
Lastrea Phegopteris, Newman. . Gymnocarpium Phegopteris,
Newm. Hist. Brit. Ferns, 419.

Not unfrequent in the alpine and subalpine or rocky districts of
the south-western and northern counties of England, and in Wales
and Scotland; but apparently of rare occurrence in Ireland. Its
favourite habitats are moist woods, and shady spots about moun-
tain lakes, rills, and waterfalls. The rhizoma is of a blackish hue,
slender, wiry, branching and creeping in every direction, so as often
to form a network over the face of the moist rock where there is
.no trace of soil, striking its hair-like rootlets into every crevice.
The fronds make their appearance about the same period, or rather
earlier than those of the common Polypody, and are in perfection
from July to September: they are of a pale green colour, hairy, and
vary from five or six inches to a foot in height, of which the leafy
portion occupies less than half, its general outline being triangular,
but much acuminated. The pinnae are mostly opposite, the lowest
pair being rather distant from the others and directed downwards
and forwards, forming a very remarkable feature by which this
fern is readily recognized; they are likewise perfectly distinct, and
attached to the rachis by a short stalk: the upper ones, on the
contrary, point toward the apex of the frond, and, with the occa-
sional exception of the second pair, are sessile, and attached by
their entire base, so as to appear confluent, as indeed those toward
the extremity usually are. The lateral veins of the lobes are alter--
nate, mostly simple, and extend to the margin, bearing, each, near
the end a small circular sorus, the whole fructification thus forming
an intromarginal line of spots.

It is an elegant species under cultivation, spreading very freely,
and requiring little - attention in planting, except to secure the
almost universal requirement of the Fern, shade. Exposure to the
sun, though only for a very short time, changes the delicate green
hue of the frond to brown, and soon destroys a plant naturally
adapted to those moist situations in which alone it luxuriates. '

POLYPODIUM DRYOPTERIS. Tender three-branched Polypody.
TAB. III,

Fronds ternate, glabrous ; branches pinnate, drooping; pinnae
innatifid, With obtuse crenated segments. Sori nearly marginal.
B 2

1m...’*".1 '12—”:

 

12

Polypodium Dryopteris, Linnaeus. Polystichum Dryopteris, Rot/z.
Lastrea Dryopteris, Newman. Gymnocarpium Dryopteris,
Newm. Hist. Brit. Ferns, 57.

Not unfrequent in dry stony woods and shady rocky places in
the mountainous parts of the north of England, and in Wales and
Scotland; often very luxuriant about waterfalls, where it is kept
constantly moistened by the spray, but rarely in this case producing
fructification. The rhizoma, very slender, often almost filiform,
spreads widely, forming, with its complicated branches and dark-
coloured radicles, a dense turf—like mass. The fronds spring up
in April, and present a remarkable form of vernation, the three
branches being separately coiled, so as to resemble, as observed
first by Mr. Newman, three little balls supported on slender wires.
In maturity they vary from three or four inches to a foot in height, are
of a pale bright green, perfectly smooth, and supported by an erect,
very slender brittle stalk or rachis, clothed with a few scales at the
base. A general tendency to droop is characteristic of the whole of
the leafy portion of this delicate fern, affecting not only the primary
branches, but giving a striking convexity to all of the segments, a
circumstance well expressed in our figure. __The fronds are mostly
barren; the fertile ones rise higher than the others, and are farther
distinguished by the comparative narrowness of their segments.
The lateral veins of the segments are generally branched, and,
where fertile, the sori are produced near the extremity of the upper-
most branches; in luxuriant specimens their regular arrangement
is often disturbed by development from some of the other branches
of the vein. Fructification in June and July.

In cultivation, shade is even more essential to this species than
to the preceding. Next to the delicacy of texture and graceful
habit, the vivid green hue of the foliage constitutes its principal
beauty, and this latter is entirely lost by exposure to direct sun-
light. Abundant moisture, though recommended by many, is so
far from being necessary to its flourishing condition, that, unless
drainage is at the same time complete, it will soon destroy the
plant by causing the decay of the rhizoma. Attention to these
circumstances will ensure the fact, that one of the most elegant
and beautiful of our smaller ferns is likewise one of the most free
growers and most easily kept.

POLYPODIUM CALCAREUM. Rigid three-branched Polypody.
TAB. IV.

Fronds triangular, subternate, erect, glandular; branches pin-
nate 3 pinnae of the lower ones pin-natifid, with obtuse segments,
those of the upper branch nearly entire. Sori marginal.

13

olypodium calcareum, Smith. Lastrea Robertiana, Newman.
Gymnocarpium Robertianum, Newm. Hist. Brit. Ferns, 63.

Apparently confined in its natural growth to limestone districts.
ir J; E. Smith first noticed it as a distinct species, and it is
erhaps more frequent than generally supposed. In the rocky
arts of Derbyshire it is far from uncommon, occurring among
rass and bushes in broken limestone and tufa ; the Cheddar cliffs
nd Ingleborough are other stations; and the growing specimens

my garden are from the vicinity of Kenilworth, where it accom-
‘anied P. Dryopterz's, a species with which it has often been con-
unded, although in habit and other respects very dissimilar.
he rhizoma is thicker and less spreading than that of the latter
lant ; the frond less distinctly ternate or three-branched, the lower
ranches being shorter than the terminal or middle one; all the

rec are rigid, expanding upward on the same plane, and not at
ll drooping. The colour of the frond is of a dull green, owing to
he presence of numerous minute stalked glands that give a mealy
ppearance to the surface, and similar glands communicate a
laucous hue to the rachi-s. The sori arising from the extremities
f the lateral veins of the segments form a more distinct intro-
arginal series than those of P. Dryopterz's, and generally become
onfluent when the thecae open.

Being of less compact growth than the last species, and more
igid, it is a much less ornamental plant; but it bears exposure
etter. Most persons who have had it under cultivation complain
f its liability to die off, but I believe this to be the effect of con-

ement and superabundant moisture: left to itself, few ferns are
_ore hardy, but it likes pure air and perfect drainage. Even in
be wild state it cannot be styled a “free-grower,” and being a
er}? local plant, its natural condition must be considered as much
s possible in our efforts to naturalize it in the fern garden. It
ourishes best on a sloping bank, planted near the surface, with
n admixture of lime rubbish to the ordinary compost, the ground
bout it being studded with fragments of stone or burs from the
rick-kiln to prevent evaporation. Under these circumstances it
oes not seem to be injured by daily exposure to four or five hours
f the mid-day sun. If grown in pots, they should be large, and
bout one-third filled with draining material.

Genus 2. WOODSIA.

EN. CHAR. Sori circular; invested by an inferior involucre, the
margin of which is divided into numerous jointed, generally
capillary segments. _

A very small genus of alpine ferns, named in memory of Joseph

14

Woods, a British botanist. Chiefly remarkable on account of the
singular character of the so-called i’nvolucre, which is however only
a modification of an indusium, opening in the centre, and splitting
more or less regularly into the conferva-like filaments accompanying
the magnified sorus in our figure of W. Ilvensis. Its true nature
is very obvious on examination of the immature sori. The two
British species are among the rarest of our indigenous plants:
notwithstanding a considerable difference in habit, and in the
divisions of the frond, many modern botanists regard them only as
varieties.

Woonsm ILVENsrs. Oblong Woodsia. TAB. V.

Fronds lanceolate, pinnate, pinnae oblong, deeply pinnatifid,
chafl'y beneath. Rachis chafi'y.

Woodsia Ilvensis, R. Brown. Acrostichum Ilvense, Linnaeus.
Polypodium arvonicum, VVit/zerz'ng. Polypodium Ilvense,
Swartz.

Only found growing in the crevices of moist rocks about the
summits of our higher mountains, and so sparingly distributed in
these localities as to be regarded exceedingly rare. The recorded
habitats are few, viz. Falcon Clints,Teesdale, Durham; Clogwynn-y-
Garnedd, Snowdon, and Llynn-y-cwn, on' Glyder Vawr, Wales ; and
the Clova mountains, Scotland. A careful explorer of the bleak.
regions over which many other rarities of our alpine flora are
distributed, would however probably find reason to conclude that
its extension is far less limited. This remark is not one at ran-
dom 3 but the wanton appropriation, or it might rather be styled
depredation, exercised by certain wholesale collectors, not of spe-
cimens only, but of entire plants, has rendered the true botanist,
in cases like the present, averse to the promulgation of his dis-
coverles.

The fronds grow in a tuft at the extremity of a very short
rhizoma, seldom exceed two or three inches in height, and in
very dry or exposed situations are sometimes not above one inch.
In general outline they are lanceolate and pinnate, with mostly
opposite, oblong, deeply-lobed pinnae. The under surface is more
or less covered with glossy, jointed hairs, accompanied, especially
about the mid-veins, by long, attenuated scales, which, with the
capillary segments of the indusium, often nearly conceal the sori.
The sori are produced at or near the extremities of the lateral
veins of the lobes, a crenation of the margin of the latter generally
attending their development. They attain maturity in August
and September.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15

The hairiness of the rachis, always conspicuous on the young
’onds, is sometimes obliterated in their after-growth.

oonsm HYPERBOREA. Alpine Woodsia. TAB. VI.

Fronds linear-lanceolate, pinnate; pinnae obtusely triangular,
innatifid, with rounded segments.

oodsia hyperborea, Brown. E. B. 2023. Smith. Hooker and
Arnott. VVoodsia alpina, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, '79.
Woodsia ilvensis, var., Babington. Acrostichum alpinum,
Bolton.

Met with in similar situations as the preceding, but apparently
f rarer occurrence. The habitats hitherto recorded are, Clogwynn-
-Garnedd, and Moel Sichog, Snowdon, in Wales; Ben Lawers,

ael-dun-Crosk, and Craig-Challiach, Perthshire 3 and, according
0 Dr. Balfour, in Glen Fiadh, Forfarshire, in Scotland. In habit
t is not unlike 'W'. Iloensz's, but the narrower fronds are of a
hinner texture, and less hairy and chafi'y ; while the pinnae, al-

ost invariably alternate, are shorter, and nearly triangular in
heir general outline, and their lobes fewer and more rounded.

Our figures of these two ferns will convey the idea of specific
istinction, and those of Mr. Newman, above quoted, are even

ore decided in this respect; but the comparison of specimens of
0th from different localities, and even from 'the same gathered in
ifferent years, renders it very doubtful whether they ought to be
egarded as other than mere varieties of one species.

For successful cultivation of the Woodsz'a, shade, a moist atmo-
phere, and perfect drainage about the roots, are points of the
tmost importance, and are especially indicated by its natural
ocalities. Owing to their rarity as British ferns, few persons
ave ventured to plant them in the open air 5 in which, however,
heltered from the sun in summer, and from the drying easterly

'nds of spring, I am informed they may be grown luxuriantly.

hen potted, sandy peat, mingled with a small quantity of .yellow
0am, broken limestone and. slate, affords a soil among which the
lack wiry roots readily extend; and if the pot be previously half

led with small fragments of stone and sand sifted among them,
he plant will not be liable to suffer from the accumulation of

oisture. Although a damp atmosphere is favourable during the
growing season, these .ferns will not bear confinement in close
rames or cases 3 however vigorously they may grow at first, they
are soon rendered feeble by the want of a free circulation of air.

16

‘ Genus 3. LASTREA.

GEN. CHAR. Sori nearly circular, seated upon the back of the
lateral veins ; covered by a reniform indusium attached by its

sinus.

The ferns included in this and the following genus, Polysticlzum,
are by some botanists associated under the general name of Aspi-
dium, to which genus they are referred in “ English Botany.” A
difference in the form and attachment of the indusium has been
considered a feature of sufficient importance to warrant their divi-
sion. The name Neplzrodium, originally suggested by Mr. Brown,
has given way to that of Lastrea, bestowed upon it by Presl in
honour of M. De Lastre of Chatelleraut.

LASTREA THELYPTERIS. Marsh Fern. TAB. VII.

Rhizoma creeping. Fronds lanceolate,pinnate: pinnae linear-
laneeoiate, pinnatifid; lobes oblong, obtuse, the fertile ones with
revolute margins. Sori submarginal.

Lastrea Thelypteris, Presl. Aspidium Thelypteris, Swartz. Smit/z.
Hooker. E. B. the fig. a mistake. Hemestheum Thelypteris,
Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 123. Acrostichum 8: Polypo-
dium, Linn.

A very local species, found only in a wet spongy soil, in marshes
and bogs; not unfrequent in England and Wales, but rare in
Scotland and Ireland. Where met with it is generally abundant,
in consequence of its creeping habit, which is not unlike that of
the common Brake (Pteris aquilina), the long, slender rhizoma
growir g rapidly, and branching in every direction. It is a colonizer
of wet soils, as the latter fern is of dry ones. The fronds are of
two kinds, barren and fertile, and spring up at short intervals,
never in tufts: the barren ones make their appearance in the latter
end of April or the beginning of May, and in their ultimate growth
seldom attain more than a foot in height; the fertile, produced
about July, are taller, not unfrequently reaching three feet or even
four, the lower half or two-thirds of the rachis being devoid of
pinnae. The lateral veins divide in pairs about halfway between
the mid-vein and the margin, and, in the fertile fronds, bear the
sori, one on each division, forming thus an intromarginal series
just within the recurvation. In maturity the sori become con~
fluent, and all traces of the reniform indusium are obliterated.

The species is a very elegant one, and not at all difficult of cul-
tivation 3 it does not seem to be injured by moderate exposure to
the sun, provided the soil in which it is planted be sufficiently

 

 

 

 

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tentive of moisture to prevent the roots from becoming withered
uring dry weather. I have grown it for many years on the same
nk with Polypodium calcareum, vulgare, and other rock and epi-
ytic species, planting it at first 1n a hollow less than a foot below
em, and covering the rhizoma with pieces of peat turf and frag-
ents of stone and brick. The fertile fronds under these circum-
ances attained a height of nearly three feet, although under the
fluence of the direct rays of the summer sun from eleven o’clock
til two. This circumstance is referred to, because it is a common
tion that in the cultivation of bog or marsh plants abundant
oisture is most essential to their luxuriance, and the unli-
ited supply furnished 1n consequence too frequently occasions
eir destruction. The Marsh Fern will endure a more continued
aceration of its roots than most others, but 1n lieu of forming an
drainable bed for its reception, as often recommended, it ‘would
following nature more closely were we to permit all unabsorbed.
ater to filter through the subsoil. My own specimens (01iginally
ought in their native turf from E ping Forest) are grown in the
ack peat of Wimbledon Common, Taid about four inches 1n depth
the common garden loam, and covered as mentioned above, for
e purpose of preventing the evaporation that would take place if
esoil were left bare. Their share of the general watering is all
at the plants receive, and they have flouiished for six yea1s under
is treatment.

ASTREA OREOPTERIS. Heath Fern. Mountain Fern. TAB. VIII..

Fronds tufted, lanceolate pinnate: pinnae linear-lanceolate, pin-
tifid, sprinkled with resinous glands beneath 3 lobes oblong,
tuse, flat. Sori marginal.

astrea Oreopteris, Presl. Aspidium Oreopteris, Swartz. Smith. '
Hooker. E. B. Polypodium montanum, Vogler. Lastrea
montana, Newman, Hist. Brzt. Ferns, 129. Polypodium fra-
grans, Linnaeus.

A native of mountainous and upland heaths and of woods, mOre
undant in the north of England, and in Wales and Scotland,
an in our southern counties, where, however, it is still of fiequent
currence. In Ireland it is consideled rare. The fronds make
eir appearance about the beginning of May, springing in a circle
om the apex of the short rhizoma, and attaining a medium height
two or three feet, but varying in different situations and expo-
es from one to four or even five feet. The general outline 1s
nceolate, but the pinnae are gradually shorterb from the middle
wnwards, until, near the base of the rachis, they often wholly
se their pinnatiiid character, and assume that of small t1iangu1ar
C

18

'«leaflets with serrated margins. The under surface of the lobes is
profusely sprinkled with minute, glossy, gold-coloured, glandular
globules, which give a rich golden hue to the expanding fronds,
that renders this beautiful fern very conspicuous when planted
among others. To the secretion by these glands is probably due
the peculiar odour of the fronds when bruised, which, being far
from unpleasant in the open air, occasioned Linnaeus to name the
species Polypodium fiagrans. The ordinary venation of the lobes,
and the position of the sori, are shown in our figure 3 but, it may be
remarked, that the latter are sometimes much more crowded, in
consequence of the lateral veins dividing, as exhibited in the two
lower ones, and bearing a sorus on each branch.

Many persons complain of a difficulty in rearing or establishing
L. Oreopterz's, and of its liability to dwindle and die under culture 3
and there seems to be a diversity of opinion respecting the soil and
treatment that it requires, even among those whose experience is
far from being limited. Thus, one recommends it to be planted in
well-drained pots, with an admixture of turfy peat, broken char-
coal and sand, and kept only moderately supplied with water;
while another plants it in yellow loam, without any admixture of
other soil, and keeps the pots constantly standing in water. Both
methods may succeed; but the open air and free ground answer
better than either. And, in regard to soil, a plant that in a state
of nature grows here in the yellow loam, there in the black peat,
and elsewhere in the fissure of the sand-rock, or on the side of the
gravel-pit, can scarcely be much affected by the difference. A ve
good general rule to follow in the transplantation of the wild fern,
is to carry with it a portion of the soil in which it grows; or, at
least, to imitate this as nearly as possible. And I believe the reason
why L. Oreopterz's often fails, is, that this rule is not attended to;
and that the plants, having their constitution adapted to the situa-
tion where their seedling growth commenced, do not readily change
it under the new conditions in which they may be placed.

Some slight general resemblances between this species and L.
T/zelypteris, especially in the form and proportions of the frond and
in the marginal fructification, which might mislead an inexperienced
collector, render it necessary to remark upon the more obvious fea-
tures by which they are distinguished. The fronds of the present
species always grow in tufts; they are leafy almost to the very base
of the rachis, which latter is copiously covered with pale brown
scales, while in L. Thelypterz's it is nearly smooth, and in the lower
part devoid of pinnae through about one-third of its height. The
golden glands, and the perfectly flat instead of recurved margin of
the fertile lobes, are characters—especially the former—that, if
attended to, render it impossible to confound the plant before us
with its congener.

     

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19

LASTREA FILIX-MAs. Male Fern. TAB. IX.

Fronds tufted, lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnae linear-lanceolate ;
pinnules oblong obtuse, serrated. Sori in a line on each side of
the midvein.

Lastrea FiliX-mas, Presl. Aspidium Filix-mas, Swartz. Smith.
Hooker. E. B. Polypodium, Linnaeus. Dryopteris Filix-mas,
Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 183.

The most common of our indigenous Ferns, with the exception
of Pterz's aquilz'na, occurring in woods, thickets, and on banks and
hedge-bottoms in almost every kind of soil. The fronds spring in
a circular manner from the extremity of the large scaly rhizoma,
presenting vase-like tufts, hollow in the centre, a habit that renders
this species highly ornamental when occupying situations sheltered
from the wind; they vary according to age or exposure, from two
to three or four feet in height, growing nearly erect, but with a
slight determination outwards: their development commences in
May, the circinate vernation, at first gradually uncoiling, being
soon obliterated by the liberation of the apex, which, hanging
downwards, gives the upper part of the frond a bend resembling
that of a shepherd’ s crook, a character, however, it should be ob-
served, not peculiar to this fern. The rachis, leafy through about
two-thirds or three-fourths of its length, is more or less densely
clothed with thin membranous pointed scales, of a pale, often
purplish hue, especially towards the base. The lower pinnae are
much shorter than those of the middle, but never approach the
diminutive size of those of L. Oreopz‘erz's, nor do they extend so
far downwards. The pinnules, generally distinct at the lower part
of the pinnae and thus justifying the specific character, bz'pz'nnate,
are confluent above; they are likewise liable to vary from the ordi-
nary oblong and obtuse to the more lanceolate form, and the margin
from crenate to serrate, the serratures occasionally terminating in
slender spines. The sori are produced on the upper branch of the
forked lateral veins a little above the furcation, and hence form a
line on each side of the midvein, but seldom extending much more
than half the length of the pinnule 3 they are covered by a very
conspicuous smooth reniform indusium, of a more permanent cha-
racter than that of most other British Ferns, and attached by its
sinus. The fructification is usually matured in August, but “the
fronds retain their beauty to the close of the year, and often, in

ild seasons and sheltered situations, throughout the Winter.

Variations from the normal form of L. Fz'lz'x-mas are not of

nfrequent occurrence, and in a few instances they are of so striking

nd permanent a character as to claim a separate notice, viz.:

. 1. incisa. Frond robust, broadly lanceolate: pinnae distant;
c 2

20

pinnules distinct, elongate, narrow, acuminate, deeply incised, the
lobes serrated. Sori extending nearly the entire length of the
pinnules. Lastrea Filix-mas, ,8. incisa, Moore, Handbook Brit.
Ferns, 50. Aspidium Filix-mas, ,8. erosum, Hooker and Arnott.
Dryopteris affinis, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 187.

2. abbreviata. Frond small, lanceolate, pinnate. Sori confined
to the base of contracted or obsolete pinnules, forming a linear
series on each side of the midvein of the pinnae. Lastrea Filix-mas,
,3. abbreviata, Babington. Polystichum abbreviatum, DeC'ana’oZle.

3. Borreri. Frond narrow lanceolate. Rachis clothed with
ruddy-golden scales and hairs. Sori few, large, two or three pairs
at the base of each pinnule. Dryopteris Filix-mas, var. Borreri,
Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 189. ,

Of these, the variety incisa is far from uncommon; abbreviata
has been found on Ingleborough, Yorkshire, on the basaltic cliffs
of Teesdale, and in the Peak district, Derbyshire, everywhere appa-
rently in dry localities 3 Borreri seems to be common, though first
observed by Mr. Borrer in Devonshire, as a variety “with more
copious and brighter coloured scales on the rachis, and with a
bright golden-yellow tinge on the whole frond.” Brit. Flora.

Abbreviata retains its distinguishing features in all soils and
under different treatment in cultivation, and may perhaps even-
tually prove a separate species.

The rhizoma of this species has been employed as an anthel-
mintic ever since the time of The0phrastus, and it is still a favourite
remedy in worm cases in many parts of the Continent. The
attention of modern medical practitioners was probably first directed
to it, in consequence of its being the ostensible remedy of Madame
Noufi'er of Switzerland, who sold her secret method of expelling
the tape-worm to Louis XVI. for 18,000 francs. The innerparts
of the rhizoma, carefully dried and reduced to powder, and a de-
coction and ethereal tincture of the same and of the unexpanded -
fronds or fern buds, are the preparations employed, but in this
country they are now rarely resorted to, because other medicines
have been found more effectual. The anthelmintic property resides
in an essential oil, and is lost by keeping the powder otherwise than
in well-stopped bottles, hence the fresh preparations are always
' preferred.

There is no difficulty in the way of cultivating the Male Fern;
it will grow readily in the common soil of a garden, but is ren-
dered more luxuriant by planting it in the compost described in our
introduction, and selecting a shady and moist situation. Its com-
pact growth, large size, and bright green hue are well adapted to
contrast with the naked trunks of trees in plantations, and to
break the uniformity of shrubberies and wilderness walks, but it
should be so planted that its natural growth may not be disturbed

21

by that of its neighbours, as much of its beauty is dependent upon
the regular development of the fronds, and the erect vase-like form

of them in the mass.

LASTREA CRISTATA. Crested Fern. TAB. X.

Fronds linear-oblong, nearly bipinnate 3 pinnae short triangular-
oblong, deeply pinnatifid with oblong serrated lobes; the lower
lobes or pinnules often almost pinnatifid. Sori chiefly confined to
the upper part of the frond.

Lastrea cristata, Presl. Aspidium cristatum, Swartz. Smith.
Hooker. E. B. Polypodium cristatum, Linnaeus. Polypodium
Callipteris, Ekrkart. Lophodium Callipteris, Newman, Hist.
Brit. Ferns, 169.

One of our rarest English Ferns, or at least extremely local in
its distribution, being confined to boggy heaths and moors, and
found hitherto in only four of the counties of England. ‘The re-
corded habitats are—Westleton, Suffolk; Holt Heath, Fritton, Der-
singham, Edgefield, and Bawsey Heath, Norfolk; Oxton Bogs and
Bulwell Marshes, Nottinghamshire; and WybunburyBog, Cheshire.
The Suffolk station is doubtful. Several years back I searched the
locality where Mr. Davy is said to have found it, without success,
though guided to the alder bushes where his specimens were col-
lected, nor could I meet with the plant anywhere in the neigh-
bourhood. According to Mr. Newman, it does not appear to have
been found there by any recent examiner.

It is remarkable that L. Filix-mas should have been frequently
confounded with the present species, considering the striking dif-

erence in habit that exists between them ; but the desire to add a
arity to his collection will occasionally lead even an accomplished
otanist into a similar mistake to that by which we have a Suffolk
abitat recorded for a fern that probably does not grow there.

The rhizoma is stout and strong, and, branching occasionally in

' erent directions, frequently occupies in old plants a considerable
pace, sending up annually a tuft of erect fronds from the extre-
ity of each branch or crown. The fronds attain a height of two
eet or more under favourable circumstances, and are peculiarly
rect, so as to render it next to impossible for a person who has
nee seen it growing naturally to confound it with any other native
ern. Rather more than one-third of the rachis is bare of pinnae,
nd more or less covered with scattered broad obtuse pale brown
embranaceous scales; the pinnae, nearly equal in length except
oward the apex, are in rather distant and generally opposite pairs;

eir segments,- often assuming the character of distinct pinnules in

e lower part, are deeply serrated, and sometimes even pinnatifid,

22

the serratures terminating sharply. The lateral veins of the lobes
divide into several branches, the uppermost of which bear the sori,
which thus form a line on each side the midvein about half-way
between it and the margin, extending to the extremity of each lobe
or pinnule. The indusium is nearly circular, very permanent, and
conspicuous from the contrast of its white or pale leaden hue with
the black or dark-coloured thecae. The regular arrangement of the
sori is frequently disturbed in luxuriant specimens by super-develop-
ment, and they generally become confluent in maturity, a state
attained in the latter end of August. The fronds remain green in
mild seasons throughout the winter.

This is not at all a shy species under cultivation: it succeeds best
in turfy peat, without admixture of any other soil, and, though
naturally an inhabitant of boggy ground, seems to bear drought
better than some of those belonging to drier situations; neither is
shade so essential as to render exposure to the sun a matter of any
importance: indeed I have this summer a specimen, two feet high,
and in fine condition, growing on a sloping bank, and quite unshaded
from sunrise to three o’clock in the afternoon.

The specific name, cristata, has been cavilled at by some botanists,
but was evidently bestowed on it by Linnaeus, in consequence of a
fanciful comparison between the cluster of its peculiarly erect fronds
and the aigrette of vertical feathers on the head of the peacock, Pavo
cristatus: that of Ehrhart, Callz'pterz's, literally beautiful fem, adOpted
by DeCandolle, associates ill with a species not at all remarkable
among its congeners for the attribute expressed.

LASTREA RIGIDA. Rigid Lastrea. TAB. XI.

Fronds triangular—lanceolate, bipinnate, glandular: pinnules ob-
long, obtuse, lobed, the segments broad, rounded, 2-5-toothed.
Indusium persistent, fringed with glands.

Lastrea rigida, Presl. Aspidium rigidum, Swartz. Smith. Hooker
E. B. Lophodium rigidum, Newman, Hist. Brit.Fe7'ns, 175
Polypodium fragrans? Linnaeus.

This appears to be a very local species, having hitherto been
almost exclusively found in the mountainous districts of the north
of England. It was first noticed as a British fern by the Rev. Mr.
Bree, who met with it growing. on Ingleborough, and subsequent
researches have shown that it is abundantly distributed along the
limestone formation of Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Lancashire.
Mr. Finder and others have remarked upon the profusion in which
it grows,.at intervals, between Arnside Knot (near Silverdale, West-
moreland) and Ingleborough, springing from the deep fissures of

23

the natural platform, and occasionally high in the clefts of the rocks.
It is generally, he observes, much shattered by the winds, or cropped
by the sheep, which seem to be fond of it. Mr. Tatham found it
abundant in the fissures of limestone rocks, near Settle, in York-
shire, at an elevation of 1550 feet; and also on White Scars, above
Ingleton. A single plant, found by Mr. Vize, near Bath, and one
Irish habitat furnished by Mr. Darby, who gathered it at Townley
Hall, Louth, from a wall “built of clay-slate, and much overhung
with trees,” are scarcely to be regarded as exceptions to the fact
that its natural site in this country is limited to the district above
recorded, as in both of the latter instances circumstances seem to
indicate that it was planted.

The fronds spring in tufts from the summit of a thick, slowly-
lengthening rhizoma: they grow nearly erect, varying much in
height according to situation, from six inches to two feet or more:
the leafy portion occupies about two-thirds of the length, the lower
part of the rachis being densely covered with reddish-brown mem-
branaceous scales, broad at the base, but attenuated upwards and
terminating very‘ acutely. In general outline the frond varies, but
is mostly of an elongated triangular form. Mr. Newman, however,
remarks that this form is only met with in young or weak specimens,
and that an elongate-lanceolate one prevails in older and stronger
plants 3 he has figured both of these varieties, the latter having the
lower pinnae gradually shortening from the middle of the frond.
The figure in Mr. Moore’s ‘ Handbook of British Ferns,’ page 54,
accords with this, and, as far as my own observation extends, con-
veys a very erroneous notion of the general character of the species,
a circumstance to be regretted, because it is almost the only faulty
representation in one of the most valuable manuals ever published.
Mr. Newman’s left-hand figure is very characteriStic of that which
is generally regarded the normal condition of the plant. The pinnae
are alternate, linear-lanceolate, and all pinnate: the pinn'ules are
oblong obtuse, sometimes slightly decurrent, more or less deeply
lobed or pinnatifid ;' the segments broad and terminated with from
two to five very acute, but not spinulose teeth, the number of
which is determined by the branching of the lateral veins. The
sori are disposed on the upper branches of the veins, which are always
the result of the first bifurcation, and thus form two parallel lines,
one on each side of the midvein ; in maturity they become con-
fluent. The indusium, reniform and attached to the vein by a short
stalk at its sinus, is very permanent and conspicuous, and is fringed

ound the margin with stalked globular glands. Similar glands
with shorter pedicels are found scattered over the whole surface of
he frond, and to their secretions is probably due the not unpleasant
odour that obtained for this plant the early specific name of fra-
rans, a name, however, which undoubtedly occasioned the frequent

24

confounding of it with L. Oreopteris. Fructification chlefly con-
fined to the upper part of the frond. Mature in August and
September.

The geological relations of L. rigida, its occurrence only in lime/
stone districts, and its absence, in those districts, where other rocks
come above the surface, might induce the notion of the necessity of
imitating as much as possible its natural conditions in cultivation ;
hence it has been recommended to plant it among fragments of
limestone or old mortar, and to water it with lime-water,—precau-
tions altogether unnecessary. As a rock-plant, it requires good
drainage; as a fern, moisture and shade during the growing season
are favourable to its development ; but it will flourish in the ordinary
garden. soil, and seems almost indifferent of exposure to the sun.
In habit and general aspect it is not at all a distinguished member
of its tribe, being less ornamental than most of them, and rather
valuable in grouping, from the contrast it affords to more graceful
forms than for individual beauty. When grown in pots, a mixture
of peat and loam with broken stone or shards below, occupying
about a fourth of the depth in order to ensure the ready percola-
tion of water, affords the best medium, and the pots should never
be placed in water. Mr. Moore recommends planting it with the
crown of the rhizoma a little above the surface.

LASTREA SPINULOSA. Narrow prickly-toothed Fern. TAB. XII.

Fronds erect, linear-lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnules oblong, in-
ciso-pinnatifid, with serrate, spinose-mucronate lobes. Indusium
persistent, not fringed. Scales of the rachis broad, ovate, pale.

Lastrea spinulosa, Presl. Babington, Man. Moore, Handb. As-
pidium spinulosum, Smith. Hooker. Lophodium spinosum,
Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 157.

Much confusion exists in regard to this and the following species,
of which it is by some regarded as a variety. Though found in
various parts of the kingdom sparingly distributed, it seems to be
chiefly confined to the southern and western counties of England,
growing in marshy places and wet woods and thickets. The rhizoma
elongates slowly, branching in old plants in every direction, so that
when once established in any particular locality, the clusters of
fronds are generally numerous. It is an early grower, the fronds
making their appearance in April, and rapidly attaining their full
development, which varies from one to two or even three feet in
height: they are nearly erect, bipinnate, long and narrow in the
general outline, the pinnae being of nearly equal length throughout,
except toward the acuminating apex. The leafy portion occupies

25

out half of the length, and is perfectly flat, never convex as in
dilatata 3 the rachis is more or less clothed with thin, almost
phanous, rounded or oval scales, terminating with a little point,
t not at all acuminated. The pinnae are rather distant ; the
nules more or less deeply pinnatifid, and. sometimes even almost
ain pinnate, especially in the lower part of the large fronds. All of
e segments are deeply serrated, the serratures terminating in a
arp point or mucro curving towards the apex of the pinnule.
e venation is somewhat complicated, a branch of the lateral vein
tending to each serrature: the sori being produced upon the
permost branch of each lobe, are opposite to the sinuses, and
m a line on each side of the midvein ; in luxuriant specimens
is arrangement is often disturbed by superdevelopment. Fruc-
cation is perfected on the earlier fronds in July, and on the
er in September. The sori are generally small, the indusium
rsistent, reniform, flat, a little waved on the margin, but never
iated with glands. As the thecae expand, the clusters frequently
come confluent, especially where the plant occupies an exposed
uation.
The ordinary compost, shade, and moisture, are the only requi-
es for the successful cultivation of this fern. It will bear expo-
re, if well supplied with water; but, to obtain it in its beauty,
must be screened from the direct rays of the sun: the mottled
d ever-shifting light and shade produced by the intervention 01
es, is always favourable to the growth of this beautiful tribe of
nts, even of those species which in a natural state occupy the
st unsheltered habitats. Compared with some others, this, like
rigida and L. cristata, is not perhaps so remarkably ornamental
t it would be included in a selection for planting with a view to
ect, but its character is much improved by judicious appropriation
a site sheltered from wind and sun.
In retaining this as a species, Iam by no means intending to decide
t it has any positive claim to be so considered. The diversity
habit, outline, and division of the frond, and other anomalies,
frequently met with in ferns the specific identity of which can-
t be questioned, forbid any such assumption; but amidst the
certainty and difference of opinion that prevail respecting the
cies of this and the following genus, Polystz'chum, it seems better
retain a name that has been applied to a certain well-known
m like that before us, than to discard it altogether. In appoint-
the limits between species and varieties, our conclusions are too
quently drawn from very partial or imperfect data.

STREA DILATATA. Broad prickly-toothed Fern. TAB. XIII.

ronds arched, ovato-lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnules pinnatifid
D

26

or pinnate, Wltll serrate, spinose-mucronate lobes. Indusium
evanescent, fringed with stalked glands. Scales of the rachis long,
lanceolate, dark in the centre.

Lastrea dilatata, Pres]. Babington, Man. Aspidium spinulosum ,8,
Hooker. Lophodium multiflorum, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns,
147.

One of the most common and most generally distributed of
British ferns, growing in woods, and on sheltered hedge-banks,
throughout the kingdom. Contrary to the character of that of
L. spinulosa, the rhizoma of this species is not at all creeping,
rarely branches, but forms a strong, enduring, erect, stem-like
base, that, in very old specimens, not unfrequently rises from six
inches to a foot above the soil. The fronds grow symmetrically in
a circular or vase-like cluster, arching over in every direction so as
to occupy a considerable space, attaining, in mature plants and in
favourable situations, a length of five feet, with a breadth in the
Widest part of a foot and a half; their ordinary size is, however,
considerably less, viz. from a foot and a half to two feet in length:
in general outline they vary from triangular to lanceolate or ovato-
lanceolate, the triangular form being characteristic of the young
plant, in which state it is often completely deltoid. The rachis is
clothed, especially toward the base, with long lanceolate or linear-
lanceolate, acuminated scales, of a deep brown or blackish hue
along the centre, and nearly diaphanous at the extremity and mar-
gins. Any particular description that might be given of the divi-
sions of the frond, beyond that already recorded under the specific
character, would be of little avail in the decision of a species so
protean as the present. The pinnae are distant, so much so in the
fructifying fronds as to frequently give a peculiarly meagre aspect
to the plant, especially when accompanied by that convexity of the
pinnules and lobes, which is an almost inseparable feature of the
most common variety in exposed situations. The venation is very
similar to that of L. spinulosa, and the situation of the sori on the
upper or anterior branches is accordant likewise. The indusium is
irregularly reniform, and ciliated with stalked translucent glands;
it soon disappears. The fructification is less regularly disposed,
and instead of being chiefly confined to the upper end, as is the
case in the preceding, is scattered over the whole under surface of
the frond ; it is mature in August.

