243 



ART, II. — Notes on Aspidium aculeatum, and its Allies. By G. 

 A. Walker Abnott, F.L.S. F.R.S.E. &c.— (/« a Letter to the 

 Editors.) 



Gentlkmbn, 

 Favour me with the insertion of the following remarks in your 

 Journal, respecting this tribe of ferns : 



1. A. aculeatum, Sm. is the plant of Linnaeus, and I think also 

 of Swartz. A. aculeatum, Willd. is intended to contain both 

 A. aculeattim and lohatum of Smith, but principally refers to the 

 latter. Dr. Hooker's A. aculeatum is entirely A. lobatum, Sm. 

 but the observation, " I have seen some plants which might almost 

 be considered to unite the two," given under his A. lobatum, (Bri- 

 tish Flora, p. 443.) applies I believe to the A. aculeatum of Smith. 



2. A. lobatum, Sw. seems that of Smith, but A. lobatum, Willd. 

 and Hook. (I allude to the British Flora,) is A. angulare, Smith. 



3. A. angulare, Sm. and Hook, is not A. angulare, Willd. I 

 rather suspect it to be A. orbiculatum, Desv. 



4. A. Plukenetii, Loisl. and De C. is a variety of A. lobatum, 

 Sm. with the frond pinnate, the pinnae being deeply pinnatifid, 

 which has given rise to the query in De Candolle and Duby's " Bo- 

 tanicon gallicum," if all these and A. lonchitis be not states of one 

 and the same species ? 



The above may have their synonymes thus arranged : — 



1. A. lobatum, Sw. and Sm. Eng. Bot. t. 1563. (not Willd. nor 

 Hook.) A. aculeatum, Hook, (exclus. syn. Sw. and E. Bot.) and 

 Willd. (exclus. of many synonymes,) almost entirely, and also of 

 most foreign botanists ; — A. Plukenetii, Loisl. 



2. A. aculeatum, Lin. Sw. and Sm. Eng. Bot. t. 1562. and 

 Willd. (scarcely at all ;) A. lobatum, intermediate variety. Hook. 



3. A. orbiculatum, Desv. ; A. annulare, Sm. Eng. Flora, and 

 Hook. Brit. Flora, but not.of WiMenow ; A. lobatum, Willd. 

 and Hook, (exclus. all syns.) 



But are these species ? I fear not. The chief character between 

 A. lobatum and A. aculeatum, is the decurrent pinnules of the for- 

 mer, and the distinctly petiolate pinnules of the latter ; but I have 

 seen specimens very much between the two : and these also have 

 neither the compact frond of the one, nor the loose frond of the 

 other. Again, as to A. aculeatum, and what I call A. orbiculatum, 

 there is also an intermediate state, in which the serratures are 

 deeper and more pointed, and the pinnules more acute than in A. 

 orbiculatum, but not so much so as in A. aculeatum. The A. ap- 

 pendiculatum of Gay, (I am not sure if it be published under this 

 name,) which that botanist gave me from Veviers in France, and 

 with which he hesitatingly suspected " A. aculeatum, Sm. but cer- 

 tainly not of Sw. or Willd." to be the same, appears to me to be 

 also intermediate, partaking of the short pinnules of the one, but 

 the acute pinnules of the other. This state has been gathered by 

 Dr. Johnston at the Pease-bridge in Berwickshire. 



VOL. II. 2 I 



