Specimen page of Plues’ Ferns. 
POLYPODIUM. aii 
‘ POLYPODIUM. 
Gen. Char. “Sori dorsal, subglobose or oval, destitute of 
involucre. Veins free (as in all the British species) or anasto- 
mosing.”—Sir W. Hooker. 
2. Polypodium vulgare, L. Common Polypody. 
Caudex stout, widely creeping, scaly. Fronds ovate-oblong. 
Sori round, placed in a row on either side the mid-vein. 
The name of this well-known fern is formed from two 
Greek words, polys, many, and pous, podos, a foot; and 
is applicable because of the many rootlets thrown out 
from the caudex. 
The form of the frond is very variable,—we sometimes 
find it eighteen inches long, 
while the plants that grow on 
old walls have often fronds 
not more than three inches” 
in length. The caudex creeps | 
horizontally, becoming inter- | 
laced and matted when left | | 
long undisturbed, and densely V 
clothed with narrow, glossy 
brown scales, The frond is 
pinnate, the pinne nearly 
equal, opposite, and slightly 
waved or jagged at the mar- 
gin. Each pinna has a mid- 
vein, from which branches 
issue, and the fructification is 
situated at the point of the side veins. 
Common as this fern is, and familiar to every one 
who has eyes to see with, it never fails to be noticed 
with favour. Lending to the decaying trunk a new 
