OF BRITISH PLANTS. 77 



word is varm, and as the Scandinavian name is orm-gras, 

 worm- or snake-grass, from the involuted vernation of the 

 frond, it may be worth consideration, whether these words, 

 varm and orm, may not be the Lat. vermis, and Jam a 

 corruption of it. But, as J. Grimm says, " tiefes dunkel 

 ruht auf der wurzel." Filix. 



FERN, BLADDER-, from its small vesicular spore-cases, 



Cystopteris, Ber. 



BRISTLE-, from the bristle that projects beyond its 

 receptacle, Trichomanes, Sm. 



,, FEMALE-, of old writers, not the species now called 

 Lady-fern, but the brake, from Gr. 0r)\v7rTepis, a name 

 that is now assigned to another one different from both of 

 these. That of the herbals is Pteris aquilina, L. 



FILMY-, from its transparent filmy texture, 



Hymenophyllum, L. 



FINGER-, Ceterach officinarum, W. 



FLOWERING-, from its conspicuous spikes of fructi- 

 fication, Osmunda regalis, L. 



HARD-, from the rigid texture of the frond, 



Blechnum boreale, Sm. 



HOLLY-, from its prickly fronds, 



Aspidium Lonchitis, Sw. 



,, LADY-, a mere translation of flix foemina, a 

 former Latin name of the brake, Gr. 0r)\irn-Tep^, which 

 was given to it from some caprice, and without reference 

 to sex as now understood, and has been transferred to the 

 species now called so, for no better reason than the delicacy 

 of its foliage, Asplenium Filix foemina, Bern. 



MAIDEN-HAIR-, Adiantum Capillus Veneris, L. 



MALE-, a translation of its old Latin name, 



Aspidium Filix mas, Sw. 



MARSH-, Aspidium Thelypteris, Sw. 



MOUNTAIN-, A. Oreopteris, Sw. 



OAK-, of modern botanists, 



Polypodium Dryopteris, L. 



