CRYPTOGAMIA— FILICES. Aspidium. 283 



Ger. Em. 1 1 30, no f. Rail Sijn. 121. Pluk. Almag. 151. Phyt. 

 t.lSO.fA. Moris. V. 3. 579. sect. \4.t.3.f.8. 

 F. mollis, sive glabra, vulgari mari non ramosse accedens. Bauh. 

 Hist.v.o.p.2. 730./. 



In wet shady situations, common. 



Perennial. June, July. 



An elegant/er?i about as tall as J. dilatatum, but narrower, and 

 more lanceolate, in its general outlincj being broadest towards 

 the middle, quite smooth in every part, of a rich, rather deep, 

 green. The root is large and tufted. Naked part of the stalk 

 very short ; the whole destitute of scales. Primary divisions, 

 or leaves, about forty, alternate, taper-pointed. Leajlets in 

 each about as many', linear-oblong, bluntish, elegantly and 

 finely pinnatifid, sharply notched, without bristly points ; the 

 uppermost somewhat decurrent. Masses solitary towards the 

 base of each lobe, oblong, but finally becoming nearly round. 

 Cover lateral, at first oblong, with a broad base ; subsequently 

 kidney-shaped, but not tumid j and finally, as the ends con- 

 verge, orbicular, with a broad notch at the base, assuming the 

 precise character of Aspidium; the outer edge rough or jagged. 

 Capsules rather numerous, brown. 



Other figures, besides those above indicated, are referred by va- 

 rious authors to this species, but they are either doubtful or in- 

 accurate. 



Polypodium rhceticum of Linnaeus, preserved in the Linnsean her- 

 barium, is merely a badly-dried specimen of the Filix fa^mina. 

 It was sent by Sauvages from Montpellier, with the synonym 

 of John Bauhin, Filix rhcetica tenuissime denticulata, and a re- 

 ference to the tenth Polypodium of Haller's Enumeratio 140, an 

 obscure plant, whose description does not answer to this fern. 

 On the specimen of Sauvages however, and on nothing else, 

 Linnaeus founded his P. rhceticum, in both editions of Sp. PL, 

 and to this his specific character, and all he has said of the plant, 

 every where refers. His P. rhceticum therefore is a nonentity, 

 though that name may remain with John Bauhin's plant, which 

 seems to be different. P. rhceticum of other authors, having 

 nothing to do with either, cannot retain the name. Its history 

 will be found under the third species of the following genus. 



13. A. irrigimm. Brook Shield-fern. 



Frond lanceolate, doubly pinnate ; leaflets oblong, deeply 

 serrated, poindess. Stalk quadrangular. Cover round- 

 ish-oblong, finally kidney-shaped, jagged. 



A. irriguum. Engl. hot. v. 3 1 . t. 2199. Comp. ed. 4. 1 72. Forst. 

 Tonbr. 119. 



