BRITISH FERNS. 



83 



/ 



semicircle, like the long feathers of a cock's tail. I have endea- 

 voured to shew this form in the Vignette at page 93, and the 

 ordinary pendulous character of the plant 

 is shewn in the margin, and at page 1. The 

 Hart's -Tongue is very commonly found on 

 walls and ruins ; and it seems particularly 

 to delight in old wells, in which last situation 

 its fronds sometimes grow to a very large 

 size. 



The roots are black, stout, and very long and 

 strong : the rhizoma is tufted, blackish, scaly, 

 and almost spherical : the young fronds make 

 their appearance in April, growing in an 

 erect position, the apex remaining circinate ; 

 by degrees they become horizontal, and at 

 last pendulous; they arrive at maturity by 

 the end of September, and continue in full 

 vigour throughout the winter, and until 

 those of the ensuing year make their ap- 

 pearance : they are fertile only. 



The form of the frond is elongate, linear, 

 and quite undivided, acute at the apex, and 

 cordate at the base. The naked portion of the 

 rachis varies from a tenth to about a third of 

 the entire length of the frond ; it is of a dark 

 purple colour, and rather scaly at the base '- I \ \ \ j 



in some specimens, but these are generally 

 young, the entire plant is hirsute, in others 

 perfectly glabrous. The seedling plants put 

 on a variety of forms ; a few of them are 

 shewn at the top of the cut in the margin. 

 The frond is liable to two rather remark- 

 able variations : the first of these 1$, when 

 the margin is very much longer than the 

 rachis, and is compelled to assume a wavy 

 or curled form ; this is the variety called crispum by Mr. 

 Francis, and is figured at the head of the Introduction of this 

 work : the second is when the end is multifid, but this seems 

 rather a monstrosity than a variety, and has a remarkable ugly 

 and deformed appearance : see the divided termination in the 

 annexed cut. 



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