BLECHNUM. 35 



Growing in masses. A long, leathery, 

 frond, tapering at both ends, cut on each 

 side into very narrow, simple, undivided, 

 smooth-edged, convex, obtuse, alternate, 

 pinnae, or sometimes quasi -pinnae, a trifle 

 curved upwards, and shortening towards 

 the bottom, till they become mere rudi- 

 mental projections, all appearing like a 

 mere blunt half-diamond till drawn out by 

 growth. The fertile fronds fewer, erect, 

 rigid, and nearer the centre of the plant, 

 their decided pinnae not beginning till 

 much higher up the stem, being consi- 

 derably narrower and further apart. Sori 

 one line on each side of the midrib along 

 the whole pinna. Indusia fixed outwardly, 

 and opening face to face inwardly. Com- 

 mon in marshy, boggy, situations, as well 

 as in company with A. Oreopteris on dry 

 heaths. End of May. Deciduous. Slew 

 of fructification, and not otherwise satis- 

 factory in cultivation. Best removed large, 

 and in bearing. Curious and rather striking 

 in the fertile fronds. Confounded by some 

 writers with the foreign genus Lomaria, 

 but distinguished from it by the position 

 of its indusium. 