Some of the forms of this fern are very elegant, when grown in
shade and plentifully supplied with water; but although it bears
exPosure well, and will live and even flourish under the circum~
stance, it soon loses all pretension to beauty, and remains disfigured
throughout the summer. The same treatment answers equally
well for this and L. spinulosa.

 

 

I 0.511 “(w /;I‘/l ILw'r/i

V’ I.
-/ A.. L

27

A vast amount of labour and ingenuity has been expended on
the consideration of these two ferns (L. spinulosa and L. dilatata)
and their varieties, with the view of establishing decided limits
between the latter, or of elevating the most marked deviations
from what has been agreed upon as the normal form, to the rank of
species. The result has not been at all satisfactory ; that which was
a point of dispute a generation or two back, still remains so; and
although botanists freely discuss opinions with each other, and
maintain or controvert according to present conviction, every new
work, 'nay, every new edition proves the instability of their own;
the species of one day becomes the variety of another, the variety
of yesterday may be the species of the morrow, or it may be dis-
carded altogether. This has been the case over and over again
with the ferns before us. Being of wide distribution, and appa-
rently indifferent, so far as mere capability of growth is concerned,
to soil, elevation, and exposure, they assume a diversity of aspect
according to circumstances: to what extent the influence of such
causes may have contributed to the multiplication of supposed
species in this and other genera, future observation must decide;
the whole genus Lophodium of Newman, a well-marked group
among British ferns, may be implicated.

- On these grounds, added to the uncertainty of definition afforded
by characters too slight and variable to be depended upon, I leave
the alleged varieties of L. dilatata to be determined by the fancy of
the observer.

LASTREA FCENISECII. Recurved prickly-toothed Fern. Hay-
scented Fern. TAB. XIV.

Fronds curved, elongate-triangular, subtripinnate: pinnules
pinnate or deeply pinnatifid, with serrate spinose-mucronate lobes.
Indusium jagged at the edge. Scales of the rachis narrow lan-
ceolate, laciniate, pale.

Lastrea foenisecii, Watson. Babington, Man. Moore, Handb. As-
pidium recurvum, Bree. A. dilatatum, var. concavum, Ba-
bington. A. spinulosum var., Hooker and Arnott. Lophodium
foenisecii, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 135 (the figure far from
characteristic) .

This fern, though rather widely distributed in the British islands,
is generally regarded as originally a wanderer from the Azores, or
other Atlantic groups; in corroboration of which opinion we find
it most abundant in the south-western counties of England and
Ireland, the situations toward which it would naturally be drifted
by the tidal wave, or where its sporules would be wafted by the
prevalent south-westerly winds. That-it is amongthe lager addi-

D

28

tions to the recent vegetation of these lands, seems farther evinced
by the fact of its not having hitherto been found in the central
counties of Great Britain. To speculate upon the geological epoch
at which its introduction took place, would be useless; but it is
highly interesting to the philosophic observer, to trace the suc-
cessive distributions of a plant, which, like the present, indigenous
to the islands of the North Atlantic from the Cape de Verde to
the Azores, wafted by wind and wave, arrives on the coast of Sus-
sex, Devon, and Cornwall; beyond, the same agents land it in
Somersetshire, Glamorganshire, Merioneth, and Anglesea ; still
onward, it reaches Lancashire and Cumberland, the western islands
and mainlan‘d of Scotland, and plants a colony in Orkney; lastly,
the returning current lodges the later wanderers in Angus, and,
southward, at Scarborough in Yorkshire: in the latter county, its
most inland habitats seem at present to be attained in the vicinity
of Ripon and Settle.

Few ferns are more indifferent to soil or exposure: it is met
with in damp woods, and under the shelter of moist hedge-banks
and thickets, attaining in such localities a height of one or two
feet, and a degree of luxuriance surprising to those previously only
acquainted with its smaller forms; for, although shelter and abun-
dant moisture are favourable to its full development, it is often
found growing from the clefts of sandstone and other rocks in the
most exposed situations, the fronds being only from two to six
inches long. The fronds spring in a circular manner from a broad
crown, curving downward very gracefully in large specimens, as
they extend: they are of a pale but lively green hue, and remark-
able for their curled or crisped appearance, arising from the mar-
gins of the lobes and pinnules being curved upwards so as to
render their upper surface concave. The leafy portion occupies
about one-half of the length, and is of an elongated triangular
form, in young specimens nearly deltoid ; the rachis, especially at
the lower part, being rather densely clothed with pale, diaphanous,
long, narrow, and generally laciniated scales. In mature plants,
the tripinnate character is very constant at the base of the frond
and of its principal divisions ; and the tertiary pinnules and lobes
being all serrated, the serratures terminating in short spines, give
a complexity of outline so peculiar as to render it difficult, even
at the first glance, to confound this with any other species or
variety, especially when combined with the concavity of surface, so
strikingly opposed to the convexity of that of L. dilatata. Minute
globular sessile glands are scattered over the whole under surface
of the frond, whence the odour resembling new-made hay, from
which the specific name is derived. The sori are nearly equally
distributed over the frond; they are covered by roundish, reni-
form, generally evanescent indusia, which are irregularly cut or

29

jagged on the margin, and occasionally fringed with a few glands
similar to those mentioned above.

This is a very beautiful species under cultivation, especially
when the contingencies of shade, moisture, and good drainage are
properly secured. Though of supposed tropical derivation, it is
one of our most hardy native ferns, and perfectly evergreen. I
have now, September 4th, before me a green frond of last year,
just gathered from a plant that was exposed throughout the winter
in a pot laid sideways on the fern-bank in my garden. This
character renders it valuable in the greenhouse, to which its mode-
rate size, lively green hue, and elegantly crisped habit, are farther
recommendations. Whether grown in the open ground or in pots,
the ordinary compost will suffice.

Regarded by some botanists as a variety of L. dilatata or spina-
losa, this still bears so much the impress of distinctness, that it
can scarcely be other than a species. In 1821, I first noticed it in
the vicinity of Dolgelley, and again in the Vale of Festiniog, and,
though marking its peculiarity, supposed it in my inexperience to
be a form of Aspidz'um dilatatum of Smith; it had not then re-
ceived name or notice among recent botanists, though apparently
referred to both by Ray'and Plukenet ; nor was attention directed
to its very distinct character, even as a variety, until, in 1831, the
Rev. W. T. Bree described it in the ‘ Magazine of Natural History,’
under the name of recumum 3 since which period, opinion has been
divided respecting its claim to rank as a species. It is to be
regretted that the name fwm'secz'z', afterwards bestowed upon it by
Mr. Lowe, should have been adopted in preference to that of 're-
curva, the odour differing very equivocally from that of other species
of fern, while the latter name expresses a positive feature by which
the plant is at once recognized.

In regard to the other recorded species of the genus Lastrea,
viz. Aspidz'um dumetorum of Smith, and Lophodium collinum, glan-

ulosum, and ulz'gz'nosum of Newman, they are at present too doubt-
ully circumstanced between the variable forms of spinulosa and
ilatata to be admitted, without farther and stricter observation
ban has yet been bestowed, to occupy a separate station in a series
lready encumbered with uncertainty. Mr. Moore, in the second
dition of his valuable ‘ Handbook,’ makes L. spinulosa a variety
f L. cristata, and observes :—“ I unite the following forms under
ne species, because, although the two extremes are apparently
istinct, they are so closely connected by the intermediate form
ulz'gz'nosa) as to be undistinguishable from one or other of the
onditions which the latter assumes.” My own acquaintance with
liginOsa,‘ confined to a single growing specimen, is too limited,
erhaps, to justify an opinion, but it inclines to an opposite con-
lusion, namely the entire exclusion of cristata from the equivocal
eries now before us.

Genus 4. POLYSTIC HUM.

GEN. CHAR. Sori circular, seated upon the upper branch of the
lateral veins; covered by a circular peltate indusium attached
by its centre.

This genus, separated from Lastrea in consequence of the dif-
ference .of the form and attachment of the indusium, is farther
characterized by the rigidity of its foliage, and of the sharp spinous
processes by which all the ultimate divisions of the frond are ter-
minated, while the upper basal lobe or pinnule is always larger
than the others. 'The British species are very nearly allied, and
present a series of varieties between the simpler and more compli-
cated forms that renders their determination difficult. The name,
not well chosen, is compounded from the Greek 7ro7u‘29, many, and
aréxas, series, in allusion to the regular linear arrangement of the
son.

POLYSTICHUM LONCHITIS. Holly Fern. Rough Alpine Shield-
Fern. TAB. XV.

Fronds rigid, linear-lanceolate, pinnate: pinnae spinose-serrate,
auricled at the base above, oblique below.

Polystichum Lonchitis, Roth. Babington. Moore. Newman.
Aspidium Lonchitis, Swartz. Smith. Hooker and Arnott.
E. B. Polypodium, Linnaeus.

Its exclusively alpine habitats have caused this beautiful fern to
be generally described as among our botanical rarities: in England
and Wales it seems to be confined to the mountains of Yorkshire
and the Snowdon district; but, in the mountainous parts of Scot-
land, it is widely and abundantly distributed, and in the north
and west of Ireland. It is generally found springing from the
clefts of the rocks in the highest and most exposed situations; but
occasionally lower down, in the glens and mountain-passes, espe-
cially in the crevices and on the ledges of their most precipitous
sides. The fronds grow in a tuft from the extremity of a very
slowly lengthening rhizoma, varying from a few inches to a foot
and a half in height: they are generally of a rigid texture and
erect growth, but in some situations thinner and spreading, or
even almost pendulous; the latter character, it has been remarked,
belongs almost exclusively to English and Welsh specimens. The
celour is of a deep glossy green. The general outline of the
frond is linear, more or less acuminated at the upper part, and
simply pinnate. The pinnae are short, arranged alternately and

3]:

obliquely on the rachis, and extending nearly to its base, which is
rather densely clothed with reddish-brown chafiy scales: they are
somewhat crescent-shaped, auricled at the base on the upper side,
oblique below, and so closely disposed as to overlap each other
when pressed flat; the margin is deeply serrated, the serratures
terminating in sharp spinous processes, which, added to the rigidity
and almost leather-like character of the leafy texture, and its ever-
green habit, renders the English name “ Holly Fern” very appro-
priate. The lateral veins are alternate, generally three-branched,
the upper branch bearing the sorus 3 on the auricle, the venation
is more complex, and the production of sori indefinite. The fruc-
tification is most frequently confined to the upper part of the frond,
but is sometimes irregularly scattered likewise over the lower pinnae
even to the base. The sori are disposed in‘ a regular series on
each side of the midvein, and often become confluent in maturity.
The indusium is circular, opening all round, and remaining attached
to the venule by a short central stalk, the distinguishing character
of the genus.

The cultivation of the Holly Fern is not attended with very satis-
factory results in the eastern parts of England, especially about
London, Where few persons have succeeded in keeping it for any
length of time, unless as a potted plant, and sheltered in the
greenhouse or in a cool frame; and, even under these circum-
stances, it is exceedingly liable to “ damp off,” an expression that,
like “blight,” is often applied to denote the action of causes we
do not understand. In potting P. Lonchitis, or any other alpine
fern, the natural condition of the plant should never be lost sight
of ; however moist that may be, it is always well drained; a rill
may constantly lave its roots, or a cascade perpetually sprinkle its
leaves, but the water never stagnates, and even the scanty soil is
changing from time to time, by the addition or rather substitution
of new particles, as the- older are washed away to maintain the
fertilization of the valley below. In order to insure drainage, the
pot should be large, and at least one-fourth filled with broken
stone or shards mingled with charcoal and pieces of turfy peat.
The ordinary compost will suffice ; but fragments of slate or sand-
stone placed perpendicularly around the rhizoma, though not in
immediate contact with it, the soil being firmly settled between
them, afford an imitation of at least one important circumstance
belonging to the natural site that will be found serviceable to the
pessessor. In the open air I once had a small specimen of this
species growing for four years, but it died during the next winter
after removal; and it is a» very general complaint, that although it -
will live and apparently flourish for a season, it rarely survives the

inter and spring when exposed to their influence. The "absence of
the snow cover, that in their native habitats shelters the alpine plants

32

alike from the excess of cold and drying influence of the winds,
is the chief cause of their not flourishing generally under exposure
in this part of England; added to which, is the frequent alterna-
tion of excessive wet, during those seasons when the vital energies
of the plants are dormant: the injurious results arising from both
of these circumstances may be obviated, in a degree, by covering the
plants individually with an inverted garden-pot or a hand-glass at
the period in question, exposing it only in mild and dry weather.
This is a plan by which I have often succeeded in preserving some
of the higher alpine species of flowering plants that are otherwise
incapable of cultivation in the vicinity of the metropolis, and it
was the protection afforded to the above-mentioned specimen of the
fern before us.

In England, the distribution of P. Lonchitz's may probably be
found to be less confined than has hitherto been supposed, Mr.
W. H. Hawker having discovered it in July of last year (1853) on
Swarth-fell, near Ulleswater, and this year in one or two other
stations in the Lake district.

POLYSTICHUM ACULEATUM. Prickly Shield-Fern. TAB. XVI.—
XVII.

Fronds rigid, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnules
confluent, obliquely decurrent, or attached by the point of their
wedge-shaped base; the upper basal ones largest; all spinose-
serrate, more or less auricled at the base.

Polystichum aculeatum, Rot/z. Babingz‘on. Moore. Newman.
Aspidium aculeatum, Swartz. Smith. Hooker and Arnott.
E. B. Polypodium, Linnaeus.

Common on hedge-banks and on the borders of woods and
thickets throughout the kingdom, and occasionally met with in
more exposed situations on heaths and mountains. The rhizome
is large and woody, increasing in length very slowly, so that even
in old plants it is very short in comparison. to its bulk. The fronds
grow in a tuft, in young specimens spreading out horizontally, but
in older becoming nearly erect in maturity, and attaining the
height of two or three feet: during the early period of develop-
ment they are usually very limp in texture, and the newly un-
folded pinnae and circinate apex are liable to hang down with their
own weight, as if drooping for want of nourishment, but as
growth advances they acquire the characteristic rigidity so remark-
able in the foliage of this beautiful genus. The general outline
varies greatly in different specimens, and even in fronds belonging
to the same plant, being in some instances almost linear, in others
even broadly lanceolate: the" division too is equally diversified, and

33

though the bipinnate character is tolerably constant in full-sized
plants, the pinnae are rather lobed or pinnatifid than pinnate in
those of smaller size, and this difference is often independent of
age. The first upper division at the base of each pinna, whether
lobe or pinnule, is always larger than the others, and, standing
parallel with the main rachis, the two series thus formed present a
very peculiar appearance in the general aspect of the frond, espe-
cially of the upper face. All of the principal divisions terminate
in a sharp spinous process, and are more or less fringed on the
margin with spiny serratures. The rachis is leafy to within a few
inches of its base, and is clothed throughout with reddish-brown
or rust-coloured scales, which are broad and densely crowded below,
but become gradually fewer and more attenuated towards the
extremity of the frond. There is nothing peculiar in the fruc-
tification, beyond the regularity of the disposition of the sori,
and their occurrence almost exclusively on the upper pinnae only;
they are generally rather large in proportion, and often become
confluent.

A fern liable to assume such diversity in outline and division as
this, could scarcely fail of becoming a subject of contention among
botanists, relative to the individual claim of its more permanent
varieties to the rank of species. To enter into any minute detail
of the differences presented by the so-called species of Polystz'c/zum,
as figured or described by past writers, would be to little purpose;
it will be sufficient here to remark that three apparent forms of
the plant now before us have been so distinguished, and named
respectively lobatum, aculeatum, and angulare. The first two are now
universally admitted to be merely different states of the same plant,
dependent on age or other circumstances ; the last occupies, though
somewhat equivocally, a more decided position as a separate species,
in the works of the most recent botanists; that position I will
leave it, but rather that its prominence may lead to farther inquiry,
than from any conviction of its being other than a false one: loba-
tum and angulare, indeed, appear to me the extremes of a series
connected by so many intermediate modifications of form and
habit, that, in the absence of more important differential fea-
tures than have hitherto been established, it is utterly impossible
to determine the limits of either. As varieties, the three may be
thus defined :-— _

I. Zobatum. Frond rigid, simply pinnate: pinnae lobed or pin-
natifid. TAB. XVI.

2. aculeatum. Frond rigid, sub-bipinnate: pinnules more or
less decurrent. TAB. XVII.

3. angulare. Frond lax, bipi'nnate: pinnules distinctly stalked.

Under all its varieties of form, Polystichum aculeatum is among
E

34:

the handsomest of the larger British ferns 3 it is evergreen, the
foliage of a bright hue and glossy; and, its growth being scarcely
suspended from the --first development in April until the setting in
of winter,—so that the pale yellowish-green of the young fronds
contrasts very strikingly with the deep holly-like appearance of the
older ones, throughout the whole of the summer and autumn,—it is
more constantly ornamental in the fern-garden than most others.
The cultivation is attended with no difficulty 3 it will grow in
common garden soil, but flourishes best in a mixture of sandy
loam and peat, and although not injured by moderate exposure
to the sun, prefers the shelter of trees and shrubs, or a.
shaded bank. When grown in pot, the ordinary compost must
be employed, and full drainage 3 and unless kept in the greenhouse
or otherwise protected, the pot should be plunged in a dry border
during the winter. All the varieties are well adapted for house
Culture, and their beauty is much enhanced by careful treatment 3
but they require a great deal of room, large pots, and space to
extend their fine evergreen fronds, if the cultivator is desirous of
witnessing their most advantageous development.

POLYSTICHUM ANGULARE. Angular or Soft prickly Shield-Fem.
TAB. XVIII.

Fronds lax, drooping, lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnules distinctly
stalked, with an obtusely-angled base, more or less obtuse at the
apex, spinose-serrate.

Polystichum angulare, Presl. Newman. Babington. Moore.
Aspidium angulare, Mlldenow. Smith. E. B. Hooker and
Arnott.

This is certainly less common in its distribution than the pre-
ceding, but inhabits similar situations 3 the differences between
them are sufficiently striking where the contrast is made with the
extremer forms of each: the habit of this is flexile and drooping,
the leafy texture not so firm as that of P. aculeatum, the upper
basal pinnules often scarcely larger than the lower ones, and all of
them somewhat crescent-shaped, auriculate on the upper side,
rounded below, and attached to the partial rachis by a very distinct,
slender stalk, instead of being decurrent. Several deviations from
this normal form have been noticed, and two especially seem
marked varieties, and are well known in cultivation :—

1. subtrz'pz'nnatum. Lower-pinnules deeply pinnatifid, the lobes
sometimes distinct. '

2. angustatum. Pinnules all narrow, very acute.

The latter is frequently proliferous, or rather viviparous, by the
production of bulbils about the bases of the lower pinnae and pin-

 

35

nules 3 this is especially the case where the plants are grown in
pots in the greenhouse, or in very sheltered situations in the open
fernery.

P. angulare and its varieties are less hardy than aculeatum, and
are not so strictly evergreen, a consequence probably of the greater
laxity of their tissue. They seem to require more careful drainage,
a lighter soil, and complete shelter from the sun and'cold winds.
It might be a subject of question, whether these facts may not
indicate that veryspecific distinction which previous remarks tend
to set aside; but in opposition to any suggestion of this kind, it
may be remarked, that division, variegation, or laxity of the foliage,
constituting variety among the higher orders of plants, is almost
universally accompanied by a less robust constitution than that
belonging to the normal condition of the species. '

Genus 5. CYSTOTTERIS.

GEN. CHAR. Sori roundish. Indusium attached by its broad
hooded base beneath the sori, with a lengthened, fringed, free
margin, opening towards the apex of the segment.

The British species of this genus are small, elegant ferns, of a.
very delicate, almost fragile texture; they are well adapted for
house culture, throwing out their beautiful fronds, profusely
sprinkled with fructification, in all seasons, when sheltered from
the frost, the first approach of which, however, destroys them in
the open air. They grow naturally on rocks and walls, chiefly in
alpine and subalpine districts; and notwithstanding their delicate
appearance, few of the smaller ferns are equally capable of living
in a dry atmosphere, or exposed to the action of the sun.

The indusium is hollow at the base, forming a sort of hood fixed
by its inner margin, that is curved beneath the sorus; the remark-
able extension of the outer margin is best observed when the thecae
have recently burst through their membranaceous cover, which is
then seen to be broken unequally into a fringe of narrow, often
capillary segments, that becomes eventually reflected.

The generic name is a Greek compound of [aim-c9, a bladder,
and m-époe, a fern, in allusion to the peculiar character of the
indusium.

This genus is very nearly allied to Woodsz'a, differing from it
chiefly, if not solely, in the form and attachment of the indusium;
which, in the latter, has its point of attachment beneath the sorus,
'nclosing it equally all round, and opening in the middle, when it

'vides into numerous capillary segments forming an involucral

ringe around the thecae. In Cystopterz's, on the contrary, the

ttachment of the indusium is rather lateral than basal, and the
r. 2

36

margin is connected on the outer side with the back of the frond.
In habit and general appearance our native species of Woodsz'a are
at first sight very dissimilar to the species of the present genus,
but Woodsz'a Perrim'ana, a North American species, is so like Cys-
topteris fragilis, as to be generally confounded with it by a casual
observer, while the indusium is only fringed on the margin, thus
leaving its involucral character the sole feature of distinction.

CYSTOPTERIS FRAGILIS. Brittle Bladder-Fern. TAB. XIX.—
XX.

Fronds erect, lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnae lanceolate: pinnules
ovato-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid, the segments ovate or lanceolate,
sharply toothed or serrated.

Cystopteris fragilis, Bernhardi.. Hooker and Arnott. Babington.
Moore. Newman. Cystea fragilis, Smith, Eng. Fl. Cyathea
fragilis, Smith, Fl. Brit. E. B. Polypodium, Linnaeus.

Abundantly distributed over the mountainous and rocky di-
stricts throughout the kingdom, and occasionally on old walls and
buildings in the lowland counties. It seems to prefer the moist
crevices of limestone rocks in the vicinity of waterfalls, but is by
no means exclusive in selecting a site, and though most flourishing
and exuberant in its growth under the conditions of shade and
moisture, is often met with occupying the most exposed situations.
The rhizoma is creeping, but extends slowly, branching and forming
new crowns around the old one, often several in number during
the same summer and autumn. The fronds rise in tufts from
these crowns in April, rapidly attaining maturity, and fading in
succession as their place is supplied by others throughout the
season, until the development is checked by frost. They vary in
height, according to circumstances, from two or three inches to a
foot or more, and differ much in form and division, even on the
same crown: the general outline is lanceolate, more or less elon-
gated; the pinnae, distinct to the apex, occupy more than half the
length of the slender rachis, which is smooth, and nearly destitute
of scales; they are for the most part distant, especially the lower

ones, not very regularly arranged, but with a tendency to alternate :.

the pinnules are similarly arranged, equally distinct, and sharply
and deeply serrated, the lower ones being often, in fronds of larger
size, deeply pinnatifid, or even pinnate. The venation, easily dis-
tinguished owing to the delicate translucency of the leafy texture,
varies according to the division and serratures of the pinnules: in
most instances each secondary vein bears a sorus, not at its extre-
mity, but about half-way from its base; thus the sori form a line
on each side, rather nearer to the midvein than to the margin, but

 

 

37

hey are generally crowded, often much confused, and in maturity,
r rather on the dehiscence of the thecae, frequently become confluent
nd cover the whole under surface. A tolerable notion of the posi-
ion of the indusium may be obtained from the enlarged view on
ab. XIX., but it is difficult to portray its actual insertion and
ode of opening 3 it is soon obliterated by the extension of the
orus.

So much difference of opinion exists regarding - this normal
pecies of Cystopteris and its kindred species or varieties, and so
ncertain at present are our rules for specific distinction in this
ribe of plants, that it is with some diffidence I venture to adopt
ven a very slight departure from the arrangement of my prede-
essors ; but having cultivated them for nearly thirty years, and
bserved them at intervals in their various native habitats for a
onger period, their present allotment is the result of an experience
0 myself satisfactory, and the more so, because in the main point,
iz. the separation or rather retention of 0'. dentata as a species,
y decision is not a solitary one. .

In the Supplement to the ‘English Botany,’ Tab. 27 90, a
gure of a fern, under the name of Cystopteris angustata, was
ublished, which, with its description, was evidently a mistake.
n the second edition of ‘English Botany’ (1841), this figure was
troduced, contrary to my expostulations regarding its incorrect-
ess, and the description in the text quoted from that of the Sup-
lement, with only one remark for which I am answerable—“ That
t (C. angustata) is only a variety can .scarcely be questioned, but
t is nearer C’. fragilis than C'. dentata.” I am the more confirmed
n that opinion from later observation, and now introduce it as a
ariety of the species before us :—

. FRAGILIS, var. ANGUSTATA. TAB. XX.

Frond oblong-lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnules linear-Ianceolate,
ore or less decurrent, aCutely pinnatifid or toothed; ultimate
ivisions narrow-oblong or linear.

ystopteris dentata, B; Hooker, Brit. Fl.

Found in similar situations to those in which 0'. fragilis grows,
nd occasionally accompanying it, especially on the loose stone
nces of North Wales and Cumberland.

Few ferns are cultivated with greater facility than C. fragilis:
lthough growing more luxuriantly, and assuming its more graceful
spect when planted in soil and situation corresponding to its
atural habitat, the ordinary garden mould, unless very adhesive,

not ill adapted to its preservation. It may be grown in the
pen berder, forming, when not too fully exposed to the sun,
eautiful and elegant tufts that contrast well with the smaller

38

species of herbaceous plants; requiring only the occasional re-‘
moval of its rapidly maturing fronds to maintain the lively green
appearance of the masses throughout the summer. The delicate.
feathery character of the foliage renders it a favourite species for
pot culture, and in a cool greenhouse it becomes highly ornamental 3
but it is not well adapted for planting in closed cases, though often
recommended for the purpose, the slender rachis being too rapidly _
extended in the damp confined atmosphere to support the length-
ened frond, while the attacks of mildew and other fungoid pests,
to which it is liable under confinement, often prove fatal to the
other species in its vicinity.

All of the British species or varieties of Cystopteris are seen,
under cultivation, to the greatest advantage when planted on
shaded rock-work: like other rock and wall plants, they require
good drainage, a condition readily effected by the admixture of
about one-fourth of small fragments of old mortar with the soil
or compost employed; the value of this addition is farther indi-
cated by the natural preference they seem to evince for limestone
districts.

CYSTOPTERIS DENTATA. Toothed Bladder-Fern. TAB. XXL—-
XXII.

Fronds oblong-lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnules ovate-obtuse,
bluntly toothed. Sori submarginal.

Cystopteris dentata, Hooker, Brit. Fl. E. B., 2nd ed. Cyathea
dentata, Smith, Flora Brit. Cystea dentata, Smith, Eng.
Flora. E. B. 1588. Cystopteris fragilis, var. dentata,
Moore, Handb., ed. 2, 76.

Not unfrequent in the rocky parts of Wales, Scotland, and the
North of England, though very liable to be passed over as a form
of C’. fiagilis, with which most modern botanists indeed seem
inclined to confound it. The present is, however, in maturity at
smaller plant, differing considerably in the general outline of the
frond, and in the form, division and arrangement of the pinnae,
which are so placed, that their upper faces, instead of being vertical,
tend more or less towards a horizontal position; this character is-
difiicult to express by figure, where, as in the ordinary state of the
fern, the pinnae are distant, but it will be understood by reference.
to Tab. XXII. , representing an assumed variety, 0’. Dickieana. The
pinnules vary in division according to the luxuriance of the frond,
being deeply toothed, or, rarely, pinnatifid, but the teeth or seg-
ments are always remarkably obtuse, without the slightest ten-
dency to become pointed at the extremity. Thesori, produced at

 

 

 

39

the telmination of the veins, have a. disposition almost marginal,
and indeed, where numerous and becoming confluent, as they
usually do 1n maturity, form a complete and striking border to the
under surface of the pinnules, very different to those of C. fragzlis
and C. angustata. The rachis is very slender, smooth, and almost
universally of a deep brownish-purple hue.

The variety 0. Dickieana, Tab. XXII. , is a verymarked and peculiar
one, apparently retaining its distinguishing characters under culti-
vation. The general outline of the frond is ovate-lanceolate, and
all of its divisions are broader and more rounded than those of the
normal 0. dentata; they are likewise nearer together, and their
greater breadth occasions an overlapping of each other, that, added
to the more decided tendency to horizontality of the pinnae, give it
at first sight the aspect of a distinct species. A close comparison,
however, with the latter plant soon dispels the illusion. The
pinnae and pinnules are often more or less confluent, instead of
being quite distinct, thus departing from the bipinnate character.
The sori are never confluent in maturity, but have the intromarginal
position. Mr. Newman remarks, on the authority of Mr. Wol-
laston, that the spores of C'. fragilzs “ are always echinate, those of
Dickieana simply verrucate” , the latter IS the case with those of
C. dentata, but whether a constant character of that species I am
not prepared to assert.

This remarkable variety was found by Dr. Dickie in 1846,
growing in a cave by the sea near Aberdeen, and has not hitherto
been met with elsewhere.

Whether the arrangement of the four allied forms of the genus
here adopted or proposed be correct or otherwise is of little import-
ance; under either circumstance the two named as species, and
whichI have always considered as such, will be useful as rallying-
points to those who may feel inclined to discuss the subject. Mr.
Moore, who has placed all the four as varieties of C. fragilis, re-
marks. “ I am inclined to think 0. dentata to be sufficiently
distinct to take rank as aspecies, and to look upon 0. Dickieana
as an extreme form of it.” Mr. Newman, on the contrary, ob-
serves: “ My own judgment, improved, but by no means matured,
by the observations of sixteen years, regards dentata as a nonentity,
angustata as a synonym of that nonentity, and Dickieana as a
possible, but by no means establisiqed species.” Farther on, he
adds: “The propriety of separating Dickieana from fragilis rests
On these grounds,—it is a perfectly healthy plant, not monstrous
or distorted, and produced freely from seed, becoming a perfect
weed; whereas fragilis, under similar treatment, rarely reproduces
itself. Cultivated in the same soil and in the same pot with
fragilis, the latter becomes larger and more vigorous, Dickieana
smaller and less vigorous: and the more care the cultivator be-

4O

stows on these two plants, the more will he find they recede from
each other; whereas all differences between the so-called 0’. fragilis,
angustata, and dentata, are speedily lost in cultivation.” If there
be any value attaching to physiological facts of thls kind, regarding
the determination of species, it must depend upon their corre-
spondence under all circumstances, and the above remarks do not
agree with my own experience. Of C. Dickieana I .know but
little, indeed nothing beyond that which the examination of the
plant affords as to its general characters and structure, growing
specimens not having come into my possess10n until within the
last two or three years; but of the others, cultivation from the
wild state for nearly thirty years has led to very different results.
The plants have retained during that period all their original
features, while their spore-scattered offspring have grown up as
types of the parent forms, except that fragilis. has generally, but
not uniformly, produced angustaz‘a instead of 1ts own: the latter
circumstance seems significant of the effect of difference of soil or
situation in the production of varieties among ferns, and may
account for the discrepancy of the two statements; my own speci-
mens being chiefly grown in the open air, and never having any
other protection than a cold frame or occasionally a hand-glass,
while Mr. Newman’s may have had the advantage of a closed case
or greenhouse. ‘

CYSTOPTERIS ALPINA. Alpine Bladder-Fern. TAB. XXIII.

Fronds lanceolate, sub-tripinnate: pinnae ovate: pinnules con-
fluent, oblong-ovate, deeply pinnatifid ; the lobes broadly and
shortly linear, obtuse, with two or three erect blunt teeth.

Cystopteris alpina, Desvaux. Hooker and Arnott. Moore. Ba-
bington. Cyathea regia, Forster. Cyathea incisa, E. B. 163.
Cystea regia, Smith. Polypodium, Linmeus.

Though admitted by most botanical writers into the catalogue
of British Ferns, this species has no other claim to be regarded as
such, than the fact of its having at one time grown very plentifully
on a garden wall at Low Leyton, near Walthamstow, Essex, where
it was first noticed by Mr. Forster: about thirty years back, the
wall needing repair and fresh pointing, it was obliterated from this
habitat, or nearly so, the occasional discovery of a specimen either
there or on other walls in the neighbourhood being of late years
looked upon as a rarity. It has been recorded by some of the
older botanists as occurring both in Wales and Scotland, but as the
habitats mentioned by them have been searched in vain, it is now

generally considered that dwarf and deeply-divided. specimens of _

one or other of the preceding have been mistaken for it. It is

 

v—.. ._

‘4'

 

 

 

41

very common on the Alps and Pyrenees, and most of the growing
plants in our collections are of continental origin. Mr. Moore,
however, observes that he has received specimens from Mr. Shep-
herd, of Liverpool, gathered in Derbyshire and Yorkshire, but
Without any particular habitat being assigned. The species is very
distinct in character, when closely compared with any form of U.
fragilis or C. dentata: the fronds are, strictly speaking, bipinnate,
but the pinnules are so deeply lobed or pinnatifid, that, although
always confluent, they give them at first sight the appearance of
being again pinnate ; the lobes are linear, very obtuse, and gene-
rally divided on the margin with two or three blunt teeth pointing
upwards. The venation is more or less compound, according with
the division and toothing of the pinnules, and the small roundish
sori are submarginal. The fronds are variable in height, from
two to six or eight inches in foreign plants, but I have never seen
any British specimens from the wall at Low Leyton above three or
four inches long. ,

It is not at all difficult to cultivate and multiply when once
established; but is more susceptible of injury from the accumula-
tion of moisture about the roots than C. fragilis ; good drainage is
therefore more imperative, but otherwise it may be similarly treated.
A sheltered situation in the out-door fernery is better than confine-

ment under glass.

CYSTOPTERIS MONTANA. Mountain Bladder-Fern. TAB.XXIV.

Fronds triangular bipinnate: pinnules of lower pinnae pinnate 5.
ultimate pinnules and lobes deeply pinnatifid, their segments

toothed at the apex.

Cystopteris montana,Lz'nk. Hooker and Arnott. Babington. Moore.
Cystopteris Myrrhidifolium, Villars. Newman, Hist. Brit.
Ferns, 97. Polypodium montanum, Alliom'. Aspidium mon-
tanum, Swartz. .

First found as a British species in 1836, by Mr. W. Wilson, on
Ben Lawers, one of the Breadalbane mountains, and since by others
in several localities on the mountains of Perthshire and Forfarshire,

ut so sparingly distributed that it may be considered as one of our.
arest ferns. The rhizoma is filiform, branching and creeping, like
hat of Polypodz'mn Dryopterz's,‘ or P. calcareum, the latter of which,
specially, this species nearly resembles in habit and general appear.
nce. The fronds might almost correctly be regarded. as ternate,
he twolower pinnae, which are opposite, being so much larger than
he others as often to be nearly equal to them in the aggregate ,- it
sin this pair only that the pinnules are pinnate, all those of the
pper pinnae being only deeply lobed: the lower inferior pinnule of
F

42

the same pair is always larger than the upper corresponding one,
and more divided; the disproportion gradually decreasing in each
of the following, until toward the apex of the pinna the opposite
pinnules are nearly equal: the upper pinnae show very little ten-
dency to this irregularity. The venation does not present any
striking peculiarities ,- the lateral veins are alternate, and generally
terminate in the sinus between two serratures, thus determining
the arrangement of the fructification. The sori, generally nume-
rous, are small, nearly circular, and very prominent in maturity.
The indusium accords in position and attachment with that of other
species of the genus; but, unless examined previous to or imme-
diately after dehiscence, its presence will often not be recognized,
so that the species might be regarded as a Polypodz'um, with certain
members of which genus its habit and the form of its fronds so
nearly associate. '

Not having yet had living specimens of this fern in my pos-
session, I cannot ofier any remarks upon its cultivation, resulting
from my own experience. From the little I have seen of it in the
keeping of others, and the complaints made respecting its liability
to “damp off,” it seems to me probable that a treatment similar
to that recommended for Polypodium calcareum would be likely to
succeed 3 not indeed exposure to the sun, which all ferns are better
without, and especially those of alpine localities, but fresh air and
free drainage. In regard to the supply of water, there is less
danger in comparative drought than in superabundance. See the
remarks on Polystichum Lonchitis, p. 31.

Our figure is from a specimen kindly forwarded by Mr. Borrer,
gathered by himself in Corrach Dh’Oufillach.

