90 



ATHYRIUM FILTX-FCEMINA. 



tasseled variety, of vigorous habit and symmetrical form. Lencrth 

 of frond twenty-four to thirty inches. Lanceolate. The tips of 

 both the fronds and the pinnee expanding into crispy tasseled 

 tufts. The pinnae oblong in form, scarcely contracted below 

 the tufts. Pinnules also oblong, fiat, frequently dilated at their 

 apices, pinnatifid; the lobes toothed. Mr. Moore remarks this 

 is a handsome variety, superior to the well-known and justly- 

 admired miiltijidum, as the fronds do not become curled as in 

 that variety. For fronds I am indebted to ]Mr. Swynfen Jervis, 

 of Darlaston Hall, Staffordshire; Mr. C. Elworthy, of Nettle- 

 combe; Mr. Sim, of Foot's Cray; Mr. E. Cooling, of Mile-ash 

 Nursery, near Derby; Messrs. Stansfield, of Todmorden; Mr. 

 Kennedy, of Covent Garden; the Rev. C. Padley, of Beaconfield, 

 near Plymouth; and to Mr. James, of Vauvert. 





Fig. 409.— Middle pinna. 



Trtdentato-multifidum, Lowe. (Fig. 409.) — An exceed- 

 ingly handsome multifid variety, raised from spores by Mr. 

 James, of Vauvert, Channel Islands. Fronds eighteen to twenty 

 inches in length, eight inches in width in the widest part; 

 regular in outline, being widest in the middle and narrowing 

 rapidly to the apex and more gradually towards the base. Pinnse 

 ascending, opposite in the three basal pairs, subopposite in the 

 next six pairs, alternate in the next four pairs, and subopposite 

 again near the apex. Linear oblong, the longest five inches, 

 substance thin, apex furcate, and the furcations multifid, pinnse 

 lax below, and approximate in the middle of the frond. 

 Pinnules large, their apices overlapping in the centre of the 

 frond, broad and profoundly cut, dilated at the apex. Lobes 

 mostly tridentatc, some even quadridentate, and even near the 

 apex of the frond bidentate. Sori lunulate, situated close to 



