THE BROAD PRICKLY-TOOTHED BUCKLER FERN, 



Mr. Tittmm, in rocky *ituation» ( near Settle, in York *b ire, anil by tho Hot. J, >L Chmtrr. on alone nail* 

 Jlfraocaubc, in Drionrhfrei and we hate (bund a »cry nuuilnr, if not identical, form, in several raft* of Scotland* 

 according to Mr. Xcnnnm, It U frnruent in the hill dirtrict* of Sort Hid, IrcLand. ud Walfe Sir J, K. Smith '■ 

 Jumttentm I* recorded a» occurring in rocky place* On Mount Girder, and nnr E'hainon Vellon, in Wale*; in 

 Wntaxircland ; in rocky ]iLaoo* in Itirrlttone Wood, Edinburgh ; and on Crotntord Moor, Dcrbjvliirc. The dwarf 

 luKMttml glandular Pern wo now lainlc i-lMid with tliit, mid which Mr. Ncirmau a**ocule* with &JH*t* i* kmnd 

 nt Silvrrthnilc, near Conutonc, in Lancashire, br Miu 31, Brercr ; in Ihe Up «f Man, br Dr. Allrhlu ; noar 

 llfracornlio. in Devonshire, by the Rev. J. M. Chanter; in Wain, at Fcttinio^, by Dr. Allchtn; and on Gamrbin, 

 above Rliaradcr, by Mr. J. It Cobb; in Scotland, by ouraeiroa, at Tarbet, in Dumbartonahirc. (Urn Croc, in 

 Afj^liwhrn', and in tfce Ido of Amu. Dr. Donkin'i hwm/^ whwh wc aUo cootUcr identical, i* from fioalMU in 

 tW Ule of Arran. Tbi« variety tvittn* aecma confined to the lake dUtricta. unless, indeed, a* ■utreetcd. it mat 

 occur in Ireland! it wai fint brought into notice by (h* Iter. G. Finder, who found it in Wr*t»orel*r>d, and 

 YorLiaire; and nr am indebted to tfn*j&. Kcct pr for plant * found hy M e. T, Kceteiton at Torrcr, near Conurtonc* 

 in liuicavhirc. Tbo variety €!k**trria wna found in a wood at Harttand. Derotubirc, by the Iter, J. M. and 

 Mix Chanter, The tarn-dr eayMfo nu gathered at Tunbrid^i Well*, by the btc Mi» Bower. TV rarietr aJ/w 

 we hare gathered onlr cm Ben Latter*, lVrth*hirc* Tho variety c7<tM<rWo*r wju first fo«nd by Sir, W, Benin 1 1, near 

 Lydbrook, in the forest of Dean, Gtoucr>tcr*airv\ and baa been Pubtvo/ientlr obtained bj Mr. Iroublcday in Kj> pin^ 

 Forest, Rmti. 



QEOORAPHICA h DISTRIBUTION — Lottm A/tftftt u n common and ejencralty ditperscd Kuropeoa species, owumnj: fr«m 

 I<anUnd and Norway to the Savor Alp*, rV*lug*l and Spain* In A»ia it occur* in Kaintelutka, near Pctropanlow>tf, 

 and in Miiigrvlia; In Africa, £n the AsOH*| and in America at Sitka, and Kodiak in the Rnninn territory ; at Port 

 Mtil^rAYc, and in the Rocky mountain*; in New Kogluid and t'anada (//6. //iwtre)* Tbrro isal*> in tho Ifobkcrion 

 Ikrtariuui a ■pecimen labelled from New Zealand. 



Cauda stout* usually erect, rarely denunbent, not creeping, often becoming elongated, and trunk- 

 like, sometimes tufted, tlie crown densely scaly ; the fronds arranged in a circlet around the crown, 

 when the caudex is erect Scales lanceolate-subulate, hair-pointed, brown, with n dark centre ami 

 paler margins. Fibres dark-brown, numerous, coarao, branched, tomentosa 



Sli/MJt terminal, and adherent to the eaudex, variable in length, usually from about one-third to 

 one-half the entire length of the frond, stout at the base, green, densely scaly; the scales spreading, 

 most numerous nt the base, but usually abundant throughout the whole length of the stipes, and in the 

 normal plant lanccoIatc*nttcnuate, and dark-centred like those of the crown, frequently almost black ; 

 rachis convex behind, channelled in front, smooth, or in some plants otherwise normal, clothed with 

 glands; somewhat scaly, especially nt the back, with small subulate more or less distinctly two- 

 coloured scales. 



Vernation circmnte, tho rachis often folded laterally as well as iuvolutely fore and afl> the apex being 

 simply circinate. 



Frond averaging two to three feet> but (exclusive of the varieties noticed below) varying from about a 

 foot to live or six feet in length, and from six to sixteen inches in breadth, herbaceous, dark-green 

 above, jMilcr beneath, spreading and more or less arched or drooping, ovate or ovate-lanceolate in the 

 typical form, bipinnate or tripinnate. Pintuo numerous opposite or sub-opposite, the pairs more distant 

 below. The lowest pair are obliquely-triangular elongate, the posterior pinnules being much larger than, 

 often twice as large as, the anterior ones ; the pinnfeof a few of the succeeding pairs have also an 

 obliquely-deltoid outline, which gradually disappears towards the upper part of the frond, so that those 

 of about the third or the fourth pair, and those above them, arc nearly equal-skied; the upper pinmu 

 arc also narrower, tapering very gradually from tho base to the apex, P%nnuU$ ovate-oblong, aeutish, 

 often convex, the basal ones stalked, the upper sessile and decurrent ; tho lower ones (especially those 

 of the lowest pinna)) are very deeply piunatifid, sometime* pinnate, and the lobes or pinmtlcU aro 

 oblong and bluntish in outline- All the divisions are sharply- toothed, with teeth of sub-ovate form, 

 terminating in a bristle-like point or mucro, which is in general curved laterally towards tho apex 

 of the pinnule or lobe. 



Venation of the piimulets of the lower pinnro, consisting of a stout tlcxuous win, proceeding from 

 the rachis-Iike vein of the primary pinnule, forming a midvein, from which a remde proceeds into each 

 marginal lobe, and this is forked where the lobe is toothed, so as to give off a branch towards each 

 tooth, the anterior branch Iwing fertile at some distance below it« n|K*x, In the larger of the less 

 divided primary pinnules, the same arrangement occurs on a reduced scale, the midvein producing a 

 ti >** Tor each lobe, and this again a tunntv for each (ooth, the lowest anterior venule only Wing fertile, 



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1 H **, 