Genus 6. ATHYRIUM.

GEN. CHAR. Sori oblong-reniform or crescent-shaped. Indusium
attached along the upper side of the lateral veins, opening
towards the mid-vein, with a free margin fringed with capillary
segments, at length reflexed.

This genus is adopted, rather to avoid the misplacement of one
of the most common and at the same time most elegant of British
Ferns, than under the idea of its distinctive character being other
than very equivocal. A. Filiw-faémz'na, the Lady-Fem, differs so
greatly in habit from all the indigenous species of the next
genus, Asplem'um, to which in point of fructification it approaches
the nearest, that few amateur collectors would think of seeking
among them for its description: I have therefore followed the
example of most of my contemporaries, in regarding it as the type
of the present.

 

43

The name, first applied by Roth, from the Greek c’ifivpos‘, open,
robably refers to the turning back of the indusium.

THYRIUM FILIX-FtEMINA. Lady-Fern. TAB. XXV.

Fronds lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnae linear-lanceolate, acuminate: -
innules oblong-lanceolate, deeply serrated or pinnatifid.

thyrium Filix-foemina, Rot/z. Babington. Moore. Newman.
Asplenium Filix-foemina, Bm‘nhardz'. Hooker and Arnott.
Aspidium Filix-foemina, Swartz. Smith. E. B. Polypo-
dium, Linnwus.

It occurs in most parts of the kingdom, less universal in its
distribution than Lastrea Film-mas, but equally abundant in those
localities that are adapted to its growth. Moist, shady situations
are essential to its full development, and though occasionally a few
stunted plants may be found on the exposed heath and hill-side, it
is on the sheltered hedge-bank, and in the damp wood and ravine,
that it attains the graceful and almost fragile character, which
acquired for it in long past times the popular name. The fronds
appear in May, springing in succession from the crown of a thick
and more or less elongated rhizoma, which occasionally, in old
plants, rises above the ground, in the form of a trunk or stipes,
from a few inches to a foot or more in height : their early develop-
ment is very similar to that described under L. Film-mas, p. 19,
and they not unfrequently assume the vase-like arrangement of
those of the latter fern; in which case, and when of large size
especially, few vegetable productions equal this in grace and beauty.
In the subalpine parts of the country I have often noticed speci-
mens so charactered, in which the central fronds had a height of
between four and five feet and were nearly erect, While the outer
ones drooping in eveijr direction around them, the whole comprised
the most lovely arrangement of light green feathery foliage that it
is possible to conceive. I once counted thirty-seven fronds com?
posing such a tuft. The general outline varies from a broad,
almost ovate, to a linear-lanceolate, and the rachis, generally bare
from about one-third to a fourth of its length, is sometimes feathered
with pinnae gradually diminishing in size almost to its base. The
pinnae are much diversified as to disposition, being either alternate
or Opposite, distant or close together, in different specimens. In
some instances the bipinnate character is departed from, the pin-
nules being decurrent. The division and serrature of the pinnules
are equally variable, and though the venation, owing to the delicate
texture of the frond, is readily traced, it is far from presenting that
regularity in its branching which would render it worthy of notice.
The position of the sori is always on the upper or anterior side of

F2

44

the branch veins, but they are very irregular in form, being some-
times straight, and in other instances so short as to appear nearly
circular, although the curved reniform or semilunar outline is the
most common: in some varieties they are distant, in others so close
as to become eventually confluent, even to completely covering the
under surface. Such differences have afforded a wide scope for
speculative botanists to indulge their fancies in the multiplication
of species and varieties, and were the wishes and advice of all my
kind correspondents to be attended to in regard to the latter, I
might exhaust the Greek alphabet from alpha to omega in prefixes.
The claim advanced on behalf of a few of the varieties to rank as
species, should be very cautiously examined before its admission;
those who recommend or incline to their adoption would do well
to bear in mind the plasticity of vegetable nature, and the very
uncertain tenure of specific distinction in the aggregate, not in this
class only, but in groups far higher in grade, and in which features
of more determinate character can be arraigned in evidence of sup-
posed dissimilarity. The three principal forms, including the
normal one, that are considered best entitled to the rank in question
are thus characterized :—

1. incisum. Fronds more or less drooping, broadly lanceolate:
pinnae distant: pinnules lanceolate, distinct, flat, pinnatifid with
toothed lobes. Sori distinct. A. Filix-foemina, Roth.

2. molle. Fronds nearly erect, lax, lanceolate: pinnae approxi-
mate: pinnules oblong, connected by the wing of the midrib, fiat,
toothed. Sori distinct. A. molle, ROM.

3. convexum. Fronds nearly erect, rigid, narrow-lanceolate:
pinnae distant, convex: pinnules distant, linear, toothed or pinna-
tifid, convex, with deflexed margins. Sori short, numerous, even-
tually confluent. A. rhzeticum, Rot/z. Moore, Handb. 136. As-
pidium irriguum? Smith. E. B. 2199. This is, unquestionably,
the most decidedly charactered of all the forms, and less positively
associated with, them by intermediates.

Besides the numerous slight variations in habit, and in the out-
line and division of the frond, several remarkable monstrosities are
met with in cultivation; of these the variety crispum is the most
common, and its dwarf, clustered, and much-divided fronds resemble
a tuft of curled parsley—a figure of one of the fronds is given by
Mr. Moore, Handb. 142. It was originally found by Mr. A. Smith,
on Orah Hill, Antrim, Ireland, and since by Sir W. C. Trevelyan,
in Braemar, Scotland. .Another Irish variety, still more peculiar,
is given by Mr. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 218.

The cultivation of the Lady-Fern is not attended with any diffi-
culty, as it will grow in almost any kind of light soil, provided the
situation be not too dry or exposed to the sun. To obtain it in its
beauty, however, it should be planted in a mixture of turfy peat

45

and sand, and supplied duiing the growing season with abundance
of water. When potted, the o1dinary compost will suffice; but the
pots should be large, the bottom cove1ed with small lumps of char-
coal, and placed in pans of watei. In a shaded greenhouse, under
these circumstances, this beautiful fein may be grown to great per-
fection, and it assumes a delicacy of hue and texture resembling
those of tropical development. In the open air its beauty is much
enhanced by planting at such a distance fiom others as to allow the
foliage from each tuft to spread without interference, and this is a
goodcJ rule to be observed in the arrangement of all the larger tufted
species of the tribe, even in artificial wildeiness scenery, if it be
not attended to, the general effect of the masses is greatly dete-
riorated. '

In Ireland, A. Filix—fcemina abounds on most of the bogs, occu-
pying in the Open paits of the country the position of the common
brake on our heaths, and, like that, is employed as a packing ma-

terial for fish and fruit.

Genus 7. ASPLENIUM.

GEN. CHAR. Sori linear- oblong, stiaight, attached along the upper
’ or inner side of the veins. Indusium opening toward the
mid-vein or inwardly.

The sori are in some species, as in A. fontanum, so short, that at
first sight the generic charactei may appear doubtful, but the posi-
tion of the indusium is more to be attended to in this genus than
the outline of the masses of fructification. The mid-vein is not
always present, a circumstance that has given rise to a division of
the genus by some botanists, and which is he1e adopted in the
an angement of the species, on account of the difference of habit to
which it is allied.

The name, from the Greek a, privative, and awkfiv, the spleen,
was bestowed on one of the European species, formerly in repute
as a remedy in diseases supposed to originate in an enlargement of
the spleen, and even considered capable of dissolving that organ if
administered in excess.

. * Ultimate divisions with a distinct midvein. Asplenium.

ASPLENIUM FONTANUM. Smooth Rock Spleenwort. TAB. XXVI.

Fronds linear-lanceolate, rigid, bipinnate, glabrous: pinnae ob-
long-ovate: pinnules obovate-cuneate, with 'a few large angular
mucronate teeth. Rachis Winged throughout. Sori short, oblong.

Asplenium fontanum, Bernhardi. Smith. Hooker and Arnott.
Moore, Handb. Aspidium fontanum, Swartz. E. B. 2024:.

46

Athyrium fontanum, Presl. Babington, Manual. Polypo-
dium fontanum, Linnwus.

This may be considered a rarity in England; indeed most of our
botanists doubt its title to admission among British species. It
seems to have been first noticed here by Hudson, as growing
“ above VVybourn, in Westmoreland,” and afterwards as being
found on Agmondesham or Amersham church, Buckinghamshire,
but these localities have been since searched in vain. The herba-
rium of the Botanical Society of London contains specimens, pre-
sented by Mr. Newnham, from Cavehill, Belfast, and others col- y,
lected in 1838, on rocks in Wharnclifi'e Wood, Yorkshire, by Mr.
Bedhead: Mr. Moore mentions its having been gathered “ on rocks
near Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, in a spot since destroyed by the
construction of a railway,” and likewise at Matlock, in Derbyshire.
As it is a not uncommon fern in rocky districts on the continent of
Europe, it is not unlikely that the preceding habitats may be cor-
rectly stated; but it has been unfortunately circumstanced, like
Cystopterz's alpz'na, in being so scantily distributed as to escape the
observation of succeeding inquirers, or to be obliterated by the
march of improvement; the latter was the case in the only instance
in which I ever met with it otherwise than under cultivation, viz.
on an old wall on Tooting Common, Surrey, where the ruthless
hand of repair had already commenced its destruction. The
Rev. W. H. Hawker found it last year “ growing in some quantity
on a very old wall near Petersfield, in Hampshire.”

The fronds grow in a dense tuft, varying from two or three to
five or six inches in length; they are smooth, of a deep green hue
and very rigid texture, are more or less erect and of a linear or nar-
row lanceolate outline: the rachis is slightly winged and leafy
almost to the base, the lower pinnae gradually diminishing in size
and becoming more distant, the upper ones being shorter and more
crowded as they approach the apex; the pinnules are often decur-
rent, they are of an obovate form tapering below, and deeply divided
with from two to five sharp spinous teeth. The sori, two or three
generally on each pinnule, are very short, sometimes approaching
to circular; their diSposition is far from regular, and they often
become confluent.

In cultivation this pretty fern has with many a very indifferent
character for endurance: in the open air it is exceedingly liable to
die off during the winter, unless the situation be well sheltered and
thedrainage complete; indeed, I have never known it to exist be-
yond the second year in the vicinity of London, unless when planted
on a fragment of an old and mouldering wall, under the shade of
some aged trees, but at the same time so arranged as to avoid their
drip. Under glass, in a close frame or shaded greenhouse, there

47

is no difficulty in keeping it; but it should be planted in sandy
peat, and the drainage secured by filling the pot about one-fourth
with pieces of old mortar and charcoal intermixed. Mr. Moore
recommends elevating the caudex a little above the level of the soil-
between two or three pieces of soft sandstone, and I have no doubt
the plan would be advantageous in securing the growth of a small
specimen; though, if the arrangement below be such as to prevent
any accumulation of superfluous moisture about the roots, a. plant
once established is not liable to damp off under ordinary care.
Although a comparatively small species, I have found that it requires
considerable space to extend its roots, and that it is safer to use a
large than a very small- pot, so that when settled it may remain
undisturbed for two or three years at the least. The increase by
division of the main caudex should be avoided by those who may be
desirous of retaining a fine specimen, as its growth is slow, and,
unless assisted by the temperature of a hothouse, liable to receive a
check that the plants do not readily recover. This remark is ad-
dressed to the amateur cultivator not possessing all the appliances
requisite to ensure success in propagation, and it is induced by
having witnessed the destruction of two noble specimens under the
infliction. It is an evergreen species, and, under cover, continues
its growth throughout the year.

ASPLENIUM LANCEOLATUM. Lanceolate Splecnwort. TAB.XXVII.

Fronds lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnae ovate-lanceolate: pinnules
obovate, deeply and sharply toothed. Rachis not winged. Sori
short, nearly marginal.

Asplenium lanceolatum, Hudson. Smith. E. B. 240. Hooker and
Arnott. Moore. Babington. Newman.

A very local species in this country, Where it is almost exclusively
confined to the maritime counties of the south of England and
of Wales. Being a native of the Atlantic Islands and of the south
of Europe, it may be regarded rather as naturalized than indigenous.
In the Channel Islands, Jersey especially, it is most abundant. Its

avourite localities are in the crevices of rocks and old walls, and
ining the sides of wells and the'shafts of deserted mines. The
ronds rise from a tufted base or crown, varying greatly according
o situation, in size, position, form, and even texture: they are of a
right green colour, the lower part of the rachis excepted, which is
urplish-black, when growing exposed to light. In shady and
oist places they attain a length of twelve or eighteen inches,
hile on dry rocks and walls they often do not extend to more than
wo or three inches; sometimes they are erect in growth, sometimes

48

dr00pingor even spreading horizontally. The rachis is more or
less covered with bristle- like scales. The general outline of the
f1 ond varies from linear-lanceolate to a broader and more directly
lanceolate form, and 1n some specimens it is nearly triangular: the
pinnae and pinnules are equally variable, and the former are often,
and not in young plants only, lobed instead of pinnate; the ultimate
divisions 111 either case are deeply and sharply toothed or serrated,
a branch of the lateral veins extending to the extremity of eacli
serrature. The sori are remarkable, compared with those of other
species of the genus, both as to form and position ; they are produced
near the.terminations of the branch veins, usually one to each ser-
raturc, and are at first, while yet covered by their thin white indu-
sium, oblong or even linear, but become circular as they enlarge,
and eventually often confluent, so as to form a line round the whole
under-margin: their arrangement in luxuriant specimens is very
irregular. When the frond approaches the triangular outline, this
fern is apt to be mistaken for the following species, A. Adiantum-
nigrum, the peculiarity of the sori constituting the most marked
differential character between them.

Like other maritime species of ferns, natural importations from
a warmer climate, the Lanceolate Spleenwort is not at all adapted
for cultivation 111 the open air in the eastern parts of England; this
may be understood by noticing the limited extent of its distribution
he1e, reaching. it is true along the whole southern coast from the
Land’s End to Kent, and along the western as far north as Cae1-
narvonshire, but still confined to localities influenced by the great
current and swell of the Atlantic, and chiefly to those so situated
as to receive their continuous flow,—the counties between the Chan-
nel and the estuary of the Severn. A treatment similar to that
recommended for the last species, A. fontanum, I have found to
succeed the best hitherto, except that it makes less root, and does
not require so large a pot in proportion to the size of the plant.
Another circumstance to be noted is, that it is very susceptible of
injury under close confinement, and consequently not adapted for
the Wardian cases. From observation of several plants placed
under difl'erent conditions, I believe this injury to the fern in quesé
tion to arise from the accumulation of water on the surface of the
fronds : breathing a moist atmosphere, it must be admitted, is very
distinct from drowning, and to the latter process the moistu1e-
loving fern 1s too frequently subjected by the mismanagement of
a very useful invention. In Nature, superfluous moistu1e is re-
moved quickly by evaporation, and although some plants are capable
of adapting thei1 functions acc01d1n0' to the circumstances in which
they may be placed, others me less pliant, and our Asplenzum 1s
one to which a pe1petual vapou1-bath 1s death. Under all its forms
it is ornamental, and, like most of its congeners, evergreen.

49

SPLENIUM ADIANTUM-NIGRUM. Black Spleenwort. TAB. XXVII I.

Fronds triangular attenuated or ovate, twice or thrice pinnate :
innae triangular: pinnules ovate or ovate-lanceolate, inciso-pin-
atifid, sharply toothed. Sori linear-elongate, approximate to the
idvein.

splenium Adiantum-nigrum, Linnaeus. E. B. 1950. Generally
adopted.

One of the most generally distributed of our smaller ferns, being
ound in almost every part of the kingdom, growing in the crevices
f rocks and old walls and on shaded hedge-banks. The fronds
pring in tufts from the crowns of a slowly-branching rhizoma,
nd vary greatly in development in different habitats, being often
11 exposed walls and rocks not above two or three inches in length,
hile under the influence of shade and. moisture they extend to one
r two feet. The rachis is bare about half of its length, and this
art is glossy and of a deep purple almost black. The leafy portion
f the frond is mostly of an elongated triangular outline, but.
ometimes perfectly deltoid, the lowest pair of pinnae being always
onger than the others, unless occasionally in very small specimens
hen an ovate-lanceolate form prevails. The pinnae are pinnate,
bliquely triangular, and generally point upwards toward the apex
f the frond; they differ much in division, but it is only in very
arge fronds that the tripinnate character is fully developed. The
ltimate divisions are unequally toothed, the teeth being more or
ess attenuated or obtuse, but always terminating in a point. The
enation is very distinct, and varies with the division of the frond,
he fructification being always produced on the inner or upper side,
ear the separation of the branches from the midvein, and thus
ccupying the middle of the pinnules. The sori are linear, covered
t their first appearance with a white indusium attached on the
uter side to the vein; in maturity this is covered by the expansion
f the thecae and the sori become confluent, often spreading so as
o occupy the whole under surface.

The protean character of this fern is apt to mislead the too
anguine collector in his search for novelties, and an assemblage
f all its diversities of form would certainly puzzle the discrimina-
ive faculties of any one beholding them for the first time: a little
arther acquaintance, however, and especially the results obtained
y cultivating them under corresponding treatment, will soon
ispel any illusion regarding specific distinction. A very striking
ifference is presented in contrasting the two extremes of form to

hich it is liable, the intermediate and most common one being

hat on which the foregoing description has been chiefly framed.
u

50

When of small size, as before remarked, the form of the frond is
often less triangular, and in such case it is less divided, and the
divisions are broader and more obtuse :—this not unfrequent con-
dition, dependent on accidental circumstances, presents us with the
original Asplenium obtusum of Willdenow, the variety obtusum of
later authors.

A second form has acquired more importance on account of its
being still regarded by some as a separate species, viz. Asplenium
acutum, Bory (Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 231). Mr. Newman’s
figure represents a luxuriant frond from Ireland, to which country,
in the text, he confines its British habitats. I have met with the
same, smaller in size, in several parts of North Wales, and have
preserved specimens collected in 1821 from the walls of the Cathe-
dral at St. Asaph, between which and those of Irish growth I am
unable to trace any difference. In regard to its being a species,
such claim is very doubtful, resting apparently at present solely
upon a slight difference in texture, not appreciable by the aid of
the microscope, and the narrow linear form of the ultimate divisions
of the frond.

The Black Spleenwort was formerly employed medicinally in
diseases Of the chest, its real or supposed efficacy in asthma, cough,
&c. being probably based upon a slight tonic quality belonging to
the ferns generally, and the relief afforded by its mucilaginous
ulces.

J All the forms are ornamental and well adapted for rock-work,
but though it will live in exposed situations, the more luxuriant
states are only obtainable in the shade. It will grow in any light
soil, but succeeds best when planted in a mixture of sandy peat and
old mortar. It is well fitted for the stove or greenhouse, but the
pots should be carefully drained. In the close case, it soon becomes
mouldy and decays.

ASPLENIUM MARINUM. Sea Spleenwort. TAB. XXIX.

Fronds linear, pinnate: pinnae stalked, oblong-ovate, inciso-
serrate, oblique, obtuse, unequally wedge-shaped, and more or less
auricled at the base. Rachis winged.

Asplenium marinum, Linnaeus. Smith. E. B. 392. Hooker and
Arnott. Babington. Moore. Newman.

Frequent on rocks and cliffs, and especially in caverns, near the
sea; it grows likewise on old walls, castles, and churches, but very
rarely in inland situations. Its principal localities are ‘on the
southern and western shores of the island, commencing with the
sand cliffs of Hastings; but it is distributed at intervals around
the Scottish coast, terminating on the eastern side about Scar-

51

borough in Yorkshire. On the shores of Ireland and in the
Channel Islands it is most abundant. Few of our native ferns
vary more in size and general aspect than this; in . exposed situa-
tions the fronds being often not above an inch in length, while in
warm and sheltered ones they are not unfrequently one or two feet
or even more. The rhizoma is short, firmly fixed by long and very
slender wiry radicles that penetrate deeply into the crevices of the
rocks, which renders transplantation difficult and precarious; it
forms new crowns or branches that divide very slowly, so that in
plants of large size the fronds compose a dense tuft. The rachis
is bare for about one-third of its length, glossy, and of a dark
purplish-brown colour, passing into black at the base. The pinnae
are nearly equal in length throughout, except towards the apex,
giving the frond generally a linear but slightly acuminated out-
line; they are of a deep green above, pale beneath, in maturity
of a firm, almost leathery texture, and so placed as to point more
or less obliquely forward; in form and distance on the rachis they
vary according to size and exposure, the general figure being an
oblong-oval, with an unequal base, more or less auricled on the
upper side and truncated below; the margin is serrated, and occa-
sionally so deeply as to become lobed. The lateral veins are alter-
nate and forked, bearing the linear sori on the upper division.
Although so common and so widely distributed along our sea-
shores, this is a troublesome fern in cultivation; it will not bear
exposure at .all in the vicinity of London. I have tried it several
times on rock—work, and under various treatment as to soil and
elevation, .but have never succeeded in keeping it through the
winter. In many of its native habitats it occupies caverns and
narrow crevices, of such depth that the light must be almost totally
excluded ; in these it attains the greatest luxuriance ; and in an
imitation cleft, a small Devonshire specimen, planted this spring,
bids fair to rival its wild associates, and, judging from present
appearance and progress, to find itself quite at home. Independent
of the effect of cold upon plants, we do not pay sufficient attention
in cultivation to the circumstances attending their natural growth.
I have previously referred to the necessity of observation in this
respect, and believe the want of such observation to be a main
obstacle to that success, the failure of which is so often deplored
by the fern amateur. Now, in regard to the species before us, it
will be found, almost universally, growing sheltered from the wind,
and so disposed as to avoid the lodgement of rain upon the fronds;
he latter is a point most essential to the health of an evergreen
em, and if attended to, would, as I know from experience, ensure
hat duration which is in many instances so equivocal. In pot-
ultivation, A. marinum requires the same care of ensuring perfect
rainage that is necessary to rock-plants generally. The soil may
G 2

52

be a mixture of peat and sand in about equal proportions, or an
additional fourth of the latter material may be added to the ordi-
nary compost; pieces of broken slate or angular fragments of gra-
nite forced through the loose soil at the time of planting and be-
fore settling the Whole by watering, assist the after-drainage, and
form a medium over which the growing radicles are encouraged to
extend their ramifications. The pots may be kept in a cold frame
or green-house; in the latter case, it is better to cover it with a
glass shade. In the hot-house it will attain a large size, and when
the air is kept moist, does not require a glass. In such circum-
stances I have seen the fronds eighteen or twenty inches long;
certainly it luxuriates in warmth.

The distribution of this species, extending from the north of
Africa and the Canaries and Madeiras, along the shores of Spain
and France, and its absence in other parts of Europe, apparently
well authenticated, is a curious geographical phaenomenon, pointing
to a probability of its having taken place prior to the great disrup-
tion of the chalk and the vast deposit of alluvial matter along the
eastern coast of England, especially when added to the fact of its
sparing occurrence in Hampshire and Sussex, and to its non-
existence throughout the former line of connexion between this
country and the continent, and even beyond this northward to
Flamborough Head.

‘The pinnae of A. marinum are occasionally very narrow, and the
serratures so deep as to give a totally different aspect to the plant;
but no permanent or decided varieties exist deserving more than a
passing notice.

ASPLENIUM TRICHOMANES. Common Wall Spleenwort. Com-
mon Maiden-hair. TAB. XXX.

Fronds linear, pinnate: pinnae opposite, roundish-oblong, ob-
tuse, crenated, stalked, truncated and cuneate below. Rachis
purple or black.

Asplenium Trichomanes, Linnaeus. Smitlz. E.B. 576. Hooker and
Amott. Babington. Moore. Newman.

This beautiful little evergreen fern is one of very general distri-
bution on shaded rocks, old walls and buildings, generally selecting
a northern aspect, or at least a position not exposed to the sun;
occasmnally it is met with covering hedge-banks in a sandy soil.
The fronds grow in tufts from a short, dense rhizoma, erect or
spreadlng according to circumstances, and vary in length from two
or three inches to a foot. The rachis is smooth, glossy, of a deep
purple approaching to black, and leafy almost to the base. The

53

innae, mostly opposite, vary in distance, and are of a roundish oval
orm, sometimes nearly rhomboidal ; they are of a deep glossy
reen colour, slightly crenated on the margin, and attached to the
achis by a very short stalk formed by the attenuation of the
edge-shaped base. The lateral veins divide about midway into
wo or rarely three branches, the upper one bearing a sorus near
ts extremity, obliquely pointed towards the apex of the pinna.

The fronds are occasionally forked or even multifid at the apex ;
ut this is not a character sufficiently permanent to constltute a
ariety. Plants having the pinnae of a thin texture, and more or
ess deeply pinnatifid, are sometimes met with, and such have
etained this character under cultivation, constituting the variety
'ncisum of some botanists. It is generally barren.

The common Spleenwort is very easily cultivated, and is among
he most elegant of the smaller ferns, and, above all, admirably
dapted for the decoration of shaded rock-work. Of course we

ust be guided in our treatment by bearing in mind, as in regard
0 other species, the conditions of its natural growth. Many
ersons think that if they put the root of a plant into soil, and
ater it, they have done all that is necessary, and are surprised and
isappointed when their expectations are not realized. Now, the
all and rock ferns require something more than this, or they will
ot grow to please us. The thin succulent extremities of the wiry
oots, insinuating themselves into every crevice, and absorbing on
ll sides the scanty moisture retained by the coarse material upon
hich they vegetate, are in removal generally left behind; and yet
he plant is expected to live and flourish, for the simple reason
hat, as it must have been half-starved upon the dry wall, and now
as plenty to feed upon, it ought to do so. The decayed mortar
nd the mouldering brick, while they afford the potash, lime, and
ther mineral substances necessary to fern-structure, ensure the
rand requisite of drainage, and admit no accumulation of moisture
eyond that which is essential to vegetable life. Stagnant water,
nd especially when lodged in soil abounding in decomposing
rganic matter, is fatal to most of the species of this genus; and
hough A. Trio/zomanes will flourish under shelter in almost any
ind of compost employed by the fern-grower, I have never found
't succeed so well in the open air, under exposure to the alternate
et and frost of winter, as when planted in old mortar mingled
ith a very small proportion of sandy peat. It may be grown in
ots in the green-house or in a cold frame, but does not like con-
nement for any length of time; and though the shelter of a bell-
lass is favourable to its full development within-doors, frequent
hange of air will alone prevent it from eventually becoming un-

healthy.

54

ASPLENIUM VIRIDE. Green Spleenwort. TAB. XXXI.

Fronds linear, pinnate : pinnae alternate, rhomboidal or roundish-
ovate, crenated, stalked. Rachis green.

Asplenium viride, Hudson. Smith. E. B. 2257. Hooker and
Arnott. Babington. Moore. Newman. A. Trichomanes
ramosum, Linnwus.

Chiefly confined to mountainous and rocky districts, and delight-
ing in the vicinity of rills and waterfalls, but occasionally found
elsewhere. It is a local rather than a rare species, and is very
liable to be passed over as a form of A. Triclzomanes, which it
nearly resembles in general appearance, though usually growing
more erect than the ordinary state of that species. The whole
plant is however of a paler hue, especially the rachis, which, though
dark brown or purple at the base, is always light green or yellowish
above. The fronds are tufted, in dry situations two or three inches
long, in moist ones ten inches to a foot. About one-third of the
rachis is bare: the pinnae are usually more distant than those of
the preceding fern; they are very variable in form, but most
frequently tend to the rhomboidal; the margin, too, is more or
less deeply crenated. The lateral veins are generally alternate
and forked, and the sori are produced near the point of division,
rarely at or near the extremity of the upper venule as in A.
Trio/zomanes.

A tendency to divide dichotomously is more remarkable in the
fronds of this fern than in those of the preceding, and originated
the Linnaean specific name.

In the vicinity of London the cultivation of A. oirz'de is far from
being satisfactory; it does not succeed well in the open air, and is
apt to damp off under confinement. Among the various kinds of
treatment to which it has been subjected, I have not hitherto had
reason to congratulate myself as to the result; the plants live, but
cannot be said to flourish; they send out new fronds strong and
well-conditioned in the early summer, and then, in whatever situa-
tion they may be placed, gradually assume an unhealthy appear-
ance, which characterizes them during the greater part of the year.
A mixture of broken freestone and sandy peat seems to succeed
best as soil, and the pots should be one-third filled with draining
material, the upper part of which should consist of charcoal broken
into small fragments: I believe the chief value of this latter me-
dium, as applied to fern cultivation, consists in its absorbing and
antiseptic qualities, which enable it to retain moisture, and at the
same time to counteract the effects of it in a stagnant condition
upon the soil. The foregoing remarks are only to be considered
as applicable to the metropolitan climate; in a purer air and moist

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55

eltered situation it seems almost, if not quite, as much at home
among its native alpine rocks.

** Ultimate divisions wit/tout a midvein. Amesium, Newman.

SPLENIUM RUTA-MURARIA. Wall-Rue. White Maiden-hair.
TAB. XXXII.

Fronds deltoid, bipinnate: pinnules rhomboid-wedge-shaped,
otched or toothed on the upper margin. Indusium jagged.

splenium Ruta-muraria, Linnaeus. Smith. E. B. 150. Hooker
and Arnott. Moore. Babington. Amesium Ruta-muraria,
Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 253.

Very common on old walls throughout the kingdom, but indi-
enous to the mountainous and subalpine portion of it, where it
rows in the fissures of the rocks: its original migration from the
tter is indicated by the fact of its occurrence being gradually less
equent as we advance from the central counties of England toward
e eastern coast. Its predilection for brick walls was noticed at
early period, hence the common English name, and it may be
ccounted for by the preference it exhibits in the wild state for
cks of calcareous composition. In general appearance and sta-
re it is very much diversified; in the low countries, as a wall-
lant, we are familiar with it as one of small size, with fronds
paringly divided, from half an inch to two inches in length ;
hile, in the rocky clefts of' the hills of Derbyshire, Wales, and
cotland, they attain a length of six or eight inches, and abranched
abit that might readily induce the casual observer to regard it as
different species. Our figures are rather to be taken as expressive
f the ordinary than of the alpine fOrm, which latter is subject
0 considerable deviation. The fronds grow in tufts from the ex-
remity of a slowly extending and branching 'rhizoma ; they are of
thick, almost leathery substance and deep green colour, but in'
xposed situations always covered with a glaucous secretion, whence
he name White Maiden-hair. In young and starved specimens,
he fronds are sometimes undivided or only simply pinnate with
oundish or reniform pinnae, but the more compound character and
riangular outline above assigned prevail even in comparatively
mall plants. The normal arrangement of both pinnae and pin-
ules is alternate, but they are not unfrequently opposite in the
warfer forms, and the latter vary in figure from bluntly wedge-1
haped to rhomboidal, more or less attenuated in both directions,
0 as to become in some instances almost linear; under all circum-
tances the upper margin is irregularly toothed or serrated, the
edge-shaped base entire. The veins diverge in a flabelliform man-

56

ner from the stalk-like base of the pinnules, branching above and
extending to the teeth or serratures, without any apparent mid-
vein. The sori, produced on the inner side of the veins, are linear
elongated and eventually become confluent, covering the whole under
side of the pinnule. The indusium, only traceable in the earlier
condition of the fructification, is white, and the free inner margin
if examined at the time of separation is more or less jagged or
uneven, a character of small importance in specific distinction, un-
less far more decided than will be found in this instance (see the
following species).

Those who would cultivate this fern should endeavour to obtain
it with the roots uninjured, which it is impossible to effect by any
other means than removing the brick- or stone-work among which
it grows, a process not always agreeable to the owner. When
obtained from the fissures of rocks, the principal portion of the
fibres is often left behind; circumstances exceedingly adverse to its
after-establishment. Grown in pots, brick rubbish or old mortar
with a very small admixture of sandy peat, a strict attention to
drainage, free air, and little water, are the conditions on which it
may be expected to live, but, like many other common plants, care
kills it. Wall specimens, removed with the mortar in which their
roots are imbedded, and placed between bricks or stones piled in
imitation of the stone-hedges of Wales, and with a little old mortar
scattered between them, will generally establish themselves readily,
especially if sheltered from the sun and cold winds; for though the
plant is often found naturally developed from seed in very exposed
places, a certain degree of exclusion may generally be traced in its
Choice of a habitat.

ASPLENIUM ALTERNIFOLIUM. Alternate-leaved Spleenwort. TAB.
XXXIII.

Fronds pinnate: pinnae alternate, distant, wedge-shaped, ascend-
ing, bifid or trifid at the apex. Indusium entire.

Asplenium alternifolium, Wulfen. Smith. E. B. 2258. Hooker
and Arnott. Asplenium germanicum, Weiss. Babington.
Moore. Amesium germanicum, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns,

258.

As a British species this is extremely rare, and, though widely
distributed, far from common on the Continent. Its localities agree
With those of A. Ruta-muraria, which however it is not found to
accompany. Three habitats have been recorded in Scotland; three
miles from Dunfermline, Fifeshire ; Stenton Rocks, near Dunkeld,
Perthshire ; rocks on the Tweed, two miles from Kelso, Roxburgh-
shire. In England it has been met with on Kyloe Crags, Northum-

57

rland ; inthree or four places. about Borrowdale, Cumberland,
owing in the clefts of the rocks ; and Mr. W. Hawker writes that
met with two plants of it this summer (1854) growing with
plenium septem‘rionale, on a precipice near Scaw-fell. In North
ales, it has been collected near Llanrwst, and in the Pass of
anberis. The habit of this fern approaches so nearly that of the
eceding, that many botanists consider them to be merely varieties
the same species; and some forms of A. Ruta-murarz'a certainly
resemble it in foliation, to a degree that appears at first sight
render the question of identity far from doubtful: the general
tline of the frond, however, and its division are very different;
the present it is narrow lanceolate or linear, and never more than
ply pinnate, it is likewise of thinner texture and lighter green
our. The pinnae, though varying in form and size upon the
e frond, are always distant and directed upwards ; they are
nerally of a narrow wedge-shape rapidly attenuated downwards
o a slender stalk, toothed or notched at the extremity, and, the
er ones especially, not unfrequently divided into two or three
es ; not however showing any tendency to the bipinnate charac-
The sori are developed like those of its near ally, but differ
the margin of the indusium being entire. The fronds are usually
In two to four inches in height, but some preserved specimens
m the Tyrolese mountains measure six or seven inches.
The scarcity of this fern has hitherto prevented experiment upon
growth in the open air, in which it would probably succeed as
11 as the preceding. It is usually kept in the house covered by
ell glass, but is liable to die off during winter, and even in the
1 growth of summer, without frequent attention to change of
, and avoiding the accumulation of moisture upon the fronds.
planting it is advisable to keep the crown a little elevated above
surface, and the soil may be a mixture of sand and peat, to
ich some add a little decayed vegetable mould; I do not con-
er the latter necessary, if it be not injurious, by contributing to!
retention of water around the roots, the supply of which ought
be limited so as merely to prevent positive drought.
It is remarkable that the plant before us should occur both in
is country and on the Continent in company with Asplem'um
tenm'onale, and always very sparingly. To even hint at any
obability of connection between them will perhaps horrify some
our modern manufacturers of new species, aCcustomed as they
to measure differences by half hair-breadths, but under the
k of being classed as an innovator against all the established
s of Specific distinction among ferns, I believe this may be the
e ; indeed, that if the three British species of the Amesium series
not really varieties of the same, dependent upon circumstances
uencing their primary development, the affinity of. the present
H

58

plant is nearer to the latter than to A. Ruta-murarza. The ordi-
nary form of A. septentrionale is certainly very different, but under
cultivatlon it occasionally produces branched fronds, the lateral
lobes of which so nearly resemble the pinnae of A. altermfolium,
that the most practised eye would find it difficult to trace any
difference. The character of the indusium is the same.

ASPLENIUM SEPTENTRIONALE. Forked Spleenwort. TAB. XXXIV.

Fronds linear, bi- or tripartite; the segments alternate, elongate,
acutely two- or three-toothed above. Margin of the indusium
entire.

Asplenium septentrionale, Hull. Smith. E. B. 1017. Hooker and
Arnott. Babington. Moore. Amesium septentrionale, New-
man, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 265. Acrostichum septentrionale,
Linmeus.

