72 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



broadly oblong, closely approximate, rounded or obtuse at the apex, 

 evenly toothed and with the teeth shorter than in the fertile frond, 

 and not mucronate. 



In bogs and on wet heaths, especially among Alder bushes. Yery 

 local. At Tritton Decoy, near the old decoy at Mestleton, and Bexley 

 Decoy, near Ipswich, Suffolk ; Edgefield Heath, near Holt (Mr. 

 Wingham) ; Lurlingham Broad (Rev. W. S. Hoare) ; Lezeak, (Rev. 

 John Freeman) ; Higham Sounds, near Burnley Hall (A. 0. Black) ; 

 Holt Lows (Rev. W. H. G-irdlestone) ; Derlingham and Bawsey 

 Heath, near Lynn ; Fakenham and Wymondham, Norfolk ; Hunting- 

 donshire (Rev. M. J. Berkeley) ; Madeley bog, near Newcastle-under- 

 Lyme, Staffordshire ; Oxton bogs, Nottingham ; Achmere, Delamere 

 Forest (J. F. Robinson) ; Wybunbury bog, Cheshire; Malton, York- 

 shire, " Messrs. Monkman and J. Mackle " (Lowe). Reported also 

 from Bedford and Worcestershire. In Scotland the only known 

 station is in a bog beyond Crofthead, near Neilston, Renfrewshire, 

 12 miles south-west of Glasgow. 



England, Scotland. Perennial. Autumn. 



Caudex slowly creeping, sometimes 2 feet long, about as thick as a 

 man's thumb or more, the branches terminated by crowns, which 

 advance each year ; but when growing in dry soil the plant becomes 

 tufted, as the divisions of the caudex do not elongate, but remain 

 closely packed together, forming a many-headed caudex. Fertile 

 fronds 18 inches to 3 feet high, of which the lamina is 9 to 18 inches, 

 and 3 to 5 inches broad, very stiffly erect, with the pinnae rather 

 distant, 5 or more of the lower pairs broader shorter and more 

 spreading than the succeeding ones ; all of them slightly twisted, so 

 that their upper surface makes an angle with the general plane of 

 the frond ; in vernation they are flat, and applied to the rachis. 

 Barren fronds 6 to 18 inches long by 3 to 6 inches broad, the pinnae 

 decreasing from the middle towards both base and apex, closer 

 together, less acute than in the fertile fronds, and with the segments 

 contiguous. Stipes slender, 3 to 6 inches long. Rachis of both 

 barren and fertile fronds usually bare of scales. 



I am indebted to Dr. J. Fraser for specimens of the barren fronds 

 from Wybunbury bog; and also to Mr. J. F. Robinson, from 

 Achmere. These fronds appear to be rare in herbaria, botanists 

 satisfying themselves with collecting the fertile ones. I have never 

 seen them deficient in the cultivated plant ; and though when weak 

 it produces nothing else, yet as they are present whenever it is 

 growing vigorously, they may be considered as a normal feature 

 of its growth. 



