HO ENGLISH BOTANY. 



pinnules or segments strapshaped or linear-triangular, often convex, 

 with the edges recurved, at least when grown in exposed places. 

 Spores yellowish, nearly smooth. 



Yar. y. Watsoni. 



A. incisum, 'Both.' Newm. (?) Hist. Brit. Ferns, ed. iii. p. 215. Watson in Lond. Cat. 

 Brit. PI. ed. vii. p. 27. See H. C. W. in Comp. Cyb. Brit. p. 622 ; and Top. Bot. 

 p. 496. 



Fronds suberect. Stipes long, about half the length of the lamina 

 in the specimens I have seen. Lamina very firm, lanceolate-oblong 

 or subtriangular-oblong, tapering towards the apex, but very little 

 towards the base, which is very abrupt ; pinnae scarcely decreasing in 

 length downwards, the lowest pair often as long as the succeeding 

 pair ; ultimate pinnules strapshaped-triangular, flat. Spores yellowish- 

 brown, with numerous small blunt tubercles. 



In woods, banks of streams, and on hillsides, moors, and ledges of 

 rock, a and /3 common, and generally distributed. 



Yar. y very scarce, and known only from roots in Mr. H. C. 

 Watson's garden, which he supposes to have been brought from 

 South Wales. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 



Caudex dividing soon into a number of crowns, so that a patch 

 of the plant increases rapidly, and assumes a tufted appearance from 

 the numerous small crowns remaining together. Stipes commonly 

 rather stout, containing two vascular bundles, which are very con- 

 spicuous in section, looking like two letters c turned back to back. 

 Scales more or less numerous, brown, sometimes with a dark central 

 stripe, the upper ones narrower than the lower, which are always 

 most abundant on the thickened portion at the base of the stipes. 

 Fronds very variable in the degree of approximation of pinnae and 

 pinnules, in the degree to which the latter are divided, and in the size 

 to which they attain ; fronds sufficiently developed to bear fructifica- 

 tion, being found as small as 9 inches long, while in rich woods they 

 attain 3 or 4 feet in height. 



The different forms, however, vary so much when cultivated, not 

 merely in size but in the approximation of the pinnae and pin- 

 nules, as well as in the general shape and division of the latter, that 

 it seems best to distribute the ordinary forms under two varieties only, 

 and very often even these are distinguished with difficulty. 



Yar. a has the fronds ascending, and, when large, recurved at the 

 apex, so as to be drooping. The stipes and rachis seem to be always 

 green, the frond thin in texture, and the ultimate pinnae flat. Athy- 