A very local species in this country, growing in the fissures of
rocks and the interstices of the loose stone walls that occupy the
place of hedges in the northern and western parts of the kingdom.
The habitats are too numerous to record, beyond general notice of
the districts in which they may be expected: it is rather a sub-
alpine than mountain species, not being found at any great eleva-
tion. The extreme western and northern counties of England, the
Snowdon district in Wales, the southern and central parts of Scot-
land, yield it in tolerable abundance, so as scarcely to warrant the
epithet of rare applied to it by most writers, though it is doubtless
much more so than formerly, in consequence of that insatiate spirit
that too often prevails among the petit maé'tres of natural science,
so numerous and so enthusiastic at the present day. The rhizoma
creeps and branches, forming when left undisturbed a compact
' mass of stem and root fibre of large size compared with that of the-
upward growth. The fronds are generally simple, of an elongated
linear-lanceolate form, gradually diminishing in breadth down-
wards into the rachis, and are from two to four inches in length;
the broad part has usually two or three lateral alternate teeth, often
so deep as to become lobes, and the extremities of these as well as
of the main frond are usually furcate, whence the English name:
the variation to which this form is liable has been already referred
to in the concluding remarks on A. altermfolium. The venation is
dependent on the divisions of the frond, avein or branch extending
into each point or segment. The sori are usually more elongated
than in the other species of the series, and become confluent in
maturity.

The same plan may be pursued in the cultivation of this as re—
commended for A. Ruta-murarz'a, but it is less adapted for exposure

‘ if

    

. /.,v////'///-// m .sv/z/rn/I'Ih/nz/fi;

,n

-%P if

59

the open fernery, at least in the eastern parts of England, the
ergreen fronds being liable to suffer from frost, and especially
ring the dry piercing winds of spring. It will however live and
urish when planted in a sheltered cavity better than under con-
ement. If potted, a cold close frame, where it may be kept
th A: marinum, fontanum, &c., shaded alike from the sun and
1d, will answer better than the greenhouse, bearing in mind that
e absence of all superfluous moisture must be strictly attended
and the fronds of larger ferns must not be allowed to spread
er it. The crown should be elevated.

Genus 8. SCOLOPENDRIUM.

N. CHAR. Sori linear-elongate, straight, growing on the lateral
veins, two together, approximate in one line. Indusia two,
opening down the middle of the apparently simple sori.

This genus was separated from Asplenz'um on account of the very
arkable difference of its fructification. The sori are double, each
ir being disposed between two parallel branches of the lateral
ins, and so closely approximating as to appear as one. The two
ies of thecae composing each apparent sorus, arise individually
m the opposite sides of the outer branches of two principal lateral.
ins, each being covered at first by its appropriate indusium : the
nfined space thus allowed for their development occasions the two
i. to become confluent, while the margins of their indusiae, sepa-
ing in opposite directions, appear like one opening down the
ddle. The double or compound character of the sori may be
dily traced by careful examination, and will be very evident when
served in an early stage of growth.
The regularly parallel lines of fructification, disposed at equal
tances on each side of the mid-vein of the long, entire frond of
vulgare, bear some resemblance in arrangement to the legs of a
olopendra or Centipede, hence the name.

OLOPENDRIUM VULGARE. Common Hart’s-tongue. TAB. XXXV.

Fronds entire, linear or oblong-lanceolate, cordate at the base.
chis shaggy, with narrow membranous scales.

olopendrium vulgare, Symons. szth. E. B. 1150. Hooker and
Arnott. Bdbz'ngton. Moore. Phyllitis Scolopendrium, New-
man, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 271.- Asplenium Scolopendrium,
Linnaeus. Scolopendrium oflicinarum, Swartz. S. Phyllitis,
Rotlz.

One of our most common ferns, growing on moist shaded banks,-
the clefts of rocks, about old buildings, and in the mouths of
H 2

60

wells, mines, and caverns. It varies greatly 1n size, according to
the locality: in the open vault, by the great hall 1n Conway Castle,
I have gathered fronds upwards of three feet long and nearly four
inches in breadth; but in more exposed and drier situations their
ordinary length 1s from six inches to a foot. The rhizoma is very
compact and deeply rooted, it does not elongate, but increases
slowly by the formation of new crowns around the older, attaining
thus, when left undisturbed, considerable bulk and an almost sphe-
rical form. The fronds grow in circular tufts, unfolding at first 1n
an erect position, but afterwards radiating and curving outwards: _
when spr1nging from the side of a rock, or in the mouth of a well,

they are often pendulous: in outline they are linear-lanceolate or
strap-shaped, more or less acuminated at the apex and cordate be-
low, with an entire slightly-waved margin. The rachis is generally
of a dark purple hue, especially the petiolate portion, which con-
stitutes about a third or fourth of the length of the frond, some-
times smooth throughout, but more frequently beset with chaffy
membranous pale-brown scales, that give it a shaggy appearance,
and are often distributed along the under side of the midrib like-
wise. The parallel linear sori are usually very regular in their
disposition, but liable to vary in length, and sometimes form two
series, alternately longer and shorter: their peculiarity of develop-
ment has been already referred to, under the generic character of
Scoloperzdrz'um, and is illustrated, as well as the venation, in the
outline figure of a portion of the frond on our plate.

So many deviations from the normal form are presented by the
varieties of this fern, and so closely do they approach each other,
that it is very difficult to select those deserving a separate notice.
In some instances the d1ve1s1ty arises from the division of the
1achis, in others from peculiarity in the marginal development of .
the leaf, and occasionally from a combination of both. Among
the apparently endless and far from constant forms thus resulting,
the following, well known to the fern cultivator, are the most
marked and permanent. ——

1. polysc/zides. Fronds narrow linear, deeply and irregularly
cr-enato lobate on the margin. Moore, Handb. Brit. Ferns, 174,
fig. 5, 178. Phyllitis polyschides, Ray.

DThe narrow linear form IS the distinguishing character of this,
the division of the margin being often very obscure. The fronds
a1e generally fertile. ,

2. crzspum. Fronds thin, strap- shaped, the margins much undu-
lated or curled, the base cordate-auriculate. Moore, Handb. Brzt.
Ferns, 175, fig. «7, 178.

The dilatation of the margin, which occasions the curled charac-
ter, is the probable cause of this very elegant and permanent variety
being almost uniformly barren.

61

3. lobatum. Fronds strap-shaped below, dilated at the upper
art and divided there into two or more acute lobes. Moore, Handb.
75, fig. ,8, 178.

When the midrib divides only once, it is the variety furcatum.
he lobes are generally flat, and fertile like the lower part of the
0nd. In some instances the primary division of the rachis occurs

that part which may be regarded as the petiole. This constitutes

e variety ramosum, of which however a correspondent form is met
ith in the next.

4:. multzfidum. Fronds strap-shaped below, dilated above, repeat-
dly divided toward the extremity; the lobes more or less obtuse,
ndulated, crowded. Moore, Handb. 175. Phyllitis multifida,
a .

This is a very beautiful variety when grown luxuriantly, but is
able to pass into the preceding form in dry seasons and situations.
he lower part of the frond is fertile, the undulated terminal lobes
arren.

5. Iaceratum. Fronds broad, the margins deeply and irregularly
ciso-lobate, or pinnatifid. Moore, Handb. 175.

This remarkable variety was found by Mr. Young of Taunton,
n a wall in that neighbourhood, and he has kindly favoured me
ith original specimens of it and of another, which he has named

divwfolz'um, obtained by sowing its spores; the latter chiefly dif-
ring in having the fronds broader, more deeply divided, and the
teral lobes lacerated and toothed at the extremity, while the broad
pex is repeatedly divided like that of multzfidum, which it resem-
les in having the terminal divisions barren, while the rest of the
'ond bears sori abundantly. The leading character in these two
arieties seems to consist in the deep incision and lobing of the
teral margins, and in the greater comparative breadth of the
end, which is sometimes almost as broad as it is long. I include

em under the same general denomination, because the distin-
uishing features of the so-called endivwfolz'um do not appear to me,
o be permanent ; such at least was the case this year in the grow-1

g specimens at Kew, originally forwarded by Mr. Young, in
hich the'two extreme forms and several intermediate ones were
eveloped from the same root.

The broad bright-coloured patches formed by this fern and its
arieties render it highly ornamental in contrast with our other
iative species in cultivation, and its evergreen habit is an especial
ecommendation to abundant plantation out of doors, as well as in-
ots among the .less hardy exotics of the greenhouse. Though
ot absolutely requiring the same degree of shelter that is neces-»
ary to the preservation of many ferns, the Hart’s-tongue may be
egarded as a free-growing plant: it can only be obtained in its

ore luxuriant and ornamental condition by keeping it shaded

62

from the sun and furnished with a copious supply of water during
the growing season. In order to avoid the effect of drought, a
larger proportion of yellow loam may be added to the ordinary
compost to render it more retentive of moisture, but it will grow
in almost any kind of soil that is not too stiff for its roots to.
penetrate.

It was formerly in repute medicinally as an astringent and vul-
nerary, and an ointment prepared from the bruised leaves is still
used in some parts of the country as a dressing for wounds, espe-
cially burns and scalds.

Genus 9. CETERACH.

GEN. CHAR. Lateral veins alternate, irregularly branched, the
branches anastomosing towards the margin. Sori oblong or
linear, attached to the upper side of the anterior principal
branches, except the lowest, which is on the opposite side of
the lower or posterior branch. Indusium obsolete. Whole back
of the frond covered with densely imbricated chaffy scales.

The apparent want of indusium and the anastomosing veins are
the chief features that separate this genus from Asplenium or
Scolopendrium, to both of which it has been referred. The indu-
. sium is however present in the British plant, partly covering the
sorus in an early stage of development, and subsequently as a nar-
row nearly erect membrane attached to the back of the vein. The
Arabian and Persian physicians, by whom the normal species has
been long esteemed for its supposed medicinal qualities, call it
Chet/zeralc.

CETERACH OFFICINARUM. Scaly Spleenwort. TAB. XXXVI.

Fronds linear-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid 3 segments oblong-
obtuse, waved or slightly lobed on the margin.

Ceterach officinarum, I/Villdenow. Hooker and Arnott. Babington.
Moore. Scolopendrium Ceterach, Symons. Smith. E. B. 1244:.
Grammitis Ceterach, Swartz. Hooker. E. B. ed. 2, 1408..
Asplenium Ceterach, Linnaeus. Notolepeum Ceterach, New-
man, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 2’7 7. '

The countries bordering on the basin of the Mediterranean and
the islands and eastern shores of the North Atlantic appear to have
been the original stations of this remarkable fern. In the British
islands its distribution is too partial to admit of its being regarded
as strictly indigenous, though probably naturalized here at a period
little subsequent to the arrival of Asplenium marinum. It occurs
here on limestone rocks, but more frequently on old walls and.

63

ins, rooted deeply in the decaying mortar, and often accompany-
g Asplenium Ruta-mumrz'a and Triclzomanes. Like other natural
portations from the south, it is found most abundantly in the
estern maritime counties that receive the more direct flow of the
ide, and has progressed slowly towards the northern and central
arts of the kingdom; in Scotland it has not yet traversed beyond
erth, and is still regarded as a rare species; while in Ireland its
opious distribution seems to indicate an earlier arrival. The fronds
re evergreen, the new ones making their appearance in May, and
t intervals throughout the summer: they vary considerably in
ize according to situation, and our figure may be regarded as re-
resenting the medium, from three to five inches in length, but
here much exposed they are often not more than a third of this,
nd in very sheltered places sometimes extend to eight or ten
ches. Some specimens sent from Teneriffe and Madeira mea.
ure more than a foot and a half, with a greater proportionate
readth, that induced me at first to believe them of a different
pecies. It is, however, a fern that cannot be mistaken, and I am
nformed that seedling plants, raised from the spores of these '
iants, assumed the general aspect of those of British growth. The
eneral outline of the frond is varied from linear to linear-lanceo-
te, and the alternate segments are occasionally so far separated
y the extension of the rachis as to assume the character of pinnae,
specially where growing in the deeper fissures of rocks. The
hole of the under surface is densely clothed with brown, pointed,
bricated scales, finely serrated on their margins, the outermost
f which extend beyond the margins of the segments and often
verlap them; on the unexpanded fronds these scales are white
nd silvery. The venation is not very readily traced unless in the
oung state of the frond, or by carefully removing the sori and
cales from the back of an old one, when they will be found to
ccord with the description of them given under the generic cha-
acter. The sori are oblong; their disposition has been already
oticed, as well as the obscure nature of the indusium : the latter
rgan, if we are justified in so terming it, is rendered unnecessary
s a protecting cover to the thecae, in consequence of the disposi-
'on of the scales; which are arranged in regular series along each.
ide of the veins and venules, pointing outwards, and conceal the
ori by their broad bases, which completely overlap them in their
mature condition.
The medicinal value of Ceteraclz has long been exploded by
uropean practitioners, though still believed in among those of
eEast. It seems to have been the true Asplenium of the Greeks,
entioned by Dioscorides and others, and which, according to
itruvius, annihilated the spleen of the Cretan swine that fed
pon it.

64:

It is not at all easy to cultivate this fern successfully: it is too‘
impatient of confinement to live long in the greenhouse, and the
cold frame, so useful for the protection of other half-hardy species,
is almost certain death to this. The metropolitan cultivator is told
that London air disagrees with it, and yet the only plant of it I
possessed in my early career, lived in a nook of an old wall, in a
back area in Hatton Garden, for several years, and may be there
still, unless eradicated by repair; sun never reached it, and ancient
mortar, which, constantly moist, had somewhat the consistence of
paste, probably agreed with its constitution ; a very necessary point
to be studied in planting, as when left to its own selection, or in
the wild state, it seems universally to prefer a calcareous habitat.
Whether planted in the open femery, or grown in pots, great care
must be exercised as to drainage, and in the latter case especially to
avoid wetting the fronds in watering. -

Genus 10. BLECHNUM.

GEN. CHAR. Sori forming a Continuous line on each side of the
mid-vein, and parallel to it: covered with a continuous indu-
sium opening inwardly.

Named from the Greek, mfiXI/OV, applied to the following or
some other species of fern'.
. The arrangement of the fructification is very peculiar in this
genus, and is dependent upon an equally characteristic form of
venation, which latter, however, being in most instances very ob-
scure, 1 have omitted from the generic character. The lateral veins
are alternate, and extend, in our British species, obliquely upward
about half-way towards the margin, when, by a sudden turn, each
runs parallel to the mid-vein and anastomoses with the one above it,
thus forming an apparent longitudinal vein on each side of the
middle one. The sori occupy the upper or inner sides of these
lateral veins, from the bend to the point of contact with the next,
and thus become blended into an uninterrupted line, which the
continuity of their indusia renders more decided.

BLECHNUM BOREALE. Hard Fern. TAB. XXXVII.

Fronds linear-lanceolate, of two forms: fertile ones erect,pectinate-
pinnate,with distant, narrow linear acute pinnae: barren ones spread-
ing, pinnatifid, with broadly linear blunt approximate lobes.

Blechnum boreale,Swartz. Smith. E. B.1159. Babington. Hooker
and Arnott. Blechnum spicant, Rot/z. I’Vitlzering. Moore,
Handb. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns. Osmunda spicant,
Linnaeus.

Very common in almost every part of the kingdom, on heatlis

Q

65

d uncultivated ground, in woods and thickets, and on rocky
11s, especially about pools and water-courses. Its continental
stribution is wide, extending from Swedish Lapland to the bor-
rs of the Mediterranean. The barren fronds, which remain
roughout the winter, are always more or less spreading in their
bit, and, where uninterrupted by surrounding vegetation, gene-
lly prostrate; they are pinnatifid, smooth, dark green, and leafy
arly to the base, the leafless portion of the rachis being shaggy
ith lanceolate membranaceous scales; the segments are linear,
t, obtuse at the extremity, more or less approximate, and re-
arkably regular in disposition: the ordinary length of these
onds is from six to twelve inches. The fertile fronds are always
ect, from one to two feet in height, and distantly pinnated: the
'nnae are contracted, linear, generally pointed, and with the mar-
'ns recurved, not above half the width of the barren segments,
e to two inches in length on the upper half of the rachis, but
ttle more than rudimentary below: the rachis is in most in-
ances of a dark purple hue, smooth and glossy. The peculiarity
venation above described, in the remarks on the generic charac-
r, does not belong to the barren frond, the lateral veins of the
bes branching dichotomously about the middle, and their divi-
ons extending to the margin, the main or upper branches not
astomosing. The fertile fronds may be found from May to
ctober, but they soon wither away after the dispersion of the
orules.
Like most other ferns, this is liable to deviate from the normal
aracter, and occasionally such deviations may under peculiar
eatment become permanent in cultivation, but my own experience
s not confirmed this: it is true that specimens sometimes occur
which the frond of Bleclmum boreale is divided at the extremity,
d more frequently, in which the intended fertile frond has all of
s pinnae abortive, the rachis merely developing their rudiments;
It I have found the recurrence of such monstrosities too uncer-
in to admit of enrolling them as varieties.
It is a highly beautiful fern, well worthy of cultivation as an
ergreen little liable to injury by frost, and, during the summer,
esenting an elegant contrast in its varied fronds, and a habit
tally dissimilar to that of all our larger species. In moving it
om its natural habitat, care should be taken to bring away as
uch of the soil as convenience will admit ; otherwise our labours
ill be probably disappointed, as it does not readily form new
ots. From want of attention to this circumstance I used to
gard it as one difficult to establish, a character quite undeserved,
few of our native species are more readily naturalized in the
rden. When planted-among rock-work, it must be so placed as
receive abundant moisture, and the soil employed should be more
' I

66'

retentive than usual 3 a mixture of peat and stiff loam in equal
proportion I have found to answer well: in the wild state it grows
in almost all kinds of soil, from sand and gravel to the most re-
tentive clay. Shade is necessary to its more luxuriant growth, but
it will bear exposure better than most others, especiallyif well sup-
plied with water. It may be kept in large pots, but does'not like
confinement.

Genus 1'1. PTERISz

GEN. CHAR. Fructification forming a continuous marginal line,
covered by the attenuated recurved margin of the frond.

The fructification in this genus is very obscure in regard to its
primary development, and much difference of opinion has prevailed
among pteridologists respecting the presence or absence of indu-
sium: were it one of small extent, this would be of little import-
ance, but the contrary is the case; and, although the local botanist
can have no difficulty in recognizing our solitary indigenous species,
from the above superficial character, a correct understanding of
those points of structure that are generally adopted in the asso-
ciation or distinction of genera in this tribe of plants, is serviceable
to the general student. A close examination of the fructifying
frond of Pteris aquilina shows us that the lateral veins of the lobes
divide one, two, or three times before they reach the margin, and
that the extremities of the branches become anastomosed near the
latter, forming an intromarginal vein; it is from this vein that the '
thecae arise, the margin of the lobe recurving with them, not over
them. The thecae are not produced on the under surface, as in
the true dorsiferous ferns, but on the edge of the frond, the sub-
stance of which terminates with the vein in question, while the
epidermis is extended beyond it from both surfaces, and thus en~
closes the fructification in its earliest stage of development between
two membranes, the folding of which backward with their contents
has occasioned all the equivocality originally attaching to this part.
Both of the membranes have their margins ciliated with jointed
hairs, and under the microscope their cellular structure will be
found to differ in accordance with that of the upper and under
epidermis from which they are individually extensions.

Pterz's, 7r'repo9, the common Greek name for fern, signifying wing
or feather, well accords with the appearance of the fronds of P. aqui-
Zinc, the most common and most generally distributed of European
ferns.

67

TERIS AQUILINA. Common Brake. Braken. Eagle Fern.
T1113. XXXVIII. -

Fronds deltoid, with an elongated stem-like petiole, bi-tripinnate 3
rimary pinnae opposite 3 ultimate segments oblong, obtuse.

teris aquilina, Linnaeus. Smith. E. B. 1679. Hooker and Arnott.
Babington. Moore. Eupteris aquilina, Newman, Hist. Brit.
Ferns, 23.

Abundant on heaths and moors, and on stony and sandy pastures,
s well as in Woods and thickets, throughout the kingdom. The
hizoma, of a dark colour and velvety exterior, extends far below
e soil, branching and creeping in every direction, so as to form,
here long established, a densely interwoven horizontal network at
greater or less distance below the surface, according to the cha-
acter of the subsoil. It has often been observed that the plant is
ot found over chalk, a circumstance, however, apparently due
ather to the ordinary shallowness of the soil over that rock in
ngland, than to any prejudicial influence of the chalk itself. The
epeatedly compound fronds grow upward, at intervals, to the
eight of from six inches to eight or nine feet, according to the
rtility of the spot, or as they are more or less exposed or sheltered,
a moist wood, near HampStead- heath, I once measured one up-
ards of thirteen feet long , such inordinate growth is rarely
tended with the production of fruit. The stem-like portion of .
e rachis is light yellowish-green, passing into a purplish-brown
r black at the lower part; the leafy part of the frond deep green,
(1 smooth on the upper surface, pale and hairy beneath. The
mpound character varies according to size and other circum-
ances; the primary pinnae, usually opposite, are generally broad,
e secondary ones narrow or linear-lanceolate; the pinnules, o1 ulti-
ate divisions, are sessile, alWays obnfluent towards the extremity,
blong and obtuse. Owing to the peculiar disposition of the woody
ssue and its dark hue, a transverse section of the lower end of the
chis presents a fanciful image of an oak-tree, or, if out obliquely,
f the imperial or spread-eagle 3 in either case it is a pretty object
r the microscope. The fronds appear above ground in May, but
e liable to be destroyed by very slight frost before they have un-
lded, and, when mature, are always among the first natural objects
hose charige of appea1ance indicates the approach of winter.
No permanent varieties occu1 of this most common fern, though
is liable to considerable modification 1n different localities. It 1s
ldom cultivated, on account of its tendency to overrun other
ecies, a vagrant habit that is difficult to control. Some trouble
(1 frequent disappointment may be incurred 1n the endeavour to

stablish it, either in pots or in the garden, on account of the depth
1 2

68

at which the growing part extends itself and the obstacles to be
encountered in its removal; but, once obtained, there is little risk
of loss, as it seems quite independent of difference of soil.

The Common Brake was the Filiw—fcemz'na, or Female Fern of
the old botanists, or those prior to the time of Linnaeus, who trans-
ferred the title to another, the present Aflzyrz'um Elix-faemz'na.

There is reason to conclude that many exotic species, so con-
sidered, belonging to different parts of the world, may not be
really other than slightly varied forms of the Pterz's aquilz'na, re-
sembling it closely as they do in habit, tendency to complexity in
the division of the frond, and other circumstances. Should future
observation render fact that which is at present merely speculative,
then might the fern before us. rank as the most universally distri-
buted of all vegetable productions, extending its dominion from
west to east over both continents and islands, in a zone reaching
from Northern Europe and Siberia to New Zealand, where it is
represented by, and perhaps identical with, the well-known P. escu-
lenta. The rhizoma of our plant, like that of the latter, is edible;
and though not employed in these islands as food, powdered and
mixed with a small quantity of barley-meal, it is made into a kind
of gruel called gofio, in use among the poorer inhabitants of the
Canary Islands, especially those of Palma and Gomera: its astrin-
gency, however, is so great, that it has been recommended for
dressing and preparing kid- and Chamois-leather, and its qualities
as a vermifuge are said to equal those of Aspidz'um Film-mas. The
large fronds form a durable thatch, and are used as litter for cattle:
in many parts of the country they are collected for fuel, especially
for heating ovens, and sometimes even for burning limestone. The
ashes contain a large proportion of alkali available in the manu-
facture of both soap and glass, and are often employed by country
people as a substitute for the former article, for which purpose they
are generally formed into balls by moistening and afterwards heat-
ing them in the fire; in this state they are well known in some
districts in England by the name of ash-balls. A bed made of the
fresh-gathered fronds is a provincial remedy for the rickets.

Genus 12. ALLOSORUS.

GEN. CHAR. Sori circular, near the extremities of the lateral
veins, confluent in maturity; covered by the reflexed margin
of the pinnules of the contracted fertile frond fulfilling the
office of an indusium.

Most recent botanists place this genus next to Polypodz'um, on
account of the form of the sori and the absence of a true indusium ;
but the eventually confluent fructification, forming an intromar-

69

'nal line covered by the reflexed epidermoid prolongation of the
dges of the pinnules, seems to denote a nearer structural affinity
o Pterz's.

The name, from the Greek e’z’Mtoc, implying dzfi'erence or change,
vidently alludes to alteration that takes place in the appearance of
he sori as they become confluent.

LLOSORUS CRISPUS. Parsley Fern. Curled Rock-Brakes. TAB.
XXXIX.

Fronds deltoid, bi-tripinnate, of two kinds: ultimate divisions of
arren fronds wedge-shaped, cut and toothed ; of the fertile linear-
blong, entire.

llosorus crispus, Bernhardi. Babington. Moore. Newman. Pteris
crispa, Linnaeus. Smith. E.B. 1160. Cryptogramma crispa,
Brown. Hooker and Arnott. E. B. ed. 2,1443. Osmunda
crispa, Linnaeus, Sp. Pl.

This elegant little fern is exclusively European, growing in the
more sheltered crevices of mountain rocks, from Lapland to the
Mediterranean. In this country it is generally regarded as a com-
paratively rare, or at least local species; the former it certainly is
not, the latter only in accordance with its alpine habit. In Scot-
land its distribution is a wide one, though apparently less abun-
dant than in the North of England and North Wales, where it
often grows profusely on the ledges and in the narrow clefts of the
slate and trap rocks. Southward it is found more sparingly, and
is rapidly disappearing owing to the rapacity of collectors. In
Ireland it has been rarely met with. The fronds spring in tufts
from a slowly creeping and branching rhizoma, the fertile ones
growing erect from six inches to a foot high, the barren ones,
more numerous, being not above half that height ; the latter are
of a bright yellowish-green, and much resemble, at first sight and
when newly expanded, the leaves of a small umbelliferous plant.
The ultimate divisions of the barren frond vary in form in differ-
ent specimens from wedge-shaped to oblong or oval, and in being
entire or toothed and serrated: those of the fertile frond are oval,
oblong, or linear, stalked, mostly entire, but in some instances
forked at the extremity, and occasionally showing a tendency to
become hastate below ; the reflexed margins nearly meet in the
middle at first, so as to completely cover the fructification. The
circular form of the sori is only evident when examined at an early
stage: no trace of an indusium has yet been observed.

The delicate green hue and close growth of the Parsley Fern
render it one of the most beautiful among the smaller species, but
its duration is very limited, the fronds appearing in May and

'70

June and becoming disfigured by the first morning frosts of the
autumn. It grows freely under cultivation, whether planted in
pots or among rock-work, and I have found it succeed in several
different soils, though never better than when planted on the
margin of a gravel-walk, among the pebbles of which some of the
finest tufts were produced. For potted specimens, light sandy
peat, with a small quantity of old mortar, and fragments of slate,
limestone, or granite, the first especially placed vertically through-
out the soil, will be most available, when associated with a copious
supply of water and as free drainage during the growing season.
Exposure to the sun should be guarded against, as though not
necessarily fatal to the fern, it is to the lucid green colour that
constitutes its chief beauty.

Genus 13. ADIANTUM.

GEN. CHAR. Sori roundish, growing from the extremities of the
veins on the under face of the reflexed margin of the frond,
the epidermis of which is prolonged over them in the form of
an indusium.

Adiantum is an extensive genus, containing about seventy known
species, of which the greater number are tropical. The fronds are
generally of a. very delicate, almost membranaceous texture, espe-
cially those which are much divided: they have a peculiarly slen-
der, hair-like, and elastic rachis, which, being usually of a dark-
purple or blackish hue, occasions many of the species to rank among
the most elegant of the fern tribe, as the thin bright-green pinnules
seem to be suspended in the air. They all delight in shade and
moisture, growing almost exclusively in the damp and dark crevices
of rocks, among trickling streams, and in the depths of tropical
forests where the atmosphere is constantly loaded with moisture.
A. pedatum in North America, and A. Capillus- Venerz's in Europe,
are the only species met with extending naturally into cold climates.

The European species was named d3c’av'rov by the Greeks, from
d8t'avroq, dry, because the foliage repels water, and is with diffi-
culty wetted.

ADIANTUM CAPILLUS-VENERIS. Maiden-Hair. TAB. XL.

Fronds deltoid', lax, bi-tripinnate: pinnules stalked, rhomboidal-
wedge-shaped, lobed, alternate. Fertile lobes reflexed, forming
transversely oblong indusium-like folds covering several roundish
sori: barren lobes serrated.

Adiantum Capillus-Veneris, Linnaeus. E. B 1564. Generally
adopted.

The common or true Maiden-hair is unquestionably a wanderer

71

here from warmer lands, being only very locally distributed in
situations open to such arrivals from the Atlantic. Cornwall,
Devonshire, and Glamorganshire, and the southern and western
parts of Ireland, afford its principal British habitats, and it is
arely found very far from the sea; indeed chiefly in moist mari-
ime caves and on rocks and cliffs where it is exposed to the
spray, and especially where fresh water trickles down their sides.
perpendicular surface seems most favourable to its development,
nd hence the mouths of old wells and the deserted shafts of
ines are occasionally tapestried with its beautiful foliage. Its
eographical distribution over the warm and temperate parts of
he globe seems, from the testimony of botanists of high repute,
o be almost universal. The slender, black, scaly rhizome. creeps
nd branches slowly in every direction, sending up the light fronds
'n lax tufts from the extremities, varying in height, according to
he situation, from three or four inches to a foot. The hair-like .
neness of the rachis and its branches, and their glossy, black, or
urplish-black hue, originated both the Latin and English names
f the species, but they are not peculiar to it. The pinnules, di-
tinct, with capillary stalks, are somewhat flabelliform in general
utline, with an unequally wedge-shaped base 5 they are of a very
hin, almost membranaceous texture, and delicate, bright, though
ather glaucous green colour, and divided at the top into several
nequal segments, which are either serrated or have their extre-
iities folded backwards, bearing the sori, which thus appear to
orm an interrupted marginal line: their true character and posi-
ion is given under the generic character, and illustrated by the
ight-hand enlarged figure on our plate.

This elegant fern had formerly high medicinal repute, especially
s a diuretic and expectorant, but is now only remarkable in an
conomical point of view as giving name and a slight flavour to
he well-known Capillaz're, which is prepared by pouring boiling
yrup upon the freshly-gathered fronds. It grows abundantly in
he South of Europe, where, however, the North American A. pe-
atum is often employed as a substitute, being cultivated for the
urpose. They are both astringent, and the syrup is esteemed
seful in coughs and other pectoral ailments, but a strong de-
oction of the latter plant is said to act as an emetic. In the
outh Isles of Arran, on the coast of Galway, where the Maiden-
air grows profusely in the fissures of the limestone rocks, the
eople use a decoction of the fronds as a substitute for tea.

The great beauty of the foliage of the Adiamfum would render it
valuable decoration to the ruin, rock, and fountain in ornamental
ardening, but, like other maritime self-naturalized species, it is
able to be destroyed by frost, unless planted in warm and shel-
red situations; indeed, it is scarcely possible to preserve it alive

72

through the winter in the open air in the eastern parts of England.
The amateur grower will manage better with it as a house plant,
in which case the season of dearth is that in which its delicate
fronds are most attractive to the eye. It will flourish in the stove
and greenhouse, but in the inhabited room requires the cover of a
bell-glass, and is admirably adapted for growing in the close or
VVardian case. It ought never to be exposed to the sun. In
regard to soil, I have found it succeed well in the same compost
as that recommended for Asplenium marinum.

Genus 14. TRICHOMANES.

GEN. CHAR. Sori marginal. Thecae sessile around columnar fili-
form receptacles, which are extramarginal extensions of the
anterior branches of the lateral veins, within open cylindrical
or suburceolate involucres of the same texture as the frond.

The generic name, borrowed from Dioscorides, was applied by
the Greeks to some species of ferns, probably Asplenium Tricke-
manes, and is not unaptly transferred to these, considering the
arbitrary allotment of botanical names generally; the prefix, from
Qpif, 'rp‘ixbc, a hair or bristle, bearing allusion to the hair-like
reCeptacles of the sori, while the termination, from ,uavbe, soft,
thin, or flexible, accords with the character of the fronds; a con-
venient, though forced, interpretation, that may suffice in the
absence of one more consistent.

The plants comprised under this and the following genus,
Hymenop/iyllum, are remarkably different from the other ferns in
the development of their fructification, in habit, and in the texture
of the frond, which latter is membranaceous, and under the micro-
scope very beautifully reticulated. They grow only in very moist
and shaded places; indeed, their organization is not adapted to
support those ordinary changes in the hygrometric condition of
the atmosphere that do not visibly affect vegetation in the aggre-
gate; their delicate fronds become brown, and shrivel when ex-
posed even to a few hours’ drought, and they resist all customary
modes of cultivation, in consequence of the excess of light and
insufficiency of moisture in the surrounding air that are their
usual concomitants. The numerous species of both genera are
almost all tropical, inhabiting the deep recesses of the forests of
hot climates, where, in an atmosphere loaded with vapour, they
flourish, as well as in similar situations to those to which they are
confined in Europe.

TRICHOMANES RADICANS. European Bristle Fern. TAB. XLI.

Fronds tri-quadripinnatifid, glabrous, deltoid-ovate or lanceo-

73

6; segments alternate, linear, entire or bifid, obtuse. Invo-
res solitary in the axils of the upper segments, shorter than the
form receptacle ‘

ichomanes radicans, Swartz. Hooker. Babington. Moore. New-
man. Trichomanes brevisetum, Brown. Smith. E. B. ed. 2,
1445. T. speciosum, europaeum, pyxidiferum, and alatum,
of authors. Hymenophyllum alatum, Smith. E. B. 1417.

The original locality of the Bristle Fern is doubtful, as speci-
ns collected in several parts of the world, not essentially differ-
from our own, evince awide distribution; though, being found
the West Indies and in the islands of the North Atlantic, ren-
s its transit hither consistent with those natural causes that
ve enriched the catalogue of British vegetation with many other
ductions of warmer climates. At present this may rank as a
ity to the home botanist, not being found in any other part of
United Kingdom than in the Irish counties of Cork and Kerry,
ere it grows more or less abundantly on dripping rocks, about
es and waterfalls, and depending from the walls and roofs of
erns. The rhizoma creeps and spreads like that of Polypodium
lgare, and in some situations attains a length of several feet,
en covering the moist rocks on which it grows with a complete
twork; it is of a dark colour, almost black, and clothed with
rrow, bristle-like, articulated scales. The fronds, developed at
ervals as the rhizoma extends, are from three inches to a foot in
gth, and generally pendulous, in consequence of the position
y occupy on the sloping or perpendicular faces of the rocks:
general outline is somewhat deltoid, but in very luxuriant
nts it passes into an oblong-lanceolate form very much acumi-
ted, constituting the variety Andrewsz'z' of Mr. Newman, Hist.
it. Ferns, 292. The rachis is winged throughout on each side,
responding with the plane of the frond, the leafy portion of
ich seems to consist only of a continuation of these wings in a
ader form along each side of its branches, which latter consti-
e the veins; this structure renders all the ultimate divisions
rrow and linear. The veins, dividing alternately, are hard,
ody, and wire-like, and, where barren, terminate before reaching
ends of the segments; but where fertile they extend beyond
segment, the tissue of which separates and distends in the
m of a more or less elongated cup around the prolonged vein-—
'8 cup is the involucre, the prolonged vein the receptacle, referred
under the generic and specific characters. The thecae form a
all globular cluster round the receptacle at the bottom of the
p, beyond which latter organ, as they advance to maturity, the
odified vein extends in the form of a bristle, varying in its ex-
rted length from two to four or even six times that of the invo-
K

74

lucre. In the more luxuriant form of the plant, the involucral
cup is very distinctly winged, in consequence of the double layer
of tissue, composing the segment to which it belongs, not sepa-
rating through its whole breadth; in smaller specimens the wings
or margins of the modified segment are not readily distinguishable,
but the cup-like cylinder is always slightly compressed to the
plane of the frond, indicative of its origin as above stated. It is
true that, like most other modifications of tissue attending the
development of fructification, the cup changes from the bright
green colour of the frond to a white or brownish hue, and loses
its translucency, but the continuity of texture and similarity in
other respects are readily traceable by close examination.

