POLYSTICIIUM. 93 



Aspidium, and was formerly included under that of 

 Pohipodlum. 



Polysticliuin angulare, Presl. 



The Angular lohed^ or Soft Fricldi) SJdeld Fern. 



(Plate V. fig. 2.) 



This is a strong-growing, tufted-stcmmcd species, some- 

 times forming large masses. The fronds are lanceolate, 

 from two to four or five feet high, persistent through 

 ordinary winters, and in sheltered situations retaining 

 their verdour unimpaired until the new fronds are pro- 

 duced.- It is one of the most graceful of all the native 

 species. The stipes, which varies from a third to a fourth 

 of the length of the entire frond, is very shaggy, with 

 reddish chafi'y scales, which scales, though of smaller size, 

 are continued throughout the upper parts of the frond. 

 The fronds are bipinnate, with numerous tapering, distinct 

 pinna), having their pinnules flat, somewhat crescent- 

 shaped, from the prominent auricle at the anterior base, 

 often bluntish at the apex, but sometimes acute, always 

 with spinulose marginal scrratures, and sometimes, in a 

 few of the lower pinnules, with deep lobes, so that the 

 pinnules become pinnatifid. The pinnules are tapered to 



