CRYPTOGAMIA— FILICES. Polypodium. 2G9 



** Frond douhly ■pinnatifid. 



2. P. Phegopteris. Pale Mountain Polypody. 



Frond pinnate ; leaflets lanceolate, united at the base, \>\w- 

 iiatifid, with blunt segments; the lowest pair deflexed. 

 Ribs and veins hairy. Masses of capsules towards the 

 margin of each segment. 



P. Phegopteris. Linn. Sp. PL 1550. mild.v.5.\09. Fl. Br. 1 1 IG. 

 Engl. hot. v.3\.t. 2224. Hook. Scot. p. 2. 153. Bolt. Fil. 36. 

 t. 20. Fl. Dan. t. 124\ . Ehrh. Crypt. 131. 



P. n. 1 608. Hall. Hist. v. 3. 1 2. 



Filix minor britannica, ])cclicii]o pallidiore, alls inferioribus deor- 

 sum spectantibus. Moris, v. 3. 575. sec<. 14. t. 4.f. 1 7. Dill, in 

 Rail Syn. 122. 



In the clefts of rocks, in moist mountainous situations; sometimes 

 on open stony moors, in the north of England and south of 

 Scotland. 



In several parts of \V'estmoreland, but not very common. 



Perennial. June, July. 



Root thread-shaped, slender, wavy, creeping widely, slightly scaly. 

 Fi-onds scattered, erect, twelve or eighteen inches high, delicate 

 in texture, of a pale green, minutely hairy. Stalk brittle, pale, 

 slender, sometimes a little scaly, longer than the leafy part of 

 thefro7id, whose outline is triangular, tapering to a long slender 

 point. Leaflets opposite ; two lower most deflexed ; about ten or 

 twelve pair of them pinnatifid, broad and united at the base ; the 

 rest about as many, undivided and entire, composing the pin- 

 natifid, taper-pointed, summit of the frond. Segments all blunt, 

 wavy, somewhat crenate, or entire, finely hairy, often fringed; 

 the midrib most hairy; the hairs in various parts often aggre- 

 gate, or starry; some of them flat, like narrow membranous 

 scales. Masses of capsules naked, very small, of a pale yellowish 

 brown, disposed in short imperfect rows, towards the margins 

 of the base of each segment. Caps, pellucid, pale, with brown 

 rings, much fewer together than in the former species. 



The name of Phegopteris, or Beech Fern, is by no means suitable to 

 this species, which does not grow in Beech woods, but in stony 

 mountainous places. The two lowest branches, or leaflets, be- 

 ing more or less bent downward, sometimes as it were pendu- 

 lous, are peculiarly characteristic. 



*** Frond more than tmce comjpounded. 



3. V.Dri/opteris. Tender Three-branched Polypody. 

 Frond three-branched; branches doubly pinnate, spread- 

 ing rather downwards ; segments obtuse, somewhat ere- 