The growth of this rare and elegant fern is not attended with
any difficulty, provided that the peculiarities of its natural habitats
are studied by the cultivator; these are chiefly, an atmosphere
loaded with moisture, absence of stagnant water about the roots,
and exclusion of the direct rays of the sun: the first of these con-
ditions is rarely attainable under cultivation unless with the shelter
of glass. Many very successful growers have described the varying
minutiae of the several modes of treatment by which they have
attained magnitude of development far exceeding that of the plant
in its natural state in Ireland; but the specimens which I have
hitherto seen growing in the more fanciful modifications of the
closed case, and under the elaborate course of planting and after-
treatment recommended in such circumstances, have always ap-
peared to me too delicate to be consistent with health, and that
they really are so, the fact, generally lamented by the amateur
grower, that they never perfect fructification seems to confirm.
The plant grows freely in a common pot or seed-pan; the latter is
better, even commencing with a small specimen, as it affords more
room for the spreading of the rhizoma ; it should stand in water,
and be covered with a bell-glass of sufficient size to admit of the
uninterrupted extension of the fronds; the bottom should be
strewn with fragments of porous stone and little lumps of char-
coal intermixed, and the soil may consist of about equal parts of
sand, peat, and decayed leaf-mould. In this way, sheltered from
the sun, but freely exposed to the daylight, and with the occasional
admission of fresh air by removing the glass for a few minutes at
a time, the thecae are not unfrequently fully formed and the fili-
form receptacle exserted as much as in wild specimens. Success
in the treatment of small plants will readily lead to contrivances
in regard to the management of larger; but those who may be
desirous of emulating the more magnificent though barren state
alluded to above, will find much valuable information on the
subject, by reference to Mr. Ward’s book ‘On the Growth of
Ferns in Closed Cases,’ or Mr. Moore’s ‘Handbook,’ p. 202

75

seq., of which the limlts of the present work will not admit an
tract.

In the durability of the fronds for several successive years, in
neral habit and texture, Trichomanes has all the characters of a
opical species, and though naturalized in our sister island, under
e influence of a very moist and temperate climate, would pro-
bly not bear exposure even in corresponding localities in Eng-
nd, where the winters are so much more severe, and the drying
ects of the easterly winds in the spring so generally prejudicial
vegetation.

Genus 15. HYMENOPHYLLUM.

EN. CHAR. Sori marginal. Thecae sessile on a columnar sub-
clavate receptacle within a two-valved involucre of the same
texture as the frond.

The name, from 25am, a film or membrane, and gbzfiMtov, a leaf,
expressive of the pellucid filmy texture of the frond. The genus
rmed a part of the Linnaean Trichomanes, but was separated by
'r J. E. Smith, in consequence of the bivalvular involucre and
ort receptacle. The division is rather one of convenience than
missible on a structural foundation. The two British species
rry a fragility of form and texture almost exclusively charac-
ristic of the smaller species of tropical ferns, to the highest lati-
des in which it seems capable of existing.

YMENOPHYLLUM TUNBRIDGENSE. Tunbridge or Common Film
Fern. TAB. XLII.

Fronds membranaceous, pinnate: pinnae distichous, pinnatifid,
current, forming a broad wing on each side of the rachis 3 the
gments linear, undivided or bifid, spinosely serrated. Involucre
litary, axillary, suborbicular, compressed; the valves spinosely
rrated.

ymenophyllum Tunbridgense, Smith. E. B. 162. Hooker and
Arnott. Babington. Moore. Newman. Trichomanes Tun-
bridgense, Linnaeus.

Abundantly distributed in the north-western and southern coun-
es of England, in mountainous and rocky districts; in Wales;
(1 less frequently in the Highlands of Scotland, and in Ireland;
rowing on shady wet rocks, and among moss on the trunks and
ots of old trees, or on the ground near lakes and rivulets. The
lack and thread-like rhizoma spreads and branches widely, form-
g a kind of turf over the surface on which it grows, and from
K 2 '

‘76

which it is in general easily separated in mat-like masses. The
fronds vary from one to three or four inches in length, springing
singly at short intervals from the creeping rhizoma ; they are of a
very thin, almost filmy texture, and composed, like those‘ of Tri-
c/zomanes, of the winged upper portion of the wire-like rachis and
its branches. The pinnae are alternate, connected throughout by
the‘wing of the rachis, and deeply once or twice pinnatifid, chiefly
on the anterior or upper side; the ultimate segments are linear,
obtuse, and margined with sharp spiny serratures. The fructifi-
cation is sessile, terminating a vein, and occupying the place of
the first upper segment of each pinna, as expressed in our lower
figure; the involucre being apparently formed by a modification of
the segment it supplants, similar to that of the last genus. The
involucre in this species is somewhat orbicular, but a little com-
pressed, especially toward the apices of the irregularly and sharply
serrated valves, and includes a short central column or receptacle
bearing around it the sessile thecae; this receptacle is, as in the
previous instance, the extremity of the branch vein, but instead of
being filiform, it is thickened so as to become almost club-shaped,
and never extends beyond the involucre.

The figures of this beautiful little fern represent it as growing
on the ground, erect; but if inverted would better display the ordi-
‘ nary habit, and that in which it appears to the greatest advantage;
or, clothing with a tapestry of deep olive-green the shaded perpen-
dicular faces of dripping rocks and caverns, when its filmy fronds
are nearly pendulous, and the several series overlie each other at
the base like the half-ruffled plumage of a bird: much of its beauty
is lost when growing in a horizontal position.

It may be cultivated in the open air by imitating its natural site,
and very successfully in the house under glass, on the same plan
as recommended for the Bristle Fern; the chief object to be at-
tended to being the retention of a moist atmosphere about its
fronds, which, being short, do not require when grown apart from
other species a glass of the same elevation as the latter; but it
may be planted around other larger ferns in the closed cases, and
vegetates luxuriantly under either circumstance, producing its
fructification copiously at all seasons. It is little, if at all suscep-
tible of injury from cold, a fact rather opposed to some of the
recorded habitats within the tropics, which probably refer to
different though perhaps nearly allied species.

HYMENOPHYLLUM UNILATERALE. Wilson’s Film Fern. TAB.
XLIII.

Fronds pinnate: pinnae subunilateral, recurved, pinnatifid ; the
segments linear, undivided or bifid, spinosely serrated. Involucre

 

walla/fer 7.

J. D. C. S.Fecit.

L/

flvrmfl/yllam,

77

stalked, solitary, axillary, ovate, inflated; the valves entire. Main
rachis very slightly winged.

Hymenophyllum unilaterale, VVz’ZZrIenow. Moore. Newman. Hy-
menophyllum Wilsoni, Hooker. E. B. Supp. 2686. Hooker
and Arnott. Babington.

Found in similar situations to the preceding, which it frequently
accompanies. Its distribution is more extended, especially in Scot-
land, where its extreme limit is Unst, the most northern of' the
Shetland Islands. In general appearance this is not very much
unlike H. Tunbrz'dgense, with which it was for a long time con-
founded; but the fronds are far less delicate in texture, and com-
paratively rigid. The principal characters of distinction are found
in the fructification, which, occupying a similar position, is stalked
instead of sessile 3 the involucre proportionally longer and ovate
instead of rounded, with very turgid convex valves, meeting by
their edges, not compressed toward the apex, and never at all ser-
rated. The tendency of the pinnae to assume a recurved position
is not a character to be depended upon, but the darker green hue
and less compact growth will generally enable the observant eye to
distinguish the present at a glance from H. Tunbridgense, a plant of
more elegant habit. The involucres are generally curved forward.

The treatment required for cultivation is the same as that already
noticed for its congener, and will succeed with the exotic species
of this curious family, all of which are well deserving the attention
of the amateur cultivator.

Genus 16. OSMUNDA.

GEN. CHAR. Fructification naked, clustered on contracted rachi.
form portions of the frond, forming a (generally) terminal
panicle. Thecae stalked, subglobose, reticulated, two-valved,
opening vertically. '

The name is from the Saxon, Osmund, ‘domestic peace,’ but the
origin of its application is unknown, though several romantic
legends are connected with it.

The ferns of this genus differ greatly from those of all the pre-
ceding, not only in the peculiar disposition of the fructifying masses,
which occupy, upon the veins or branches of the rachis, the place
of the leafy tissue on the upper part of the fertile fronds, but
likewise in the structure of the thecae ; these are exannulate, or
without that prominent articulated continuation of the supporting
stalk, by the ultimate extension of which those of ordinary ferns
are torn open to discharge the spores; their tissue is opaque, very
regularly reticulated, and the ‘bivalvular dehiscence takes place

78

along a striated vertical band, reaching over rather more than half
of the circumference.

OSMUNDA REGALIS. Osmund Royal. Flowering Fern. TAB.

XLIV.

Fronds bipinnate: pinnae opposite: pinnules oblong, nearly
entire, more or less auricled at the base. Fructification in bipin-
nate panicles terminating some of the fronds.

Osmunda regalis, Linnaeus. E. B. 209. Generally adopted.

This stately fern is of common occurrence throughout the
United Kingdom, in wet spongy soils about the borders of woods
and thickets, and on the shaded margins of rivers, lakes, and
swamps, varying much in size in different situations. The fronds
grow in large tufts from a thick woody rhizoma, which sometimes
extends horizontally, branching so as to occupy a large space of
ground, but occasionally, and especially in much encumbered
habitats, elongates in an erect position to a height of two or even
three feet above the soil, assuming the character of the stipes or
trunk of the tropical tree ferns. When the tufts are large and
luxuriant this is by far the most magnificent of our native species
of fern, the barren fronds being from six to nine feet high 3 I have
met with themon the banks of the Dee rather exceeding the latter,
and Mr. S. Murray, as quoted in the ‘ British Flora,’ measured a
tuft on those of the Clyde which was eleven feet and a half in
height. The fertile fronds are shorter than the others and com-
paratively few in number; in both the bipinnate character is the
same throughout, the primary divisions opposite, the secondary
mostly alternate. The pinnules are of an elongated ovate or ob-
long form, approaching occasionally to lanceolate, and either entire
or slightly crenated on the margin, while the base is somewhat
dilated, especially on the lower side, so as frequently to become
auricled. In the fruit-bearing fronds, four or five of the lower
pairs of pinnae have the leafy character, while the remainder de-
velope clusters of thecae in lieu of pinnules, and similar clusters
displace occasionally pinnules on other parts of the frond, illus-
trating the true origin of the reproductive organs by modification
of the leafy tissue. The clusters of thecae are at first of a light
green hue, gradually changing to a reddish-brown as they ap-
proach maturity. The fronds appear about the end of April or
the beginning of May and last until November, but the fructifi-
cation withers and disappears at the end of August or earlier
according to the character of the season.

The rhizoma is tonic and astringent, and a decoction is esteemed
in some parts of the continent as a remedy for the rickets.

79

o thrive under cultivation, the Flowering Fern should be
ted in a shady situation, either in peat or a mixture of peat
yellow loam, and be plentifully supplied with water; with
6 requirements it may be grown with little, if any, deteriora-
of its wild luxuriance, and will constitute one of the most
utiful ornaments of the fern garden, as well on account of its
stately habit, as by the contrast its foliage presents to that of
other large species. When planted near water, the outer
ds often assume an elegant curve, bending over so as to dip
ir extremities into the pond or rivulet, and it is in such situa-
s that they attain their greatest length.

Genus 1’7. BOTRYCHIUM.

N. CHAR. Fructification naked, clustered on a contracted
branched frond, forming a unilateral panicle. Thecae sessile,
globose, opaque, two-valved, opening vertically.

he name is from the Greek Bow-pus, a bunch of grapes, which
branched clusters of globular thecae somewhat resemble.
n this and the following genus, Ophz'oglossum, the venation,
tead of being circinate as in ferns generally, is straight. The
ctification, resembling in Botrychz'um that of Osmnnda in dis-
ition and origin from the branches of the rachis, differs in the
iaceous and non-reticulated texture of the thecae. The species
few, but widely distributed, extending into Australia in the
them hemisphere. North America yields about half the num-
at present known, viz. five species: of these B. Virginicum is
arkable as being the largest of the genus, and is known there
the name of Rattle-snake Fern, probably, as Pursh observes,
In its growing in places where those reptiles are generally
nd, and yielding them an agreeable covert, though it is stated
others to be one of the Indian remedies for the bite

TRYCHIUM LUNARIA. Moonwort. TAB. XLV.

Barren frond pinnate: pinnae lunate or fan-shaped, notched or
nate on the outer margin. Fertile frond springing apparently
m the common rachis.

trychium Lunaria, Swartz. Hooker and Arnott. Babington.
Moore. Newman. Osmunda Lunaria, Linnaeus. E. B. 318.

The Moonwort, though scarcely to be considered a common
ecies, is not at all confined in its distribution, either in Great
itain or Ireland ; in the former, its localities are only limited
the two extremes of the Isles of Wight and Shetland, in the

80

latter it occurs from Cork to Antrim. Dry exposed heaths and
commons, and elevated rocky pastures are the likely and frequent
habitats, but it is liable to be overlooked, in consequence of the
small size and frequent cropping of the fructifying frond by cattle.
The habit of this plant is totally different from that of Osmunda
and all of the soriferous ferns: it has no true rhizoma, but the
growing part or caudex is very little elongated below the surface
of the soil, sending out a few succulent and brittle roots that
extend more or less horizontally: the upward growth is from a
lengthened bud invested by the membranaceous bases of previously
developed fronds. The perfect plant consists of a single pinnated
barren frond, through the sheathing lower part of whose racms
rises a second, modified, and bearing the fructification. The suc-
culency of the recent pseudo-stem thus formed, renders its positive
structure obscure, and has occasioned it to he sometimes described
as homogeneous, and the frond to be considered branched. The
pseudo-stem is hollow; and at the base, the fronds of the following
year may be traced by dissection, more or less perfectly formed,
and often, the rudimentary bud of the year succeeding within the
latter; the position of the barren and fertile fronds being reversed
in the successional development. The pinnae are opposite, num-
bering from three or four to seven pairs, of a glaucous green hue,
smooth, crenated on the margin, and occasionally more or less
lbbed, acquiring, in the latter case, a fan-shape instead of the lunate
or crescent-form which confers the specific name. The thecae are
comparatively large, and, though at first sight apparently crowded,
are really disposed in two regular series upon the divisions of the
panicle-like rachis, and directed towards the upper or inner face of
the modified frond; their texture is more dense than in Osmunda,
and presents no trace of the regular cellular reticulations which
character the membranacecus ones of that genus : dehiscence takes
place along an elevated vertical line formed by the junction of the
margins of the valves. The fertile frond, which is the taller of
the two, rises to the height of five or six inches, and is in perfec-
tion about the time of the hay-harvest; soon after which the plant
begins to decay.

Specimens are occasionally met with bearing more than one
barren or fertile frond; others with the pinnae-bearing thecae on
their margins; and sometimes the pinnae are so much divided as
to render the frond almost bipinnate. Certain variations of the
latter form may have induced some botanists to consider one or
other of the continental species, B. rutaceum, or B. matricarz'oz'des,
to belong to Britain, a circumstance not at all unlikely, but re-
quiring surer evidence than we at present possess.

The only mode of ensuring the growth of the Moonwort in the
fern garden, is by removing the turf containing it without dis-

81

bing the roots, and afterwards keeping the grass around well
mmed to prevent overgrowth. The plants removed, with a
all portion of soil only, at the period of fructification seldom
e beyond the following year. The turf should be planted in
exposed situation and where water cannot become stagnant
un it.

Genus 18. OPHIOGLOSSUM.

N. CHAR. Fructification arranged on the margins of a con-
tracted simple frond, forming a flattened stalked spike. Thecae
sessile, connate in two rows, opaque, opening transversely
with two valves.

he aspect of the European species warrants the generic name,
3¢L9, a serpent, and ykéo-aa, a tongue.
he species, few in number as at present known, are chiefly
ives of warm climates.

p

HIOGLOSSUM VULGATUM. Common Adder’s-tongue. TAB.

XLVI.

arren frond ovate, obtuse, spathe-like. Fertile frond club-
ped, springing apparently from the common rachis.

'oglossum vulgatum, Linnaeus. E. B. 108. Generally
adopted.

ough local in its distribution, and more frequent in England
11 in other parts of the kingdom, the Adder’s-tongue is gene-
y abundant in those meadows and pastures in which it has
e settled, sometimes even prevailing to such an extent as to
ome injurious to the grass. The situations it prefers are rarely
se which foster the Moonwort, the latter requiring a dry, while
present plant flourishes best in a moist soil. The whole plant
ucculent and much resembles Botrychz'um in habit, and in the
elopment of its double frond, but differs in the production of
new plant externally instead of within the base of the old one,
rcumstance illustrated in our figure. The height varies accord-
to the luxuriance of the surrounding vegetation from two or
e inches to a foot. The barren frond, of a pale yellowish-
en, invests the rachis of the fertile one as the spathe of the
m does its fructification ; its form is ovate varying to ovate-
eolate, more or less obtuse: the venation is more complicated
is usual in the fern family, anastomosing and forming an
gular network. The thecae are imbedded in two parallel series
the margins of the club-like termination of the inner frond, to
L

82

which, as they open to discharge the spores, they give the appear-
ance of being serrated. The fructification is perfected toward the
end of June, soon after which the fronds begin to die off, one or
more buds being previously formed at the base, which remain dor-
mant to the following spring.

The barren frond is often forked at the extremity, occasion-
ally deeply lobed, and in very luxuriant specimens two or three
spikes of fructification are developed instead of one. An oint-
ment is sometimes prepared from the green fronds to use as a
vulnerary. Removal of the containing turf is by far the preferable
mode of introduction to the fernery, as, like the Moonwort, it is
rather impatient of cultivation.

OPHIOGLOSSUM LUSITANTCUM. Lesser Adder’s-tongue. TAB.
XLVII.

Barren frond linear or linear-lanceolate. Fertile frond clavate.

Ophioglossum lusitanicum, Linnaeus. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns,
331. Lindley, Veg. Kingd. 77. ‘

This small species has been long known and described as a
native of the south of Europe and the Atlantic Islands. For its
discovery in the Channel Islands we are indebted to Mr. George
Wolsey, who found it among short herbage, “on the summit of
rocks, not far from Petit Bot Bay on the south coast of the Island
of Guernsey,” growing with Triclzonema Columnw and Scilla
autumnalis. It is far from improbable that it may be found upon
the southern coast of Devonshire and Cornwall; indeed, I have
received a specimen said to have been collected in the latter county,
but as the habitat has been, perhaps Wisely, withheld, merely men-
tion the circumstance as an inducement to farther research. The
specimens from which our figures nave been taken, were kindly
forwarded by the Rev. Henry Hawkes, from Whose correspondence
it appears that the greediness of collectors has almost exhausted it
in the original locality, but that it is fortunately to be met with in
others not yet published. The student of nature is from the
example of his tutor liberal; it is to be regretted that those who
affect only to be his fellows, should by their insatiate grasping tend
to render him miserly as themselves, and to desire to conceal dis-
coveries that he would share with pleasure, merely to avoid the
total loss to his country of a rare or beautiful object. ‘

Tihe fronds are in perfection in Guernsey in February or even
ear er,

 

 

,/ //)fl1}27/n.s‘srxm /z/.,s‘/%frl.77,z'c/u/z;_.
' <7: ‘ 8, Feet.

83

SPECIMENs of the two following ferns were not obtained sufficiently
early to be introduced in their proper order. The genus
' Gymnogramma ought to follow Polypodz'um. '

Genus GYMNOGRAMMA.
GEN. CHAR. Sori linear, naked, forked, eventually confluent.

Named from the Greek yv/avoq, naked, and rypciMia, a line or
letter ,- the situation of the sori, without indusium, upon the forked
veins of the frond, presenting some resemblance to letters, or other-
wise from their linear form.

GYMNOGRAMMA LEPTOPHYLLA. TAB. XLVIII.

Fronds ovate, sub-deltoid, bipinnate, fragile: pinnae roundish
wedge-shaped, three-lobed, the lobes cut and toothed, obtuse.

A native of the south of Europe and of the Atlantic Islands,
this has no farther claim to a place among British species than
from its occurrence in Jersey, where it is not very local in its dis-
tribution, being found in several parts of the island growing in
shaded moist places among mosses and Marclzantz'a, especially on
hedge-banks and near springs, in a light sandy loam. It is a
biennial plant, so far as that it appears to develope from the spores
late in the summer, not sending up the longer fructifying fronds
until the following year. The early fronds are small, very little
divided, spreading over the ground, and usually barren 3 the later
rise to the height of three or four inches, are generally few in
number, and varying in division, according to their luxuriance
being bi- or tripinnate, and the pinnae and pinnules opposite or
alternate: the ultimate pinnules are bluntly wedge-shaped, or
rounded, about three-lobed, and the lobes terminate with two blunt
teeth. The linear sori depend upon the termination of the vein on
which they develope ; this is sometimes simple, but more generally
forked, each branch as it diverges bearing its portion of the thecae,
so that the sorus, commencing on the principal vein, becomes forked
likewise: in maturity they are confluent and often cover the whole
under-surface of the pinnules.

The chief requisites for this species in cultivation are a light
friable soil and a moist atmosphere: it appears to grow with
equal luxuriance in sandy loam or a mixture of peat and sand.
In the hothouse it springs up spontaneously after the first intro-

duction.
L 2

84

POLYromUM ALPESTRE. Alpine Polypody. TAB. XLIX.

Fronds lanceolate, bipinnate: pinnules linear-lanceolate, pinna-
tifid with obtuse sharply serrated lobes.

Polypodium alpestre, Koch. Sprengel. Moore, Handb. 50. Pseud-
athyrium alpestre, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 199.

This fern, a native of most parts of northern and central Europe,
does not seem to have been recognized as a British species, until
after its discovery in the Highlands of Scotland in July 184:], by
Mr. Watson ; having been previously overlooked as an alpine
variety of Athyrium Filiw-fwmz'na, which, though of less elegant
habit, it somewhat resembles at first sight. Its mountain habitats
render it one of local occurrence, but it appears from the observa-
tions of recent botanists to be far from sparing in its distribution
in North Britain. The rhizoma has a tendency to spread and
branch in a decumbent position, and the description to the con-
trary, given by some botanists, has probably originated from their
acquaintance with its habit being confined to plants growing in
situations not admitting of its natural development, or otherwise
to young specimens. The fronds are produced in circular tufts
from each crown, and vary in height from six inches to three feet,
according to age or luxuriance. The rachis is leafy almost to the
' base, which is more or less thickly covered with broad pointed
brown scales. The small circular sori generally spring from the
lower anterior branch of the lateral veins of the pinnules, near the
sinuses between the lobes, but occasionally are more numerous, and
in such case become confluent in maturity.

I am only familiar with this fern, so far as its cultivation is con-
cerned, as a continental species, and have not had an opportunity
of examining many specimens of British growth 3 but traces of an
indusium are undoubtedly present occasionally, a circumstance that
probably led several European botanists to place it in the genus
Aspzlh'um.

The Alpine Polypody succeeds well under the same treatment
as the Lady Fern.

Pseudat/zyrz'um flexile, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 203, may be,
as has been suggested, only a variety of alpestre, but if so it is a
very elegant one. The question of distinction as a separate species

must depend upon subsequent observation, but there is reason for
cons1der1ng 1t such.

INDEX.

Syonyms and names incidentally mentioned are printed in Italics.

Page Tab.

Acrostichum alpinum ...... 15 6
Ilvense .............. 14 5
septentrionale . . . . . . . . 58 34
Thelypterz's .......... 16 7

Adder’s-tongue, Common . . 81 46
Lesser .............. 82 47

Adiantum Capillus-Veneris . . 7O 4O
pedatum. . . . .......... 71

Allosorus crispus .......... 69 39

Amesz'um Germanicum ...... 56 33
Ruta-muram’a ........ 55 32
septentrionale ........ 58 34

Aspidium aculeatum ........ 32 17
angulare ............ 34 18
concavum ............ 27 14
cristatum ............ 21 10
dumetorum ............ 29
erosum .............. 2O
Filiwfwmina .......... 43 25
Film-mas ............ 19 9

fontanum ............ 45 26
Lonckitis ............ 3O 15
montanum ............ 41 24
Oreopteris ............ 17 8
* recumum ............ 27 14
rigidum .......... . . . . 22 11
spinulosum ............ 24 12
spinulosum B .......... 26 13
spinulosum var ........ 27 14
Melypteris . . . ....... 16 7

Asplenium acutum ........ 50
Adiantum-nigrum ...... 49 28
alternifolium .......... 56 33
Ceterach ............ 62 36
Filim-fiemina .......... 43 25
fontanum ............ 45 26
Germanicum .......... 56 33
lanceolatum .......... 47 27
marinum ............ 50 29
obtusum .......... . . , . 5O

 

Page Tab

Asplenium Ruta—muraria . . . . 55
Scolopendrium ........ 59
septentrionale ........ 58
Trichomanes .......... 52
Trichom. ramosum . . . . 54
viride ................ 54

Athyrium Filix-foemina . . . . 43
fontanum ............ 46

Bladder Fern, Alpine ...... 4O
Brittle .............. 36
Mountain ............ 41
Toothed .............. 38

Blechnum boreale .......... 64
spicant .............. 64

Botrychium Lunaria ........ 79
matricam'oides ........ 80
rutaceum ............ 80
Virginicum .......... 79

Brake, Braken ............ 67

Bristle Fern .............. 72

Capillaz're ................ 71

Ceterach ofiicinarum ........ 62

Cketkerak ................ 62

Crested Fern .............. 21

Cryptogramma crispa ...... 69

CtenOptem's vulgaris ........ 8

Cyathea dentata .......... 38
fragilis .............. 36
incisa ................ 40
regia ................ 4O

Cystea dentata ............ 38
fragilis .............. 36
regia ................ 40

Cystopteris alpina .......... 4O
angustata ............ 37
dentata .............. 38
dentata B ............ 37
Dickieana ............ 38
fragilis .............. 36
montana ............ 41

322
35
34
30
31
31
25
26
23
19
24
21
37
37
45

86 INDEX.
Page Tab. Page Tab.
Cystopteris Myrrhidzfolium. . 41 24 Moonwort ................ 79 45
Dryopterz's afinis .......... 20 Mountain Fern ............ 17 8
Borreri .............. 20 N ephrod'ium .............. 16
Film-mas ............ 19 9 Notolepeum Ceterack . . . . . . 62 36
Eagle Fern ....... . ...... 67 38 Ophioglossum lusitanicum . . 82 47
Eupteris aquilz'na .......... 67 38 vulgatum ............ 81 46
Filmy Fern, Common ...... 75 42 Osmunda crispa .......... 69 39
Tunbridge ............ 75 42 i Lumm'a .............. 79 45
Wilson’s .............. 76 43 regalis .............. 78 44
Flowering Fern ............ 78 44 Spicant .............. 64 37
Fragrant F ern ............ 23 11 Osmund, Royal ............ 78 44
Gofio .................... 68 Parsley Fern .............. 69 39
Grammitis Ceterach ........ 62 36 Phyllitis multifida .......... 61
Gymnocarpium Dryopteris . . 12 3 polyschz'des ............ 6O
Phegopterz's .......... l l 2 Scol0pendrz'um ........ 59 35
Robertianum .......... 13 4 Polypodium aculeatum ...... 32 17
Gymnogramma leptophylla . . 83 4:8 alpestre ........ . ..... 84 49
Hard Fern ................ 64 37 arvonicum ............ 14 5
Hart’s Tongue ............ 59 35 calcareum ............ 12 4
Hay-scented Fern .......... 27 14 Callipterz's ............ 21 10
Heath Fern .............. 17 8 Cambricum .......... 10
Hemestkeum Thelypteris . . . . 16 7 cristatum ............ 21 10
Holly Fern .............. 30 15 Dryopteris ............ 11 3
Hymenophyllum alatum . . . . 73 41 Filim-fiemina .......... 43 25
Tunbridgense ........ 75 42 Film-mas ............ 19 9
unilaterale ............ 76 43 fontanum ............ 46 26
Wilsom' .............. 77 43 fragil‘is ........... . . . 36 19
Lady Fern ................ 43 25 fragrans .............. 17 8
Lastrea abbreviata ........ 20 fragrans .............. 22 11
Borrcri .............. 2O Hibernicum .......... 10
cristata .............. 21 10 Ilvense .............. 14 5
dilatata .............. 25 13 Lonchitis ............ 3O 15
Dryopteris ............ 12 3 montanum ............ 17 8
Filix-mas ............ 19 9 montanum ............ 41 24
faenisecii ............ 27 14 Phegoptem's .......... 11 2
montana .............. 17 8 Thelypteris .......... 16 7
Oreopteris ............ 17 8 vulgare .............. 9 1
Phegopteris .......... 11 2 Polypody, Alpine .......... 84 49
rigida ................ 22 1 1 Common ............ 9 l
Robertz’ana ............ 13 4 Irish ................ 10
spinulosa ............ 24 1 2 Mountain ............ 1 1 2
Thelypteris .......... l6 7 Rigid 3-branched ...... 12 4
uliginosa ............ 29 Tender 3-branched . . . . 11 3
Lophodium Callipteris ...... 21 10 Welsh ................ 10
collinum .............. 29 Polystichum abbreviatum. . . . 20
fazm'secii .............. 27 14 aculeatum ............ 32 17
glandulosum .......... 29 angulare .............. 33
multiflorum .......... 26 13 angulare .............. 34 18
rigidum .............. 22 1 1 Dryoptem's ............ 12 3
' spinulosum ............ 24 12 lobatum .............. 33 16
ulz'ginosum ............ 29 Lonchitis ............ 30 15
Maiden-Hair, Common ...... 52 30 Phegopterz's .......... 11 2
True ................ 70 40 Prickly-toothed Fern, Broad 25 13
White ................ 55 32 Narrow .............. 24 12
Male Fern ................ 19 9 Recurved .......... . . 2 - 14
Marsh Fern .............. 16 7 Pseudathym'um alpestre ..... . 84 49

 

 

INDEX. 87
Page Tab. Page Tab.
dathyrz'um fiewz'le ...... 84 Spleenwort, Alternate-leaved 56 3‘
is aquilina ............ 67 38 B ack ................ 49 28
crispa ................ 68 39 Common ............ 53 30
esculenta ............ 68 Forked .............. 58 34
lesnake Fern .......... 79 Green ................ 54 31
d Fern ................ 22 11 Lanceolate ............ 47 27
Brakes, Curled ...... 69 39 Scaly . ............... 62 36
Spleenwort, Smooth . . 45 26 Sea .................. 50 28
opendrium Ceterack . . . . 62 36 Wall ................ 52 30
crispum .............. 60 Trichomanes alatum ........ 73 41
endivcefolz'um .......... 61 Andrewsii ............ 73
laceratum ............ 61 brevisetum ............ 73 41
lobatum .............. 61 Europceum ............ 73 41
multifidum ............ 61 pywidqlfemm .......... 73 41
oficinarum ............ 59 35 radicans .............. 72 41
Pkyllitz's .............. 59 35 speciosum ............ 7 41
polyschides .......... 60 Tunbrz'dgense .......... 75 42
ramosum .............. 61 Wall Rue ................ 55 32
vulgare .............. 59 35 Woodsia ahpina ............ 15 6
1d Fern, Angular Prickly 34 18 hyperborea ............ 15 6
Prickly ............... 32 17 Ilvensis .............. 14 5
Rough Alpine ........ 30 15 Perm'm'ana. . . . . . . . . . . 36
Soft; Prickly .......... 34 18

REFERENCES TO ENGLISH BOTANY OMITTED.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Polypodium vulgare ...... 1149 13. Lastrea dilatata . . . . . ..... 1461
2. Phegopteris ........ 2224 14. —— foenisecii . . . . (not figured)
3. -—— Dryopteris .......... 616 15. Polystichum Lonchitis . . . . 797
4. calcareum .......... 1525 16. 111 tu 1562
5. Woodsia Ilvensis ...... s. 2616 17. ”‘0 ea m " ' ° " "
7. Lastrea Thelypteris ...... 1018 18. angulare . ....... S. 2776
8. Ore0pteris .......... 1019 19. Cyst0pteris angus- S 2.90
9. -— Filix-mas .......... 1458 20. tata ....... . . . .. } ° 1
10. cristata ...... . . . . . . 2125 24. montana . . . . (not figured)
11. —— rigida ..... . . . . . S. 2724 25. Athyrium Filix-faamina. . . . 1459
12. spinulosa . . . ..... . . 1460

 

 

THE FERN ALLIES:

A SUPPLEMENT TO THE

ERN‘S OF GREAT BRITAIN.

ILLUSTRATED BY

JOHN E. SOWERBY,

PROPRIETOR OF SOWERBY’S ENGLISH BOTANY.

THE DESCRIPTIONS, SYNONYMS, &c.
BY

CHARLES JOHNSON, ESQ.,

BOTANICAL LECTURER A'l‘ GUY’S HOSPITAL.

L O N D O N :
HENRY Gr. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVEN T GARDEN.

MDCCCLIX.

FERN ALLIES.

 

ROM the earliest period of botanical arrangement certain
etable forms, corresponding throughout a greater or lesser
ber of individuals, have afforded the means of constructing
ups styled genera, and of associating these genera into larger
, for the most part, equally definite assemblages, that are now,
unaptly in many instances, denominated natural orders. The
ssification of these orders upon similar principles is a desi-
atum yet so imperfectly attained, that few naturalists agree in
ir arrangement of them ; this is the case even among the higher
most elaborately organized of the phanerogamous plants, in
ich distinctive and associative points of structure are most
dily traceable, in consequence of the greater number of features
orded by the diversified structure and disposition of the parts
stituting their flower, fruit, and seed: but the difficulties are
atly enhanced in the cryptogamous or flowerless series, owing
t only to the proportional paucity of characters they present for
examination, but to the minuteness and frequently indefinite
ture of the organs of fructification or reproduction. Thus, while
structural resemblances between an Elm-tree and a Nettle are
'versally acknowledged by botanists, and even the gradations of
velopment between these and the Rose, the Thistle, and the
agnolia are capable of demonstration, so far as to justify their
angement in the same grand division or class of flowering plants
the association of the Fern, the Moss and the Lichen rests en-

ely upon the assumed absence of flowers, that is, of stamens and
B

2

pistil, in all three; in other respects, so great are the differences
between them, that they appear to constitute groups as widely
separated as is the class in which they are placed, from the rest of
the vegetable kingdom.

Certain small families among these flowerless groups, similarly
segregated by general aspect and structure as are those above
named, have been occasionally classed together under the collective
name of “ Fern Allies,” a title for which there is really no founda-
tion, the differences in their mutual organization, whether of growth
or reproduction, being equally palpable, as it is opposed to that of
the order with which caprice or misconception of the laws of phy-
siological aflinity has connected them.

These plants are highly interesting in many points of view, often
elegant, and, with slight exception, easily cultivated: and, as two
of the principal forms contrast harmoniously with those of the
Ferns in plantations of that beautiful tribe, figures and descriptions
of the British species have been considered necessary as a supple-
ment to our illustrations of the latter; although, in a structural
. sense, the so-called alliance is at the best a forced—an unnatural
one—and only admissible in a work of the present form for con-
venience sake, or in compliance with popular arrangement.

The British genera belong to four orders :—

EQUISETACEiE.

1. Equisetum.

MARSILEACEZE.
2. Pilularia.

LYCOPODIACEEE.
3. Isoétes. 4. Lycopodium.

CHARACEE.
5. Chara. 6. Nitella.

EQUISETACEEE.

Leafless plants, with branched, striated, fistular, jointed stems;
articulations separable, surrounded at the base by a membra-
ceous toothed sheath. Fructification in terminal cones or spikes,
sisting of stalked peltate polygonal scales bearing thecae on the
der surface. Sporules ovate or subglobose, spirally encompassed
elastic, hygrometrical, club-shaped filaments. The order con-
ts of a single genus.

EQUISETUM. Horse-tail.

