POLVPODIUM VULGARE. COMMON POLYPODY. 163 



" Polypodmm vtilgare, van Americanum^ Hook.," says he, "is 

 the Polypodium Virginianum of Linnaeus, and differs from 

 the European form by a narrower and more elongated frond, 

 narrower lobes separated by a wider sinus, the lowest being 

 longer, or at least not shorter than the following ones, and the 

 sori being always nearer the margin than in the European plant. 

 I have not met with any American specimens entirely agreeing 

 with those of the Old World." It is very difficult to decide a 

 question like this. But on the whole it may be said that the 

 slight differences noted by Prof. Kunze can hardly be con- 

 sidered of sufficient value as points of distinction between two 

 species of a class of plants, so variable as the ferns, as every 

 cultivator knows. In the light of the increased knowledge 

 of this variability the two forms are therefore looked upon as 

 simple varieties by the great majority of the botanical authors of 

 the present day. 



The Polypodmni vuigarc has not 



" The oratory 

 That speaks in perfumed silence," 



which so many of the sweet-scented flowering plants have ; but 

 yet its language to all who love to commune with Nature in the 

 solitude of her quiet woods is eloquent enough. It has some- 

 thing to tell us even in winter, when the pretty flowers, robbed 

 of their perfume, are not only silent, but dead, or at least 

 soundly asleep. Our species is evergreen, and indeed its fronds 

 are more interesting in winter than in the summer season. The 

 beautiful fruit-dots, so regularly placed on the leaflets, form in 

 July, but do not put on their bronzy hue before fall, and are 

 most brilliant in winter. These clusters of sporangia remain on 

 the leaflets until the frond dries up and blows away. One might 

 be tempted to ask why the spores, if they are intended to insure 

 the increase of the species, should remain so long inactive } As 

 rapid a dispersion as possible would seem to be much more 

 advantageous in view of the end to be gained ; and yet we see 



