THE COMMON HAKTSToNia K FEHN. 



prone to send out a midsummer shoot, which is common to nil Ferns i.. a slight degree ; but this 

 occasionally produces a young stipitato frond from (lie apex of the largo one, its sti|>es being thickly 

 Clothed with scales as in the lower or parental portion. It was found by Mr. Wollaston in Dorsetshire. 



48. xmdidatum (M.). Tins is regularly wavy-curled like crispum (46), but somewhat less so, and is 

 narrower, and unliko that, fertile. A lobed variation of it, an old garden plant— undulato-Malum- 

 has been recently found in Susses by Mr. Wollaston. The typical state of this variety is often 

 confounded with criepum, and is a constant plant, not uncommon. 



40. comjdtcatum (W.) was found wild in 1853 in private grounds at Chislehurst, Kent, by Mr. 

 Wollaston. The fronds are eithor simple or multifid, and their margins are irregularly crenatc, 

 laciniate, and undulate ; in some respect* it approaches undtdalum. It is an unusual form. 



50. conjnnctum (M.). A very pretty form, found by Mr. James in Guernsey. It is dwarf, broad. 

 undulated, lobed, and the apices of the lobes are multifid, with tho ]K>ints twisted as in crista-gntti (58). 



51. sagiUifolium (W.) is remarkable for having Uio nuricled portion of tlio lower part of the frond 

 elongated and dcllexcd, as the barbs of an arrow, each with a distinct midrib. The plant has a tendency 

 to be multitid both at the ai>cx of the frond and also at the elongated auricles. It was found in Sussex 

 by Mr. Wollaston in 1854, and is doubtless a constant form, as the fronds of tho former year had tho same 

 peculiarity. Others very similar have been found in Ireland by Dr. Allchin, in 1863, in the counties 

 Clare and Kerry. It is not tho var. SaffiUalum of Willdenow, a dwarf South of Eurai>c plant. 



52. retiiurcium (M.). The netted venation is tho chief peculiarity of this variety. The fronds are 

 unevenly strap-shaped, sub-multilid, and blotched with whitish-green, almost amounting to variegation. 

 Tho margin is entire but uueveu. It was found in Ireland by Dr. Allchin in 1853, and is uniquo. 



53. di**mUe (W.) was found by Mr. A. Clapham near Settle, in Yorkshire, in 1855, and, as its name 

 implies, has the fronds so unlike each other that they seem to belong to different plants ; some are 

 multifid, sinuate ; others interrupted and laciniate, and aomo again truncate, obtuse, fan-shaped. It 

 is a vigorous growing form. 



54. dapauparalum (W.). A most curious deformity. Instead of fronds, the plant has little else but 

 their midribs, forming subulate points, either simple, bifid, or multifid. And as if instinct wore given 

 it, and that it felt it could not exist without spiracles, it throws up, in the course of the season, one or 

 two large digitate fronds. It is a seedling from diffitalum (65) raised by Mr. Wollaston in 1851. 



55. multifidum (\V.> includes all forms from the simply divided apex of the lobaium of authors to 

 those which are more complicated, but in which the lower portion of the frond is normal, and which 

 arc neither uniformly affected, nor uniformly permanent. The sub-forms arc numerous. 



50. furcatum (W.). A very rare variety. Its character consists in tho apex of tho frond splitting 

 exactly down the midvein, each portion falling back, forming the shape of a bird's claw ; these occa- 

 sionally grow on as hi other multifid forms, and divide exactly in the same way over and over again, 

 while the lower portion continues normal. 



57. cristalttm (Clapham) is closely allied to cri*ta-g<dli (58) and also to ramosum (63)— to the former, in 

 the plication of the apex, although it is not nearly so much crisped, and to the latter in general habit and 

 constancy. It also has a curious inclination to produce frilled cups on the under side of the frond on the 

 main rachis, an inch or two from tho apex. The frond is normal in its lower parts. It was found by 

 A. Clapham, Esq., near Settle, in Yorkshire, and is rare. 



58. crista-galli (W.> is one of tho modifications of multifidnin, but differs from it in the apex being 

 a complicated folding rather than a complicated dividing of its parts. The lower portion of the frond 

 is crenato-imdulate. It is permanent under cultivation, and produces the same form from its spores. 

 It was found iii Dorsetshire in 1850 by Mr. Wollaston. 



5!). >hd<efrom (W.). This curious little plant, evidently of the multifid group, is, from its pigmy 

 habit, scarcely U> be distinguished as such. The fronds rarely attain a length of four inches, but are 

 more frequently from half an inch to two inches long; the a]>ex of most of them is bifurcate, exactly in 





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