N. CHAR. The same as that of the order.

The species of this remarkable and most isolated of all the vege-
le forms at present extant are few, probably not more than from
to fifteen, certainly under twenty; but they are widely dis-
buted, growing in moist ground and on the borders of lakes,
ches, and rivers in various parts of the world, from Lapland and
beria to the countries within the tropics. Their habit is her-
ceous, the stems being annually renewed from a creeping rhizoma,
hough in some instances they retain their vitality for indefinite
riods after the cessation of growth. The largest of the European
ecies has a height of five or six feet, but within the tropics one,
least, attains that of fifteen or sixteen. In some instances the
izoma extends so widely and rapidly beneath the soil as to
der them troublesome weeds. The true stems are rigid, rough
the touch, longitudinally striated, and tubular ; the principal or
tral cavity being often surrounded by many smaller ones, and
errupted at intervals by the separable joints. Although desti-
te of true leaves, each articulation is invested at its base by a
thed membranaceous sheath, apparently formed by the union of
eral rudimentary verticillate ones ; from beneath which, in the
eater number of the species, spring whorls of branches, jointed
e the stem, similar to it in general structure, and corresponding
number to the teeth of its sheaths and the striae upon its

rface.
The fructification of these plants is occasionally developed on
arate stems, which make their appearance previously to those of
neral growth, and are, ordinarily, unbranched, succulent, and so
erent in_ aspect from the others, that the uninitiated observer
uld find a difficulty in recognizing the species to which it apper-
ns. Under all circumstances the structure of the cones is pecu-
r, and so nearly alike that the description of one willa suffice for

' B

4

those of the whole genus: the surface, at first smooth or indistinctly
reticulated, eventually splits into numerous, generally octagonal,
spirally arranged, brownish facets, which, when separated from the
rachis, are found to be stalked, and to bear on the under side four
or eight pendent sac-like bodies of a whitish hue—these are the
thecae, which open on the inside by a longitudinal slit for the dis-
charge of the sporules—in general form the whole might be fanci-
fully compared to a miniature lady’s work-table with several bags.
The sporules with their curious club-shaped filamentary appendages
have occasioned much speculation regarding their actual nature;
the former having been regarded as ovaries or as naked seeds;
while the latter, attached to them like stamens around the base of
a pistil, have had an office assigned to them analogous to that of
those organs in flowering plants, between which and the flowerless
the Equisetaceae have been sometimes regarded as a transitional
group. Our space does not admit the discussion of a subject upon
which at present opinions are more problematical than plausible.
The filaments are attached to one extremity of the sporule, and are
rolled spirally around it while moist, but rapidly uncoiling as they
become dry, cause the sporule to leap about as though it were alive;
these movements, simply hyg'rometrical, are admirably adapted to
aid the dissemination of the plants. '

The rigidity of the stems and branches in this interesting tribe
is due to the abundance of silica contained in the cuticle, which has
been ascertained to amount in some species to as much as thirteen
or fourteen per cent. ; the ashes of the entire plant yield an average
of more than half their weight of that earth, which is disposed in a
crystalline form over the whole surface. It is to these crystals that
the peculiar roughness is owing, which has acquired for the most
common of our indigenous Equiseta, E. amense, the name of
Shave-grass, as well as the striated character belonging to the
genus generally; which latter is due to their regular arrangement
in parallel longitudinal series. In some instances they are so
closely set, that the whole of the vegetable fabric may be removed
by careful maceration without destroying the form of the part or
disturbing their arrangement: the prepared stem of E. hyemale
furnishes beautiful microscopic objects, especially under the in-
fluence of the polarizing apparatus.

The immediate economical value of these plants is trifling: as
herbage, they contain little nutritive matter, hence are rarely eaten
by cattle unless compelled by hunger or a deficiency of more grate-
ful food. In a medical point of View they are slightly astringent
and stimulating, and were formerly esteemed as possessing diuretic
qualities, but have long been out of use. The roughness of their
crystalline stems renders them useful for several mechanical pur-
poses, as for scouring utensils of wood and metal, and for smooth-

 

 

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5

he work of the cabinet-maker, turner, and whitesmith previous
e process of polishing; but their employment by the manu-
rer declined on the introduction of glass-papers and other con-
ces of the kind, more easy of adaptation than these natural
In their place in the vegetable world, they are important as
ists and contributors to the progressive elevation and fertiliza-
of the soil.
e British species are all amenable to cultivation, and, when
established, easily kept and less liable to suffer from casualties
are many of the Ferns. The admirers of the latter will not
0 appreciate the beautiful contrasts of form which they afford,
carefully grouped among their more familiar and more highly
d, because better known, favourites.
e English name, Horse-tail, and the Latin generic, from equus,
se, and seta, a bristle, are characteristic of the general appear-
of the branched species.

of two kinds : fertile ones simple, succulent, of a brownish hue,
appearing in the spring before the sterile ones and soon dying
away : sterile ones with whorlecl branches, harsh, green, remaining
throughout the summer.

ISETUM ARVENSE. Corn Horse-tail. Field Horse-tail. TAB. I.

rtile stems unbranched ; their sheaths distant, loose. Sterile
s slightly scabrous, with twelve or fourteen furrows and striae;

of the sheaths lanceolato-subulate ; branches simple, erecto~
nt. General outline attenuated upwards.

isetum arvense, Linnaeus. E. B. 2020. Generally adopted.

he most common British species. Frequent in corn-fields and
ures as well as on road-sides, chiefly, but not exclusively, in
moist ground, and especially where water accumulates during
winter._ The fertile stems appear about the end of March, and
rom seven to nine inches high, erect, smooth, succulent, of a.
brownish hue, with from three to five distant, furrowed, brown-
hed, somewhat inflated sheaths. Cone about an inch in length,
rcled at the base by the membranaceous rudiment of a sheath.
barren stems are either procumbent or ascending, very rarely
t, and vary greatly in length in different soils and exposures, from
w inches to one or two feet; with numerous whorls of slender,
erally simple branches, that become gradually shorter upwards,
e several of the uppermost joints of the stem being bare, the
le has a somewhat attenuated lanceolate outline 3 the sheaths of
stem are many-toothed, those of the branches three- or four-
hed only, each tooth long and acute with a rib extending to its
t. ,

6

The rhizoma of this species extends itself very rapidly beneath
the soil at a considerable depth below the surface, and branching
in all directions, like that of the Common Brake, Pterz's aquilz'na, is
very difficult to eradicate; hence it is one of the most troublesome
weeds in arable land that the farmer has to contend with. When
growing in pastures it is said to be injurious to cows, probably in
consequence of the abrasion produced by its siliceous surface ; they
seem, however, never to eat it unless in the young state, and
' where the herbage is scanty when they are first turned out in the
s rind.

PTh: Field Horse-tail is not a very desirable plant to introduce
into the Fern Garden or among rock-work, on account of its
spreading undergrowth, which is liable to interfere greatly with
that of others, and even to destroy them; but as it will grow in
almost any kind of soil, and is indifferent to exposure, it may be
advantageously employed to cover the sunny side of a bank, or
planted about the root of a tree, always taking care that the situa-
tion is sufficiently isolated not to admit of its doing mischief.
Making all due allowance for its natural habits, which place it in
the catalogue of vegetable moles, equally insidious as are the Com-
mon Bindweed and the Colts-foot, the rich green hue of its young
sterile shoots and the singular parasitic aspect of the earlier fertile
ones, render it more worthy of a place in our home collections than
many of those exotics that are cherished with equal inconvenience
and far inferior claim to notice.

EQUISETUM UMBROSUM. Blunt-topped Horsetail. TAB. II.

Fertile stems unbranched ; their sheaths approximate, appressed.
Sterile stems scabrous (especially upwards) with prominent points,
with about twenty striae; teeth of the sheaths subulate, appressed 5
branches erecto-patent, simple. General outline obtuse upwards.

Equisetum umbrosum, Willdenow. Babington. Moore. E. Drum-
mondii, Hooker, E. B. Supp. 2777.

This species is either very rare in these islands, or otherwise it
has been overlooked in consequence of the resemblance of its sterile
stems to those of E. arvense, the fertile ones, which are very stri-
kingly different to those of the latter plant, being usually scantily
produced, and at a period of the year too early to encourage the
researches of any but the more enthusiastic botanists in those
localities where it is most likely to be found. We are indebted to
Mr. T. Drummond for its earliest recognition as a native of Britain ;
he met with it growing on the banks of the Isla and Esk in Forfar-
shire, Scotland, “ extending up the valleys almost to the sources of
those rivers.” Though a local plant, it has since been collected in

 

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1 other parts of the island, and may prove not less common
ome other partially distributed species. I have seen specimens
barren stems collected this summer in Kent, Sussex, and
hire.
e rhizoma creeps under the soil like that of E. arvense, sending
intervals three forms of stems. Of these, the earliest, which
their appearance in March or April, are fertile, five or six
s in height, unbranched, and nearly covered with numerous
ed, very pale green or whitish sheaths; which are less inflated
those of the preceding, and terminate in from twelve to twenty
subulate, chocolate-coloured teeth: the cone is pale brown,
bout an inch in length. As these, which may be regarded as
ormal fructifying stems, mature and decay, the others make
appearance, and, occasionally, one or more of those first
oped present a form intermediate between the strictly fertile
terile states; bearing several whorls of from four to six short
hes, and terminating in a small and usually abortive cone.
sterile stems attain a height or length of one or two feet, and
ery rough, in consequence of the prominence of the siliceous
als on their ridges: the sheaths are small and distant, but
ble those of the fertile stems in hue, and four or five of the
ones are without branches, the remainder, to the summit,
g whorls of from twelve to sixteen long slender ones, usually
1e, and more or less ascending, so as to render the general
ne obtuse; the joints of the branches, eight or ten in number,
the sheaths elongated and terminating in three or rarely four
t or very short teeth, in which the rib terminates below the

oist woods and shady spots near water seem to be the favourite
tats of this species. I have not had it under cultivation, but
same objection exists to its introduction among other plants as
e case of E. aroense, viz. its tendency to spread underground,
bit which the soil usually required in the Fern Garden would
1 probability encourage: setting this circumstance aside, it is a.
h more ornamental plant.

ISETUM TELMATEIA. Great Horsetail. TAB. III.

ertile stems unbranched ; their sheaths crowded, ample, loose,
numerous slender subulate teeth. Sterile stems nearly smooth,

about thirty striae, and many whorls of slender, suberect,
1e branches; their sheaths close.

isetum Telmateia, Ehrlzart. Babington. Moore, Newman,
Hist. Brit. Ferns, &c. ed. 2. 67. E. fluviatile, Linnaus?
Withering. Smith. E. B. 2022. Hooker.

8

Far from unfrequent in marshes and bogs, in watery places in
woods, and about the banks of rivers and ponds, growing among
the taller species of Cyperaceous plants, reed grass and rushes;
often in exposed situations and drier ground, especially where the
soil is stiff loam or clay, on which water lies during the winter. It
is the largest of our indigenous Eguiseta, its barren stems frequently
attaining the height of six or seven feet, while its whorls of slender
branches, from twelve to fifteen inches in length, present a truly
magnificent appearance, and give an almost tropical aspect to the
vegetation among which it occurs.

The rhizoma creeps widely in a moist loose soil, sending up its
fertile stems about the end of March: they vary considerably in
height according as the situation is more or less exposed, from four
or five inches to a foot or more; they are thick and succulent, and
of a pale brown hue, nearly covered with their large, loose, deeply-
toothed sheaths, which are pale, sometimes almost white, at the
lower part, while the teeth, from thirty to forty in number, are
much darker and occasionally even black. The cone is between
two and three inches long. The sterile stems are of a pale bright
green, often more than an inch in diameter below, and varying from
a few inches to the height above mentioned; they are almost smooth,
but marked with from thirty to forty striae, and, in luxuriant speci-
mens, about the same number of slender quadrangular, deeply
grooved, scabrous branches, in a whorl at each joint, which are at
first nearly erect, but eventually spread out and at length become
pendulous or arched: the sheaths of these stems are appressed,
surrounded at the top with a well-defined blackish-brown band,
the teeth being of a lighter hue and smaller and narrower than
those of the fertile ones ; the sheaths of the branches are four-toothed,
each tooth with two denticulated ribs. Occasionally, as in E.
umbrosum, the earlier barren stems terminate in a small imperfect
cone.

According to Haller, the lower classes in ancient Rome used this
species as food, and it is said, that in some parts of the continent
of Europe the peasants mingle it with the food of cows, under the
impression that it increases the quantity of their milk. Cattle,
however, when left to their own choice, seem to leave it untouched;
though Mr. H. C. Watson observes, “it is a notion among the
rustics of Cheshire, that horses get ‘bogged’ by their endeavours
to graze on this plant in the muddy pools of that county.” It is
more probable that such catastrophes result from their desire to
escape the annoyance of the fly, than owing to their fondness for a
plant, of which most writers who have mentioned the subject concur
in affirming their dislike.

The highly ornamental character of the Great Horsetail renders
it one of the most desirable of its tribe in cultivation, and no collec-

 
 

 

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9

ould be without it in which room can be afforded for its ad-
n. To ensure success in planting, some of the horizontal
es of the rhizoma should be taken up, as although the lower
f the upright shoots or stems will generally vegetate, the
is slow and dwarf. The situation ought to be shaded, and
il a mixture of about one part of peat to two of strong yellow
the more adhesive the better. If this soil be placed above a
layer of crumbled brick or shards, and surrounded after
ng by four or five inches of the same material, well trodden
the encroachment of this splendid plant upon the surrounding
species of Ferns will be in a great measure prevented, and
ntrast between its graceful feathery outline and their breadth
iage obtained in the greatest beauty. Like many other
uatics, it is capable of existing, and indeed of flourishing, in
tuation sufficiently retentive of moisture to prevent its roots
ing dry, but its more frequent habitats, and the size attained
here shade and moisture are the concurrents of luxuriant
, will point out to the cultivator the circumstances under
that desirable state may be secured. The change of name,
is now adopted by most English writers, is so far valuable as
resses a situation in which it is often met with, namely
ing in swamps,” while fluviatile ill accords with a plant that
grows actually in water; but the contradictory accounts of
collectors regarding its favourite localities, may be compared
hose of the three travellers in the fable concerning the hues
chamaeleon, and are about as near to the truth 3 so indifferent
species before us to superficial moisture or dryness, when
stablished in its habitat.

tile stems similar to the sterile ones, whether simple or
ranehed, and appearing at the same time.

ETUM SYLVATICUM. Wood Horsetail. TAB. IV.

s with about twelve striae, and several whorls of slender,
ing or deflexed, compound branches. Sheaths loose, termi-
in three or four blunt-toothed lobes.

tum sylvaticum, Linnams. E. B. Generally adopted.

most elegant species of the genus. A native of moist woods,
ts, hedge-banks, and other shaded situations throughout the
m, but more frequent in mountainous and subalpine or rocky
ts. The stems vary from a few inches to a foot or even a
d a half in height, those bearing fructification being generally
r than the others, and occasionally, in the earlier part of the
, destitute of branches; in the latter case they wither and
car after the dispersion of the sporules, resembling in this
(3

10

respect, and in their more succulent habit, those of the preceding
section. The number of the striae varies with the luxuriance of the
plant from ten to sixteen, but the crystalline ridges are so little
elevated that the stems are nearly smooth to the touch. The sheaths
are more loose than in any other indigenous species, and split about
half way down into from three to six blunt and usually toothed
lobes; they are of a bright tawny-brown colour above, passing
gradually below into the pale green hue that characterizes the stem.
The fertile stems have occasionally six or eight, but seldom more
than three or four, whorls of branches; which, being of nearly
equal length throughout, occasions them to present a peculiarly
abrupt termination after the decay and obliteration of the cone;
this latter is of a pale brown colour, about an inch long, and is
perfected about the end of April or the beginning of May. The
sterile stems are pyramidal in their general outline, the whorls of
branches in luxuriant specimens often fifteen to twenty in number,
gradually diminishing toward the apex, which generally droops
gracefully on one side, being too slender to support its own weight.
The branches, ten to twenty or more in a whorl, sometimes nu-
merous, are compound, very slender, long, and drooping.

This is less objectionable to cattle than most of the species, and
is generally eaten down by them when it grows within reach. In
some parts of Sweden it is collected for winter fodder, especially
‘ for horses.

The surpassing beauty of form, and the lively green hue of its
long feathery branches, render the Wood Horsetail worthy of an
introduction into every shaded garden and shrubbery, while in the
Fernery its presence should never be dispensed with, where space
can be spared for its reception. The tendency of the rhizoma
to creep, and the copious moisture necessary to maintain it in a
luxuriant condition, are circumstances easily obviated and provided
for, by planting in a large pot, closed at the bottom and sunk in
the soil over the rim, a contrivance well adapted for growing these
plants generally.

EQUISETUM LIMOSUM. Smooth Horsetail. TAB. V.

Stems smooth, slightly but copiously striated; often simple.
Branches few, simple, suberect. Sheaths close, with many rigid
sharp-pointed teeth.

Equisetum fluviatile? Linnaeus. E. limosum, Linnaeus. E. B. 929.
Generally adopted.

Common on the shallow sides of rivers, in ponds, ditches, and
watery places generally. The rhizoma spreads widely, branching
and rooting in all directions, so as to form a densely matted mass,
that contributes to the solidification of the mud in which it vegetates,

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he same time to the gradual contraction of the water limit;
is an active agent in the conversion of pools into swamps
sses, which it abandons as the soil becomes elevated so as
dmitr of the retention of water on the surface. The plant
, in different situations, a variety of aspects, being some-
entirely destitute of branches as to resemble rushes, while
s, the branches, though usually few, are so abundantly de-
that a person not acquainted with its protean character
eadily regard it as a distinct species. Such variations in
e not constant in any particular localities, but their extremes
asionally occur on the same spot in two successive years.
ms vary from one to three feet or more in height, and are
universally submersed at the lower part, the difference of
eing dependent for the most part upon the depth of the
n which they grow. They are smooth to the touch, but
ly striated, the numerous ridges being so little elevated as
istinguishable rather by the slight difference of their hue
their roughness and projection. The branches are of vari-
gth and number in each whorl, simple, and directed upwards,
an acute angle with the stem. The sheaths are compara-
hort, closely fitting to the stem, and of a similar green hue,
minating in from sixteen to twenty sharply pointed dark»
r blackish teeth. The cone is ovate, about an inch long,
ally invested at its base by the terminal sheath ,- it is per-
bout the commencement of July, and, decaying soon after-
falls off, leaving the fructifying stems blunt-topped.
h uncertainty exists respecting the association of this species
older authors with E. fluviatile, E. Telmatez'a of recent
ts. That it is the plant recorded under the former name by
s appears probable, as E. Telmatez'a is not a native of
; but our limits preclude the discussion of a question of no
importance. From E. palustre, the following species, to
n its branched condition it approaches most nearly in general
its thicker, smooth, not furrowed stems, and close green
, at once distinguish it.
e will frequently devour the Smooth Horsetail, when it
ithin their reach, especially when the season is dry and the
over-stocked. '
not a plant of sufficient beauty to render it worthy of atten-
confined cultivation, but may be easily kept in a tub or
tank, partly filled with common garden soil, with a few
of water over the surface: under such circumstances,
r, it admits of no rivalry, soon overpowering most other
hat may be introduced to its companionship, or dying away
f the natural colonizing propensity is restricted for their
ation.
c 2

12

EQUISETUM PALUSTRE. Marsh Horsetail. TAB. VI. 85 VII.

Stems rough, deeply furrowed, with six or eight bload, prominent
ridges. Branches simple, suberect. Sheaths loose, with acute
wedge—shaped teeth.

Equisetum palustre, Linnaeus. E. B. 2021. Generally adopted.

Very frequent in marshes and watery places about the banks of

rivers and ponds, especially in a black boggy soil; often accom-
panying E. limosum. The stems, from a foot to eighteen inches
high, are somewhat rough, and generally branched throughout, the
whorls gradually diminishing towards the apex. The branches
have a similar upward direction to those of the preceding species,
are uniformly simple, and the number in each whorl varies from six
to ten, being frequently less, and very rarely more than that of the
ridges. The sheaths are pale-coloured, loose, often somewhat in-
flated, terminating in acute wedge-shaped dark-brown teeth, with
pale membranaceous edges, equalling in number the ridges of the
stem. The cone is narrower than that of the last, being elongated
oblong instead of ovate, and matures rather earlier in situations
where they grow together.
i The earlier European botanists seem often to have confounded
this species with E. arvense, with which, at first sight, an inex-
perienced collector might consider it as having some resemblance,
as well as with the more copiously branched specimens of E. limosum.
Attention to the striking difference in habit, and to the features
noted 1n description, will render any mistake as to their individual
distinction scarcely possible.

Two, or perhaps three varieties of this common plant have been
described, viz.—

1. Polystaclzz'on, in which the branches of one or two of the
uppermost who1ls terminate in small cones; the terminal one being
often abortive, or of the reduced size of the others, very rarely pre-
senting the cha1 acter of full development. TAB. VII.

This variety has been noticed by most of our earlier botanists,
and is far from being uncommon; sometimes growing apart, but
frequently accompanying the usual form. The difference was sup-
posed at first to be occasioned by the extremity of the primary stem
having been bitten off or injured; but this, of course, cannot be the
case where the terminal cone is produced, an occurrence quite as
frequent as is its absence. The London collector may meet with
the “many-spiked Horsetail” plentifully distributed in several
localities along the banks of the Surrey Canal, between Camberwell
and Rotherhithe ; and this summer I found the specimen figured
on the side of an enclosed portion of the old Croydon Canal, near
Annerley.

 

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Nudu‘m. Stems nearly or quite simple, dwarf. E. palustre ry.’
m, DeCandolle.
ows in sandy places on which water accumulates, and on loose
hills and banks. Found in Scotland, Yorkshire, Lancashire,
nshire, and Cornwall. Specimens from different localities
d, from six or eight inches to less than two, in the length of
tem, and are otherwise so diversified in character, that a simple
e would be insufficient to convey a general idea of the variety.
Newman, who, in his “History of British Ferns and Allied
ts,” ed. 1844, p. 49; has given a figure of a Devonshire speci-
, remarks, “ Some of the examples are erect, others prostrate;
those which grow on sand-banks have the roots densely fibrous
clothed with minute fibrillae. The small size, often prostrate
t, branchless stems, sandy habitat and densely clothed roots,
induced many botanists to consider this plant a variety of E.
gatum rather than of E. palustre; but, after a careful examina-
, I am unable to find any character whereby to distinguish it
the latter; the root, stem, sheaths and catkins seeming to me
ly identical with those of the usual form of the species.” With
e observations I concur at present, but only from examination
ied specimens; cultivation of the three may hereafter lead to
pposite opinion, or even to the establishment of this as a di-
ct species.
. Alpinum. Smaller upper branches abortive. Sheaths with four
ve angles and teeth. Hooker, British Flora, p. 451. “Boggy
es near springs on the higher parts of the Breadalbane moun-
s.” Perhaps an intermediate form.
t may be grown in the manner recommended for E. sylvatz'cum,
the variety polystachion is very ornamental when in fructifi-
on.

ISETUM HYEMALE. Rough Horsetail. Shave-grass. TAB. VIII.

tems simple, very rough, with from fourteen to twenty ridges.
aths close, with as many‘dark, slender, subulate, deciduous teeth
idges.

isetum hyemale, Linnaeus. E. B. 915. Generally adopted.

hough rather to be regarded as a local than a common species,
is very widely distributed over the different parts of the king-
, in England and Wales, in Scotland and Ireland. Its
urite localities are wet woods, bogs, marshes, and the borders
ivulets. In England it is more frequent in the northern and
land counties than in those of the south. The stems, branching
1 the rhizoma near the surface of the soil, rise to the height of
or three feet, sometimes, but rarely, producing a single lateral

14

branch here and there, but never any of those whorls that so
strikingly characterize the species already described; they are of a
dark green colour, and rough like a file, owing to the prominence
of the double row of sharp siliceous crystals of the ridges: the
barren ones become so much attenuated towards the extremity as
to lose the naturally erect position and curve over to one side, but
the fertile ones are nearly equal in diameter throughout, shorter,
and rigidly erect. The sheaths closely invest the stem, and are at
first of a similar green colour, but ultimately acquire a pearly
whiteness in the middle part, forming very conspicuous bands at
intervals of two or three inches throughout its whole length;
these bands are rendered more distinct by the base of the sheath
having a broad dark or blackish-brown border, and a narrower
margin of the same hue formed by the blunt bases of the dark
deciduous teeth. The cone is very small, dark-coloured, and ter-
minates in an apiculus. It is matured about the beginning of
August. The barren stems usually present rudiments of fructifi-
cation at the apex.

This is the species chiefly employed for mechanical purposes, on
account of its roughness, and its long simple stems are largely
imported from Holland under the name of Dutch Rushes, being
used for polishing hard woods, ivory and metal by turners and
other handicrafts. Some botanists have expressed a doubt respect-
ing the identity of the continental with our indigenous species, but
except in its larger size, and consequently more numerous striae
and corresponding fistular cavities in the interior of the stem, no
positive character of distinction is traceable. The British plant
from Gamlingay Bog, Cambridgeshire, cultivated in my garden for
thirty years, frequently rivals the imported “Dutch Rushes” in
these respects, the number of ridges and smaller tubes varying
from twenty to twenty-eight in the larger stems. Lightfoot
informs us that “ in Northumberland the dairymaids employ it to
scour and clean their milk-pails,” a purpose for which the more
common E. arvense is often used elsewhere. Its medicinal qua-
lities, dependent upon a slight astringency, though formerly ex-
tolled, have long been disregarded. Cattle seldom eat it ; indeed
it is said to occasion the teeth of cows to drop out, and to be
injurious to sheep, evils probably due rather to the marshy con-
dition of the land on which it grows than to any deleterious quality
of the plant itself, as it has the reputation of being wholesome to
horses.

It is easy of cultivation, and as the rhizoma does not extend so
rapidly as to become injurious to its neighbours, no confinement is
necessary; while the tall dark-green stems with their white band-
like sheaths form compact tufts, that contrast agreeably with the
feathery fronds of the larger Ferns. Though it grows naturally in

 

 

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15

places, any shaded situation in the garden where the soil is at
etentive of moisture may be selected according to convenience;
being evergreen, and little affected by the severest cold of an

lish winter, adds greatly to its ornamental value in the shrub-
or Fern plantation.

he claim of the four following to rank as species is very equi-
Z. If it be admitted, they will constitute, with a few others of
ic growth similarly circumstanced, a group of marked character,
hich E. hyemale may be regarded as the type. Such group will
istinguished from the other plants of the genus by the greater
hness and rigidity of the stems, and their tendency to a simple
of development; by the branches, when present, being produced
ly and alternately, and according with the principal stem in struc-
and appearance, instead of assuming the contracted form and
icillate disposition exhibited by those of their congeners. To these
ures may be added the comparatively small size of the fructifying
and its universally apiculate termination.

ISETUM MACKAII. Mackay’s Equisetum. TAB. IX.

tems erect, simple or slightly branched, very rough, with from
t to twelve ridges. Sheaths close, ultimately wholly black,
long, aristate, somewhat flexuose, persistent teeth.

isetum Mackaii, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 8:0. ed. 1844. 25.
Babington. Moore. E. elongatum, Hooker. Not of Will-

denow.

native of mountain glens in Ireland and Scotland. First
erved by Mr. Mackay in August 1833, “ on moist banks near
aterfall, at the upper end of Colin Glen, Belfast 3” since by Mr.
ore and others in many of the glens and ravines of the north of
land, and in Scotland. The stems grow erect from the height
ne to three or four feet, forming tufts like those of E. hyemale,
ich they resemble in roughness, but are more slender; they are
erally simple, but not uniformly so, being frequently branched,
ecially towards the upper part, as shown in our middle figure.
e branches are always solitary, and, although springing like the
orled ones of other species from below a sheath, have rather the
racter of divisions of the stem itself, and assume the same erect
ition and indefinite development; occasionally, in very luxuriant
cimens, they produce secondary branches, but always in a cor-
ponding manner. The ridges resemble those of the preceding
cies, except that they are fewer in number. The sheaths are at
tof a pale green colour, almost white, terminating above in a
ck rim, but eventually become wholly black. The teeth are

16

usually persistent ; they are black, long, flexuose, and bristle-like,
more or less dilated at the base. The cone is small, almost black,
and terminates in a small pointed process (apiculus). It matures
in August.

Leaving out of consideration the number of ridges and striae, a
feature liable to variation in these plants, depending, as experience
demonstrates, upon luxuriance of growth and accidents of season
and situation, the distinctive character of E. Mackaz'z' rests almost
exclusively upon the hue of the sheaths and the form of its teeth-like
divisions. What importance may attach to such circumstances, in
an order occupying so low a grade on the scale of vegetable organi-
zation as that before us, remains to be ascertained. In higher
groups, colour, and even leaf-division, hold only a very subordinate
value in the separation of species ; the former indeed being rarely,
if ever, resorted to by the scientific naturalist, while the latter is
in many instances so susceptible of modification as to be next to
useless.

The slender character of the stems in our plate, so different from
those of the stouter E. lzyemale immediately preceding it, and more
especially its branched condition, would appear at first sight to
render the previous remarks unnecessary, and the probable identity
of the two plants chimerical 5 but the practical botanist will com-
prehend readily the association of such apparent extremes by inter-
mediate forms, and the possibility that such may be the case in
the present instance. E. hyemale, when luxuriant, occasionally
branches in this manner at the upper part, while E. Mackaii is
more commonly seen in the form of the left-hand figure, Plate IX.,
simple. Differences of this description are of such frequent occur-
rence as the result of circumstance, that they are utterly valueless
in a question of specific correspondence; and in regard to the
estimation they deserve in the allotment of the rank of species to
varieties in Equisetacece, I may quote the authority of one of the
most industrious and observing naturalists of his time, M. Vaucher
of Geneva, who, in his monograph of the order, after remarking on
the general habitats of these plants, observes on the contrary that,
“we find them occasionally in sandy and dry situations, as, for
example, Eguisetum multiforme; but this species appears to be
greatly influenced by the nature of the soil in which it grows, for
sometimes it develops only a small number of slender and very
short stems, while vegetating in richer ground, we find springing
from the main tuft stems so much larger and more copiously
branched that they might be supposed to belong to a different
species.” Similar causes may be implicated in the production of
this and the three following British plants, as they have been in
many other instances among the higher groups of the vegetable
kingdom, leading to an unnecessary multiplication of species, in

 

   

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17

some of all the more positive organic conditions of structure
which alone they ought to be founded.

ETUM WILSONI. Wilson’s Equisetum. TAB. X.

ms erect, simple or slightly branched, nearly smooth, with
or ten furrows and broad intervening ridges. Sheaths close,
orous with the internodes, but margined with black at the
it. Teeth short, obtuse.

etum Wilsoni, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, &c. ed. 1844, 39,
variety of E. variegatum. Babington. Moore.

st noticed by Mr. W. Wilson, growing in water, at Mucruss,
ney. The stems are erect, often two or three feet high,
e, or occasionally branched, especially towards the lower part,
our figure, the branches being usually single and alternate,
ometimes opposite; the number of ridges is not to be de-
d upon, varying in specimens before me from six to twelve,
ding to the thickness of the stems; but they are remarkable
on account of their great comparative breadth and flatness,
he slight prominence of the siliceous crystals, which renders
lant much less rough than any of its immediate congeners.
sheaths are scarcely so close as those of E. lag/emote, being
1y bulging or inflated above the insertion 3 they resemble the
in colour, except at the upper margin, which is black where
ses into the bases of the short, broad, bluntly wedge-shaped
, the dark hue of which is relieved by a pale membranaceous
r. The small, blackish, apiculate cone is characteristic of its
alliance, not with E. variegatum only, but with the species of

that may be regarded as a dwarfed and otherwise diminished

SETUM VARIEGATUM. Variegated Rough Horsetail. TAB. XI.

ems decumbent, simple or slightly branched, very rough, with
four to ten ridges. Sheaths slightly enlarged upwards, black,
pale, membranaceous, obtuse teeth, each tipped with a dark
uous bristle.

setum variegatum, VVilZdenow. Weber and Mohr. Smith, E. B.
198’". Hooker. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 8m. ed. 1844:,
31. Moore. E. variegatum, fl. arenarium, Babington. E.
multiforme, a. variegatum, Voucher. Macreight.

native of sandy ground, especially on dunes near the sea, on

h it often accompanies Ammophila arundinacea and other sand

ing plants; likewise of mountain valleys among the sand and
n

..,..,_‘........wm—,.-,._-._.-,,....r , 7W. "H, .

18

other debris washed down by torrents. The plant varies very
much in size in different habitats 3 being sometimes almost minute
and with stems not more than an inch or an inch and a half in
length and nearly prostrate, when it is E. reptans, a, of Wahlen-
berg. In its most common and maritime form in this country, as
represented on our plate, its habit is rather decumbent and spread-
ing than prostrate, and the stems attain a length of six or eight
inches, though they are often nearly buried in the drifting sand,
among which the rhizoma branches and extends occasionally to a
considerable distance. The stems are very slender compared with
those of other species, sometimes almost filiform ; they are deeply
furrowed and exceedingly rough, equally so indeed as those of E.
Izyemale. The ,_sheaths are rather loose and gradually expanding
upwards, where they divide into longish wedge-shaped teeth termi-
nating in a fine bristle, which however soon drops off. The colour
of the sheaths varies, frequently on stems from the same root; in
general they are black at the lower part and with a black border at
the base of the teeth, but sometimes the greater portion is of the
same hue as the stem, the blackness being confined to the upper
margin, where it generally extends into the middle part of the teeth,
and contrasting with their white membranaceous edges, and the
ordinary pale green hue of the stems, has obtained for the plant its
characteristic specific name, though that of arenarz'um, expressive
of its usual habitats, would have been more consistent. The small
cone is apiculate, and invested at its base by the widely expanding
terminal sheath, a general feature of the group: it matures in
August.

The.above description applies only to the form represented in
this work, 'or as it is met with growing in sand; any deviation from
specific characters as given in others, and particularly those of older
date, must be ascribed to the prior association of this with the
two preceding and, perhaps, the following one likewise.

The greater value of characters founded upon differences or
resemblances in the internal structure of organic bodies, over the
superficial ones of colour and outline, is a point universally admitted
by. naturalists; and it cannot be denied that important evidence of
specific identity may be afforded by comparison of the interior
organization of the stems of the Equisetums. Mr. Newman in the
work above quoted, has, with much good taste and careful drawing,
given magnified transverse sections of those of all the British
species, and no one who may either contrast these figures of the
first seven as they stand in the foregoing arrangement, or, what
would be more satisfactory to the practical botanist, examine for
himself, could do otherwise than admit their positive distinctness
of character; but it is otherwise with the four following. In all
of these as in E. hyemale a single peripheral series of tubes,

ruém

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mull

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19.

nating with the ridges, surrounds the large central one of the
mode, differing only in number according to the diameter of
stem, if we except a slight deviation of form expressed in that
. variegatum, a circumstance probably originating from Mr.
man’s drawings having been made from dried objects: exam-
in the recent state, I have almost uniformly. found the smaller
s of the circumference cylindrical.
t is due to the author of the talented work referred to in these
arks, to state that he is indisposed to the unnecessary multipli-
on of species, and only yields, in according such rank to some
the non-verticillate forms of Equisetum, in deference to the
s of other botanists of deserved reputation.

ISETUM MOOREI. Moore’s Equisetum. TAB. XII.

tems erect, simple or slightly branched, rough, with from ten to
teen ridges. Sheaths slightly enlarged upwards, black at the
er part, pale above; teeth black, obtuse, terminating in long,
e membranaceous subulate awns.

'setum Moorei, Newman, Phytologz'st. '

e only specimens I have seen of this plant are in the dried
e, and, except in the generally variegated hue of the sheaths,
y are not distinguishable from those of E. Mackaz'z'. In a tuft

before me, kindly forwarded to Mr. Sowerby by Mr. Moore,
m Rockfield, Wicklow, Ireland, the longest stems, terminating
fructification, measure three feet. In habit it does not differ
In the other upright species or varieties, and it approaches in
ghness that last named (see our Tab. IX.) ; though none of the
mples that have come under my notice show any tendency to
nch in the manner there represented, in the middle figure, while
the present instance every stem is simple. The number of
ges, depending as it does on luxuriance of growth, is a feature
no value in. specific distinction; neither is the proportional
ghness, as it is not attended by any different arrangement of

siliceous particles upon which it depends, but only upon their
ater or less prominence. The pale brownish hue of the middle
t of the sheaths is a striking feature, but one of very equi-
al importance, and, though a general one in this plant, the
er sheaths are . almost always Wholly black, while those of the
per part of the stem are frequently concolorous with it, the teeth

e ted.
Ollie circumstance, if correctly stated, is certainly indicative or
iation from the ordinary character of the group : it is remarked
at it “ dies down in winter.” Unacquainted with it in the living
te, I am unable to testify to this peculiarity, which no observable

D 2

20

difference in structure seems to warrant. All of the other imme-
diate allies of E. hymenale resemble it in the evergreen habit.

IsoETAoEm.

This order consists of a single genus, which has been variously
disposed by different botanists. Its structural aflinities are not
very readily traceable either with Lycopodiaceae, where it is placed
by DeCandolle, and most others who have adopted his arrangement
generally, or with Marsileaceae, to which it was transferred by
Bartling and latterly by Dr. Lindley, as well as by myself in
Vol. 8 of the second edition of ‘ English Botany,’ 1841. In the
present instance, closer comparison of its fructification with those
of its supposed allies has induced me to adopt the separation as an
order, proposed by the late Professor Burnett, of King’s College,
London, ‘ Outlines of Botany,’ i. 310,—an allotment apparently
warranted by the peculiarity of habit and structure, independently
of that of the reproductive organs. By some botanists it is asso-
ciated with a group of aquatic plants under the title of Hydro-
pterides or Water-Ferns.

IsoETEs. Quill-wort.

GEN. CHAR. Seeds or sporules contained in membranaceous cases
or conceptacles, imbedded in the dilated bases of the leaves.
Conceptacles of the inner leaves filled with minute particles
forming an impalpable powder: those of the outer containing
an indefinite number of rough angular or subspherical granules.

