THE LADY FERN 
Cauder stout, erect or decumbent, sometimes elongated and trunk-like, often tufted, scaly at the 
crown. Seales lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, dark brown, sometimes almost black. Fidres strong, 
‘kish, branched, the younger parts tomentose 
‘Stipes terminal, and adherent to the caudex, from about one-third to one-fourth the entire length of 
the frond, pale green or dull purplish red, stoutish, much thick 
ned and assuming a kind of spindle-shape 
just above the base and considerably reduced in size at the extreme base, scaly ; seales numerous on the 
lower part, lanceolate 
linear, dark-coloured, varying from dark reddish brown to almost b 
k, fewer 
and narrower on the upper part, often contorted, Rachis furnished sparingly with small narrow 
melled in front, rounded behind. 
deciduous senles, cha 
Vernation eireinate. In the partially developed fronds the apex becomes liberated and bent down 
wards in a curve like that of a shepherd's crook. 
Froud very variable in size, outline, and division, herbaceous, usually of a bright tender green, егесі 
spreading, or drooping. In the form we have figured (which is one of the most compound states of the 
incisa type) two to three feet high, and from nin 
inches to a foot broad ; but often met with mature 
from one to two fect high, and from threo to six inches broad, and not unfrequently пе 
ly or quite five 
feet in height, with the longest pinnæ measuring ten inches. ‘The outline is lanceolate, sometimes v 
broad, sometimes narrow ; the less developed forms scarcely bipinnate, the pinnules being connected by 
the winged rachis, the more highly developed forms almost or quite tripinnate, the pinnules being distinct, 
and divided almost, or quite, to the midvein. Pinner numerous, opposite or alternate, more distant below, 
and often deflexed ; sometimes approximate, sometimes distant above ; linear-oblong, broadest at the base, 
gradually narrowing to а point, pinnate. Pinnules oblong, or ovate-laiceolate, obtuse or acute ; sessile 
with a broad attachment, decurrent and confluent at the base, or with a very short narrowed stalk-like 
attachment ; pinnatifd with shallow 2-3-toothed lobes at the base, and simple teeth towards the apex, or 
deeply pinnatifid throughout, with the lobes variously toothed—the teeth sometimes confined to the 
apices of the lobes, but in the more compound forms extending along their sides ; the teeth are usu 
short and blunt-pointed, but somet 
nes narrowed and len; 
hened, though never normally bristle-pointed. 
‘The pinnules are sometimes merely patent, but frequently form a right angle with the secondary rachis 
and they are sometimes flat, the teeth lying in the same plane 
they become convex from the incurving 
of the teeth over the sori. In some forms there is no appreciable difference in the proportionate size of 
the lobes, but in others the lowest anterior lobe is considerably longer, giving an aurieulate appearance 
to the pinnules, and forming a conspicuous line on each side the rachis of the pinna: 
ion of the pinnules in the less divided forms consisting of a flexuous midvein, producing 
alternate veins of which the lower are forked, with a venule directed into each tooth, and the upper are 
simple, directed into the simple teeth at the apex of the pinnules ; in these the anterior venule of cach 
fascicle bears the sorus along its anterior side. When the pinnules are more divided, the veins are 
pinnately branched, several alternate venules being produced, the number corresponding with the number 
of teeth ; the anterior venule is here also soriferous, so that a line of sori are produced on each side the 
midvein, but in addition s 
me of the other venules of the lower lobes bear sori. When the pinnules 
become very deeply divi 
fe 
J, as in the most compound states of the plant, each of the veins produces 
sever е venules, the sori then forming two lines along the lobes. The veins а 
d venules terminate 
in a very slight attenuated point, just within the apex of the tooth, towards which they are directed. 
Fructification on the back of the fe 
dispersed over the whole under surface, 
