230 CRYPTOGAMIA. 
_ Meprctwat Properties.— The decoction of the herbo 
the Lycopodium clavatum, andespecially of LZ. Selago, exct 
_yomiting.”—De Candolle, Essai, p. 312. The former i 
said to be a specific for Plica Polonica—and the latter i 
- much used in the Highlands of Scotland as a counter irri 
tant and detergent. 
ORDER IX. 
FILICES—FERNS. 
Cuaracters.—Herbaceous plants, perennial, having ge- 
nerally a subterraneous caudex (rhizoma), sometimes 
creeping one ; and, in tropical climes, a trunk above ground, 
resembling that of the Palms, having a hard fibrous coating 
formed of the persistent bases of the leaves. Leaves, oT 
fronds, coming off from the main stem in the manner 
leaves, simple, or variously divided, frequently pinnatifid, 
and rolled inwards at the point when beginning to grow. 
Reproductive organs, sometimes in spikes, generally on the 
back of the leaf (in which case the Fern is called dorsiferous)- 
In the latter situation the groups of capsules or thece are 
called sori, The sori are often covered by a membranaceou: 
___ integument, formed of the raised cuticle, and called indusiwm 
 orinvolucre. The theew are sessile, OF rained on a sort 0 
pedicel (pedicellate), which is generally continued round — 
_ them, constituting an elastic ring, by the action of which the — 
% dehiscence = thecz is produced. 
: Baier: Polypadion's P. dryopteris (tender three- 
— Polypody) 5 Aspidium Filiz-mas (Male Shiel 