The germination of the granules of the outer leaves has been
observed by many botanists, and indeed frequently takes place
within the conceptacles ; hence their character as seeds, or at
least as reproductive bodies, is beyond dispute, but it is otherwise
with regard to the powdery particles included in those of the inner
ones. It is still a subject of speculation whether these latter be
only abortive forms of the true sporules, or whether they fulfil any
specific function, as some have supposed, according with that of the
pollen in flowering plants. All of the~small natural orders, how-
ever, occupying in modern botanical arrangements an intermediate
position between the higher and lower forms of vegetation, are more
or less similarly circumstanced in this respect ; some of them have
even been at times referred to the Phanerogamous group; while,
collectively speaking, the little positive evidence hitherto obtained-,7
together with the frequent occurrence of two distinct forms of the
reproductive apparatus among the lower grades of the Cryptoga-l
mous series, as the sea-weeds and lichens, militates against the
opinion that these forms are other than contingent modifications of

 

////*//.v//'/'.s'_

'/('.\'

21

same, or, at most, only prefigurations of organs requiring a-
er state of structural development for the performance of their
tive functions. That such is or is not the case in the genus
re us isa point incapable of present decision.
he plant—for the existence of more than one species is doubt-
is aquatic and always grows submerged. It is met with
ughout the north of Europe and North America. The generic
e is derived from i’croq, equal, and 257-09, the year, and was
towed on it by Linnaeus in allusion to the evergreen habit.

ETEs LACUSTRIS. Lake Quill‘wort. TAB. XIII.

eaves radical, subulate, bluntly quadrangular or semicylindrical;
sisting internally of four longitudinal series of angular cells.

étes lacustris, Linnaeus. E. B. 1084. Hooker, Land. 131.
Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, (30. ed. 1844, 381.

lways found growing submerged, at the bottom of ' lakes and
er still waters, in alpine districts especially. In many of the
ar rocky lakes of the north of England, Wales, Scotland and
land it is most abundant, covering them so densely with its
ssy-lcoking foliage as to give them the appearance of submerged
adows. The stem is a kind of cormus or tuber, about the size
a hazel-nut in large plants, fixed by thickish, white, tubular,
nerally simple, root-fibres. The leaves, growing in a circular,
ct, or slightly spreading tuft from the crown of the cormus, are
00th, semi-transparent, and of a somewhat horny texture: their
ucture is remarkable, and may be described as consisting of four
rallel tubes, divided transversely into numerous cells, and very
ittle in the direction of their septa, which are visible externally.
e fructification is about the size of a small pea, imbedded in the
ated and bulging bases of the leaves, and concealed by them,
cept on the inner face, where a circular opening displays the
embranaceous conceptacle, sufficiently thin and transparent as it
proaches maturity to admit of the granules being seen through
; it is in the best state for examination about the end of

This plant is liable to variation in different localities as regards
th the size and the direction of the leaves, which are usually
ect, but sometimes widely spreading, and in the latter case are
nerally broader, so as to have occasioned some botanists to regard
em as different species.

Isoé'tes lacustrz's admits of cultivation in shallow clear water, and
creases rapidly, but to insure successful growth the bottom should
e covered with sand an inch or two in thickness over the soil, so

to keep the water transparent, which must at the same time be

22

sufficiently deep to avoid freezing throughout. Under these circum-
stances it may be grown with Labelia Dortmanna, Pilalarz'a globuli-
fem, and other plants of similar habit; but a turbid or muddy
condition of the water quickly destroys it, probably by excluding
the light.

MARSILEACEZE.

Aquatic, perennial, creeping plants, with alternate erect leaves
having a circinate vernation. Fructification axillary, sessile ; con-
sisting of oval or spherical coriaceous conceptacles, usually of one
form, but containing either individually or respectively two dis-
similar forms of reproductive organs. The genera associated in
this order are very uncertainly charactered by structural affinity,
and correspond chiefly in habit. They are distributed in standing
‘waters over most of the temperate parts of the world. A single
species is indigenous to these islands.

PILULARIA. Pill-wort.

GEN. CHAR. Conceptacles solitary, nearly sessile, globose, coria-
ceous, four-celled, four-valved ; each cell containing bodies of
two kinds attached to a common receptacle.

The fructification resembles a pill or pepper-corn, hence the
name, from the Latin pilula, a pill.

The single known species of which this genus consists, occupies
a more equivocal position in the vegetable kingdom than Isoé'tes.
The globular conceptacles include numerous small bodies, attached
to a membranaceous lining, which, extending from each of the valves,
forms the four cells, as shown in the enlarged sectional figure on
the right in Tab. XIV. The bodies occupying the upper part of
each cavity contain a yellow powder resembling the pollen of a
flowering plant; those of the lower part are larger, more turgid,
and terminate in a small projecting point, which may be compared
to a stigma: of these two forms the upper ones have been supposed
to be anthers, the lower pistils 3 and under this View, the four-
valved conceptacle including a mass of inflorescence is usually
described as an involucre. Admitting such an explanation of the
oeconomy of the parts in question to be correct, Pilulam'a is here
misplaced: it is a monaecious flowering plant; and experiment
on the propagating capabilities of the dissimilar contents of its
conceptacles is in favour of this decision. The supposed anthers
are inert, while the pistils vegetate, pushing forth first their radicle
to fix them to the soil, and afterwards a leaf or cotyledon. In this
respect they resemble those of Zostem and some other aquatics of
low organization, the first especially, the simple inflorescence of

 

 

film/aria, .gloéuzyéb'a.

J E S FEClt‘

23

ich, inclosed in the hollow of its sheathing stems (see Eng. Bot.

. 467. 2nd. ed. tab. 4), approaches that of the plant before us.
ill it must be admitted that the subject of vegetable propagation is,

regard to the inferior orders of plants, one of great complication and

certainty, and that although, in the idea of the general or super-
ial botanist, a determinate limit may seem to exist between the
wering and flowerless species, such distinction is only the result
the absence of immediate proof that influence, analogous to that
the pollen of the former class, is concerned in maturing the re-
oductive germs of the latter. Among Ferns, and even among
osses and Lichens, deviations from the normal character of species

e not of unfrequent occurrence, and to an extent that, if it does not
nfirm their hybrid origin, tends to suggest its probability. The

plication of the term Cryptogamous to all these plants, records the

ubt entertained by its author and admitted by his successors,
ncerning the existence of a difference of such vast importance;

d every real step that we make forward in the study of their ob-
ure physiology contributes to expand into universality our belief,

at the same grand principle operates to the perpetuity of every

'sting form of organic being.

The peculiarities of Pilularz'a and the oeconomy of its fructifica-
on, growth, .&c. were made the subject of a valuable essay by M.
ernhard de J ussieu, in the “ Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des
ciences, 1739,” and more recently by Mr. Valentine, in the 18th
olume of the “Transactions of the Linnean Society,” both of which
e well worthy the study of the physiological botanist; but our
ace will not admit of extract.

ILULARIA GLOBULIFERA. Pill-wort. TAB. XIV.

Rhizome slender, elongated, creeping; producing leaves and
ots at regular intervals. Conceptacles axillary, nearly sessile on
e rhizoma, hairy.

ilularia globulifera, Linnaeus. E. B. 521. Hooker, Fl. Land.
tab. 83. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, &c. ed. 1844, 393.

It may be regarded as a local rather than a common plant, but
at the same time widely distributed, and where met with gene
ally most abundant. The long slender rhizoma creeps along the
urface of the mud or sand in shallow water about the margins of
akes and pools, and sometimes in places only occasionally over-
owed, especially on sandy and gravelly heaths, forming often, by
ts abundant branching and entanglement, a dense covering over the
oil, to the complete exclusion of other plants. Some botamsts
lave remarked that the Pilularz'a is never found in‘ deep water nor

24:

in a state of constant submersion, but this is certainly incorrect, as
I have met with it in Llyn ngen, Llyn Idwel, and in some parts
of the Lake of Llanberis, covering the bottom at a depth of between
one and two feet, in situations where it could rarely, if ever, be left
exposed: under these circumstances the leaves were longer and ex-
ceedingly slender, and no fructification appeared to be formed;
indeed the latter is only abundantly produced where the plant
grows in Open and comparatively dry places unfavourable to the
more luxuriant development characterized in our upper figure.
The leaves are coiled in vernation like those of the Ferns, erect,
smooth, and slender, and, under water, even hair-like ; in height
they vary according to circumstances from one to four or five
inches, forming clusters or tufts arising at intervals from the
rhizoma opposite to similar tufts of rootlets. In fertile plants the
leaves and rootlets are seldom more than three or four at each
node, and the former not above one or two inches long; but in
barren specimens the tufts of both are crowded and indefinite, and
the leaves especially so, as well as more slender and taller. The
solitary conceptacles spring from the axils of the leaves, supported
by a pedicel so short that at first sight they appear sessile ; they
are nearly globular, but with a tendency to become conical at the
apex, about the size of a small pepper-corn, brown, and hairy.
Divided transversely they are seen to be four-celled, and separate
in maturity into four equal valves. The upper half of each cell is
lined with minute sessile, somewhat elongated or club-shaped,
yellowish bodies, the stamens or anthers of Jussieu and others;
the lower half is occupied by larger roundish or oblong sessile,
one-seeded thecae or ovaries, crowned with a small blunt projection,
which is probably a stigma. The relative number of these bodies
varies in different conceptacles, which, appearing in May, become
successively matured to the end of autumn.

Our figures will convey a general idea of the barren and fertile
states of this very curious plant, only it must be remarked that the
leaves vary from the size represented to an almost hair- or bristle-
like fineness.

It is easily cultivated on an artificial bog, or in a shallow pan
with a mixture of peat soil and sand just covered with water, a
situation in which fructification is sometimes abundantly produced,
under a moderate exposure to the sun.

LYCOPODIACEAE.

Perennial. plants, resembling Mosses in the arrangement of their
foliage and in general aspect, but in no other respect, their struc-
tural characteristics being widely different. To Ferns they bear

25

out an equal'relation with the rest of the allies so called, but are
sidered more especially to approach them in the structure of
eir stems, which contain an abundance of the large woody vessels
nominated annular ducts. Dr. Lindley, in his ‘ Vegetable King-
m,’ has remarked, that the larger kinds “ seem to imitate Coni-
ous Gymnogens (the Pine or Fir tribe) in their manner of growth,
(1 in their tendency to collect their spore-cases in cones,” and
ain that they are “intermediate, as it were, between Ferns and
niferae on the one hand, and Ferns and Mosses on the other,”—
servations that, however imaginative, and consequently not
rhaps strictly scientific," their basis, are still valuable as showing
e difliculty experienced by even our best systematic botanists in
e arrangement of these outlying orders of the vegetable kingdom.
The stems of the Lycopodiaceae are generally slender and creep-
g, but occasionally erect, their texture solid and wiry; the
eeping ones often extending several feet or even yards in length.
6 leaves are small, sessile, without veins, in most instances very
osely set, and often imbricated. The fructification consists of
inute cases or thecae, sessile in the axils of leaves or bracts, and
0 kinds are usually met with on the same plant : the one, bival-
ar, and containing a powdery substance, the particles of which
der a high magnifying power are seen to be globular; the other,
rec-valved, enclosing a few comparatively large subspherical gra-
les, which are marked with three prominent ridges radiating
om one extremity. The relative position of these thecae, differing
iefly in their contents, is, upon the elongated axis of a Lycopoe
'um, similar to that of the conceptacles upon the shortened or
ther abortive one of Isoétes,——that is, those the contents of which
e powdery occupy the upper part of the axis, corresponding to
e centre of the cormus of the latter plant; while the granule-'
earing ones are developed below them, or in the situation repre-
nting the outer part of the cormus. This circumstance has been
oted, as justifying the reference of Isoe‘tes to the order before us,
otwithstanding the striking difference of its habit; but it is
iefly important on account of its coincidence with the ordinary
'sposition of male and female flowers among the higher orders of
lants, and thus lending some equivocal support to the opinion of
ose who consider the upper cases anthers, their contained powder-
alien, while the lower ones are pistz'ls and their granules seeds :-
's opinion has, however, been reversed by Link and others, and
e whole subject is yet under speculation. That the granules are ‘
eds, or at least sporules, is certain, as their germination has been
equently observed; but we have not yet any positive evidence
specting the functions fulfilled by the powdery particles, which
ill'denow states grow likewise. I have tried them several times

'thout success. . . .
E

26

The genera of this order are few ; three or at most four are
capable of being well charactered, and of these theonormal one
alone contains the few species indigenous to Great Britain.

LYCOPODIUM. Club-Moss.

GEN. CHAR. Fructification either in the axils of the leaves, or
contained in erect bracteated spikes. Thecae one-celled: some
two-valved, including minute powdery particles 3 others three-
valved, or rarely four-valved, containing from one to about
four nearly spherical rough sporules.

The generic name, from kfixoq, a wolf, and 71-0239, a foot, seems
to have been founded upon some fanciful resemblance between the
branches or spikes of some species and the paw of that animal.

The species, about 200 in number, are very widely distributed,
some being adapted to support the extreme cold of lands within the
Arctic Circle, and others to vegetate under the corresponding excess
of tropical heat ,- the latter forms are, however, the most abundant.
They are all evergreen plants of a rigid habit, usually growing
prostrate, and rooting at intervals; their stems clothed throughout
with numerous small scale-like leaves, which are either more or less
densely imbricated, or spreading in two principal series. These
dispositions of the leaves and their minuteness, added to the
_ general form of growth, give to the Lycopodiums very much of
the aspect of gigantic mosses; though the internal structure indi-
cates a far higher grade of organization, approaching indeed to that
of the flowering plant, while the economy of their fructification is
altogether dissimilar.

Those of Europe, and other temperate and cold climates, gene-
rally occupy the most exposed situations, growing on open heaths
and moors and on the declivities of mountains, but very often
in woods and other sheltered places. Lycopodium alpz'num and
L. Selagz'noides are said to cover extensive tracts of country in
Lapland almost to the exclusion of other vegetation, the former
especially clothing the sides of the mountains. In the warmer
parts of the world and within the torrid zone, the order is almost
exclusively confined to moist shady situations, chiefly abounding in
the dense humid forests of India, Tropical America, and the islands
of the adjoining seas.

Though hitherto little employed in Europe either in medicine or
the arts, these plants seem to possess some important properties,
which, if the elaboration of active proximate principles affords any
standard of organic complexity, would place the Club-mosses higher
on the scale than any of the groups among which they are classed
by botanists. Lycopodium rubrum, L. catharticum, Hooker, is
powerfully cathartic, and is administered in Spanish America, suc-

[1 J 771/) (II/1'1””,

 

CC
so.

/'///I 7/ ////// , ‘

27'

eissfully it is said,for the cure of elephantiasis ; its violent action
as obtained for it the popular name of Yatum condenado, from
Yatum, great devil, condenado, accursed: similar qualities, though
ess in degree, belong to some of our indigenous species, as well as
0 others of tropical countries.

Though growing naturally in the most exposed places, the British
ycopodiums are not easy of cultivation in the open ground,
specially in the vicinity of London,——a fact due, perhaps, rather to
he loose character of the surface soil in which they are planted,
nd the absence of sufficient moisture in the atmosphere during
he principal season of growth, than to any other circumstances :

'n a close frame or in a shaded greenhouse they may be grown very
uxuriantly. All of the exotic species, especially those of warm
limates, succeed well as house plants, and, from their trailing
abit, are admirably adapted for covering the surface of the soil '
round the larger species of Ferns.

YCOPODIUM CLAVATUM. Common Club-Moss. Wolf’s-Claw.
TAB. XV. '

Stem creeping. Leaves scattered, finely serrated, incurved, hair-
ointed. Fertile branches erect. Spikes stalked, two or three
ogether ; their scales ovate-acuminate, finely toothed.

ycopodium clavatum, Linnaeus. E. B. 224. Generally adopted.

A native of upland heaths and high pastures in many parts of
he kingdom, but most abundant in rocky and mountainous districts.
he procumbent, repeatedly branched stems spread in all directions,
ut on declivities chiefly downward, to the length of many feet or
ven yards, throwing out strong root-fibres at intervals of a few
nches, which fix them firmly to the ground 3 hence the plant is ex-
eedingly useful on the steep sides of hills and mountains, as it
erves to bind the soil and prevent the looser particles from being
ashed away by the rain- and spring torrents. The leaves are
rowded, entirely covering the stem, and curving upwards from the
atter as it lies along the ground; they are linear-lanceolate, termi-
ating in a white filament, and slightly toothed or serrated on the
dges. The fertile branches vary much in height, from three to .
ix or eight inches ; they are erect, densely leafy like the others at
he lower part, but clothed above only with a few scattered, narrow,
ale green or yellowish,~closely appressed scales: at the summit
ach stalk bears from one to three, but usually two, , cylindrical
pikes of a pale greenish-yellow or sulphur colour and one or tWo
nches long, composed of imbricated bracts, broad at the base but *
cuminated upwards so as to be somewhat triangular in their
eneral outline; the small, yellowish, kidney-shaped thecae are
E 2

28

developed singly in the axils of these bracts, and ripen towards the
end of August, opening transversely to discharge the almost impal-
pable powder by which the species is propagated.

A decoction of the plant is employed in Poland for the cure of
that most horrible of human disorders, the Plica Polonica. The
powdery contents of the thecae are collected in large quantities for
sale, under the name of Lycopodium, or Vegetable Sulphur. This
powder is highly inflammable, consuming instantaneously and with
a slight explosion; hence it has been employed in Germany to
produce imitative lightning in the theatres, and very extensively
there and elsewhere in the manufacture of fireworks : so repellent
is it of moisture, that, if scattered over the surface of water in a
basin, a stone may be picked up from the bottom without wetting
the hand. It is sold by the druggists in this country, as an absorb-
ing powder to prevent excoriation in young children, and for ap-
plication to skin wounds ; for which purposes it is imported from
different parts of northern and eastern Europe, where large quan-
tities of the spikes are collected in the autumn to supply the de-
mand, which is far from inconsiderable.

This species. seems to be distributed throughout the northern
hemisphere. The elegance of its long trailing and variously
branched stems renders it a general favourite, and few plants are
equally capable of adaptation to ornamental purposes, especially in
the form of wreaths and festoons. Linnaeus, in his ‘Flora Lap-
ponica,’ mentions his having seen the Lapland children with their
heads decorated with garlands, formed by so wreathing it that the
double spikes projected on all sides, recalling to his mind the idea
of the fauns and satyrs of the old mythology ; and in some parts
of the continent, where it grows commonly, its graceful curvatures
are usually conspicuous among the winter decorations of the houses
and churches.

To cultivate the Common Club-Moss successfully, it should be
removed from the heath with the soil attached to the central or
principal root; and in planting, whether in pot or on the ground,
especial care is needed to ensure the drainage which in the wild
state is always provided, and without which indeed the plant will
not subsist, as due observation of its natural habitats will evidence.
A poor soil and one incapable of retaining much moisture is no less
essential. The manner in which the British Lycopodiums are
generally offered for sale by the Fern collectors precludes all but
the remotest chance of their after-growth: in the case of the pre-
sent species, the elongating stems are simply torn from the ground
without reference to the root from which they emanate, and the few
scattered fibres attached to them, even if perfect, which they are
not, would be insufficient for their maintenance; added to which
the length of time, often several weeks, that elapses between their

 

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29

removal and replanting, renders the existence ‘of life rather pro-
blematical at the period when the latter occurs, and in most in-
stances we might as reasonably expect the Christmas holly branch,
planted in May, to grow, as the Lycopodium clavatum, fresh and
green as it may appear, from the collector’s basket.

LYCOPODIUM ANNOTINUM. Interrupted Club-Moss. TAB. XVI:

Stem creeping: branches ascending. Leaves spreading, ob-
scurely five-rowed, linear-lanceolate, minutely serrated, acutely
pointed. Fertile branches erect. Spikes oblong cylindrical, sessile,
terminal, solitary.

Lycopodium annotinum, Linnaeus. E. B. 1727. Generally
adopted.

The rarest of our indigenous species. The only spot on which
it has been found in the southern division of the kingdom is on
the side of the Glyder mountain, Carnarvonshire, above Llyn-y-Cwn,
where, though formerly abundant, it is now of rare occurrence, if
not, indeed, latterly exterminated. In Scotland it is rather Widely
distributed, though generally at considerable elevation, especially
on the Cairngorum and Clova Mountains. The strong, wiry, tough
stems do not spread to the same extent as those of L. clavatum,
though they root at intervals in a similar manner, and the habit of
the two is very different: in the present species the leaves spread out
and are often even reflexed; the arrangement in five rows is not at
first sight very evident, but it gives in recent specimens an angu-
larity to the general outline of the branches especially that can
scarcely be overlooked. The fructifying branches present a con-
traction in the foliage at the base of each annual elongation, giving
them a jointed appearance, whence the specific name annotinum,
literally, marked yearly. This peculiarity, eminently characteristic
of the species, originates in the successive annual postponement
in developing the spikes of fructification at the summit of the
branches in question, each such branch requiring a varying number
of years to elapse, apparently from three to seven, previous to its
attaining the condition of fertility: this latter condition may occur
earlier or later according to circumstances, and I have examined
specimens in which a partial development of the spike had taken
place at a preVious period, but, proving abortive, the branch had
elongated above it in the following year, leaving no other remains
of the fructifying effort, except a more distinct separation of the
two leafy extensions, bearing in the interval a few rounded scales
or bracts in lieu of leaves. There can, I think, be little question
that the assertion of Sir J. E. Smith, in the ‘English Flora,’ re-
specting the proliferous character of the axis of fructification, ori-"

3O

ginatcd from the observation of similar specimens; he describes
the “flowering branches” as “ erect, densely leafy, but little sub-
,divided, each terminating in a solitary upright spike, whose scales,
being deciduous, seem to leave the branch partly naked ; but it
afterwards bears proper leaves, except a few diminished ones just
under where the spike had been, and produces, in the following
season, another spike: hence the jointed or interrupted aspect of
the branches.” In modifying the description of the species for the
second edition of the ‘English Botany,’ this explanation was re-
tained as plausible; but my acquaintance with the plant rested at
the time on a solitary preserved specimen: the after-examination
of many both recent and dried examples, exemplifying an economy
altogether different to that detailed in the work above quoted, has
led to these remarks; The after-extension of an imperfect spike
into a leaf-bearing branch in this plant, has its parallels in Abies
nigra and some other Conifers, in which abortive cones become
similarly elongated.

Its geographical range seems to be less limited than its frequency
and abundance, and extends through the northern parts of Europe
and North America, but with a general tendency to elevated
habitats. It is recorded by Linnaeus, however, as rare in Swedish
Lapland and growing in woods, and similar localities are assigned
to it in Canada and in the adjoining states of the American Union.

LYCOPODIUM ALPINUM. Savin-leaved Club-Moss. TAB. XVII.

Stem creeping: branches ascending, dichotomous, fasciculate.
Leaves imbricated, in four rows, oblong lanceolate, keeled, acute,
entire, appressed. Spikes sessile, oblong cylindrical, terminal ;
their scales ovate lanceolate, flat.

Lycopodium alpinum, Linnaeus. E. B. 234. Generally adopted.

Frequent and often very abundant on the mountains and high
moorlands of the north of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland,
but, as the specific name implies, only to be met with in districts
of considerable elevation. The stems are exceedingly tough and
almost woody, creeping and rooting at intervals like those of the
Common Club-Moss, which frequently accompanies and interlaces
with it, and which they emulate in length and tenacity. The
branches, from two to four or five inches high, spring in tufts from
the rooted parts of the stem, dividing repeatedly in a dichotomous
manner, all the divisions terminating on, or nearly on, the same
level, and thus forming compact shrub-like groups. ' Both stems
and branches are completely clothed with leaves, more or less
densely imbricated, in four rows, which, differing in size and form
on the alternate sides of the barren branches, give them the ap-

 

 

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31

pearance of being somewhat flattened'in one direction. The leaves
are oblong approaching to lanceolate and rather obtuse than pointed,
with an indistinct keel or midrib, and destitute of serratures. The
fruit-bearing spikes terminate the upper divisions of the older
branches, and, owing to the dichotomous characterof the latter,
are usually in pairs; they are about three-quarters of an inch in
length, rather thicker than the branches, and of a paler hue; their
scales or bracts are broad at the lower, part which covers the
theca, but narrower above, terminating somewhat obtusely like the
leaves. The general hue is a dull bluish-green, but the spikes are
yelllowish, especially as they approach maturity about the end of
u y. _

Of the properties of this plant but little is recorded that can
be depended upon, except that it communicates a yellow dye to
wool. Sir W. J. Hooker, in his ‘Journal of a Tour in Iceland,’
1809, remarks upon its employment by the inhabitants of that
island to the following effect: —“A vast heap of Lycopodium
alpz'num lying before the priest’s house drew my attention, and,
on inquiry, I found that it was used for the purpose of giving
their wadmal (woollen cloth) a yellow dye; which is done by
merely boiling the cloth in water, with a quantity of the Lycopo-
diam and some leaves of Vaccinium ulz'gz'nosum. The colour im-
parted by this process, to judge from some cloth shown me, was
. a pale and pleasant, though not a brilliant yellow.” Other spe- -
cies of the genus yield a similar colour, among which is the
continental L. complanatum, a plant often confounded with the
present by the earlier botanists.

The Alpine or Savin-leaved Club-Moss is a very elegant species,

well worthy of cultivation, and from my, own small experience not
more difficult to grow than its more common and more gene-
rally distributed congener, L. clavatum ; but the same uncer-
tainty, arising from the circumstances under which it is usually
obtained, attends its introduCtion.
- In geographical distribution, the tendency to elevated habitats
appears to be the only limit to its extension in the temperate and
colder districts of the northern hemisphere. The distinction be--
tween the European plant and the Canadian, L. sabz'ncefolz'um of
Pursh, appears at least very problematical.

LYCOPODIUM SELAGO. Fir Club-Moss. TAB. XVIII.

Stem short, erect or slightly decumbent: branches fastigiate,
pichotomous, level-topped. Leaves densely imbricated, 'obs'curely
eight-rowed, very rigid, linear-lancéolate, acuminate, entire. Thecae
in the axils of the leaves.

32

Lycopodium Selago, Linnaeus. E. B. 233. Generally adopted.

Frequent, and often very abundant, on heaths and barren sandy
and stony uplands in most parts of the kingdom, though appa-
rently preferring those which are elevated above the surrounding
parts of the country. In mountainous and rocky districts espe-
cially, it is one of the most common and generally distributed of
our indigenous species, and occupies in many places a greater eleva-
tion than any of them, L. annotinum perha s excepted. The plants
are like little compact bushes, varying in eight, according to the
soil or degree of exposure, from two or three inches to a-span.
When sheltered from the wind the growth is usually rigidly erect,
but when exposed to its influence, the weight of the compact tuft
in the larger plants occasions them to assume a decumbent position,
and sometimes, rooting thus, the prostrate stem acquires a con-
siderable length, and a habit is induced so different to that ordinarily
met with, that it might at first sight be regarded as belonging to
another species. The stems and branches, repeatedly dichotomous,
are closely imbricated with rigid, glossy, linear-lanceolate acuminate
leaves, obliquely disposed in eight rows, an arrangement most
readily observed by holding the ends of the branches perpendicular
to the eye. The fructification is very unlike that of any other
British Lycopodium: no spikes are formed, but the thecae are de-
veloped singly in the axils of the ordinary leaves, most abun-
dantl y, but by no means exclusively, towards the upper parts of the
branches ; indeed they are not unfrequently found throughout the
plant: their production seems to take place at a certain age, or
rather under a certain condition that occurs at periods varying in
different individuals, and is associated with a peculiarity, unnoticed
by any botanical author since it was referred to by Dillenius as a
newly observed fact, in his ‘ Historia Muscorum,’ until Mr. New-
man called attention to it by the following passage in the ‘ History
of British Ferns and Allied Plants : ’—“ On the Welsh mountains
I have observed that only a portion of the plants appear to be in a
thriving and healthy condition, the larger ones almost invariably
being loaded with fructification, and exhibiting symptoms of inci-
pient decay. With the exception of Dillenius, I think no author
has noticed this peculiarity; and this learned writer rationally con-
cludes that each plant exists for a definite term and then dies.—
VVhether the term of its existence be biennial, triennial, or longer,
I leave for future observers to decide; but I have not the slightest
doubt that its existence has a fixed term, as suggested by the great
muscologist.” The condition of the older fructifying plants alluded
to by Mr. Newman, attracted my attention in the Snowdon district
many years back, but not being. at that time familiar with the cele- '
brated work of Dillenius, I was at a loss to account for a phaano-
menon which afterwards furnished an undeniable explanation of

33

the fact that specimens removed in the fertile condition uniformly
died, while the others survived one, two, or even three years, and
then died with the rudiments of fructification in the axils of their
leaves. We may therefore, I think, regard Lycopodz'um Selago as a
plant of biennial character, which, like others of the same ordinary
duration, occasionally survives for a longer period when circum-
stances postpone the production of the thecae.

It is frequently viviparous 3 small leafy buds, that eventually
drop off and vegetate, being developed in lieu of thecae in the axils
of some of the upper leaves of the branches. This mode of repro-
duction is very common, especially at great elevations, and, as in
similar circumstances among the Mosses as well as the higher orders
of vegetation, seems to be often, but not constantly, attended by
non-development of the true seeds or sporules. One of the middle
branches on our plate represents two of these buds in the natural
position: Mr. Newman has illustrated very fully their structure
and oeconomy (page 378 of the work above quoted), but an extract
would be too long for our pages, and it will be sufficient further to
remark that the buds in question afford a very convenient mode of
introducing the plant to cultivation, as they quickly root and grow
freely under glass. As they are often produced in considerable
numbers, it is probable that in certain situations they constitute the
principal source of propagation.

The Highlanders and other northern peoples employ this plant,
instead of alum, as a mordant to fix their colours in dyeing: with
Brazil-wood especially it is said to produce a beautiful and perma-
nent blue; L. clavatum and other species are sometimes used with
a similar effect. They likewise prepare from it an irritating oint-
ment, and occasionally administer the decoction or infusion inter-
nally as an emetic and cathartic: Linnaeus refers to a similar use.
of its emetic quality in Sweden, where it is sold by many of the
medicine venders, under the name of Muscus catharticus ; but he
adds, on the authority of Rothmann, that it is violent in its opera-
tion, and apt to induce vertigo and convulsions, unless given in very
small doses. The same decoction, he informs us, is used by the
country people, as a detergent wash to destroy the vermin that
infest their swine and cattle.

The specific name Selago, according to De Theis, is derived from
the Celtic sel, sight, and jack, salutary, it being once held a valuable
remedy in diseases of the eye, for which purpose the ointment is
stated to be still employed in the Highlands of Scotland, producing
an effect somewhat similar to that prepared from Savin (Juniperus
Sabina).

The geographical range of the normal form of Lycopodium Selago
seems to be limited to the Eastern Hemisphere, where it is very
common in northern Europe and the adjoining parts of Asia. In

F

34:

North America, L. lucidulum of Pursh, L. refiexum of Schkuhr, re-
sembles it very nearly in habit, in the axillary position of the thecae,
in the frequent development of deciduous buds or bulbs, and in the
octoserial disposition of the leaves, and, with the exception of the
latter being reflexed instead of densely imbricated, I am unable to
discover any decisive feature of distinction ; the toothed character
of the margin is not constant in Canadian specimens and is some-
times present in the European species, the leaves of which, though
never so widely divaricated or spreading as those of theAmerican
plant, occasionally display, the lower ones especially, a tendency to
become reflexed. The moister habitats affected by L. lucidulum,
“ low sphagnous grounds and on the banks of shady rivulets,” would
be alone sufficient to produce a more important alteration in gene-
ral character. These remarks apply equally to objections respecting
the identity of other species of Lycopodium regarded as common
to the two hemispheres. -

LYCOPODIUM INUNDATUM. Marsh Club-Moss. TAB. XIX.

Stem creeping, short: branches few, simple, short, erect. Leaves
scattered, linear, entire, acute, curved upwards. Spikes terminating
the short erect branches.

Lycopodium inundatum, Linnaeus. E. B. 239. Generally adopted.

Occasionally found on moist boggy heaths in different parts of
the kingdom, but it isa local rather than a common species, and more
frequent in the southern counties of England than elsewhere; in
alpine districts especially its occurrence is rare. It seems to have
a very slight attachment to the soil, a circumstance that accounts
for its preference for places from which the turf has been recently
pared off, leaving little or no other vegetation to contend with“; in
such situations it is frequently so abundant as to cover the dark
peaty soil, which is essential to its more luxuriant state of growth,
with a verdure of the brightest green. The specific name refers to
its preference to spots upon which water accumulates occasionally
during the winter rather than to any tendency to aqueous habitats,
as it will be generally met with in situations so well drained as to
be perfectly dry during the heats of summer, and over a subsoil of
sand or gravel. The stem creeps closely pressed to the ground,
rooting at intervals by strong fibres that scarcely reach half an
inch below the surface ; it is very rarely branched, on account of
its peculiar habit of dying away annually, leaving only the extreme
growing point, from which a new extension takes place the following
year; hence a specimen producing two or more prostrate branches
during one summer, as is occasionally the case, would, in the suc-
ceeding one, form as many distinct plants. The leaves are narrow-

 

 

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linear and acute, curving upwards, and of a bright yellowish-green
hue. The erect branches described in the above specific character
are not always present, especially where the prostrate stem itself
becomes branched, their elevation being associated with the pro-
duction of fruit: they are usually single, from one to three inches
in height, and terminate in a solitary spike occupying about half or
one-third of their length, whose leaves, bearing the thecae in their
axils, are broader towards the base than those of the stem, and are
occasionally furnished with a tooth-like projection on each side.
The thecae are nearly globular, and ripen about the end of August
or the beginning of September.

For cultivation, the turf containing the plants should be cut off
Without interfering with the roots, taking with the mass a sufficient
Sidace to admit of the following annual extension. The failure,
which is complained of by most persons, of their efforts to grow
this interesting, though not showy species, appears to be owing to
want of management in this respect and to the planting in loose soil 3
the latter error very slight observation of its natural habitats would
teach us to avoid, as the ground that hears it always has the appear-
ance of having been beaten and washed, so as to leave no shifting
particles upon the surface. Its very short roots are ill adapted to
fix it in the artificial compost employed for growing Ferns and many
of its more deeply rooting congeners.

LYCOPODIUM SELAGINOIDES. Lesser Alpine Club-Moss. TAB. XX.

Stem creeping, much branched, sinuous. Leaves scattered, lan-
ceolate, ciliato—dentate. Spikes solitary, sessile at the extremity of
short erect leafy branches.

Lycopodium Selaginoides, Linnaeus. E. B. 1148. Generally
adopted by English botanists. Selaginella spinulosa, Koch.

In boggy ground, on the sides of hills, and especially about rills
and waterfalls, in the rocky districts of the north of England,
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, this is not unfrequent. The nume-
rously branched prostrate stems root at intervals like those of the
other procumbent species, but appear to take very slight hold of
the soil 3 they are slender, leafy throughout, and spread by their
somewhat sinuous branches much in the manner of those of L. cla-
vatum 3 the plant is, however, of comparatively very small size, and
otherwise totally different in habit. The leaves are grass-green,
shining, lanceolate, and rather spreading 3 and are remarkable
among the species of this genus for their deeply serrated margins,-
the serratures terminating in fine cilia-like points, whence the
English name Prickly Club-Moss, bestowed upon it by some
writers. The fructification is developed upon the older branches,

F 2 '

36

two or three of which in the course of the summer become elongated
and, at first assuming an ascending position, eventually grow erect,
varying from one to three inches in height, according to situation
and soil. The extremity of the branch gradually assumes a dif-
ferent character from that which it had in the procumbent state,
becoming thicker and club-shaped, with leaves larger and broader
at the base, in the axils of which two kinds of thecae are developed,
those toward the upper part of the spike opening with two valves
and discharging an impalpable powder, those of the lower part
separating with three divisions and discovering three or four large
grains nearly the size of poppy seed. This is the only British
Lycopodium in which the two forms of the reproductive apparatus
mentioned in .the generic character are uniformly to be met with;
in the others the occurrence of the granule-bearing thecae is either
rare or they are but sparingly distributed; I have found them on
three species, L. clavatum, alpinum, and Selago, and close examina-
tion of these and others may probably lead to the establishment of
the fact that their production is less limited than hitherto supposed:
their frequent occurrence in the imported powder is not perhaps a
circumstance of importance in the question, as, though chiefly the
produce of the Common Club-Moss, we know not what other species
~ may be collected with it in th0se parts of the continent whence the
upply is obtained. -

With the exception of the smaller size of the specimens, there
does not appear to me to be any essential difference between the
Canadian plant under this name and our English one.

