38 FERNS OF THE LAKE COUNTRY 



ance, set on the stem like the feathers of a shuttlecock 

 and growing in graceful tufts to two or three feet high. 

 They are annual, springing up in May and dying off 

 in Autumn ; bright green or yellowish, erect, lance- 

 shaped in general outline, and pinnate. The stipes is 

 unusually short, the leafy part being continued nearly 

 to the ground, and the lower pinnae becoming so short 

 that the frond tapers downward as much as toward 

 the point. The pinnae are generally opposite, narrow, 

 tapering and pinnatifid, and bear the sori almost close 

 to the margins, in most instances very abundantly. 

 The fronds differ, as was said, from L. Thclypteris in 

 in the shortness of the lower pinnte, and again in the 

 margins being flat and not turned back upon the sori. 

 Each lobe has a distinct and slightly wavy midvein, 

 alternately branched, the branches simple or divided, 

 with the sori near their extremities. The indusia are 

 small and soon perish or fall away, sometimes seem 

 to be altogether wanting ; but the plant is too 

 closely allied to other species of the genus to allow 

 of its separation on this account. It grows in damp 

 woody places, especially luxuriating by the sides of 

 shady becks and waterfalls ; but is much more pro- 

 fusely met with on heathy mountain sides. It is the 

 common fern of many parts of the Scottish Highlands, 

 growing sometimes at an elevation of 3,000 feet ; 

 abounds in the English Lake Country, and in Wales ; 

 and is more or less plentiful in waste districts through- 

 out England. Though so common it seems not easy of 

 cultivation, needing perhaps the pure air and ready 

 drainage of its native mountains. In smoky London 



