82 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. 



rootstocks to the numerous stipes of the former fronds that still 

 adhere years after their upper ends have rotted away. The 

 Polypody fronds of the past can only be reckoned by counting 

 the slightly raised scars that are almost hidden by the scales 

 of the rootstock. This rootstock, by the way, had formerly 

 some repute. in rustic medicine, and may still have in out-of-the- 

 way places. It was regarded as a remedy for whooping-cough 

 and lung troubles ; also as a purgative. 



The texture of the evergreen frond is leathery, and not easily 

 affected by frost or drought ; its surfaces smooth and free from 

 scales or hairs. It is deeply cut into broad lobes from either 

 side nearly to the rachis, so that it is not even pinnate. As a 

 rule the margins of these lobes are unbroken, but sometimes 

 they are toothed. There is a well-known variety (camMctatt), 

 which has the lobes cut pinnately into long lance-shaped teeth. 

 First found in Wales about 150 years ago, it has been much 

 cultivated, but occasionally it turns up again as a wild form in 

 various places (Plate 90). 



The sori are large, circular, very numerous, and being 

 without an indusium their golden-orange colour renders the 

 fern very conspicuous. They form a very regular row on either 

 side of the midrib of each segment of the frond. The spores 

 are ripe between June and September. 



The Common Polypody is found throughout the British 

 Islands, from Shetland southward, and at all elevations from 

 sea-level up to 3400 feet. Outside our borders it is pretty 

 generally distributed in the North Temperate Zone. 



Vulgare indicates in Latin that the plant is common. Names 

 of local use, in addition to those given from old writers in our 

 first paragraph, include the New Forest name of Adder's-fern, 

 the Golden Polypody of some parts of Kent, and those of 

 Golden Lock and Golden Maidenhair used in Herefordshire ; 

 the three latter names apparently having reference to the 

 golden-brown scales. 



