18 



leaflets with serrated margins. The under surface of the lobes is 

 profusely sprinkled with minute, glossy, gold-coloured, glandular 

 globules, which give a rich golden hue to the expanding fronds, 

 that renders this beautiful fern very conspicuous when planted 

 among others. To the secretion by these glands is probably due 

 the peculiar odour of the fronds when bruised, which, being far 

 from unpleasant in the open air, occasioned Linnaeus to name the 

 species Polypodium fragrans. The ordinary venation of the lobes, 

 and the position of the sori, are shown in our figure; but, it may be 

 remarked, that the latter are sometimes much more crowded, in 

 consequence of the lateral veins dividing, as exhibited in the two 

 lower ones, and bearing a sorus on each branch. 



Many persons complain of a difficulty in rearing or establishing 

 L. Oreopteris, and of its liability to dwindle and die under culture ; 

 and there seems to be a diversity of opinion respecting the soil and 

 treatment that it requires, even among those whose experience is 

 far from being limited. Thus, one recommends it to be planted in 

 well-drained pots, with an admixture of turfy peat, broken char- 

 coal and sand, and kept only moderately supplied with water; 

 while another plants it in yellow loam, without any admixture of 

 other soil, and keeps the pots constantly standing in water. Both 

 methods may succeed ; but the open air and free ground answer 

 better than either. And, in regard to soil, a plant that in a state 

 of nature grows here in the yellow loam, there in the black peat, 

 and elsewhere in the fissure of the sand-rock, or on the side of the 

 gravel-pit, can scarcely be much affected by the difference. A very 

 good general rule to follow in the transplantation of the wild fern, 

 is to carry with it a portion of the soil in which it grows ; or, at 

 least, to imitate this as nearly as possible. And I believe the reason 

 why L. Oreopteris often fails, is, that this rule is not attended to ; 

 ana that the plants, having their constitution adapted to the situa- 

 tion where their seedling growth commenced, do not readily change 

 it under the new conditions in which they may be placed. 



Some slight general resemblances between this species and L. 

 Thelypteris, especially in the form and proportions of the frond and 

 in the marginal fructification, which might mislead an inexperienced 

 collector, render it necessary to remark upon the more obvious fea- 

 tures by which they are distinguished. The fronds of the present 

 species always grow in tufts ; they are leafy almost to the very base 

 of the rachis, which latter is copiously covered with pale brown 

 scales, while in L. Thelypteris it is nearly smooth, and in the lower 

 part devoid of pinnae through about one-third of its height. The 

 golden glands, and the perfectly flat instead of recurved margin of 

 the fertile lobes, are characters especially the former that, if 

 attended to, render it impossible to confound the plant before' us 

 with its congener. 



