POLYPODIUM PHEGOPTERIS. Mountain Polypody. TAB. II. 



Fronds triangularly lanceolate, acuminate, subpinnate : pinnae 

 linear-lanceolate, acute, deeply pinnatifid, with obtuse, entire lobes ; 

 the lowest pair distant, deflexed. Sori nearly marginal. 



Polypodium Phegopteris, Linnceus. Polystichum Phegopteris, Roth. 

 Lastrea Phegopteris, Newman. Gymnocarpium Phegopteris, 

 Newm. Hist. Brit. Ferns, 49. 



Not unfrequent in the alpine and subalpine or rocky districts of 

 the south-western and northern counties of England, and in Wales 

 and Scotland ; but apparently of rare occurrence in Ireland. Its 

 favourite habitats are moist woods, and shady spots about moun- 

 tain lakes, rills, and waterfalls. The rhizoma is of a blackish hue, 

 slender, wiry, branching and creeping in every direction, so as often 

 to form a network over the face of the moist rock where there is 

 no trace of soil, striking its hair-like rootlets into every crevice. 

 The fronds make their appearance about the same period, or rather 

 earlier than those of the common Polypody, and are in perfection 

 from July to September : they are of a pale green colour, hairy, and 

 vary from five or six inches to a foot in height, of which the leafy 

 portion occupies less than half, its general outline being triangular, 

 but much acuminated. The pinnae are mostly opposite, the lowest 

 pair being rather distant from the others and directed downwards 

 and forwards, forming a very remarkable feature by which this 

 fern is readily recognized ; they are likewise perfectly distinct, and 

 attached to the rachis by a short stalk : the upper ones, on the 

 contrary, point toward the apex of the frond, and, with the occa- 

 sional exception of the second pair, are sessile, and attached by 

 their entire base, so as to appear confluent, as indeed those toward 

 the extremity usually are. The lateral veins of the lobes are alter- 

 nate, mostly simple, and extend to the margin, bearing, each, near 

 the end a small circular sorus, the whole fructification thus forming 

 an intromargiual line of spots. 



It is an elegant species under cultivation, spreading very freely, 

 and requiring little attention in planting, except to secure the 

 almost universal requirement of the Fern, shade. Exposure to the 

 sun, though only for a very short time, changes the delicate green 

 hue of the frond to brown, and soon destroys a plant naturally 

 adapted to those moist situations in which alone it luxuriates. 



POLYPODIUM DRYOPTERIS. Tender three-branched Polypody. 

 TAB. III. 



Fronds ternate, glabrous; branches pinnate, drooping; pinnae 

 pinnatifid, with obtuse crenated segments. Sori nearly marginal. 



B2 