I have not had L. Selagz'noz'des under cultivation. The only
plants that have come under my notice in this part of England
were kept under a bell-glass, in which state they had existed two
years, but no fertile branches had made their appearance last
August, and the specimens had not a healthy aspect.

CHARACEZE.

These are aquatic plants, and always grow submerged, preferring
stagnant to running water, though occasionally met with in slow
rivers. They are of annual duration only, and but slightly attached
to the muddy bottom of the ditches and pools that are their favourite
habitats. Their slender, wiry stems are more or less branched in.
a dichotomous manner, very brittle, and conspicuously jointed, each
articulation being surrounded by a whorl of slender branchlets.
In the subgenus Nitella, the appearance of the stem is that of a
single transparent tube divided transversely at intervals. In Chara,
properly so called, the central tube, or rather succession of tubular
cells, is surrounded by a number of smaller ones; and the whole

37

is generally encrusted by a comparatively thick coating of calcareous
matter, carbonate or phosphate of lime, a secretion of the plant
itself, and bearing some analogy in its disposition to the siliceous
particles in the stems of Equisetum, and, according to Sir D. Brew-
ster, exhibiting similar optical phaenomena.

The organs of reproduction are of two kinds, axillary to the
branchlets and in many instances accompanying each other :—1.
Globules of a red or orange colour, consisting externally of eight
triangular valves, enclosing a mucilaginous ,fluid, investing spiral
filaments, and cells containing minute reddish granules. 2. Nu-
cules of an oval form, composed externally of two envelopes, the
outer very thin and transparent, the inner formed of five or more
spirally twisted filaments, enclosing a cavity containing minute
granules which appear eventually to combine into a single seed.
The extremities of the spiral filaments often form a crest on the
summit of the nucule.

These curious bodies have been variously described by different
observers, a circumstance attributable, perhaps, rather to the
different periods of incipient or matured growth under which such
examinations have been made, than to error in the appreciation of
their results. For more detailed accounts of the complicated struc-
tures of both globules and nucules, the reader is referred to the suc-
ceeding descriptions of those of Chara fiewz'lz's and C. aspera.

Young plants may be freely raised from the nucules of all the
species, which, however, certainly partake more of the character of
deciduous buds than of seeds ; the spiral filaments of the envelope
representing a whorl of branchlets. The notion that the globules
are stamens, or that they fulfil an analogous function, is no longer
tenable: the remark by Wallroth of having witnessed their germina-
tion, I have myself seen attested by the growth of those of C. aspera
in several successive years ; the plants produced were always clus-
tered, two or more together, and presented a striking contrast to
those springing solitarily from the nucules of the same.

The Characeae are widely distributed, inhabiting stagnant waters,
both fresh and salt, in almost every part of the world. The species
are all of a dull greenish hue, and generally give out a disagreeable
fetid odour. Their oeconomical value is to be sought in the ministry of
nature, under which, in common with many other aquatic vegetables
lower in the scale of organization, they constitute an important
series. They tend to maintain a healthy condition of the water in
which they grow, and at the same time assist, by their annual de-
velopment and subsidence, in elevating the bottoms of pools and
lakes, until they are brought sufficiently near the surface to be
further solidified by the successive vegetation of the numerous
species of Bush, Carex, Equisetum, &c. ; and subsequently thus aid
in forming a soil endued with the essence of fertility,-and'requiring

38

only modification by the art and industry of man to convert it to
his immediate use and benefit. The quantity of calcareous matter
elaborated by some of the Charas— so great as to have acquired for
them the vulgar name of Stoneworts—is an admirable adaptation for
this purpose, like the siliceous deposits, before alluded to, of the
Equisetums. The share indeed that such plants have had, even
from a distant geological epoch, in increasing the solid surface of
our present lands, is evinced by the abundance of their fossil re-
mains in the freshwater strata overlying the chalk in the Isle of
Wight, about Paris, and elsewhere. These remains consist both of
the stems and nucules, but chiefly the latter, called by Lamarck,
Gyrogonites, under the impression that they were the shells of a
testaceous animal : their identification, together with the important
fact, that those of 01mm hispz'da abound in the calcareous marls of
Forfarshire, while the same species exists profusely in a living state
in the lakes that still cover portions of their surface, may be re-
garded as among the most beautiful and interesting discoveries of
modern science. Dr. Lindley remarks that “the fetid effluvium
arising from them is regarded as very unhealthy, and one of the
sources of the malaria of the Campagna of Rome.” The salubrity
of this or any corresponding odour is questionable; but whether the
atmosphere of that renowned region of sickness and death, or that
of our English swamps and fens, would be improved by the absence
of plants that subsist upon the impurities of their waters, is doubtful ;
we expect neither the sweep nor the scavenger to exhale Eau de Co-
logne, but the value of their services as ministers of cleanliness is
not less certain, nor their efforts for the abatement of nuisances
less desirable and praiseworthy.

In consequence of the exceeding tenuity of the cellular mem-
brane constituting the organic structure of these plants, and its
all but perfect transparency in Nitella, as likewise in Chara itself,
when the calcareous incrustation is removed, the movement of the
vital fluid contained in their tubes or cells may be distinctly seen
by the assistance of a microscope. The public attention was first
directed to this curious phenomenon by Professor Amici of Modena,
and similar movements have been since traced in the cells of a
variety of other plants, but not in any affording equal facility for
examination. The fluid contents of each elongated cell or tube
form a rotating current always in the same direction, ascending on
the outer side, or on that farthest from the axis of the plant, and
descending on the inner, although no partition exists between the
two courses, as is evinced by the fact, that of the granules or mole~
cules floating in this fluid, one or more, pursuing a course upward
or downward with one side of the current, will be occasionally
attracted into the other and forcibly carried away in the opposite
direction, It is by the presence of these molecules, which are

39

more Opaque than the medium in which they float, that the circu-
lation, or rotation as it is technically termed, of the containing
fluid is distinguishable: they vary considerably in dimensions, but
the largest cannot be distinctly traced with a lens whose focus is
more than '17 of an inch, and to follow their movements success-
fully 1n the1 aggregate, the higher powers of the modern achro
matic microscope are required. The velocity of the motion has
been variously stated as estimated by different observers ; but it is
dependent upon the time of year, and, more especially, upon the
surrounding temperature; below 50° Fahr. the movement is either
so slow as to be scarcely perceptible, or it ceases altogether.

The claim of this order of plants to rank among the “ Fern
Allies,” however incongruous that assemblage undoubtedly is,
must be considered as more vague and uncertain than that of any
of the preceding. Its place in any arrangement has never been
satisfactorily determined. Linnaeus commenced by placing the
genus Chara among the flowerless plants of his class Cryptogamz'a;
and afterwards, regarding the globules as stamens, and the nucules
as pistz'ls, removed it to the Phanerogamous or flowering series.
Later botanists have been equally divided as to its real aflinities,
and, after having been successively transferred from one group of
aquatic plants to another, and eventually established as a distinct
natural order, it still remains an anomaly in botanical classifica-
tion. In certain points of general structure it approaches that of
the Confervoid Algaceae, but the nature of its reproductive organs
is too complicated to admit of its being placed so near the bottom
of the structural scale; and, though Dr. Lindley in his “ Vegetable
Kingdom” has adopted this allotment of Characeae for convenience
sake, he does not fail to point to its other affinities. In the second
edition of “English Botany” I placed Characeae after Equisetaceae,
remarking that there is sufficient resemblance between the nucules
of 07mm and the sporules of Equisetum, independent of many pe-
culiarities in mutual habit and organization, to warrant its tempo-
rary position as a reduced form of that order. The resemblances
in question are very striking, if we set aside the fact that the Charas
are destitute of any .true vascular or woody tissue—in both orders
we shall then have stems interrupted at intervals by articulations,
and having the central. cavities or internodes encompassed by a
series of smaller ones; earthy secretions constituting an integral
portion of the organic structure; the absence of true leaves; the
whorled branchlets 3 and, lastly, the reproductive organs so evi-
dently formed by modification of such whorls at the base of an
embryo stem, as exemplified in the spirals covering the nucules of
Chara, and the spirally curved stamen—like processes investing the
sporules of Equisetum. Critically considered, these analogies may
be rather specious than real 3 but it is to be lamented that a similar

4O

objection may apply, and with equal force, to. many other 1tem.s.of
vegetable classification, founded upon so-called natural affinltles
which have no firmer foundation than such resemblances.

The globules and nucules being in some spec1es developed upon
the same, and in others upon different plants, these latter are
described as being monwcious or dicecz'ous.

CHARA.

EN. CHAR. The same as that of the Order, of which it is pro-
bably the only genus extant.

The name Chara is of uncertain derivation; it was applied by
the ancients to some aquatic plant with edible roots, memorable as
being resorted to, under a scarcity of provisions, by Caesar’s soldiers,
during the war in Spain against Pompey. Linnaeus adopted 1t for
the genus before us without any reference to its former s1gn1fica-
tion beyond that of corresponding habitat. The speCIes are now
usually arranged under two subgenera.

1. N ITELLA.

Plants more or less pellucid ; not striated; joints simply tu-
bular.

CHARA FLEXILiS. Flaccid Nitella. TAB. XXI.

Plant monoecious. Stems slender, smooth, flexible, pellucid.
Branchlets pointed, nearly equally forked, or trifid. Nucules and
globules approximate in the forks of the branchlets, ebracteate.

Chara flexilis, Linnaeus. E. B. 1070. C. nidifica, some authors.
Nitella fiexilis, Agard/z, Syst. Alg. E. B. ed. 2.

A very weak, slender plant, far from unfrequent in ditches and
other stagnant waters. The whorled branchlets are generally
forked or trifid at the extremity, but occasionally simple, and
sometimes so much divided as to give them a clustered appearance;
which latter state has probably occasioned it to be confounded
with another species, as C. nidq'fica. The nucules and globules are
produced in the forks of the branchlets of the upper whorls, and
are, for the most part, unaccompanied by the short bracteal append-
ages or modification of secondary whorls which characterize those
of C. Smit/n'i and some others: they are sometimes found side by
side, but seem to be most frequently solitary. Mr. Babington
describes the nucules as having six striae, which is perhaps gene-
rally the case 5 but the spirals of these curious organs are too liable

 

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to vary in number to be depended upon as features of much value
in specific distinction.

The following remarks upon the structure of the globules in this
species are extracted from the description given of them by the
Rev. M. J. Berkeley, under his notice of Chara Hedwigz'z' in E. B.
Supp. 27 62, and are valuable as conveying a general idea of their
complicated development :—

“ The globules are not perfectly globose, but slightly obovate,

with a very short pedicel: beneath the transparent external mem-
brane, the surface is divided into eight equilateral triangles by one
horizontal and two vertical great circles: in the centre of each of
these triangles is a subrotund area, from which lines radiate regu-
larly, so as to form obovate oblong cells,—the line which radiates
from one triangle running to the middle of the outer boundary of
the corresponding cell in the adjacent triangle. The globules are
filled with a mass of transparent, colourless, flexuose, confervoid
filaments, with articulations about equal in length and breadth;
and minute orange spherules, whose diameter is less than that of
the filaments, are contained in the radiating cells of the triangles,
which are raised on the inner side. These spherules are immersed
in gelatine, as the green spherules of the stems are. In the centre
of each of the spherical triangles into which the surface is divided,
on the under side, arises perpendicularly an orange-coloured cylin-
der which bears on the top a bell-shaped cup, which is at first
orange, being filled with the same granules as the cells, afterwards
pellucid and striate or plicate at the margin. At the place where
the cup is attached to its pedestal, the confervoid filaments ori-
ginate.—It appears that the orange matter contained in the ra-
diating cells has access, by means of the hollow pedestal and bell,
to the curved filaments. The pedestal is certainly hollow, as, when
dry, the orange mass contracts exactly as the colouring matter does
in the joint of a Conferva.” Such appears, with slight variation,
to be the general structure of the globules throughout this genus ;
and that they, as well as the nucules, are modifications of the pri-
mary organs of the plant, viz. of the stem and branchlets, will be
readily‘admitted by the attentive examlner ; but, beyond this, our
knowledge of their relative functions is at present little more than
speculative. The globules attain maturity and fall off, generally,
long before the nucules, the parts composing them separating
more or less at that period: but the fact, that young plants spring
from them, at once decides against the supposition that they fulfil
the office of anthers.
-. The structure aboVe described is Well illustrated by Mr. Ber-
keley’s magnified figures of the parts mentioned. Figure a repre-
sents the divided extremity of one of the branchlets bearing a
globule; I), a globule separated 3 c, the same greatly magnified;
“ G

42

d, one of the triangles seen from within, with its pedestal and ra-
diating cells; e, the pedestal when dry; f, one of the cups, With a
portion of its pedestal and accompanying conferv01d filaments; g,
the same cup and filaments as they appear at an earlier stage,
without the pedestal ; h, the filaments and granules.

CHARA SYNCARPA. Twin-fruited Nitella. TAB. XXII.

Plant dioecious. Stems slender, equal, smooth, flexible, pellucid.
Branchlets bluntish, apiculate, nearly equally forked or trifid.
Nucules or globules in the forks of the branchlets, ebracteate.

Chara syncarpa, T/millz'er. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot.

The striking difference between this and C. fiexz'lz's, as shown on
our plates, must not be depended upon, as the two forms present
every intermediate gradation. I have not found them together,
but am informed that they not unfrequently occupy the same
waters. The distribution of submerged aquatic plants is at all
times a subject difficult to be ascertained, and although that of the
present is apparently limited, it is probably not more so than others
which are regarded as common. To previous habitats in Sussex,
Cambridgeshire, Caernarvonshire and Galway, we may add the pool
on Wandsworth Common, Surrey, in which Stratiotes aloides abounds,
' and a ditch in the meadows near Dulwich College, where it grows
in company with Ranunculus pantotlzriaz, as well as other stagnant
waters in the same county. If a distinct species, which is very
doubtful, the leading characteristic must be sought in the peculiar
bluntness of the branchlets, so dissimilar to those of C.flewz'lis, and
their apiculate termination, both of which are exhibited in the
magnified views on the right side of our plate. The dioecious dis-
position of the nucules and globules, though usual, is not constant;
they attain their maturity in June.

CHARA TRANSLUCENS. Translucent Nitella. TAB. XXIII.

Plant monoecious. Stems thick, equal, smooth, flexible, pellucid.
Sterile branchlets spreading, simple, not articulated. Fertile whorls
of small bi- or tri-furcate branchlets. Nucules small, oblong, two
or three together, just below the bract-like branchlets that surround
the solitary terminal globule.

Chara translucens, Persoon. E. B. 1855. Nitella translucens,
Agardlz, Syst. Alg. 124:. E. B. ed. 2. 1467.

Found in deep stagnant water only, and, though widely distri-
buted, far from frequent. The thickness of the stems and branchlets .

 

 

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varies in different situations, but is usually very striking compared
with that of the other species of the subgenus Nitella. The
branchlets of the fertile whorls, being small, closely placed, and
tending to an erect position, have the appearance of being capitate. .
The number of spirals composing the nucules is from five to seven;
the relative situation of these organs to the solitary globule is shown
in our magnified figure. The whole plant is very smooth and
glossy, and the greater size and transparency of its long continuous
cells render it the most valuable of all the species for microscopical
4 examination of the rotating fluid. It may be found in fructification
from July to September.

CHARA MUCRONATA. Mucronate Nitella.

“ Plant monoecious. Stems slender, equal, flexible, transparent.
Branchlets strongly mucronate, nearly equally forked or trifid.
Nucules and globules together at the forks of the branchlets, with-
out bracts.”

Chara mucronata, Braun. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot.

Found by Mr. Borrer in a marsh-ditch at West Grinstead,
Sussex. I have not seen this plant. Mr. Babington describes it
as being “rather thick 5” the secondary branchlets once or twice
forked, and the terminal subdivisions rather shorter than the others.
The nucules have four or five spirals, and mature in July.

As a species distinct from C'. translucens, the above description
is not very satisfactory. The apiculate termination of the forks of
the fertile branchlets is shown in our figure of the latter plant, and
the term mucronate, though nearly synonymous, is scarcely appli-
cable to any such appendage to the extremities of the branchlets of
this family; the point in question being generally formed by an
abortive or contracted cell. The absence of bracts affords a charac-
ter of greater apparent value, but even this is equivocal, as the
organs so called, in other species or varieties, are only modifications
of branchlets. '

CHARA GRACILIS. Slender Nitella. TAB. XXIV.

Plant monoecious. Stems very slender, equal, smooth, flexible,

_ pellucid. Branchlets in loose whorls, repeatedly divided ; terminal

segments apiculate, shorter than the others. Nucules and globules

produced together, one of each, at the subdivisions of the branch-
lets, ebracteate.

Chara gracilis, Smith. E. B. 2140. Nitella gracilis, Agardh, Syst.
Alg. 125. E. B. ed. 2. 1470. '

Found by Mr. Borrer in boggy pools in St. Leonard’s Forest,
Sussex. By others in Llyn Idwel, North Wales, and in Jersey.

G2

44

There is a peculiarity in the general aspect of this plant, especially
when viewed in water, that would induce the observer to regard it
as a perfectly distinct species. The comparatively small size, and
the almost hair-like tenuity of the whorled barren branchlets, that
spread out diverging so much from the stem as often to become
deflexed, added to the compact, almost capitate appearance of the
fertile ones, render it the most elegant of its kind. It is of'a
pale green hue, glossy, and almost transparent. The fructifica-
tion is axillary to the subdivisions of the upper branchlets, and
unaccompanied by short bracteal appendages. A single nucule
and glob ule generally grow side by side, but they are often solitary,
and sometimes, as observed by Mr. Wilson, to whom we are indebted
for its Llyn Idwel habitat, occur on separate plants, thus depart-
ing from the monoecious character. The nucules are subglobose,
proportionally large, with from four to six spirals, and, with the
globules, are perfected in August.

The different size and more complicated division of the branch-
lets, both exceedingly arbitrary features of distinction, alone sepa-
rate this from C. fiexilis.

CHARA TENUISSIMA.

“ Plant monoecious. Stems slender, equal, flexible, transparent.
Branchlets short, in dense, compact, subglobose whorls, repeatedly
divided into from three to seven segments; terminal segments
~mucronate, longer than the others. Globules and nucules each
solitary, but together at the subdivisions of the branchlets without
bracts.”

Chara tenuissima, Desvaux. Babington, Mam. Brit. Bot.

Found by Mr. C. C. Babington in peaty ditches in Cambridge-
shire. I have only seen this in the dried state, in which it is
scarcely possible to trace any material difference between it and
C. gracilis. It must, however, be admitted, that preserved specimens
of these slender aquatics afford little foundation for inquiry into
specific distinction. Mr. Babington’s description presents some appa-
rently important characteristics at variance with such a conclusion:
“ Very small and slender. Branchlets very much divided, forming
little globose compact masses, which are often much incrusted.
Nucules subglobose, with from six to eight striae, minute, but three

times the diameter of the branchlets, and placed outside of them.
Globules much larger than the nucules.” Fructification matures
in July and August.

CHARA SMITHII. Smith’s Nitella. TAB. XXV.

Plant dioecious. Stems slender, equal, smooth, flexible, pellu-
cid. Branchlets blunt: those of the primary whorls simple, elon-

 

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gated, sterile; those of the axillary branches numerous, densely
crowded, bearing three secondary branchlets (bracts) at the articu-
lation of the terminal joint. Globules stalked, subtended by the
three bracts. (Nucules unknown?)

Chara Smithii, Babington. C.nidifica, Smith. E. B. 1703. Nitella
nidifica, E. B. ed. 2. 1469.

The plant figured in ‘ English Botany,’ Tab. 1 703, under the name
of Ckam nidifica, as a native of salt-water ditches in some of the
southern and eastern shores of England, is involved in some obscu-
rity: that it is not that so called by some continental botanists,
seems probable at least, though not altogether decided. The sim-
ple, much elongated branchlets of the primary whorls, and the
crowded and divided characters of those bearing the fructification,
though sufficient to hold it distinct from C. fiexilz's and its near
allies, are equally characteristic of the two following, 0. prolz'fem
and C. Barren, as is likewise the presence of the three bracts, so
called. The stalked condition of the globules may or may not be
constant, but as it occasionally occurs in others where that curious
organ is generally sessile, it can assuredly not be regarded of much
importance in the present instance.

The figure and description refer to specimens found by Mr.
Borrer in a ditch at Lancing, Sussex.

.CHARA PROLIFERA. Proliferous Nitella. TAB. XXVI.

. Plant monoecious. Stems slender, equal, . flexible, pellucid.
Branchlets blunt: those of the primary whorls simple, elongated,
sterile, usually of three or four joints ; those of the axillary branches
numerous, densely crowded, bearing three secondary branchlets
(bracts) at the articulation of the terminal joint. Globules sessile,
accompanied by one or more nucules, subtended by the three bracts.

Chara prolifera, Braun. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot.

First noticed by Mr. Borrer, growing in ditches, at Cley, Nor-
folk, in 1806, and afterwards in Hayling Island, Hants, in May
1853. The following is his description of it in the latter habitat :—
“ The plants grow erect in dense clusters, a few inches high. Root
of very slender, colourless, transparent fibres, with whorled finer
fibres at the knots. Stems at about an inch from the base beset
with a whorl of longish, blunt, pointed, barren branchlets, and
divided into several ”primary branches, similarly whorled with
. branchlets, from the axils of which again grow short branches, and
much crowded, shorter whorled branchlets. These last are curved
upward and inward a little above the base, and at the point of cur-
vature produce, on the upper side, a cluster of sessile globules and

46

nucules intermixed, subtended by three, sometimes four, bracts
shorter than the continuation of the branchlet; one of which bracts
diverges at right angles from the under side of the branchlet, while
the others are curved upward, clasping the fructification. Clusters
of nucules are sometimes produced at the base of the. branchlets
likewise.”

Mr. Borrer observes that the incrusted state of all his specimens
was such as to render the three or four joints existing in each of
the whorled branchlets with difficulty discernible, and this is not
an uncommon circumstance with other species or varieties of Nitella,
though apparently dependent in a great degree upon the character
of the water in which they vegetate.

CHARA BORRERI. Borrer’s Nitella.

“ Plant monoecious. Stems slender, equal, flexible, pellucid.
Branchlets strongly mucronate: those of the primary whorls simple,
sterile, long, jointed; others on axillary branches, many densely
crowded, bearing three short and one long bract at their first and
sometimes second joining. Globules stalked or sessile, in company
with several nucules, and subtended by the three shorter bracts.”

Chara Borreri, Babington, Man. Brit. Bot. C. nidifica, Bower,
E. B. Supp. 2762, note.

The indefatigable botanist whose name this plant bears, found it
in a marsh-ditch at Henfield, Sussex, about seven miles from the
sea in a direct line, but occasionally affected by the tide, in July
1827. At the time, he seems to have regarded it as identical with
that since named C. prolifera, found by him at Cley, in 1806,
differing only in being of a larger size. Mr. Babington, while
bestowing upon it the rank of a species, remarks upon its near
resemblance to both the latter and C’. Smithz'z', “ but larger,”
the “one long bract,” in his specific description, above quoted,
according with our terminal joint in those of the plants in question.
The inconstancy in the development of the globules, either stalked
or sessile, reduces its distinctive character to one simple feature,
viz. the termination of the blunt branchlets in an apiculus.

CHARA POLYSPERMA. Many-seeded Nitella.

“Plant monoecious. Stems slender, equal, flexible, transparent.
Barren and fertile branchlets of' the primary whorls once or twice
unequally branched, middle branch longest: branchlets of axillary
branches many, densely crowded, much subdivided into short joints,
mostly finely pointed. Nucules and globules placed at the join-
ings of the branchlets between the lateral rays.”

 

 

 

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Chara polysperma, Braun. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot.

Found in running water, near Bury St. Edmunds, and Cam-
bridge. Mr. Babington remarks that this species is distinguished
from the three preceding by the absence of true bracts. Wanting
recent specimens, his farther description is here adopted :—

“ Small. Branches with two or three ascending branchlets,
often again branched at their first joining; often, but not always,
there is a simple branchlet beneath, and at right angles to the
main branch at that point. Globules stalked, directed downwards.
Nucules clustered, sessile, directed upwards.”

There is much in the general aspect of this plant in favour of
-its claim to be considered a distinct species, which is more than
can be said of many of the preceding. It is, indeed, the only one
of those unfigured in our work, of which I regret that the incapa-
bility of obtaining living specimens at the required time, prevented
us from illustrating by careful drawing and bond-fizzle description.

2. CHARA.

Plants more or less opaque, generally brittle; striated; joints
compound, the central tube being surrounded by smaller ones,
except toward the termination of the branches and branchlets.

CHARA CRINITA. Bearded Chara.

“ Plant dioecious. Stems slender, coarsely striated, thickly beset
with setaceous spreading clustered spines. Branchlets abbreviated.
Bracts whorled, slender, equal. Nucules narrowly oblong, shorter
than the bracts.”

Chara crinita, Wallrot/z. Ann. Bot. tab. 3. Babington, Jl’Ian.
Brit. Bot.

A‘ native of stagnant brackish pools. Discovered by the Rev.
W. L..P.V.Garnons, in Burdoch Pool, Falmouth, Cornwall. Stems
erect, slender, smoothish, and rather flexible, slightly branched,
pale green; coated with as many tubes as there are branchlets in
each whorl- Whorls of eight or ten short branchlets, each of
seven joints, with six bracts at each articulation. Nucules solitary,
with about twelve spirals and a prominent crown.

I do not find either the number of spirals, or the prominence of
the nucule crown formed by their extremities, at all constant in the
present or in other species of this subgenus.

CHARA VULGAitIs. Common Chara. TAB. XXVII.

Plant monoecious. Stems opaque, scabrous, brittle, obscurely
striated. Whorled branchlets slender subulate: the fertile ones

48

with many clusters of short ramuli or bracts on the upper or inner.
side, each numbering about four, two or more of which are much
longer than the single nucule and globule which they accompany.

Chara vnlgaris, Linnwus? Agardh, Syst. A19. 128. E. B. 336.
Chara foetida, Braun.

Common in ponds, ditches, and slow streams. The whole plant
is of a yellowish or reddish-green hue, and usually so much in-
crusted as to render its structure very obscure. The stems vary
with the depth of the water from a few inches to a foot in length;
the apparently simple branchlets being about the length of the
joints from the articulations of which they proceed. The upper
whorls only are fertile. The nucules present twelve or thirteen
spirals, and are terminated generally, but not always, by a short
crown. In most instances, a single nucule and a single globule
accompany each other in each little tuft of the bracts so called:
they may be found throughout the summer.

It is generally spoken of as being the most fcetid of the British
species of Chara, but this character seems much dependent upon
the condition of the water in which it vegetates.

CHARA HISPIDA. Bristly Chara. TAB. XXVIII.

lant monoecious. Stems opaque, thickened upwards, brittle,
striated, bristly or spinulose. Branchlets elongate; the fertile
ones especially with many whorls of short ramuli or bracts, the
innermost of which are longer than the solitary nucule and globule
they accompany.

Chara hispida, Linnaeus. Agard/z, Syst. Alg. 128. E. B. 463.

Not uncommon in ditches and turf-pools. The earthy incrusta-
tion is often so dense as to give the plant the appearance of a
petrifaction, though in some habitats it is nearly wanting. The
surface of the stems is minutely tuberculate, and more or less
deeply and spirally grooved, in consequence of the arrangement of
the-small outer tubes. The bristles or spines vary in abundance
in different localities. The branchlets are simple, subulate, pointed
toward the extremity, and composed of about seven joints, with a
whorl of from four to seven short bracts at each articulation. The
ovate nucules occupy singly, with a globule, the upper side of the
whorl of bracts, those to which they are axillary being longer than
the others. The odour is very fcetid.

CHARA TOMENTOSA. Tomentose Chara.

Plants .“ dioecious ? Stems thickened upwards, spirally sulcate,
rough, brittle, With scattered obtuse papillae. Branchlets incurved.

 

 

 

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Bractis unilateral, ovate-oblong, mucronate-acute. Nucule shorter
than the bract- on each side of it, longer than the three in front.”

Chara tomentosa, Linnaeus. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot. C. latifolia,
W'z'lldenow. Hooker, Icon. 532.

Found in Belvidere Lake, Westme'ath, Ireland. “ Opake, whitish-
green. Stems covered with minute tubercles; papillae distinct,
rather whorled, short, blunt on the prominent primary tubes.” I
am unacquainted with this species.

CHARA ASPERA. Rough Chara. TAB. XXIX.

Plants dioecious. Stems very slender, nearly flexible, finely
‘ striated, beset with scattered, spreading or defiexed bristles.
Branchlets of the whorls short, subulate ; the fertile ones with
numerous whorls of short slender ramuli or bracts, the two inner-
most of which are longer than the others, and accompany the
solitary globule or nucule.

Chara aspera, VVz'lldenow. E.B.Supp.2738. Agard/z, Syst. 1419.130.

Not unfrequent in bog-pits and other stagnant waters in the
North of England, in Wales, and Scotland. Stems one or two
feet in length, varying with the depth of water, densely crowded ;
beset with slender, acute, straight, spreading or defiexed bristles,
which seem to be scattered without order, or perhaps very irregu-
larly whorled. At the base of each whorl of branchlets is a row of
long appressed bristles, connected in pairs, of which one points
upwards and the other downwards. Between the outer tubes and
the central one, in both the stems and branches, is a green cellular
substance, arranged in lines alternating with the striae, and sepa-
rated, or broken transversely at intervals, giving them a spotted
appearance. The branchlets, from six to nine in a whorl, consist
of about seven joints, each bearing at its articulation five or six
slender spine-like bracts. I have never met with nucules and
globules on the same plant, and they are uniformly solitary. The
spirals of the former are about twelve or thirteen, and terminate in '
a rather prominent crown. The smaller magnified figures on our
plate illustrate the structure of the globules, which does not mate-
rially differ from that already described under 0. fiexz'lz's. Mr.
Wilson, who discovered this species in Anglesea, and from whose
specimens the figure in the E. B. Supp. was drawn, observed, that
a coloured column, continuous with the short pedicel of the glo-
bule, extends to its centre, whence are given off the pedicels of the
eight triangular facets that form the surface.

I have had this species under cultivation in a glass jar for several
years, and, although no nucules appeared at any time upon it,
‘young plants were copiously produced every spring.

H

5O

CHARA HEDWIGII. Hedwig’s Chara. TAB. XXX.

Plant monoecious. Stems opaque, smooth, slender, equal, some-
what brittle, striated. Branchlets elongated ; the fertile ones with
many whorls of short ramuli or bracts, of which the longest are
shorter than the nucules. Nucules ovate.

Chara Hedwigii, Agard/z, Syst. Alg. 129. E. B. Supp. 2762.
Chara fragilis, Babington, 1mm. Brit. Bot.

Forms dense masses in stagnant water. Stems from six inches
to a foot in length, slender, rather brittle; sometimes partially
incrusted, but generally clear and of a bright green colour. Each
joint appears, as shown in our magnified figure, to be divided
about the middle, in consequence of the smaller surrounding tubes
being articulated midway, as well as at the divisions of the central
one. The branchlets consist of about eight joints, the three or
four lower ones each bearing on the upper side an ovate nucule,
much larger than the accompanying globules beneath it, supported
by four slender bristle- like b1 acts generally shorter than itself,
while two or more, either rudimentary or very small ones, com-
plete the whorl.

CHARA PULCHELLA. Beautiful Chara. TAB. XXXI.

Plant monoecious. Stems smooth, slender, equal, flexible,
st1iated. Fe1tile b1anches with many tufts of short ramuli or
bracts, of which the longest are about the length of the nucules.
Nucules oblong.

Chara pulchella, Wallrotlz. Borrer in E. B. Supp. 2824:. C. fra-
gilis, Babington.

Found by Mr. Borrer in Sussex. Chiefly distinguished from
C. Hedwigii by its flexible stems, and the oblong rather than ovate
form of the nucules. The bracts are not so distinctly whorled. In
publishing the figure, we are desirous of directing attention to
these circumstances, not with a view of establishing it as a species,
although its claim to be regarded as such 1s fully equal to that of
some of the p1eceding, but to mark more strongly the very slender
foundation upon which such distinctions are occasionally based.
Mr. Babington is doubtless correct, in referring C. Hedwigii and
C. pulclzella of the English Botany to the same type; but, admit-
ting this, the question must occur to every caleful student in '
vegetable morphology, whether the sixteen or more acknowledged
British species may not be capable of condensation, the greater
number being mere accidental varieties of four or five prima1y
f01ms.

 

 

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INDEX.

Synonyms and names incidentally mentioned are printed in italics.

Page Tab.
Chara ........................... 36
Chara ........................... 47
aspera ..................... 49 29
Bearded .................. 47
Beautiful .................. 5O 31
Borreri ..................... 46
Bristly .................. 48 28
Common .................. 47 27
crinita ..................... 47
flexilis ..................... 40 21
fwtida ..................... 48
fragi‘lz's ..................... 5O
gracilis ..................... 43 24
Hedwigii .................. 50 30
hispida ..................... 48 28
latzfolia .................. 49
mucronata ............... 43
m'dz' ca .................. 4O
m'dz' ca .................. 45
niclifica .................. 46
polysperma ............... 46
prolifera .................. 45 26
pulchella.‘ ................. 50
Rough ..................... 49 29
Smithii .................. 44 25
syncarpa .................. 42 22
tenuissima ............... 44
tomentosa ............... 48
translucens ............... 42 23
vulgaris .................. 47 27
Characeae ..................... 36
Club- Moss ..................... 26
Club-Moss, Alpine ............ 30 17
Common .................. 27 15
Fir ..................... 31 18
Interrupted ............... 29 16
Lesser Alpine ............ 35 20
Marsh ......... 34 19
‘ Prickly ...... ...... ‘ ...... 3 5 20

Dutch Rushes .................. 14

 

Page Tab.
Equisetaceae .................. 3
Equisetum ..................... 3
Equisetum alpinum ......... 13
arenarz’um ............... 17 1 1
arvense .................. 5 l
Drummondiz' ............ 6 2
elongatum ............... 15 9
fluviatz’le .................. 7 3
fluviatile .................. 10 5
hyemale .................. 13 8
limosum .................. 1 O 5
Mackaii .................. 15 9
Moorei ..................... 19 12
multiforme ............... 16
multiforme ............... 17 11
nudum ..................... 13
palustre .................. 1 l
palustre .................. 12 6
polystachion ............ 12 7
reptans .................. 18
sylvaticum ........... . . . . 9 4
Telmateia ............... 7 3
umbrosum ............... 6 2
variegatum ............... 17 11
Wilsoni .................. 17 10
Ferns, Water .................. 20
Gyrogom'tes .................... . 38
Horsetail ........................ 3
Horsetail, Blunt- -topped . . . 6 2
Corn ..................... 5 1
Field ..................... 5
Great ..................... 7 3
Mackay s .................. 15 9
Marsh ..................... 12 6
Moore’s ................. . 19 12
Rough ..................... 13 8
Smooth ................. . l 0 5
Variegated ............... 1 7 1 1
Wilson’s .................. 17 10
Wood ..................... 4

5‘2 INDEX.
Page Tab. Page Tab.
Hydropterz'des .................. 20 N itella fiem'lz's .................. 4O 21
Iso'étacew ..................... 20 gracilis .................. 43
Isoetes ........................... 2O Many-seeded ............ 46
Iso'étes lacustris ............... 21 13 Mucronate ............... 43
Lycopodiaceee .................. 24~ m'dz' ca ..................... 45
Lycopodium .................. 26 prolifera .................. 45 26
Lycopodium alpinum ......... 3O 17 Slender .................. 43 24
annotinum ............... 29 16 Smith’s .................. 44 25
catharticum ............... 26 translucens ............... 42
clavatum .................. 27 15 Translucent ............... 42 23
complanatum ............ 31 Twin-fruited ............ 42
inundatum ............... 34 19 Pillwort ........................ 22
lucidulum .................. 34 Piluiaria ........................ 22
reflexum .................. 34 Pilularia globulifera ......... 23 14
rubrum ..................... 26 ' Quillwort ..................... 2O
sabz’ncefolz'um ............ 31 Quillwort, Lake ............... 21 13
Selaginoides ............ 35 Selagz’nella spinulosa ......... 35 2O
Selago ..................... 31 18 Shave-Grass .................. 4 _
Marsileaceae .................. 2 Stoneworts ..................... 38
Muscus catharticus ......... 33 Vegetable Sulphur ............ 28
N itella ........................... 40 Water Ferns .................. 2O
Nitella, Borrer’s ............... 46 Yatum condenado ............ 27
Flaccid ..................... 4O 21
A}: ‘1 \ V \ \