50 



ATHYRTUM FILIX-FfEMINA. 



from the yellow green colour of the fronds. Length seven 

 inches, width three inches in the widest part. Pinnre various 

 in size, alternate, distant, nearly twice the size on one side 

 of the rachis to what they are on the other, the lower basal 

 pair, which are small and rounded at their apices, or triangular 

 more or less, are descending, the rest horizontal; the apex of 

 the frond composed of about half a dozen pinnatifid pinnules, 

 occasionally a pinna will be a third of the size of the whole 

 frond. Pinnules mostly somcAvhat distant, broad, rounded, 

 and bidentate, giving the frond a fimbriated appearance, the 

 superior basal pinnule the largest; occasionally depauperated, 

 or much abbreviated. Pinna? sometimes wantinsr. My thanks 

 are due to ^Ir. Barnes for fronds. An illustration is unnecessary. 





If-, 



Fig. 342.— Middle of Frond. 



Fieldt.t:, 3Ioore. (Fig. 342.) — A remarkable and distinct 

 variety found by ]Mr. Field. This in Athyrium is a counterpart 

 of Ehvorthii in PolysticMun angidare, (see page 153, vol. i.) 

 The fronds are more than two feet in length, and only one 



