34 



the handsomest of the larger British ferns ; it is evergreen, the 

 foliage of a bright hue and glossy ; and, its growth being scarcely 

 suspended from the first development in April until the setting in 

 of winter, so that the pale yellowish-green of the young fronds 

 contrasts very strikingly with the deep holly-like appearance of the 

 older ones, throughout the whole of the summer and autumn, it is 

 more constantly ornamental in the fern- garden than most others. 

 The cultivation is attended with no difficulty; it will grow in 

 common garden soil, but flourishes best in a mixture of sandy 

 loam and peat, and although not injured by moderate exposure 

 to the sun, prefers the shelter of trees and shrubs, or a 

 shaded bank. \Vhen grown in pot, the ordinary compost must 

 be employed, and full drainage ; and unless kept in the greenhouse 

 or otherwise protected, the pot should be plunged in a dry border 

 during the winter. All the varieties are well adapted for house 

 culture, and their beauty is much enhanced by careful treatment ; 

 but they require a great deal of room, large pots, and space to 

 extend their fine evergreen fronds, if the cultivator is desirous of 

 witnessing their most advantageous development. 



POLYSTICHUM ANGULARE. Angular or Soft prickly Shield-Fern. 

 TAB. XVIII. 



Fronds lax, drooping, lanceolate, bipinnate : pinnules distinctly 

 stalked, with an obtusely-angled base, more or less obtuse at the 

 apex, spinose-serrate. 



Polystichum angulare, Presl. Newman. Babington. Moore. 

 Aspidium augulare, Willdenow. Smith. E. B. Hooker and 

 Arnott. 



This is certainly less common in its distribution than the pre- 

 ceding, but inhabits similar situations; the differences between 

 them are sufficiently striking where the contrast is made with the 

 extremer forms of each : the habit of this is flexile and drooping, 

 the leafy texture not so firm as that of P. aculeatum, the upper 

 basal pinnules often scarcely larger than the lower ones, and all of 

 them somewhat crescent-shaped, auriculate on the upper side, 

 rounded below, and attached to the partial rachis by a very distinct, 

 slender stalk, instead of being decurrent. Several deviations from 

 this normal form have been noticed, and two especially seem 

 marked varieties, and are well known in cultivation : 



1. subtripinnatum. Lower pinnules deeply pinnatifid, the lobes 

 sometimes distinct. 



2. anymtutum. Pinnules all narrow, very acute. 



The latter is frequently proliferous, or rather viviparous, by the 

 production of bulbils about the bases of the lower pinnae and pin- 



