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THE SOFT PRICKLY SHIELD FERN. 



that their vital energy could not be tested. Although among exotic Ferns instances of viviparous 

 growth wore known to occur frequently, yet our Acquaintance with so many bulbil-bearing British Ferns 

 i^ Who to the scrutiny of a few zealous cultivators, especially Mr. Wollaston of Chislehurst, Dr. Allchin 

 of Bayswatcr. Mr. Clapham of Scarborough, and Mr. Baxter of Oxford, during the summer of 1854; for 

 in the most recent publication on the subjects issued in tho earlier part of the same year, Mr- Newman 

 mentions one British species only, P. annulare, as known to |>ossc£8 this property. Mr. Baxter has 

 suggested Ihat it may be a result of pot culture, all the instances in which it has been observed, having 

 been on potted plants. The facts thus observed, appear to afford additional evidence that the frond* 

 of Ferns are not leaves, as some would call them, but to which the fact of their normally bearing the 

 fructification seems repugnant ; but that they at least include something of the nature of branches. 

 Another fact which militates against the opinion that the fronds of Ferns arc mere leaves is this. 

 Leaves, it is maintained by physiologists, have their points first formed, the perfected apex being as it 

 were pushed forward by accretion from below, but in the fronds of Ferns it may often be seen to 

 demonstration that the lower parts are perfectly developed and bear mature sori, whilst tho apex 

 is still unrolling ; this is very obvious in the genus Xvphndepis* 



Prttffstir/tum angulnre is one of the Ferns which exhibits a considerable degree of variation, the 

 differences in somo instances being very marked. Mr. Wollaston has furnished us with tho greater 

 portion of the following enumeration of varieties :— 



1. hmlulatum (M-). This is a small piimulcd form, quite like the Italian hastulntmn of Tenorc, as 

 figured in the Flora Napotitana* It is chiefly remarkable for tho small size of tho acute pinnules, 

 and for their distinct and slender footstalk ; the auricle, too, is very distinct acute, and in the case of the 

 lower pinnules is separated by a deep incision from the rest of the pinuulc. Jt was found near St 

 Marthas Hill in Surrey, and probably occurs elsewhere. 



2. aeutnm (W.). This form has the pinnules acute, and very distinctly stalked, but the pinnules are 

 longer than in the last rather narrow, falcate, and strongly auriclcd ; the scrraturcs are only 

 slightly develop, but the apices of both the pinnules and auricles are aristate. In appearance it 

 somewhat approaches P. actdeuium* It is rather local than uncommon in Sussex, Hampshire, am! 

 probably other counties. 



:{, arMatum (W.)« This, although not unlike the normal state of the species in its form and habit 

 differs in having the points of the scrraturcs aristate, and the long hair-like points stand forward in a 

 remarkable way, giving the plant a bristly appearance. It is, moreover, very proliferous, producing 

 bulbils on tho stipes, either beneath or at the surface of the ground. It was found by Mr. Wollaston 

 in Sussex, in 1854, and retains iU peculiarities iu the fronds of 1855. 



4, mutlifidum (W.) has the apex of the frond beautifully tufted, and the piniue sometimes divided. 

 It is, perhaps, rather an occasional variation than a permanent variety, 



5. pfoliftntm (W.). There are two slight modifications of this variety, one of which was reported to 

 have been found at Wimbledon, Surrey, by Mr Choules (though we have specimens from Mr. Pampliu 

 purporting to be from Devonshire, on tho authority of Mr. Choules, and suspect this to be the real 

 habitat); the other was found recently near Ottery St Mary, in Devonshire, by Mr. Wollaston, and is 

 a more lax and elegant plant Both forms arc proliferous, bearing .small bulbils chiefly at the point of 

 junction of tho pinnae with the rachis, but sometimes in the axils of the pinnules. It is a most beautiful 

 plant under cultivation. When perfectly developed, especially in Mr. Wollaston's plant, it is triphinatc; 

 the pinnules, which are narrowed and attenuated, as well as very conspicuously stalked, being so deeply 

 cleft and the lobes so much separated as to become pinnulcts* When less eoni|>ouiid it is still 

 remarkable for the narrowed pinuulea Itoth the forms produce spores, but not so plentifully as tho 

 normal plant It is the form called nnymtntum in the second edition of the Handbook of firiti$h 

 Ferns, but for the sake of securing as far as practicable uniformity of nomenclature for the eorre- 



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