36 FEKNS OF THE LAKE COUNTRY. 



The fronds, produced about May and perishing in 

 Autumn, are delicate in texture, pale green, lanceolate, 

 and pinnate ; the pinnae mostly opposite, a short dis- 

 tance apart, and pinnatifidly divided into numerous 

 crowded entire rounded lobes, the lobes of the fertile 

 frond appearing narrower and more pointed on account 

 of the bending under of their margins. The venation 

 of the lobes consists of a distinct somewhat wavy mid- 

 vein, from which alternate venules branch or fork out, 

 each branch bearing a sorus half way between the 

 midvein and the margin. The sori often become con- 

 fluent and are partly concealed by the bending back of 

 the margin. The indusium is small, thin, shapeless, 

 and soon thrown off. 



The Marsh Fern is to be known from the other 

 Buckler Ferns by its long, comparatively slender 

 rhizome, which is unlike that of any other native 

 species. It ought not therefore to be confounded, as it 

 sometimes is, with L. Oreopteris which has a short 

 thick tufted caudex, merely decumbent in habit. It 

 differs farther in having its fronds of their full width 

 almost to the very base, and supported by a long bare 

 stipes, while L. Oreopteris has diminishing pinnae 

 carried down almost to the base of the stipes ; and in 

 its fronds being almost free from glands, while those of 

 L. Oreopteris are very conspicuously glandular and 

 very fragrant. It is still less like other species. It is 

 readily cultivable, wanting only a moist peaty situation, 

 a damp garden border or a boggy pool, where its ram- 

 bling stems may have room to spread. If set in pots 

 they should be large and shallow. 



